My Clever Hubs and Happy Birthday to Me

Rob has given me some pretty thoughtful and clever gifts over the years.  I'm always amazed at how well thought out they are and how smart he is to think of them.  This year it was the card that had me smiling.  Here is it:

Can you read it? It says:  Did you know that the earthquake in Japan changed the distribution of the earth's mass, shifted its axis, causing it to rotate faster, thereby shortening the length of a day by 1.8 microseconds? That's funny, because when I looked at you this morning I said to myself "Thirty? No way. She doesn't look any older than 29 years, 364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59.9999982 seconds."  Hoping for many more happy microseconds together.   ~Rob

FHE by Ava

Tonight as we were getting ready for Family Home Evening, Ava informed us that she would be doing the lesson.  I told her that I could help her talk about what she learned in church this week and she let me know that she didn't need any help.  Here is the lesson she gave us totally unassisted.  Pretty good for a 3 year old. (All the regular writing is Ava speaking, the bold is someone responding to one of her questions.)

Today I’m going to tell you a lesson about flowers. Flowers are…..well each person is going to say something you do with flowers. Mommy you go first.


Mommy: I put flowers on my table to look beautiful.

Thank you mommy. Daddy your turn.

Daddy: I give them to people to make them happy.

Good daddy. Charlotte your turn.

(Ava pretending to talk for Charlotte in a baby voice) “I give them to you Ava”

Oooh that’s so nice Charlotte.

Well I give them always to Ande (her best friend) and she gives them always to me.

Now I’m going to tell you about flowers. Flowers grow. They need water to grow. And they need sunshine to grow. They grow on a green stem and they are all colors. Even a rainbow colored flower there can be. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Mommy: Ava that was a great lesson about flowers. Who gave us flowers.

God did. And God is super important so we only use his name when we are talking super importantly. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

My baby girls

Oh how I love these two.  And even more than that? I love when they love each other.  Charlotte gets such a kick out of Ava these days and Ava gets thrilled herself when she can get any giggles out of her baby sis.

Little Miss Fancy

I can't believe what a big girl Ava has grown into.  My friend LE (who took these pictures) had to laugh at how much fun Ava was having with this photo shoot.  It was even funnier when we compared it to the first time LE shot her as a 9 month old at an Easter shoot.  Ava cried through the whole thing and was terrified of everything.  We've come a long way from then.  Just look at her fancy moves!

I just love this girl!  How can you not?

Ava-isms:

I should be writing down everything Ava says because it's a laugh a minute at our house these days.  Some of the ones I remember from today:

(While driving in the car)
Ava: Mom who's the first that got married?
Me: What?
Ava: The first who got married?
Me: In our family? You mean who got married before daddy and I?
Ava: Yeah
Me: Well, Uncle Brad and Aunt Tara, Aunt Mellonee and Uncle Daren, Aunt Lauri and Uncle Will.....
Ava: No, the first that got married.
Me: You mean the first people ever?
Ava: (a little annoyed) Yes!
Me: Adam and Eve
Ava: Oh yeah, them. (smiles) They're coming to my birthday party.
Me: Um I don't think they'll be able to make it honey.
Ava: Yes mom, Adam and Eve are real.
Me: That's true.  They are real people that really lived but they aren't gonna be at your party.
Ava: (incredulously) Why?!
Me: Because they're dead.
Ava: Oh no! They are? How did they die?
Me: Well sweetie, they got old and died.  Remember, everybody dies eventually.
Ava: Oh yeah, they ate poison fruit and thats why they died.
Me: No they did eat some fruit they weren't supposed to but that got them kicked out of the garden but didn't kill them.  They died because they were old.
Ava: Oooooooh man. Why did they go and die? They knew they were invited?
Me: What?
Ava: They knew they were invited to my party, why did they have to die?
Me: Well sweetie, they died a very long time ago.  They probably didn't even know about your party.
Ava: (quietly to herself) Oh man, I really wanted them at my party.

Tonight after being put to bed, Ava came into my room (she's always trying to find reasons to stay up):
Ava: Mom, when I close my eyes my legs don't hurt but when I open my eyes and unrest (the opposite of sleep apparently) then they start to hurt.
Me: Good.  Just keep your eyes closed and go to sleep and your legs will be fine.
Ava: (dejectedly) Okay mom.