Summertime has been kicked off. Officially.

We went to Ohio for Memorial Day weekend. Danny and I got to go to a wedding for a good friend of mine from high school while Ava played with cousins and "gampa". It was good to see old friends and dance saucily with my husband. It was kind of weird though - dancing with good friends from high school with not a care in the world totally took me back and it was suddenly so strange that I was a mom. Total Twilight Zone moment. I mentioned it to one of my friends and she laughed and said, "it's still weird for me that you're a mom too!"

C'est la vie.

Ava played so hard while we were there and it took her a good 2 days to recover when we got home. Is it just me or is that how fun family time should be? She didn't want to miss a second.

The "baby wee" - dude. pushing a kid in a swing is like, SO HARD, when it's 90 degrees outside with 95% humidity.

Listen to me now and hear me later.

Ganging up on Aunt Shannon (she will kill me for posting these pictures on the internets. heh heh.)

Aunt Shannon is so mean. Poor E.

Snuggling by the homemade root beer. Nice work, Fasha.

Watching Little Mermaid

I love this picture. Wish it wasn't so blurry. Uncles are so fun.

I can't decide whether or not Ty is photobombing this one. Methinks kind of.

The mommy chip diaries

Listen. I realize that I am not the neurotic parent (about most things) when at home in my cozy nest. But when in public, my mommy chip is activated and it is code red. In public, I have cat-like reflexes and eyes like an owl. I see everything (pretend I just turned my head all the way around). My eyes bore deep into your soul and I can tell whether you are friend or foe to my tiny human. I can tell if you are admiring or creepy. In short: in public, I am Jason Bourne turned Secret Service and Ava is POTUS.

I was talking to a salesperson in the paint section of Lowe's yesterday about how the paint+primer in one does not really work and she was telling me that when painting on plaster walls bla bla bla bla bla. Now, my subconscious wasn't being rude, it was just that the strange man grabbing my child's arm sounded an alarm in my head and I could hear nothing else.

Ava insisted that I pushed around one of those HUGE carts that looks like a car and has a steering wheel and whatnot so tiny humans can pretend that they are running the show (sidenote: the tiny humans TOTALLY RUN THE SHOW but we can't let them know that). Anyhoodle, as I was talking to the paint lady, Ava decided to readjust herself. I know people get really jumpy when kids pull shenanigans in shopping carts but Ava wasn't even standing up. She was just wiggling around in the cart. I was maybe 3 inches away from her and I had my hands ready to spring into action if need be.

So you can imagine my surprise when Ava started wiggling and a strange man walking by grabbed her arm and just stood there. I looked at him questioningly (let's be honest....it was more of a "why the crap are you touching my kid?" look) and he said, "I didn't want her to fall." Now, I have had people try to save Ava from the cement floor of a warehouse store before (she loves shopping cart gymnastics, always has, especially when I am trying to put something heavy into the cart). I was always very grateful for those people who could see I was overwhelmed with all the construction supplies and the wiggly 18 month old. But. Ava is 2 1/2 now, very strong, and very agile, and she wasn't even close to danger. NO ONE around us felt the need to grab her, including me, HER MOTHER, because she was still sitting in the cart on her bum. And really? The guy totally creeped me out but then he grabbed my kid for no reason and that increased his creepiness by a power of 1000.

So I just grabbed her and said, "oh" and he walked away. The most annoying part of the whole interaction though was the saleslady that just stared at me like none of it had happened. I said, "I'm sorry, can you repeat what you said? It's hard for me to listen when strange men are touching my child." She just stood there. Staring at me. Finally, after I prompted her, she finished her thought about paint rollers and plaster walls.

Lessons to be learned from all of this?
1) Never let your kid talk you into the car shopping cart. That thing has the turning radius of a limobus.
2) Mommy chips are not to be messed with and neither is my kid SO TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF HER AND BACK AWAY BEFORE I CUT YOU WITH THIS PUTTY KNIFE.
3) That paint saleslady was really a robot, incapable of appropriate social reaction and emotion. *beep beep. you will always have to do two coats of paint on plaster walls. beep beep. oil is my blood.*

Arts and crafts with a 2 year old

Ava got bored painting the paper and decided painting herself into a dinosaur was a better idea. I agree.



 playdough pie, anyone?

Benjamin Franklin unplugged

I was sitting on my comfy couch talking to my comfy husband when he randomly remembered something about Benjamin Franklin taking "air baths". Apparently, good old Ben used to take a really hot bath and then sit, completely naked, in front of an open window for 30 minutes to an hour while he wrote and thought. Um? How awkward was that for anyone walking by? He claimed that it was good for his health.

So when my kid runs around for 3/4 of the day naked (after I've dressed her several times) I am now going to tell myself that she's just taking an air bath and that she will be a genius like Ben because of it.

I will also tell my neighbors this.

I am seriously such a good mom.

The babes.

Can we just talk about this one curl that is always springing off Ava's forehead?

I just love her hair. And then with the yummy cheeks and soft skin and the big eyes? GUH. She is delicious.

Join me for some crap eradication. Heh.

Well I don't know if you've heard, but refined sugar is like, real bad for you. Personally, it makes me lethargic and moody. Have you ever paid attention to what it does to you?
I want my tiny human to have truly healthy eating habits come naturally to her so I have started phasing the fake, sugary food out of my kitchen. Here are some magical suggestions that have kept her oblivious to my sneakiness and have kept my sweet tooth satisfied.

Frozen Yogurt Bites
This one is simple. Put some wax paper on a cookie sheet. Then, spoon some yogurt (read the label - make sure it's "crap" free yogurt) into a ziploc baggie and snip off a bottom corner. Pipe little dallops onto the wax paper and pop it into the freezer for an hour.

Ava looooooves these. She thinks the are candy! Yay mom's letting me eat a bunch of candy!!! Maybe because they are in the shape of a chocolate chip?

 Idea taken from http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com

 Fudgesicles
2 T cocoa powder
1/2 cup canned coconut milk
2 small, very-ripe bananas
scant 1/16 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
optional: feel free to add peanut butter!

Combine all items in a blender. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

These are so. good.

Idea taken from Pinterest - link to original source not working

German Chocolate Fudge Bites

3/4 cup pitted dates
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/16 tsp salt
2 T cocoa powder
2 T shredded coconut
1/3 to 1/2 cup raw pecans
optional: feel free to add some chocolate chips

Throw everything in a food processor and form into bars, balls, or whatever you want.

These have been a LIFESAVER for me. They are seriously so good - they taste like brownies.

Recipe from www.chocolatecoveredkatie.com - check out the rest of her desserts.

I will also direct you to some other raw and refined sugar-free recipes that I looooove.
http://gimmesomeoven.com/no-bake-energy-bites/ (I change up the ingredients in this one a little bit to keep it raw)
http://www.adashofcompassion.com/2011/01/raw-cookie-dough-bites/ - I replace the chocolate chips with goji berries (see below)

I love all these new flavors I am experiencing.

I have a few other things up my sleeves to try - chocolate pudding made from coconut milk, beet chips, and some fruit leather. I'll let you know how they go!

the babes

So here's a list of current cute Ava things so that I can say that I remember her childhood:
- Ava always reminds us to pray. Always.
- She potty trained herself some weeks ago. When she has to go potty she just starts stripping off her clothes and saying "yucky yucky" - doesn't matter if we're at home or Ace Hardware. I think it's hilarious but I have to be all serious and remind her about modesty or something, right? Whatevs.
- If I ask her to do something she really doesn't want to do she sigh-growls (just like a teenager), slumps her shoulders, and does the absolute minimum of what I asked..........really.
- She still has the cutest blond curls.
- Potty training has suddenly brought on an independent streak so now she wants to do everything herself. She's all, "I can make these scrambled eggs completely by myself, mom. Now hand my the spatula and get out of here."
- Her toilet mounting form is awesome.
- Everything can be categorized as a "mommy" or a "baby". Mostly it's just how she differentiates between big and small but she tells me I'm wrong every time I point this out to her.
- Hand her your iphone - she totally knows how to work it and how to find her favorite apps.
- She's still a big fan of the group hug and can frequently be caught singing at the top of her lungs and dancing around.

Last night, after we put her to bed, Danny went into the kitchen and happened to notice that she had knocked a half-full gallon of paint over onto our wood floor. So glad we discovered that last night and not in the morning because I probably would have sobbed or broke things. She always keeps life interesting, even when she's asleep.