Ava's 1st Trip to Zoo Atlanta

Today Chris and I took Ava to Zoo Atlanta for the first time. She loves animals so we figured now was a good age to visit the zoo. It was a hot day but we really enjoyed the trip. Her favorite exibit was the new parakeet habitat. It is an outdoor exibit where the parakeets fly all around you and you can feed them. We thought she might be scared because sometimes when we go to Randar's Pet Shop the birds scare her, but she loved it. She loves watching the birds in the yard and she loved the parakeets.

Sorry the pictures are in the wrong order.

One happy girl

Kissing her new Panda

looking at the flamingos

Parakeets eating

Parakeet habitat

Our new bird feeder

Here are a few pictures of our newest friends around the house. Ava loves birds so Chris bought us this new bird feeder to watch all the birds.

Ava's 1st Twinkie

All Chris's idea!! I didn't even know we had Twinkies. As you can see Ava really enjoyed her dessert tonight!!

Lunch Date in the City

Okay so we don't really get out much. On Tuesday we met Chelsey downtown for lunch. Since Chelsey knows all the good places in Atlanta we ate at one of her favorites Pizza Fusion. It is an organic Earth friendly pizza place ( right up Chelsey's alley, but far from anything I eat at). It was really good and Ava and I really enjoyed our organic lunch and of course Chelsey. I must say the best part of the lunch was the trip we made over to the cupcake bakery next door. Chelsey would always bring me cupcakes so leave it to her to pick a place next to cupcakes. Hopefully on our next lunch date we will eat near her favorite donut shop!!

Sorry I didn't take any pictures of the cupcakes ( yes cupcakes with an S. I had 3 ....yummy!!)

4th of July

Here are a couple of pictures from our 4th of July weekend at Meme and Ping's pool. I took a bunch of pictures but didn't think everyone wanted their picture posted on the blog of them in a bathing suit, so her are some of the best I found. We had a blast and are thankful for the beautiful weather. We wished it could have been nice Sunday and Monday but 2 out of 4 isn't bad.

Ava and Geech ( we have no idea but Ava calls Aunt Lindsey Geech)

Ava in her 4th of July dress made by Angela

Showing off her star shorts

Daddy making her cry

I did flag portraits of family members, unfortunately Ava wasn't digging her flag portrait.

Chris doing his reverse flying squirrel dive

Barley worn out after an exausting day of swimming

Ava getting ready to jump of the diving board

Wedding Pictures

Me and Nicole

Last weekend Chris's cousin Jake got married and here a a few pictures I took of us all dressed up. Sorry i didn't take many pictures. I also didn't take any pictures from our anniversary dinner at Fogo De Chao. Sorry I am really falling behind on my picture duties. Hopefully now that I am done with school for the summer I can focus.

Our little fish

We have been putting Ava in the pool all summer and I think it is paying off. She loves it!! She is getting really brave and will jump off the side and swims without us holding her. She even goes under water and holds her breath. Here are a few pictures of today at Meme and Ping's pool. ( she has on shoes because she is in and out and the concrete was hot).

Daddy throwing Ava

Look at me

Not so fun summer

Sorry the blogs have been slow but I have started my Specialist program at Georgia State so I have been REALLY busy. Here is how I am spending my summer:

• taking Ava to sitter
• driving to Georgia State
• trying to focus for 7 hours ( very hard for me)
• driving home in rush hour
• spending time with Chris and Ava for a few hours
• reading, reading, and reading some more
• Projects, papers, and lots of critical thinking

Then doing the same thing over again. Fun times!! This is how I will be spending the next year of my life. Good news is I will have another degree and be one step closer to my Ph.D.

A Night Out

A few friends from work got together Monday night to wish our friend Chelsey farewell as she moves to Ohio. I have worked with Chelsey at Cotton Indian for the last 4 years and I am really going to miss her. Here are a few pictures from us at Vickery's downtown.

Leisa, Tracy, Denise, me, Chelsey, jennifer, Christina, and Katie

We surprised her

Me and Christina

Me and Jennifer

I love these kids!!

I am actually really sad to see this school year come to an end. This is the best class that I have ever had and I am really going to miss them all. Today we celebrated our 3rd and 4th grade Honors day and also did a small play and class awards for the parents. Here are just a few pictures from our big day!!

One of my all time favorites Dallas from my class last year!!

Alyssa who was in my class last year!! I love Alyssa!! Last week when I was having hair issues because the first time I got it cut I didn't like it Alyssa really made my day. After she saw my hair she went and cut her hair to look like mine. She then helped me to figure out instead of the way I had it cut I should stack it in the back like hers. So guess what I did?? I followed Alyssa's advice and went and had it stacked in the back and now I like it much better!! Thanks to the help of a very wise 4th grader!! So here we both are with our new haircuts!!

Group shot

Waiting for the awards to begin

Being silly

Seemed like a good idea!!

I'm no expert at children but I guess the way you teach them to use a spoon and fork is by practicing. We have been letting Ava play with her spoon while she eats ; she gets the concept but has had a hard time actually getting the food on the spoon. Well for dessert Daddy bought her some chocolate pudding and she really wanted to help. Since she gets a bath right after dinner I figured this was as good of time as any to practice with the spoon. She really had fun and besides the mess she did a really good job.

Carnival at CIE

We had our 2nd Spring carnival at CIE tonight and Ava had a blast!! She started her night off with Meme 2(Wanda) eating a rice krispy treat, oatmeal creme pie, and cheetos. Then she moved on to whoever she could find that would let her run free. As you know I have no shame in pawning her off. I call it a dump and run. I let you hold her then I walk off and you are stuck with her. Well tonight was no different. Ava made her way around Cotton Indian from teachers to parents to anyone who would take her. I did get out the monkey backpack aka harness/leash. While some may say it is cruel ( well lots of people actually) Ava really likes it. Plus she is super fast and he keeps her from getting too far away from you. 

Getting ready to go

Katie in the dunk tank

Eating junk food with Meme 2

"Yeah I got on a harness so what!"

Leigh* hanging out with Ava. Leigh who is due in September with a baby girl is probably going to be adding a leash to her registry really soon!!

Yes Leigh she is a runner

* Leigh is a faithful blog reader so I'm glad you finally made it on here!!