avablog

Emmett now seems to be entirely over his recent bout with pneumonia, and Ava’s been crazy about getting out into the piles and piles of snow that still linger after our recent storm.

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When I look at this picture, something inside me clicks, as if to indicate some checkbox on a mental list has been marked: “Encourage Ava to love books.” I knew things were getting serious a couple weeks ago, when Ava caught a word I’d missed as I was reading her a bedtime story. I think […]

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I suppose my choice speaks more to my blindness to any flaws of Ava’s or Emmett’s than it does to the technical merits of this photo, but gosh, my heart just swells when I look at this. The crystal clear aquamarine waves and powdered sugar beaches have nothing on these two.

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Our awesome sitter Lindsay took on the challenge of looking after Ava and her two friends Mac and Aaron all morning yesterday. Somewhere along the way, they all sat down to work on some art, and Ava produced a self portrait. It looks a little something like this: Having sat with her enough times during […]

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It’s really cool to see how Ava and Emmett interact with each other as Emmett gets older. Mostly, it’s still Ava acting upon Emmett, but he’s increasingly an active participant in their games. Like last evening, when they got decked out in beaded necklaces and cowboy hats. Crazy kids. Emmett also still doesn’t seem to […]

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Ava was doing watercolor paintings for her mom and other folks the other day, and she whipped up this quickie of a pear for me at the last minute. I think it’s one of the most awesome things I’ve ever seen, and not just because she’s my daughter. Really!

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Ava came inside from a chilly day yesterday with cheeks that so closely matched her pink sweater that I couldn’t help but grab my camera. Luckily, she was in the mood to sit for a photo, at least for a couple seconds….

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I was sitting with Emmett in the living room the other day, listening to Ava cry about something or other out in the kitchen, when I looked into this face and said, “Emmett, why don’t you go give Ava a hug?”

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I had six (more) moles removed last week, all on my back. Within five minutes of walking through the door at home after the appointment, Ava piped up and told me she could help take care of my stitches, reminding me she’d done the same for her mom in the past. I was thrilled.

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Ava, You made my day today. Really, you made my life — again — but that’s what you always do.

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Turns out Ava has a thing for weaving. She mentioned the other day that she wanted to try knitting. When I thought of her trying to handle two big needles with her little brother running all over the place, I suggested she might have more fun with one of these loop-n-loom dealies. Long ago, my […]

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No, your RSS reader isn’t messing with you. This is a new post! I wanted to put up what turns out to be the closest I could get to a shot of Ava and Emmett together in their tooth-themed Halloween costumes:

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Seems momentous. Of course, she’ll look back on this someday and think, “Gawd. E-mail?” from ava palmberg to palmberg@gmail.com date Fri, Oct 22, 2010 at 4:28 PM subject daddy mailed-by gmail.com signed-by gmail.com hide details 4:28 PM LOVE YOU LOTS LOVE AVA DADDY.

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I got an e-mail from G.G. the other day, reminding me that we’ve not been posting to this blog enough. She’s a master of the obvious. So I thought I’d take this rare opportunity to tell a little story I think will make G.G.’s day.

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Ava as she left the house this morning. So much horse, so little time….

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The papers were on the table when we walked in from work last night. “Read, read, every day. Read, read, to fly away.” That was the “poem” on one of the signs, next to a marker drawing of my stick-figure daughter in her peach-colored shirt and leggings. In this picture, she is a teacher. And […]

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L asked AGP to make this card for a friend at work (who shall remain nameless; I hope she doesn’t read this blog, or at least not before she gets to work tomorrow and receives her surprise) who collects Hello Kitty. I hope she likes it! This isn’t the finished product, but I can assure […]

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Went out to Wilson’s Orchard on the weekend to see what we could see. Saw lots of apple trees and not so many apples (we weren’t picking anyway). Had lunch and ran into some friends. Got some pictures (no, seriously!). Overall, a nice time.

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Ava, who busied herself yesterday afternoon by drawing a number of really cool pictures, including one in which she reproduced the butterfly stitched on her shirt.

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Ava’s still having a bit of a difficult time making the leap from Willowwind to Hoover, but I believe she’s getting the hang of things. This Friday is school picture day, which is also Ava’s birthday, so there’s some light at the end of the tunnel which has been this week; she loves getting dressed […]

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