Pure Joy!

Apple Trees

Ingredients: crackers, pretzels, peanut butter and red M&Ms

Working on her project

Ava's favorite part: the M&M's!

Elmo and Caterpillar helped with the project

Finished product: Apple Trees

Giving Elmo and Caterpillar some love...stylin!

Today Ava and I did a fun little snack craft. We made some "Apple Trees". For the months of August and September in her 2 year old preschool class Ava is learning all about the shape: circle, the number: one and the color: red. The other day at speech I told Ava's speech teacher, Miss Somer, about what Ava was learning. Then this past week she gave us this super fun project to do together.

The ingredients for the project are: crackers, pretzels, red M&M's and peanut butter. You start by spreading peanut butter on a cracker. You then place the pretzel at the base of the cracker as the "trunk" of the tree. Finally you add the M&M's as the apples on the tree. While making the trees we talked about how the crackers are in the shape of a circle and the M&M's are the color red. The project is a fun project to do, a learning experience and very yummy to eat!

First Day of School 2011

Ava's first day of school: 2010

Ava's first day of school: 2011

Ava's teachers: Miss Lauri and Miss Holly

Miss Sassy

Mommy and Ava

Ava and Kate on their first day of school

Today was Ava's first day of school! She is back at Burnt Hickory, so I think that helped a little with the transition to a new class. This morning it was exciting to see Ava's cousin Kate. The two girls were too cute. When they saw each other they said hey and gave each other a hug. Too bad that they are not in the same class together (boo!).

Ava's first day started positively. She sweetly let Mommy take pictures on the front steps and was singing on the way to school. She was still happy when she walked in to school and saw her buddy Addison and her cousin Kate. Then we got to her classroom and she started crying. Her teachers did a great job comforting her (and me)! When I came back to pick her up Miss Holly and Miss Lauri said that she settled down, after about 30 minutes of crying (more like a tantrum). They said she did have a good day and even made a little craft. After school Ava and I went to Chick fil A to celebrate with Addison, Will and Miss Cynthia the first day of school. Lunch was going great until Ava decided she was done and I wanted to eat a little more before she could go play. So after having a little tantrum and then a medium size tantrum, we went home with out getting to play. Once at home I put Ava down for a nap....and she knocked out almost immediately! I guess we can all be a little grumpy when we are tired!!

Family Beach Trip 2011

Chillin!

Yeah!

Ocean time with Grammy

Playing in the sand

No more pictures paparazzi!!

We had a great time with Doc and Grammy

Ga-Ga-Ga-Ga GLAMOUR SHOTS!

Feeding the sea gulls

Playing in the ocean with Doc

She's a dancing machine

Ava has the funnest Daddy!!

Ava had so much fun with her cousins!

Cooler Family 2011

Brad, Carri, Hudson and McClellen

Fun outing at the aquarium

The shark was eyeing Ava for a snack!

Family Beach trip 2011 was soooooooo much fun! We spent a week at an amazing, beautiful beach front house. We had a great time hanging out with Doc, Grammy, Brad, Carri, Hudson and McClellen. We spent most of our time down on the beach, playing in the sand and splashing in the ocean. One morning we took a special trip to the Charleston aquarium which was so much fun and very educational. Towards the end of the week we had a yummy meal out to eat with all nine of us. It was so much fun dressing up and going out to a delicious dinner and then some incredible ice cream for dessert. Adam, Ava and I are so blessed to have the opportunity to spend great quality time with our fun, amazing family. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!

Summer Sunday

Having ice cream with Mommy

Playing games: Zingo and Lucky Ducks

Swinging

Learning to sweep

Bubbles

I love Sundays! I love easing into the morning and having a cup of coffee before going to get up Ava and ready for church. I am so thankful for the wonderful children's ministry that Ava attends at our church, Cedarcrest Church. She has great teachers that love her, teach her about Jesus and are patient with her when we have a rough start (like this morning!). After church we came home, lunch and a good nap (for Mommy and Ava). When we all got up from nap time Mommy and Ava shared some ice cream outside on Ava's new picnic table. Daddy made the picnic table...he is so talented. We then played outside with bubbles and played on the swing set. Because it is VERY hot this summer, we went inside and played some of her favorite games, Zingo and Lucky Ducks. Overall, it was a fantastic Sunday! "This is the day the LORD has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!"

The Letter Z

Zacchaeus was a we little man!

reading her Greedy Zebra book

Ava loves playing Zingo

Ava can now zip down the slides by herself!

I know that we have taken a little break from doing a letter of the day. But we are back to finally finish up the letter of the day curriculum with the letter Z. We started the day by getting up and getting ready to go to Whitewater. Ava loves to zip down the water slides...she now goes down them by herself. After we got home we read together, the Greedy Zebra. The book was a gift from my roommate from college Melissa. She and her husband used to live in Africa, and they actually got to see real zebras. When Ava woke up from her long nap, we played Zingo and sang and danced with "Zacchaeus was a we little man". My favorite part is when Ava sings, "Zacchaeus you come down." She points and shakes her little finger...hilarious!

Day 26

The Letter Z

Verse of the day:

Revelation 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Bible Story of the Day:

Zacchaeus and Jesus

Activities

Play Zingo

Watch Zacchaeus song DVD

Zip down the slides at Whitewater

Read the Zebra book

Food:

Zebra Cakes

Ziti

Zucchini

Zero candy bars