Knitting

With the new baby coming, I'm determined to learn to knit. Last night at Abby's art class, Miss Liz decided to teach us all how to knit. Yes, even Abby. Actually, mostly Abby. She has learned how to sew in art class, crochet at Granny Delma's, and now knitting. I don't know why I'm constantly surprised that she can do all of this stuff.....who really needs hands anyway?!

Abby knitting with my hand....

Abby knitting solo....

3 days and counting.....

That's how long Abby's room has been clean!!! If I weren't 7 months pregnant and were much more athletic, I'd be doing back flips!!! She made the mistake of asking me to do laundry last week, and I found some questionable items in her pockets. I decided to see what else I could find, and well, lets just say that it wasn't a good day from there on out. I found a TON (like 2 big black trash bags) of stuff that needed to go. When she got home, she had a ginormous pile of crap on her bed, and a mountain of clothes on her floor that I pulled out of her closet. She was pretty upset, but spent the next three days working her tail off cleaning it up. This is the first time that she's really put a good effort into getting it the way it needs to be, and she's done a great job of keeping it up for 3 days now. She's figured out that she doesn't get in near as much trouble, stays more focused without the mess, and can get it cleaned up in about 30 seconds if she stays on top of it. She's even been getting onto Ava for bringing things into her room. So tonight I decided to snap a few pictures of her room, and of course, they couldn't stay out of the line of fire. They love the camera:)

The pile 'o jackets on the shelf is my fault. There's a coat rack under her clothes that I need to hang up so that she'll have somewhere for her jackets.

We even have color coded laundry hampers so that she can put her clothes in the right hamper!

Ava's best smile:)

Just Shoot Me Now

Wanna know why I haven't posted in a looooooong time? Because every single time I think I'm gonna sit down and do it, a night like tonight happens.

We came home from eating dinner with Jake, and Ava wanted an orange. I was busy peeling the orange and Abby was finally getting her scooter out of the driveway after being told three times to do it. Abby came in whining about wanting an orange, and so Ava gave her half. Sweet for sharing, but Abby had already had 2 oranges and it was Ava's first one.

I fed the dogs, and of course, they got in a huge fight. It's been happening every day for 15 years....you think I'd be used to it by now. While the dogs were fighting, I noticed that the cat box smelled awful and told Abby to clean it out. After a minor dramariffic scene, she went to clean it. When she got there, another dramariffic episode erupted as she realized that the scoop ended up in the litter box and the cat had pooped on it. Tough crap. Put the scoop somewhere where it can't fall into the box, and scoop out the box.

While she was doing that, I peeled Ava another orange. While Ava was eating orange 2.0, drama queen came in bawling that while she was scooping the box, the cat pooped in it and pooped on her hand. Now I'm no rocket scientist, but if a cat were pooping in a box, I'd move out of the way.......just sayin'. She took the cat poop out to the curb for the next morning's trash, and headed straight to the bathtub. Of course, I made her wash her hands three times with antibacterial soap before she actually got to the showering part. She took a pretty uneventful shower, although she got yelled at twice for taking too long. You'd think it was hereditary, huh mom?

Anyway, when she got out of the shower I got her a little ice cream and took Ava's clothes off of her. I went to put them in the dirty clothes hamper and came back to put Ava in the tub, but she was already in there. Weird, since I didn't put her there and she never does that on her own. A new sign of growing up? Maybe, but there was a perfectly round wet spot in the floor in front of the toilet.

Me: Ava, what is that on the floor?

Ava: Abby did it. (This is her standard answer for every question. It's almost always a lie.)

Me: Ava, did you tee tee on the floor?

Ava: No, Abby did it.

Me: Really? What did Abby do?

Ava: She got dat stuff on da fwoor.

Me: What is that stuff on the floor?

Ava: It's water.

That didn't pass the smell test, as you can imagine. Another load of laundry. :/

I always wash Ava off and then let her play for a few minutes while I straighten up a little. I was straightening up in the office when I noticed a peanut butter spoon in the PLAY REFRIGERATOR. Ava doesn't eat PB, and as far as I know, Jake doesn't leave his dirty spoons in toys. Abby the drama queen let out another dramariffic wail and an excuse that she thought would surely fly. It didn't. She sure did clean it up fast though after she realized that my anger-o-meter was quite high. I didn't even have to ask her to go brush her teeth.

That's when the really good stuff happened. What could possibly happen while Ava's in the tub and Abby is brushing her teeth, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Abby came screaming, with as much drama as possible, into the living room saying, "I was just brushing my teeth and Ava got my toothbrush and started pushing something brown all over the side of the bathtub with my toothbrush!!!" Something brown. In the bathtub. *this is a dramatic pause where I closed my eyes, took a very deep breath, and prayed* Here is the conversation....

*imagine dramatic sniffing and whimpering in the background as Abby is trying very hard to make the situation more dramariffic*

Me: Ava, what is the brown stuff?

Ava: I don't know.

Me: Where did it come from?

Ava: I don't know. (Surprisingly, she didn't blame it on Abby)

Me: Is it poo poo?

Ava: No.

Me: Did it come from your hiney?

Ava: I dus twied to poop a wittle but I can't.

Me: Did it come from your hiney?

Ava: I tink so. But Firss I hab to pway wif my toys.

Me: DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING ELSE!! NO, DON'T PUT THOSE TOYS IN THE WATER! DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE! ABBY, GO TO BED!!!!

Abby: (in her most innocent voice) But how am I gonna brush my teeth?

Me: Well obviously you're not going to, and tomorrow when you do, DON'T STAND NEXT TO THE BATHTUB TO INVESTIGATE THE BROWN STUFF!!!!! GOOOO TO BED!!!!

I drained the tub and managed to get Ava washed off, again.

To Do List:

Laundry

Bleach the tub

Bleach the tub toys

I got Ava dressed for bed and her teeth brushed. (A funny side note.....or not so funny. Ava is using a new toothbrush because she was caught cleaning the inside rim of her potty seat with her toothbrush last week. Note to self....and anyone else who visits: hide your toothbrush!) We said our prayers (plus a few extra....feel free to add your own in) and I threatened them within an inch of their lives if they got up out of bed.

And wouldn't you know, not 2 minutes later, Ava comes into the living room with her nightly "mom, I hab to go tee tee."

Me: GO TO BED AND DON'T GET UP AGAIN!!!

Three minutes later.....

Abby: Um....I forgot to get some fresh water in my water bottle.

Me: Oh, that's a surprise. You forget every.single.night. GO TO BED!!!!

GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A new lesson learned...

This morning I was feeling very ambitious, so I decided to clean all of the windows across the back of the house.  They were REALLY dirty because they haven't been cleaned since last summer.  I went outside and sprayed off all the windows and removed all the screens, and then scrubbed and squeegeed.  Ava was having a great time yelling at me through the windows, and even licked the door from the inside.  I clean 'em, she IMMEDIATELY messes them up.   The dogs were inside taking a nap, and Ava was playing by herself.  When I got to the 3rd dining room window, I noticed that the gate to the kitchen was open.  (we have a gate up to keep the puppies locked up on the tile)  I knocked on the window, hoping to see a dog run out of the dog bed.  No such luck.  I then heard a happy squeal and realized that Ava and the dogs were chasing each other through the house.  Sure enough, I then see Ava on the couch and Tucker take a leap from one couch to another.  I ran to the door, and to my great surprise, it was locked.  I knocked on the door and Ava let out a huge happy squeal/laugh and ran.  I had my cell phone with me, so I called the home phone and started talking to her on the answering machine.  

Me: AVA!!! Let me in!

Ava: NOOOOO!!!!!

Me:  Ava, go unlock the door right. now. (in my best mean mommy voice, of course)

Ava:  No mommy.  You cwean da windows some mowe.

I gave up, realizing that she was having way too much fun with this.  I walked around the house to the front door, of course it was locked too.  I rang the doorbell and heard a small voice yell "come in", but she never answered the door.  I rang again, and this time she came to the door after yelling "come in".  She had a very devious smile on her face and still refused to let me in.  Using the trusty cell phone again, I called mom.  Why, you ask?  Because the only thing that Ava enjoys more than being devious is talking to Grammy, Papa Joe, Bruce, and Granny Jan on the phone.  

Me:  Ava, guess who I'm talking to on the phone?

Ava:  BWUCE!!!

Me:  No, it's Grammy.  She wants to talk to you.

Ava:  OK mommy, I'll wet you in.  I can't unwock da doi (door, for those of you who haven't had Ava-ese yet)

Me:  You're turning it the wrong way.  Turn it the other way.

Ava:  Ok mommy.  

The door opens, and I hand her the phone.

"Hi Gwammy!  I wocked mommy outside!"

A little note to all the mommies......hide a key outside, or for goodness sake, give one to a neighbor!  Preferably a neighbor who is a homebody. :)

In the name of the Father, the Son, and........

We were saying our prayers tonight and helping Ava practice the sign of the cross, when Abby reminded me of a funny story.

One night a few years ago, we were saying prayers when Abby asked a very good question.

Abby:  Mom, if the Father is God, and the Son is Jesus, what's the Holy Spirit's name?

Me: Well, I don't really know if I've ever heard a name for the Holy Spirit.

Abby: Why?

Me:  Because it's just the Holy Spirit. 

Abby: But if God and Jesus have names, the Holy Spirit should have a name too.  That's not fair.

Me: What do you think the Holy Spirit's name should be?

Abby: Bubbles.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and Bubbles.  Amen.

A little conversation....

Ava:  My name is Iba (Ava) and wur (your) name is Abby, and I love you Abby, and you are not a doctor.

huh?  Where in the heck did that come from?

Ava funnies...

I just have a couple of funny Ava moments that I want to write down before I forget them.  I can't even imagine all of the things that Abby did that I can't remember now. 

Ava has decided that it's funny to lock the door to the car while I am trying to get her out.  I unlock the doors, get out and walk to her door, and she promptly kicks the door lock with her foot......with a huge devious grin on her face.  If the windows weren't so dark, I'd get a picture of it.  The only time I'm successfully opened the door on the first try in the past week is when she took her shoes off in the car.  It apparently hurts to bad to kick the door lock with bare feet. 

In the past week, Ava has grown up quite a bit.  Tonight she asked if she could go to Jenning's house.  Jennings is Abby's friend who lives across the street, not Ava's friend.  I guess she thinks she's old enough to walk around the 'hood now.  Note to self: turn the alarm system door chime back on. :)

Ava has also been asking to borrow the car.  She's asked me several times in the past week, and I heard her ask Jake about it once too.  Then, yesterday I saw a commercial.  Yes, the one where the little girl asks to borrow the car.  And I thought our little genius came up with that one on her own.