PAY IT FORWARD!

IT"S HERE AND YOU COULD WIN!!!!

Finally I have found the time to PAY IT FORWARD. I don't usually win anything, but lucky me, I won a great pay it forward from my sister Lori. It was in December and I decided to wait until Christmas was way over. Well Christmas is way over and I am pretty excited and hope I get a lot of entries. Below are the rules.
1. You must have your own blog to perpetuate the Pay It Forward Exchange/Craft. YOU MUST Pay It Forward! It can be something you have crafted or bought. (I'm doing "a few of my favorite things" as a theme.)

2. You must enter by making a comment with something interesting about yourself and don't worry if I don't know you. Please send friends that would want to do this fun activity to my blog.

3. You have until Monday night, August 11th to sign up through my blog.

4. I will pick 3 of the commenter's randomly.

Happy Birthday Ava!

Ava is hiding in my arms while the folks at Red Robin sing her a loud Happy Birthday. We went with her Uncle Corey and Grandpa the day before her birthday. It actually scared her and she cried. Who knew?

Ava and her Birthday Breakfast-A Rice Crispy w/chocolate and two candles to blow out.

Ava's new picnic table and some other birthday presents.....Oh and her giant princess balloon that sings and cost ummmm............$13 (this was a Dad purchase)

Ava and her best friend Derek eating pizza, one of Ava and Daddy's favorite things to eat.

Opening up presents form her Grandma Jones, a picnic basket and a cash register.
Ava blowing out her candles on the chocolate cake I made for her. It is the famous cake my Aunt Diane makes. Yum Yum!

The day after her birthday her Grandparents, Aunt and cousins took her out for dinner and came to the house for leftover cake and open all the presents they brought over. 3 days of celebration, what a lucky little girl. (she wore this crown all through dinner, what a princess)

Ava and her cousin enjoying a play picnic.

Ava turned two at the end of June. She loved having a birthday and still requests the birthday song every night when we sing songs. When she woke up she got a rice crispy treat with two candles to blow out. A treat for breakfast you ask? Oh yeah I had one too! I'll list a few great things about Ava.

1. She is a gentle giant. Even though she is a big kid (35.5 lbs and 36.5 inches, and wears mostly 4T) she is tender and careful. I'm not sure she will always be this way, but for now she doesn't use her size to her advantage.

2. She loves babies, puppies, and kitty's. If she spots a cat or dog she wants to stop and pet them, even if we are in the car. She is constantly pointing out babies and will let me know that she here's a baby crying that is 3 aisles over. I hope she still loves babies in 5 months :)

3. She loves the show Yo Gabba Gabba and will sit and watch it while I take a quick shower and the Wiggles if we are on a long road trip. Otherwise she won't watch more than 3 minutes of anything unless she has just woken up.

4. She loves to help cook, clean, water plants, check the mail, etc...Can't this quality last forever?

5. She is a great sleeper especially now that all 8 of her molars are in. Her summer bedtime is around 9 pm and she sleeps to around 8:30 am. She still takes an afternoon nap for 2-3 hrs. She prefers to wake on her own and awakes happy. If I have to wake her up she is happy at first and then grouchy and demanding for at least an hour. This girly needs her sleep!

6. She is a little monkey and climbs on everything. Last week she climbed out of her pack and play while we were in St. George. So far no attempts to climb out of the crib.

7. She gives big hugs and even kisses on demand. Once in awhile she sneaks in a licky kiss when you least expect it.

8. This takes me to her sense of humour. She is a big tease and very silly. She has us laughing constantly.

9. So far she has traveled a lot. We had to buy her first plane ticket last week now that she is two, so her travel schedule will probably slow down. She has been to Chicago, San Francisco, Milwaukee, the Bahama's, St.George, Mexico, St. Louis, Phoenix, Boise, and Salt Lake City. She always points out airplanes and will ask every couple of weeks "Airplane Mommy?" I assure her that we will go on an airplane soon.

10. She is a good little eater. Fruit and cheese are at the top of her list. Even though she always asks for chocolate, she is good to try new things. She likes Thai, Indian, and Mexican. She also likes things that are a little spicy. She still drinks rice milk and peanut butter and jelly is on the bottom of her list.

Happy Birthday Ava! Of course there are lots of things we love about you, these just happen to be the first 10 things I though of.

Just Kickin' Back for Breakfast

I caught Ava just kicking back while she was eating breakfast one day in June. She usually follows our rule of no feet on the counter, so I was worried that by taking a picture of her breaking the rules, it might encourage her to do it all the time, but surprisingly she hasn't made it a common practice.

Gettin' Wet

Ava enjoyed playing in the hose on a nice warm evening in June. At first she was watering things and getting herself with a bit of water. She would just gasp and giggle as the cold water landed on her skin. Then she wanted dad to hold the hose while she ran through the water. She loves playing in the water and we need to take advantage while it's warm.

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.