My Valentine

This guy...

...totally gets me. Ya'll, guess what I got for Valentine's day. A new website! If you know me, you know he was speaking my love language when he built the thing.

Although the new site is still a work in progress, we're taking the training wheels off this little blog of ours and moving on to more functionality and our own web address. So, update your bookmarks and your sidebar links...we've moved!

Thanks, Matt, for a lovely Valentine's Day surprise. I love you and your nerdiness more than I could ever say.

Find us at www.mscaspers.net/ohbladi now. See you there!

Honey Honey Princess

Last summer, we signed up for Netflix and one of the first movies we got was Mamma Mia. Matt and I realized that we didn't have nearly enough ABBA in our music collection. Fast forward to Christmas and now we have more ABBA in our music collection that one family probably should.

All that to say that we played a lot of the Mamma Mia soundtrack there for a while and now Ava's favorite song is ABBA's "Honey, Honey," performed by Amanda Seyfried. We have a nightly dance party to this song and have recently had to institute a two-play maximum for the song - just to save the sanity of any adults in the house.

Since this is such a defining moment in our day (it's the lead up to playing chase and hide-and-go-seek for the next half hour) we thought we'd share our ABBA inspired dinner and dance routine.

Enjoy!

This Week's News

Just in case the photo doesn't come out so great on your end, we're just pleased as punch to announce that Ava's going to be a big sister! We're expecting our new little guy or girl at the beginning of September. Ava's claiming she's getting a baby sister, but we'll all be surprised when the little one gets here. We're excited that soon we'll be a family of four!

Fun in the Snow

We headed up to Mt. Charleston yesterday for some wintertime fun. They've got about five feet of snow up there and so, after gathering some winter gear for the munchkin, we went to go introduce Ava to the snow. She loved it.

Mobility was a bit of an issue since she was bundled to within an inch of her life and the snow was so powdery that you would just sink into it. Since she couldn't walk much, she got around pretty good on Daddy's shoulders.

We tried to make some snowmen, but this desert snow doesn't actually have much moisture in it and it wouldn't stick.

Instead, we taught Ava to make snow angels.

And then we fed her some snow. She didn't like getting her face in the snow at first, but she was thirsty enough from all her exertions that she got used to the idea pretty quickly.

Midway through our visit, Ava got pretty fussy. That meant it was snack time. We got unbundled and had a PBJ picnic in the back of the van. That was almost as popular of an activity as the snow play.

And here's proof we were all there together and we liked it. :-)

Videos of the trip:

Ava getting out into the snow for the first time:

Sledding down the hill with Daddy:

Matt sledding down the hill (and almost killing some passersby):

Storytime

Ava's got several favorite stories, but lately we've been reading piles and piles of books. More often than not in these sessions, she ends up reciting the books to us. She can "read" all of Goodnight Moon and it's really a struggle to get to read it to her at bedtime. We've got several Margaret Wise Brown books and I think it's safe to say that she is Ava's favorite author. Runaway Bunny and Big Red Barn are huge favorites too.

As avid readers ourselves, Matt and I are so excited that Ava's taken such a liking to the activity. I've got Little Women all ready to go when she's finally ready. Can't wait to share one of our great loves with our little girl!

Ava @ 26 Months

Twenty-six months. That seems like an awfully big number, doesn't it? But, it's been two months since Ava's second birthday and she's grown and changed so much since then. We're truly on our way to little girl-hood and it seems that we're racing to leave toddlerhood behind. Before we blink and miss another few months, here's a glimpse at Ava just as she is now.

*She's potty-trained! Such a big life lesson and she accomplished it with so much confidence and independence. She's so good at it that it's not uncommon for her to tell us now, "Go away! Ava do it!" Granted, that only lasts until she needs help pulling her pants up, so she's maybe not ready for college quite yet.

*Ava has a new best friend and she conveniently lives in any reflective surface on the planet! Our girl loves her reflection and evidently spends hours (really, hours) twirling and laughing with herself in the mirror at school. Windows at night are equally interesting. Don't get me started on pictures and videos of the beauty. She's obsessed.

*Favorite songs: Honey, Honey, from the MammaMia! Soundtrack; Taylor Swift's Fearlessalbum; and The Monkey Dance, by the Wiggles. Any of the above will result in dress-up skirt wearing and twirling on the tile. Also, they will be played on repeat indefinitely.

*We still haven't managed to help Ava master her colors, although we're certain she can tell them apart since she can sort according to color. Everything is blue on the first inquiry. She may, in fact, be her mother's daughter.

*Ava can count to ten and sing her ABCs. Her favorite letter, inexplicably, is J. It's the only letter she can pick out of a line-up. Weird, right?

*We've got a very creative girl on our hands. She loves to paint and do other types of art. We've got a lot of it hanging up around the house and she's pretty proud of her creations. The easel Daddy made for her birthday has been getting quite a workout.

*Ava loves to Skype with our families. Every time I bring out the laptop or we close media center on the TV, she says, "Hello? Papa?"

*In response to "Who are you?" the response is, "Ava Pappers." She also knows our names and we play this game often because we think it's hilarious how she says them. Here's a little video so that you can have a chuckle too...

*Our girl is fiercely independent which sometimes challenges our sense of order, but she's got a great sense of humor and a kind, compassionate heart that makes us proud. We're so pleased that she's a part of our family and so excited to see how much she'll grow in the next few months. Here's hoping, though, that she slows down...just a tiny bit. We don't want to miss a thing.

New Haircut

Ava's always had a ton of hair, so getting it to grow out has never been a challenge. The harder part has been keeping it pulled up and out of her face. In the old days, she sported a whale spout that was the envy of every other six month old on the planet. Then, just after her first birthday, I cut it into a very cute bob...the bangs made her look so old!

Lately, we've been letting her hair just grow and have been trying to grow those bangs out. Turns out keeping them trimmed and out of her eyes was more than I could keep up with. But, the tangles and the constant ponytails were getting on all of our nerves. (Just imagine the screaming when you take out four plastic ponytail holders every.single.night.)

So, it was off to a professional to get a new 'do. I think it's just darling and, boy, one tiny little ponytail is way easier on our morning routine and our bathtime prep!

Here's the shaggy, unkempt before:

And the adorable after!