Archive for the ‘Ava’ Category
18 May
A hike up the hill
Every so often, Ava insists on walking to school by herself. It’s a short three blocks, and Bryan usually follows behind her, circling in and out of the neighborhood cul-de-sacs so he can keep an eye on her.
This morning, I offered to watch her make her way up the hill. I got a bit of a later start than Bryan would have liked, and he waited impatiently while watching her from the end of the driveway.
His “There’s a shady looking van–hurry up!” was met with my, “Good god, man, calm down. How do you sleep?”
I have to say, though, as I watched Ava navigate the one and only intersection (four cars seemed to come out of nowhere the moment her foot hit the street!), I felt an remarkable mix of fear and pride. She was extremely cautious, and obviously pleased with her independence.
By the way, there’s just four more days of first grade…
16 May
Monarch Watch
We spent Saturday at the campus Monarch Watch event—the girls had a great time holding caterpillars and butterflies and spending time outside on a gorgeous spring day.
Olivia politely requested a caterpillar that was more “crawly.” This one didn’t meet her expectations.
This was an improvement.
7 May
Room to grow
We finished painting and decorating the girls’ room this weekend. I have a tendency to go with the very last option on the paint swatch (why paint something purple when you can paint it PURPLE?) but Bryan talked me into a lighter shade of lavender. I’m really happy with the way it turned out.
The beds certainly aren’t space savers, but the colors make for a pretty cute set up. (As I expected, I’ve found two sisters snuggled into the top bunk on more than one occasion.)
This is the cleanest this bookcase will ever look. And, of course, I had to prominently display the Madison terrace chairs and table from American Girl.
Halfway through my photo shoot, I had a volunteer model. Ava’s been spending way too much time perusing direct mail catalogs, it would appear.
We found space to hang the birth samplers my mom made…
…and a spot for the “Pickle Dish” quilt, which Karyl made for Ava. “Night Night Duck,” which Ava loved/loathed for years, took a spot on the shelf next to the book Gramma Great used to read to me, and to my mom before that.
The cradles in the above shot were made by my stepdad and mom—they crafted them with pine from the trees that grew in front of my grandparents’ house for decades. I’ve always intended to do a separate post on this topic, but to be honest, the gesture continues to render me tearfully speechless. (See also: The Dresden Plate quilt Karyl made for me with blocks created from scrap calico by my Great Grandma Wallen, which now hangs just outside of this bedroom.) We are VERY blessed to have such talented and thoughtful family members.
Our final project for the weekend was updating the room just down the hall, which is ready and waiting…
5 May
Out of this world
After a rather challenging transition to first grade (which in true Ava fashion lasted roughly three times longer than it needed to), Ava has settled in nicely. Her teacher creates a special work plan with additional projects for her each month; some are completed during free time at school, and others are done at home.
She’s created and delivered about five PowerPoint presentations, crafted a constellation model from a shoe box and a flashlight, and written a number of poems and short stories. Last week, she and Bryan worked together to create a model of the solar system. The sytrofoam planets orbit around the sun on repurposed wire hangers, and there’s even a little tinfoil moon next to the earth.
Ava is dismayed I don’t know more about Mars, but at least all of this planetary talk is rubbing off on someone: Olivia just correctly defined the solar system. Hopefully she’ll retain that knowledge for a least a couple of years.
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