avablog

Ava’s room is full of stars. At night, she turns on her special ladybug nightlight, and it covers the ceiling with either blue, green, or red constellations. She usually chooses the blue. Last night, after feeding Emmett, I went to check on her beneath her starry blue sky. She was huddled under her blankets, clutching her lambie lovey and she said, “I’m so lonely, Mama. I’m lonely at night.”
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It’s bundle-up weather all of a sudden.

No matter what I do, I can’t keep Ava from becoming cuter as time goes by. But I’ll keep trying! All I can do in the meantime is document her cuteness to the best of my ability.

Em’s cuteness was on full display over the weekend in Decorah, where we’d traveled for the Klevars’ annual apple cider event. The boy seemed to have a good time, but he’s just so generally happy that it doesn’t really matter where he is. Last night, before we fell asleep, I looked over at Leah and told her I hoped Emmett’s personality doesn’t change. I knew as soon as the words left my mouth that it would never be, so I’ll just go with the flow for now and enjoy the happy baby he is.

I can’t resist. I got some pictures over the weekend that I really like a lot, but none so much — I think — as this one:

To say any more about the photo or its subjects would just come across as bragging, but beauty aside, I do like the detail on R’s jacket.

Last weekend we made the annual trek to Decorah for apple cider making. The weather was a bit sketchy, but we managed to dodge the showers long enough to gather, clean, and press a whole load of apples. As you might expect, I got all sorts of pictures and video from the event, most of which were taken with a couple rented lenses I’m trying out. I love rented lenses. Enjoy!

My dearest Big Girl:

A few days ago, you came downstairs in jeans and a fancy shirt, carrying a small bag of your “play-pretend” make-up. You said, “I want to look like you, Mommy. I’m a grown-up.” My breath caught in my chest at the sight of my baby turned into a little girl, wanting to play at growing up.
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Truth be told, I spend all this time taking pictures of the kids so that someday Leah will relent in her insistence that we have “professional” shots done. It’s not that I don’t believe in professional photography. I just don’t see a pro getting anything much better than, say, this:

I love you.

Forever and ever.

A friend of Leah’s let us borrow this nifty little seat for Emmett. He seems to get a kick out of it, though he does start to tip over after sitting in it for a while.

I have an inkling that it would be a lot easier to explain the birds and the bees to Ava right now than to do it when she’s 11. Or 13. I’m guessing that when she’s older, there’ll be the danger that she can get up from our talk, walk out the door, and put into practice all the things I’ve just described. I want to give her a textbook, not a manual.
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You may be surprised to learn that Emmett is growing. It’s true. And he’s doing all sorts of cute and cool stuff these days, like laughing at his sister’s antics and rolling over from his back to his tummy; that’s his most recent favorite. I haven’t caught any video of the actual roll yet (heck, we all know what the looks like anyway, right?), but I did get some footage of him post-roll as he held his head up and peered around while his sister eggs him on.

First, an aside. Why can’t squirrels be more like farm chickens? I mean, you can’t run over a farm chicken if you try, but squirrels just seem to freeze up when a car comes upon them. Anyway, I squished one on the way home from dropping off Ava at school this morning, and it’s not a great way to start the day.
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Neither Mark nor I has had time to post on this blog much lately. This summer, I suddenly realized that we both were spending more hours online than with our children or each other. I decided that moments spent in real time were better than moments spent documenting them–or trying to keep up on social networking and photo sites.
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I’d be hard put to come up with an image from the last couple months that better describes Ava’s summer. Pigtails, corn dogs, and carnival rides. Oh, and those boots. Always with the boots. This is a shot Gramary took at the Regina Fall Fun Festival over the weekend. Poor kid has a couple inches to go before she can thrill to this ride:

And you know it’s major cuteness if the boy’s looks can make up for my presence in the photo. Picture by Leah at our impromptu anniversary dinner this past weekend:

Another shot taken with camera gear I could never hope to afford. But it sure is fun to use!

Ava’s in a major Western wear phase at the moment. I can’t tell if Leah’s happy about it or not, but Ava sure does have a blast getting dolled up in her boots, hat, and bandana.

In fairness, I should probably note that the kid still keeps in touch with her princess roots, too.

This second shot was taken by Leah with a big new lens I have; I think it turned out great, and why not? Clearly, I need to encourage her to get behind the lens more often.

Ava went downtown with her Gramary over the weekend to partake of the festivities surrounding a sand castle building competition. One such festivity was a free concert, and, well, you just know Ava’s gotta move. Photo by Gramary:

I suppose it makes sense that a photo of Emmett is the 13,000th image I’ve uploaded to flickr since late 2004. I’m just glad it turned out to be a photo that I’m happy with, even it is was taken with a rented lens.