First day as a 1st grader

Following Bishop tradition we laid out her first day of school clothes for Ava. She is super excited school starts tomorrow. This year we are excited she has Mrs. Peeler has her teacher and there are a lot of familiar faces in her class as well.

Ava's first day of School

The night before Ava put her clothes out and laid beside them for her picture. Just like daddy did every year.

 Ava started kindergarten. It was a big day for us all. I was fortunate to have Andrea spend the night with us the night before. She stayed home with Lola and Otto that morning so I can take Ava to her class. Ava surprised me and was such a big girl.

 

 When you enter Wallace there is this bulletin board. It changes monthly but this month it was composed of pictures of Wallace students. You just had to submit your child's picture. Ava got two pictures of her on the board. Take a look.

 Here is the hospitality group of the PTA. Serving water, coffee and muffins on the first day of school. Such troopers to start this at 7 am! It's already hot and it's not even 8am yet!

 She found her seat and took a look at what she was to start doing. Color!

 She didn't cry, she didn't even hold on to me asking me not to leave. She said bye and slowly looked around her classroom, taking it all in. I took one last look back and so did she, but not to look for me. I was a little sad but so proud of her. I surprised myself by getting a little emotional on the way to school. Glad I pulled it together and didn't cry in front of the other moms. Everyone else seemed fine!

Yard work

A lazy Sunday afternoon turned into an afternoon of yard work. YiYi and PaPa came over and out of nowhere yard work ensued. The kids even joined in on the fun.

First day of Preschool

This year Ava started Preschool 4's. Her teachers are Mrs. Hopkins and Mrs. Brockmehl. She is going to school with Hayden again and she's excited to have her in her class. Her best friends in her class are Jack, Margot, Lauren and Payton.

First day of Spring...

and a happy birthday to Andrea!
On the first day of spring (and Andrea's birthday) we woke up to a beautiful view of the backyard covered in snow. Right away we bundled Ava up in her ski bibs and outside we went.

Ava is a Sunbeam

Today Ava became a Sunbeam. She was so excited to leave nursery and go into the big kids class she was running around screaming, I'm a sunbeam, at home. It was so cute and we were so excited for her as well.

Sorry, both these pictures are so alike, but I love the expression in both of them.

I'm sure I was disrupting class but I had to take a picture of her in class. She was so grown and didn't care in the least I was leaving her.

Happy to have her friend Scarlett in class with her. Who by the way insisted on wearing a tie to church today just like daddy!

Gift from Aunt GG and Uncle J-Ray

Ava's Aunt GG and Uncle Jody went to Mexico and brought back a couple dresses for the girls. They are so beautiful, Ava absolutely loved hers.

Little Chef

I had to make banana pudding one night and of course my little helper was right by my side assisting. Lately every time I'm in the kitchen there she is also doing whatever she can.

By far her favorite job that night was licking the banana pudding off of the mixer.

Of course it was all Lola did and she wasn't prepared to stop.

Daddy puts Ava to bed

Every night when we put Ava to bed one of us will lay with her for a minute before leaving her room. After a few minutes of not seeing Brian or hearing anything I knew what had happened. I snuck into her room and saw this.

Ava and Lola share a room

KiKi (Brian's mom) offered to keep Ava a few nights when we were leaving the day after Christmas. Of course we said yes. With Ava gone Lola slept in Ava's room in her pack and play. She usually sleeps in Brian's music room wedged into Brian's desk. Now with Ava home I asked Ava if she wanted Lola to sleep in the same room with her. Ava was so excited. Now 20 minutes into it, Lola is crying and Ava keeps singing Jingle Bells to her in hopes to make her happy. As soon as Lola stops crying so does the singing. Once Lola starts up again, the singing does too. Sweet Ava is trying to keep her sister happy. I'm not sure if this will work, I hope so because I really need them to share a room in the new house in a month!

Ava at dance

Today was Ava's last day of dance this year. So they decided to have an "open house", meaning the curtains that usually separate the moms from the girls are tied up so there is no separation. It was quite fun to have the girls see us. I don't know if Ms. Amanda thought the same though.

Swimming in December

Yes, swimming in December. Zac turned 4 and wanted a summer birthday party. Meaning he wanted to go swimming. Having an awesome mom like Amber she went to work and found this awesome Natatorium and we all went swimming in December. The water was a cool 84 degrees and we were all a little bit of a baby and complaining it was too cold. However it was fun and the kids enjoyed it.