Rain, Rain, and More Rain

Ava and Daddy play in the rain.
2 boys in a canoe, in water that normally wouldn't be there.
The cottage on Monday, more water to come........

We got a lot of rain 2 weeks ago while my mom and brother were here. Sunday morning Matt's dad and brother in law moved furniture upstairs and tied the pier together. Sunday night Matt and Mark went back up with them and took out the carpet. The water was 1 1/2 ft away from the cottage at that point. Monday it was in the cottage about 4 inches (pictures above). They guys went up that afternoon to take out the pier and tie down the boat. Later that week over 2 ft of water in the cottage. One of the lakes that feeds into Swan Lake where the cottage is, had an imminent threat of the dam breaking and emptying. Luckily this did not happen. This weekend the water had receded out of the cottage. The water was nasty with sewage and so it will be a long time before we get to enjoy our summer retreat. My hearts goes out to those that lost their permanent homes. Watching the news coverage makes us realize how lucky we are.

Mom and Mark come for a Visit

Ava gathering sticks with my mom.
Mark and Ava on State Street.
Ava lounging at Urban Outfitters while we shopped. She found a chair and just hopped in with her blanket.
Icecream cones at Babcocks.....the best icecream ever.

My mom and my brother Mark came for a visit. He is leaving on his mission and wanted to see everyone before he takes off for two years. I must say I was a little bummed when the weather forecast was thunder storms everyday. There was more than just thunderstorms. It rained over 9 inches that weekend. Our heaviest month of rainfall is 4 inches on average.....9 in a weekend.......it is a lot. So tornado sirens were constantly going off, damns were breaking, and flooding was happening all over Wisconsin. Needless to say the boys played a lot of PlayStation 3 and we ate out a lot. Matt and Mark did hike to Devil's doorway on Saturday, and they got soaked on the way back.

Ava Pick's Her Own Attire

So Ava kept bringing me articles of clothing she wanted to wear. it started out with a pair of bloomers from a sundress that she called "undies". And then a Cozumel T-shirt that is way too small, then her jacket and then her boots, all worn over her jammies. We let this charade go on half the day and then we put on a normal outfit.

Fishing off the Pier Pre-flood.

Ava's cousins love to fish. She decided she wanted in on the action. She didn't catch a fish, but enjoyed pretending for minute.

Pre Cottage Flood ):

Ava trots around in shallow water while Dad picks water weeds.
Ava and her cousin are gathering "helicopter's" and then they would throw them up and watch them fly.
Ava throwing the 126th rock into the lake. She would do this for hours. She calls the tiniest rocks "baby rocks"--so cute!
Ava bouncing on the tire swing.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend before all the flooding. It will be awhile before the cottage will be back in use (whah), so we will try to use the weekends to get some of the house projects we have put off too long........

Paske News!-Dedicated to My Cousin Lacey

Ava is feeding baby Dallin. She loved helping out with the baby. She was keeping a good eye on his pacifier and even though she hasn't had her own"nukie" since December, she still wanted one. She was very gentle with Dallin and didn't know what to do when he pinched her or pulled her hair.

Trying out the fun looking baby toys that of course she is way to big for

So here is Ava practicing being a big sister. She'll get to put her skills to use in a few months. We are almost 14 weeks and expecting a baby December 15th. So this post is dedicated to Lacey because I was talking to her today. I had called my Grandma last week and just figured word had traveled. Ummmm apparently not. At the end of our conversation I mentioned that I was definitely having a c-section with this baby because that is all I know, Ava was huge, and now I am terrified of possibly going into labor. Lacey was like "Your pregnant?". I thought I was big news (: Anyway I planned on scanning in the ultra sound picture last week, but couldn't figure out how to work that dang scanner. So my announcement on the blog is about 1 1/2 weeks later than planned.

A visit to St.Louis in May

Ella and Ava at the park

Dallin looking so happy and cute.
Grant showing off his skills.
The whole Family at Kondike Recreation Area.

Ava and I headed to St. Louis in May while Matt went to his convention in Vegas. We were originally going to visit some friends in Ohio and my Cousin Lacey in Kentucky, but my cousin who is having a baby was put on bed rest because she was in early labor. So the week before we called the Nelson's and asked if we could visit them. Kate was a great host and had something fun planned everyday. We went to the fire station with her playgroup on Thursday.

Friday we went shopping, lunch, and the Magic House. Saturday we went swimming. Sunday we went to Klondike recreational area, and Monday we did a picnic at the park. Ava was a star traveler and especially loved our stop at McDonald's Play land for an hour on the way there and an hour on the way way back. I have to admit they have a new chicken sandwich that is a rip off of Chick-Fil-A and I liked it...............

New Slippers!

My mom sent a birthday package for me and included a pair of slippers for Ava. She is in love with these little dog slippers. I opened the package while she was in the bath and she wanted a the slippers in the bath with her, but of course she had to wait until she was out. So here she is wet hair and all. She is dancing and singing all over the place-sorry no video, just multiple pictures trying to capture the moment.

Ava's Own Little Picnic

Ava set up her own little picnic while I was busy on the phone. I was cracking up when I opened the door to find she helped herself to a box of crackers and a bag of dried blueberries, oh and a little bag of open oreo's.

Picnic in the Park

One day the end of April, yeah I know April was a long time ago. we had a picnic at the park with Ava's best friend Derek. It was really the first nice day of the year at a high of 60 degrees, so we took advantage of the warmth.

Climb On In

Yep, there she was, Ava had climbed into her toy box. She looks like she is trying to protect herself with her flashlight.

A Sibling Retreat + Mom

L to R (Jess, Mark, Lori, Kate, Me, Michele, Mom, and Rachel)
Jess going down the slide with Braxton and Chase.
Our Awesome long shadows-

At a very cool park in St. George

Having Lunch at the Cabin.
Inside an old tree at Red Cliffs.
Pedicures make pretty toes.

At the end of April we all met in St.George to spend some time together. We left the kids at home........yes a I have a wonderful husband and fabulous in laws. While we were there we tried to cram in a lot of fun. We did lunch at Durango's (mmmmmm), grocery shopped, went to a park w/Rachel and Jessie's kids, went to Jessica's in laws cabin (she also has fabulous in laws), hiked a little at Red Cliffs, and treated ourselves to Pedicures and Scalp treatments. It was strange to be w/o my little buddy Ava. We all decided it was too long to be away from our kids and we all wished we could see each others kids. So next time we might bring them and do one night away instead of 5 nights away. Anyway it was good to hang out with everyone and the drama was minimal. Mark heads out on a 2 year mission to Tampico Mexico in July, so this time spent with him was very valuable, because I doubt he'll want to hang with his sisters when he gets back.

Stop and Smell the Flowers

Ava loves everything outdoors. We were at the grocery store and I was telling Ava "Come on this way", her response"No, this way" . She wanted to take a moment to smell the flowers.....she made sure to smell every color. I think I need to slow down once in awhile and enjoy the small things around me.

Anyone Need a Closet Organizer?

Ava is a little busy body always working on a project. Yesterday she decided the pantry needed to be reorganized. She was lining things up in the entryway while I glanced through the paper. When I asked her what she was doing go said "come here" and showed me the pantry. I said Okay lets put everything back and she did it. Of course she wanted to do it all by herself and screamed "stop" when I tried to help. Ummm Okay I guess I can just watch.

Singing in the Rain

We have a 3 tiered private deck that doesn’t have stairs to the ground. I’ve decided that this area is going to be my favorite place this spring/summer/fall. She totally entertains herself out there. I'm even thinking of putting a sandbox on the deck. Ava went out to talk to the birds and throw them bread and after she had been out there a little while it started to rain. She didn't care that she was getting all wet! I grabbed her umbrella and raincoat because she didn't want to come inside. I let her hang out until she decided she wanted to sit down on a wet step and also didn't want to hold her umbrella anymore. Needless to say her clothes were soaked.

Sing me a song your the piano man........

Ava and Derek took turns singing and playing the piano. It was so nice to watch them take turns. Also you might have noticed she doesn't have her pants on. Derek goes potty on the toilet which in turn makes Ava want to be on the potty. After taking off and putting her pants back on a few times, I just left them off for awhile.

No Fear

Ava has a couple of cousins that have the best toys. Her legs aren't long enough to reach the gas -thank goodness, so Daddy pushed the gas while she drove around. Her aunt found a tricycle the kids used when they were smaller, but she didn't want anything to do with that "baby" bike. She thinks she is so big. The kids just learned to ride their bikes w/o training wheels and she was sure she could do it too. So determined.

March Madness

So the UW Badgers were in the sweet sixteen so we decided to have a few friends over for the game. Would you believe they lost??? It was tied at halftime and thenDavidson was on a roll and couldn't miss. The kids had fun anyway. At first Ava didn't know what to think about all the kids, but by the end she was in seventh heaven. We tried to get everyone to look at the camera but that wasn't going to happen. Kid's were tired on a verge of melting down. Anyway we had a good time and we both agreed that we need to have people over more often!

Ava with her Easter Basket

I caught her in a daze.
Acting Excited!

The Easter bunny came to visit Ava this year and brought her all kinds of fun things. The bunny hid eggs all over the house. Ava acted surprised every time she found one. She also got some dinosaurs, markers w/special paper (good tip from Robert and Colleen), and some water toys she can take to the pool (can you tell we are patiently waiting for summer?)......and a few summer clothes. No candy this year because she would been obsessed with unwrapping and eating every single piece. She did open a few of the plastic eggs she found just in case there might be candy in them like there had been at playgroup earlier in the week.

A Snowman for Easter

So right before Easter we got a big storm that dropped 6". Matt made Ava a snowman that had jellybeans for a face. On Easter we went to church and then we went to Matt's parents for a big Easter Lunch/Dinner. There was a ton of great food (including a sweet potato casserole that I made that I must say was amazing!) It also snowed on Easter, big giant flakes..... I know Easter was early this year, but come on!

Dying Easter Eggs

I couldn't believe how much Ava enjoyed coloring eggs. She wanted to keep on going even after the eggs were all colored, so we let her dye one egg multiple colors (surprisingly it didn't turn out brown). It was fun to watch her little brain try and figure t out. I was glad I put newspaper down because she wasn't so careful about the dye and as you can see in the last picture it also got all over her hands.