First Day of 4K

Today was Ava's first day of 4K at preschool.  It is so hard to believe that this time next year she will be in kindergarten.  We are so excited that this year Ava's teacher also taught our two nieces so we have known her for a while now and she is the best!  At the class orientation a few nights ago, I couldn't wait to come home and tell Ava about all the fun stuff she will be doing this year.  I spent yesterday getting things ready for today.  I began filling out her preschool book.  I found this book at HappiNames and I really like its simplicity.  There are places to write in all the pertinent information and places for pictures.  They have them for each grade level.  

Ava helped me make a first day treat for her teachers.  I found this idea on The Shindig Parties To Go website, http://amandaparkerandfamily.blogspot.com/2011/08/tutorial-teacher-pencil-vase.html, and thought it was adorable!  Ava helped me by handing me the pencils as I hot glued them.  Then I made chocolate covered Oreos to stick into the pencil vase.  The cookies would have looked much better had I had a cookie mold, but the one I ordered from SpinningLeaf did not get here in time.  Oh well, you do what you can.  Her teachers loved their little "happy".

Last night, it was time to start packing lunches again.  It is important to me to try to pack a nutritious lunch for Ava.  I think bento boxes are a great way to do this.  I got this bento kit from Laptop Lunches and we both love it!  It enables the food to be presented in a colorful way and also helps me think outside the box as far as nutrition goes.  Now I admit, this is not the healthiest bento I could have packed.  However, we just got back from vacation and have not yet gone grocery shopping and we don't have much in the way of food at the house right now.  Again, you do what you can. 

I make a point to include a note in Ava's lunch.  That can get monotonous because she can't read much yet but I knew she would be able to read this simple note.

Ava's teachers told us at orientation that the kids would be bringing home flash cards throughout the year to work with at home.  I found this cute little box in the clearance section at Hobby Lobby for $3.  It is the perfect size to keep the flashcards in so this will be Ava's flashcard box.  I do so love a bargain!

It also came with matching dividers so we can have her alphabetize her cards.

Ava woke up really well this morning which is kind of unusual.  Like Kevin and myself, she is not a morning person.  She was really excited about school though and hopped right out of bed.  Kevin is in town right now so we were both able to take her this morning.  Here she is getting ready to go in her classroom.  I found this cute little printable by Sugar Tots Designs at http://www.iheartnaptime.net/2011/08/updated-back-to-school-printables-k-12.html.  Just printed it out and stuck it on card stock and added a pencil for her to hold it.

Time to go in the classroom and start the school day!  Here is Ava with her teachers.

They are wonderful and Ava had a great day!  We figured she would because she loves school but it was still nice to pick her up and see the big smile on her face.  We are looking forward to a great school year!

Ready for Fall!

I'm definitely not one to wish my life away but I am ready for summer to go!  I'm sick of these miserable, steamy, humid days that make me not want to leave the house due to both the weather and its effect on my hair.  :)  These last couple of slightly cooler, maybe my makeup won't melt off my face days have made me even more ready for fall.  Today I decided to go on and be crafty with Halloween in mind.  I took an idea for a pumpkin topiary that I found on Pinterest and put my own spin on it.  

Fall floral around the flowerpot that I painted.

Spiderweb print for the letters.

There are a couple of things I will do differently next time, but not bad for a first attempt.  Of course, I didn't leave it on the porch yet--but when October and cooler temps roll around I'm ready!

The Lost Vacation Photos

So I was uploading pictures from my camera for a post that I will be making in just a moment, when I stumbled upon these pics from our beach trip this past week.  I'm not sure where I was when these were being taken and I assume Kevin took the pictures.  Just wanted everyone to see how silly Ava is on a regular basis:

And everyone says she reminds them of me.  Hmmmm......

Orange Beach--Day Four

We slept in this morning and when we got up, Ava decided she wanted to wear one of her new outfits we bought at the outlet mall yesterday.

We spent the morning at 

where we rode go-karts, bumper boats (Kevin is hunched over in this pic because the kid behind him kept following him around and nailing him with the squirt gun--ha ha!),

watched Ava on some rides,

and played skee ball.

Between the four of us, we earned 307 tickets which Ava redeemed for some panda bubbles and neon bracelets.

After The Track, we enjoyed ice cream at Scoops.

We came back to the condo and went down to the beach.  We haven't spent much time on the beach at all.  The jellyfish are absolutely EVERYWHERE!

I also am very anti-sun exposure and am not interested in just laying out on the beach.  Our resort had such amazing pools, slides, hot tubs, and the lazy river so we had plenty of time to relax in the water.  We worked on building some sand castles until a storm started brewing.

We got ready for dinner and went to 

We had crab cakes, parmesan baked shrimp, and cheese grits and the entire meal was delicious.  Kevin and Ava had fun while we were waiting on our table.

Mom and I had fun shopping in the stores along The Oyster House's boardwalk.  This one was my favorite--so much cute stuff!

After dinner it was pretty late so we went back to the condo and planned to do some more swimming.  By the time we got up to the door to go in, Ava was passed out.

She woke up long enough to get her pj's on and blow some of her new bubbles with her Neena on the balcony and then it was off to bed after a long, fun day!

Orange Beach--Day Three

Shopping.  Lambert's.  Swimming.   Sleep.  

Orange Beach--Day Two

This morning, we all slept in and then got ready to go exploring.  It's been years since Kevin and I were last here and my mom has never been so we needed to get acquainted with the area.  We ended up heading over to Lulu's for lunch.  We didn't have a long wait but Ava did have time to play in the sand and water before we ate.

Time for lunch!  My "cheeseburger in paradise"--if you don't know, Lulu's is owned by Jimmy Buffett's sister.  It was delicious!

They do hair wraps and braids at Lulu's and I just knew Ava would want one.  Well, she didn't.  When we told her to pick out a Lulu's shirt to buy, she said she didn't want one.  Oh, well--I guess it's saving money. :)  After lunch, we came back to the condo to swim.  Ava absolutely loves the water and she loves swimming.  Mom and I spent the majority of our time floating in the lazy river, lounging, and reading.

This afternoon, we went on a dolphin tour.  Here we are waiting for the boat to pull out of the marina.

Going out to open water to watch for dolphins.

Unfortunately, the dolphins were not being very cooperative.  We did see a few briefly and at a distance.  I was so disappointed that none were close enough for us to get a good picture.  Maybe next year.  I did take a couple of pics while we were out on the water.  We passed a barge.

Our resort at a distance.

We were out on the water for quite awhile and even though we didn't see a lot of dolphins, we enjoyed being out on the boat and seeing the sights.  Ava ended up falling asleep for about 45 minutes of the cruise.

We came back into the marina at sunset and it was beautiful.

After dinner, Ava wanted to do more swimming before bed.  So we closed down the pool  at 11.  Kevin and Ava had a good time going down one of the slides.

So another late night, an early morning, and busy day ahead of us tomorrow.  We're going to need a vacation from our vacation!

Orange Beach-Day One

We left this morning for a trip down to Orange Beach in Alabama.  We invited my mom to come along with us.  My dad started a new job about a month ago and couldn't take time off so we left him at home to be a bachelor for the next five days.  :)  Ava has been so excited about this trip.  It is her first trip to the beach and she has been asking to pack her suitcase for about a month now.  Mom came over early this morning and we got loaded up in the truck to go.  I laughed as I looked at our luggage filling the back because it looked like mom and I were having a contest to see who could bring the most Vera Bradley patterns.

Mom and Ava are all settled in the backseat and ready to go.

Ava and mom had a great time hanging out on the way down there.  They watched Despicable Me and Tangled and danced to the songs on the radio.  We stopped at Chik-fil-a for lunch and to stretch and then got back on the road again.  Ava did really well--it wasn't until we were about 3 hours into the trip that she asked when we going to get there.  Fortunately right after that she fell asleep for about an hour or so.

She only asked one more time before we got here so she did an awesome job and was a great traveler.  I think it really helped that she had her Neena back there to visit with her.  Finally, we are here!

Our condo is amazing!  We have a large balcony with views of both the bay and the ocean.

The condo itself is fairly large for condo standards--about 1500 square feet and very nice.  Looking from the entry way into the condo.

Living Room

 Kitchen

 Master Bedroom

 Master Bath

Mom and Ava's Bedroom

Out to the balcony from our bedroom

 We explored around the building for a while and found a huge, multi-level pool with 3 water slides, hot tubs, fitness room, sauna, arcade, deli, another huge pool, and a lazy river.  We decided to drive around and look for somewhere to eat.  We ended up over by the marina and ate at Tacky Jack's Tavern which is on the water.  While we were waiting on our table, Kevin and Ava went down to the dock to look at the water.  Ava got sand in her shoe and took it off.  Kevin asked her to give it to him before she dropped it and she handed it right over.  Kevin promptly dropped it into the marina.  We saw him walking toward us carrying Ava who was now wearing just one silver sandal.  Ava was not too happy because this is a pair of shoes that she likes to wear often.  Kevin ended up finding a man that had a pool skimmer and fishing her shoe out of the water.  After dinner, we came back to the condos and Kevin and Ava got ready to go swimming.  Mom and I went to watch them swim and plan out the rest of our trip.  We closed down the pool at 11 and Ava and mom have spent the rest of the night coloring.  It is 12:30 am and Ava just passed out.  That little girl is like the Energizer bunny!  We have a lot planned for tomorrow so I guess I should get to sleep too!