skipping school

Michael had to go out of town this week, so Gigi and Tracy came to Tupelo to hang out with Ava. She got to stay home from school 2 days, but Tracy did provide her private tutoring services. Ava had so much fun.

10th Anniversary

On August 14th, we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Gigi and Granpa were sweet enough to keep Ava in Greenville while we stayed in Greenwood at the Alluvian hotel. It was very nice....good job Viking! These flowers were sent by Michael's Aunt Betty and Uncle John. They were gorgeous!

New Bike!

Ava got an early birthday present...a bicycle. It's called a push bike. (it doesn't have pedals) She loves her purple bicycle and helmet. She's been talking about them for weeks while they were on order. Now she can be just like daddy.

She really likes that she can pick it up and carry it.

Trip to Washington

We headed to DC to visit with Michael's family and attend his grandmother's funeral in Arlington. Here is Ava with two of her cousins, Daniel and Olivia. Aunt Betty and Uncle John made sure Ava ate really well during our stay.

I'm pretty sure this is Ava's first attempt at a boardgame. Aunt Betty is teaching them all of the rules. She felt like such a big girl!

Here we are at the Smithsonian.

This is about as close to any of the monuments we got. You can barely see the Washington monument in the background. Somebody was past ready for a nap!

We took her to the National Aquarium where she fell in love with "her" alligator.

Michael and his mom after the funeral.

Daniel is attempting to pull a tooth while Ava is enjoying being incognito in Aunt Kathy's lap.

Fun at Meme and Pawpaw's

Ava, Gigi, Tracy, and I went to Georgia to visit my meme and pawpaw this past weekend. Oh how much fun it is to trap a 22 month old in her carseat for 5 to 6 hours. At least Gigi and Tracy were there to help with entertainment. Gigi is really good with the words and motions to "Deep and Wide" now.

There is always yardwork to do and Ava jumped right in to help.

Dinner there is always delicious and apparently hillarious.

Sharing her poptart with Patch (the dog)

One of her favorite things about the visit was this grandfather clock. Every fifteen minutes it made some sort of noise and Ava would always stop to point out clock. Unfortunately, she hasn't developed her blended "c-l" sound, so the "l" got dropped.

Playing in the sprinklers.

A drenched Ava after sprinkler play.

Yes, Patch can read.

Weekend at home

after swimming on Sunday afternoon

She is very impatient when you play with anyone but her...even Ellie and Emma.

attempting to evade a tackle from daddy

Emma is up to her usual tricks. Somehow the leave that are already on the ground just never taste as good.

4th of July...pm

Mark's family invited us to join them at Old Waverly for the evening. Ava had a blast! She didn't make it for the fireworks, but I don't think she minded.

hole in one!

She was watching the huge golf ball hot air balloon take off. She really wanted to ride in it.

mom, Tracy, Debbie (Mark's mom), dad, Michael, Ava, and Betsy (Mark's sister and Ava's new best friend). Here Ava is trying to talk Betsy into taking her shoes off so she can go back to the bouncy stuff.

One of Ava's highlights...she loved the bouncy stuff.