23 February 2015-
Ava is nine years old today.
My baby is NINE YEARS OLD!!!?!
How on Earth can she already be nine? It seems impossible- was there a hiccup in the space-time continuum? Like I know what that even means…seriously, I don't have a clue what that means but doesn't it sound cool?
It's her last year in the single digits…YIKES!
What can I say about our sweet, little baby-girl???
You've finally fallen in love with reading- and now it's hard to get you to take a break from reading. I'm more than happy to see this delightful change. It seems that you've finally discovered a few book series that you've fallen in love with. (like "Geronimo Stilton" and the "Ramona" series)
Your writing skills have improved remarkably this past year! Not only is your handwriting neat and legible, you're also writing interesting stories that are fun to read.
You've definitely inherited your father's tinkering tendencies. You love building things and taking other things apart.
You love cats and dogs but especially cats. You really love and miss Mittens.
You're still quite the talker. I can gauge your comfort level with strangers through this- if you're comfortable with someone you will talk. If not, you refuse to say a peep.
You're brave! You're already scuba diving!!!! It took me 41 years to finally dive and you're not even 10 years old and you're comfortable diving. WOW!
You love to cook. Where would we be without our Saturday morning waffles that you make for us? It's interesting how strong that urge is for you to make waffles on Saturday – you'll forego sleepovers with friends to make sure you're home for those waffles.
You still follow your older sister very closely- you like what Annika likes; you watch what Annika wants to watch. Your sister is really into the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie series…which means that you, too, are watching it. It's sometimes difficult to tell whether or not these really, truly interest you.
I absolutely ADORE getting hugs and cuddles from you! I don't get enough…I don't think I could ever get enough.
24 February 2015-
We celebrated your actual birthday while on Koh Laoliang in Thailand. (photos to come in following posts). You requested lemon meringue pie for your birthday so when we got home on the 24th I went quickly shopping for ingredients and baked you up this treat:
Mind you, after not having properly slept in several days I had to read and re-read the recipe several times. I sure hope it turns out!
The hardest part about this entire project was waiting. Waiting for the pie to cool down enough so that we could eat it! We downloaded and watched the movie, "The Labyrinth" (do you remember it? It's super OLD!!!!) while waiting not-so-patiently for the pie to cool.
Finally! It's cool enough to cut!
Ava found and placed the nine birthday candles on her not-quite-cooled-enough lemon meringue pie:
Daddy lighting The Birthday Candles:
Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday DEAR AVA….Happy birthday to you!
That smile makes my heart just melt….
The most important part…the Cutting of the Pie:
Yeah…this pie is one recipe of lemon custard and TWO recipes of the meringue…mmmmmmmm….A plate of lemony, tangy, sweet fluff goodness!
Now stepping back in time by one day:
23 February 2015 –
On Koh Laoliang, Thailand. (I think "Koh" means "island" in Thai.)
"The Magic Ava":
Ha! Ava, did you think we'd forget your birthday??? Nope! We secretly stashed two gifts…thoughtfully wrapped in black trash bags…in the suitcases. Okay, not the nicest wrapping job but it worked!
A box of mixed polymer clay:
An electronic circuit kit:
After a full day of playing in the water and on the beach it's dinner time. Can't beat this beach-front dining location:
I had asked the front desk (of sorts) to make something for Ava's birthday but sadly they fell short with this task. Annika to the rescue! She stepped in by asking the cook for bread, peanut butter, honey, and nutella. Annika and I worked on making this very unusual sandwich "cake". We layered bread with nutella, peanut butter and honey. Perhaps it's not pretty to look at but I can attest that it was a tasty, easy-to-eat treat! We sung happy birthday to this lovely little lady:
Goonie Avie Baby!
Happy birthday to our sweetest, tiniest, gooniest Baby!!!! May you continue to shower us with your fanciful, fun stories. We love you to the Ends of the Universe and back.