Mom: Ava, would you like to go to the zoo tomorrow morning?
Ava: No! I don’t like the zoo.
Mom: What? Why?
Ava: Because there are lions and tigers and Cheetos and leopards. And all four of those bite.
Archive for the ‘Ava’ Category
30 Jul
Weekend fun
26 Jul
Summer chores
Ava helped me stem the green beans that Dawn and Karyl gave us last weekend. I can remember doing this as a kid while sitting on the front step of our farmhouse, and Karyl said she had her kids do the same. I guess it’s a summer rite of passage for both city kids and country kids!
19 Jul
Thank goodness for grandparents
We’ve had a relatively hectic month. Following a week-long vacation, Ava’s preschool was closed for a week, then Olivia’s was closed the past two weeks. We were fortunate to have Katie on for a big chunk of that time, and I was able to work from home for a few days as well.
Last week, though, we had to call in reinforcements: The Grandparents.
My grandparents came Monday and Tuesday, and Karyl was here Tuesday evening through today. They all seem to have ceaseless energy, the desire to play “doctor’s office” for hours on end and the ability to convince Olivia that she really does want to be rocked to sleep.
The only downside is that I spent three and a half months on maternity leave telling Bryan that it was impossible to keep house AND watch the children at the same time. Now that he’s seen otherwise, I’m going to have to step up my game.
Or convince the grandparents to move in. Either one.
16 Jul
At the Smiths…
I mentioned that we went back to Nebraska last weekend for pancakes. Wait, no, we went back for a birthday party. It was delicious. I mean, fun.
But also delicious. See below.
Ava had a chance to play in the playhouse with Grandma Smith.
And we enjoyed the beautiful view…
But did I mention the pancakes?
We’ll be back.
15 Jul
Sweets for the sweet
While we were visiting Mom, I told her that I was in the mood to bake something. She simply pointed me toward the cherry tree outside.
This is truly baking from scratch…as long as you don’t count the crust!
My mom, who picks and freezes quarts and quarts of cherries each summer, has a handy little pitting tool. Still, this chore took about three times as long as the picking.
I followed a recipe for fresh cherry pie from a vintage Better Homes and Gardens cookbook–remember the one with the picnic-plaid cover? It simply called for three cups of cherries, a cup and a half of sugar and a quarter cup of flower. I added a bit of salt and vanilla.
Lattice tops are my favorite, usually because it makes rolling the top crust less stressful as there’s no need for a perfectly smooth round. Recent time crunches have pushed me to turn to Pillsbury, but I still love a pretty lattice.
Eighteen hours of pitting and picking later, here’s the finished product!
It was totally worth it.
Smith Family Weblog 
