Ava's Magic Trick

Ava got a magic trick set from Aunt Julie & Uncle Craig. Since they live thousands of miles away, here's a chance to see what she can do!

Couple of recent videos

We finally got our free telescope up and running. Chris got it focused on the moon and invited Ava to take a look:

Below, Ava is demonstrating "Kung Fu Fighting" - her version. She loves the movie "Kung Fu Panda" and now wants to take karate lessons. Based on this video, she might need some instruction in control...

Sledding video

We got about a foot of combined snow in the last week --- 6" or so last night. Ava and I enjoyed some sledding time outside in the back yard. Dad's plowing has created a nice extra bank of snow that adds some height to our sledding hill. We were having so much fun, we didn't quite realize how cold it was until we got back inside...a whopping 8 degrees.

Below is a view from the other morning. The sun had risen just enough to showcase the white snow on the trees in the valley, and we hadn't seen the mountains in a few days. It was a nice change.
Below are some pink clouds that I've started calling "beehives". We've seen them a few times. They only appear in the mornings and are often pink like this. There must be some wind phenomena that causes it. The photo actually came out pretty blurry, but you get the idea.

The sledding video. It's from my camera so not great resolution, but it was clear she was having a good time. The last storm was very fluffy snow, so we both got pretty coated in it while sledding. Having the warm radiant floor in the mudroom here is such a great clothes-dryer. We simply toss our wet stuff on the floor and it's dry an hour later. A nice luxury!

Ice, ice, baby!

This was quite a storm last Friday morning...worst ice storm in this area in a decade. Some people in NH are still without power, and the governor there declared a state of emergency. I drove through NH on Saturday afternoon, and even after a full day of cleanup, everything there looked like a crystal palace. I wish I'd taken pictures during that drive.

Miraculously, we never lost power at home. Here's a photo of our back yard ("view" - ha ha). Alien-looking, isn't it?
Our cable rails handled the ice just fine...the loose ones at the bottom aren't broken - they just hadn't been attached yet (now they are).

Change of subject...on to my favorite photography girl, Ava. She's been pretty excited about Christmas and recently created a "Santa Throne" (her words) out of couch cushions and pretended she was Santa. She listened to her two stuffed teddy bears about what they wanted for Christmas (interestingly, they wanted the things SHE'S been asking for! :))

Ava tried on her new jumper from Auntie Michelle and immediately said, "let's pose for a picture!". I had to jump on it. Usually she's a pretty unwilling subject!

Ava (overtired) modeling her new favorite jammies. We call them the "meteor jammies" because, well...you can figure it out. The kid loves anything to do with space!

Some Ava pics!

It has been a very long time since I updated this blog...and I have a ton of pics of Ava, so here are a few...

Ava with one of her art creations:
Halloween night. Ava's best friend, Willow, is the princess in the middle. As you can see, she LIVES the part! :) Needless to say, Ava was pretty tired (as was mom!) and we made it a short night:

Ava and Willow on a hike up Sabattus Mountain in Lovell (10 min. away from us):

Feeding the baby goats at the Fryeburg Fair:

Ava modeling her Halloween costume. She elected not to wear the helmet on Halloween itself, but has had a ton of fun playing with it at home:

Pics from last few weeks

Ava and Willow enjoying swimming lessons on Kezar Lake in Lovell. It's a gorgeous lake beach, surrounded by picturesque hills and mountains. While it's not obvious here, the girls are really having fun with their lessons, much more so than having their picture taken! Mom and Ava participating in the Bridgton 4th of July parade on the "Crime Watch" float.
Lily in the sunset light at the new house.
Willow and Ava having a comfy (?) sleepover at our house.
Ava got a new outfit in the mail from Grandma Jo and Grampa John. She was actually more excited about receiving a package in the mail than anything else.

A mix of photos from last few weeks

Ava and mommy climbed the "Jockey Cap" trail in Fryeburg. We were seriously outnumbered by swarms of black flies at the top but still had a nice time.
Ava took this awfully cute picture of Lily.
Speaking of awfully cute...is this creature cute or awful? Not sure. This is Denise's apartment mate's cat, Charlene, with her "summer haircut". Little lioness.
Ava got a new top in the mail from Auntie Michelle and is modeling it here along with her own little garden that she planted and has been watering diligently.
A porcupine that we saw along the side of a road. It wasn't particularly afraid of our big truck and munched on stuff as it sat on this rock.
Ava modeling my headband. We called this the "mushroom head" look.
Ava's preschool got a new batch of chicks!
Ava won the "dirtiest face" award the other day!