All the First Days

As always, here is a look back at Ava’s first days of school through the years.

Ava’s 1st Day of 4th Grade

Ava started school on Tuesday and she is already having a great time in 4th grade. She absolutely loves her teacher. We are so thankful she got the teacher she wanted. She's a teacher we've heard nothing but good things about and the teacher Ava's tutor thought would be the best fit for her. Ava has several girls she knows from the past few years in her class so we are confident she will have some great friends this year. Her best friend from last year isn't in her class this year so she was disappointed about that but she is excited to get to know the other girls. Her first day was great at school but it was an eventful day in all. It happened to be the same day that Tropical Storm Fred was making its way through the area. It was raining when she left for school (which made for less than ideal photo conditions). We kept watching the weather as it kept getting worse during the day. They started a tornado watch right before pick up time. Thankfully, DJ was able to pick her up before the watch turned to a warning and many schools and busses had to shelter in place. We headed to the basement not long after she got home from school. Thankfully, the tornado wasn't close to us. Then after supper, we got another tornado warning. DJ watched the weather closely and this one didn't come close enough for us to need the basement either. It was quite an eventful start to the school year. We are hoping this year is less strange than the last two years but things aren't looking promising right now with the new COVID surge. We are praying things settle soon so this year can be as normal as it can be. Regardless, she is already loving 4th grade! I just can't believe this is her next to last year in elementary school!

A Girls’ Night Away

Tiffany and I planned a fun girls’ night away for us and our big girls. We took Ava and Grace to Charlotte for the night and spent 2 days shopping and enjoying time together. We met up at the Southpark Mall for lunch and then spent a couple hours in the American Girl store. Then we walked around the mall and let the girls shop (and of course the moms had to pick some stores to check out as well). We sent a picture to the dads of the girls in front of Tiffany’s saying we were taking them for a fun shopping experience…they didn’t appreciate that. We enjoyed supper at Cheesecake Factory before heading to our hotel for a fun surprise for the girls. Thanks to DJ’s hotel points, we were able to book the special American Girl package for them complete with beds and robes for the dolls to take home, robes for the girls to use while there, special hot pink linens, cookies and strawberry milk, and breakfast the next morning. They were in shock when they walked in and saw the goodies! The next day, we had breakfast at the hotel, let the girls play in the hotel pool and then spent a few hours (mainly for the moms) at Ikea. It was such a fun couple of days with our girls!

Ava is 9

I still cannot believe Ava is 9 years old! I feel like each year keeps going faster and faster. Once she started school, the years just started flying by! It is crazy to think that this is her last year in the single digits! She is growing and changing so fast and I wish it would slow down!

Ava had her 9 year well child check and she is right on track and very healthy. Her stats were:

Height - 53.75” (69th percentile)

Weight - 75.2 lbs (78th percentile)

As usual, I can definitely see how much she is growing in her clothes. She is wearing size 10 clothes and size 3 shoes. She really needs the 10 clothes for the length...thankfully most bottoms have the pull tabs to adjust the waist smaller, otherwise I have no idea how we’d find clothes to fit. But, I’m hoping that means they will fit for more than one year. 

So I asked Ava the same questions that I’ve asked her for the past several years on her birthday. I love being able to compare her answers each year and to really get an idea of what her favorites are each year. So, I’ll let Ava tell you about her life at 9 (in italics), with some extra details added by me.

How old are you?

Uhh, 9 (as in, “why are you asking me this question, mama?” haha)

 What is your favorite food?

Breadsticks

Ava’s favorite foods still really haven’t changed much over the past few years. She also still loves pizza, quiche, pasta, lasagna soup, eggs, pancakes, waffles, chicken tenders, mac and cheese and black bean burgers. Ava still isn’t big on veggies but will consistently eat spinach, roasted kale and red bell peppers. Since kale and spinach are both super foods, I’m good with those choices. We do bowls/tacos a lot and she eats them with rice, black beans and kale. She has no problem getting enough fruits in her diet though. She loves most any fruit except peaches and melons. 

 What is your favorite color?

Light purple

Ava still loves all things girly...pink, purple and glitter. She loves anything with glitter or sequins. And just like last year, that leads to most things with unicorns or fairies, hence the unicorn art birthday party, complete with glitter paint.

 What is your favorite show?

Elena of Avalor

Ava and Zoe have been watching through Elena on Disney+ and they both love it. We love that Elena highlights Hispanic culture and Ava gets to see herself represented in the show. She is also a fan of Hannah Montana (throwback to the early 2000s), Mira the Royal Detective, Yoohoo to the Rescue, Gabby’s Dollhouse, Llama Llama and Rainbow Rangers. She recently watched both the original Mary Poppins (my favorite as a kid) and the new Mary Poppins Returns movies and loved them. She also really loves all the Tinkerbell movies.

 What is your favorite toy?

Princess barbies

Ava has really enjoyed playing with her few Princess barbies lately. She loves imagining adventures for them. She also loves to play with her American Girl doll, Cecile. Magnatiles and waffle blocks are a big favorite as well. She and Zoe both recently attached to new stuffed animals...Tigger for Ava and Eeyore for Zoe. They play with those every day and they are definitely favorites. Ava is also still obsessed with anything crafty. She is always happy when she can draw, cut, glue and create. This summer, she attended 2 different art camps (beach art and magic art) at a local school. She loved every minute of the weeks devoted to crafts! 

 What is your favorite song?

Into the Unknown

Ava still loves music and her favorites haven’t changed much. She always wants music playing or is singing random songs or songs she’s made up. Ava also loves Hannah Montana, Ever After High, Monster High, Descendents, and Star Darlings. We still have Disney music playing all the time and Frozen 1 and 2 are still favorites with both girls (well, if I’m honest, DJ and I love it too, especially Frozen 2 soundtrack). Broadway musicals are another popular choice like Newsies, Wicked, the Wiz or the Broadway version Frozen. Ava also loves Colony House, Jamie Grace and Lauren Daigle. I created a random playlist for the girls with music ranging from 90s music to Disney channel hits to movie soundtracks like Trolls or Despicable Me to the Beatles to James Taylor. It is a big hit with them both.

What is your favorite book?

Millie Maven and the Bronze Medallion

This is a new series of books that DJ found for Ava’s birthday. They are by a favorite author of his and are fantasy books that he is reading through with her. Ava is still an avid reader and flies through books so fast, we can’t keep enough in the house for her to read.Some of Ava’s other favorite book series are any American Girl book, Star Darlings, The Never Girls, Magic Treehouse, The Babysitter’s Club Little Sister, Whatever After and The Princess Diaries. She loves anything with princesses, fairies, unicorns and magic. I am reading Little House on the Prairie with her as well.  

What is your favorite restaurant?

Guy Quesadilla

This answer hasn’t changed in the past several years….the girl loves any Mexican restaurant. She loves to get the chips, salsa, cheese dip, refried beans and a cheese quesadilla. Some of her other favorite places to eat are Swamp Rabbit Cafe, Tupelo Honey Cafe, Tropical Grille, Sidewall Pizza, Chick-fil-A, and Papa Johns. We’ve slowly ventured back out to restaurants with COVID but still aren’t eating out much. But it has been nice to have a little more normalcy return.

 What is your favorite outfit?

Probably the pink and navy blue dress

Ava still loves clothes. She still prefers skirts and dresses but has spent a lot of time in shorts this summer. Like I said earlier, she is still very much a girly girl so she loves her clothes and shoes and if they have sparkles she loves it even more. We have so many shirts with flippy sequins. I recently had a friend add me to a local buy/sell group for kids’ clothes and Ava loves it when I say we are going to pick up something from somebody’s porch. She can’t wait to see what all I’ve found for her (for cheap!). The dress she’s talking about came from that page.

 Where is your favorite place to go?

Disney World

No big surprise that this answer hasn’t changed since last year...it is the happiest place on earth. Both girls keep asking to go back and we really want to go but we do not want to go with the COVID restrictions. The magic is missing without the character meet and greets, which are some of their favorite parts of Disney. We keep hoping things will get back to at least something close to normal and we can go back to our favorite place! Thankfully, this past year we were able to take 2 different vacations, one to the mountains and one to the beach. Ava was beyond excited when we told her about both of those trips. After not going anywhere for over a year, it was nice to be able to take a family vacation again and make those special memories together. 

 What is something special to you?

Tot tot

This is her security blanket that she still sleeps with every night and takes in the car a lot. We still aren’t sure how she got “tot tot” from blanket when she was little but it was so cute when she said it, we encouraged it. She already says she is taking it to college with her. She also still sleeps with her red panda stuffed animal every night. Tigger is also a must at bedtime but now that is all she sleeps with, instead of the bed full of stuffed animals.

 What is your favorite thing to play?

Barbie vs cecile 

Apparently this is a game she made up. I have no idea what it is but it is her favorite thing to play. She also loves playing games like Uno, Monopoly Deal, Guess Who, and Disney Spot and Find. She has really mastered her bike and loves to ride it around the driveway. We are thankful for a better spot for her to ride at the new house. We’ve also taken her up to the local middle school to ride around the track. She is still doing her ice skating lessons and is really improving. Her previous coach decided to retire from coaching so she has a new coach, Ms. Susan. We can tell this new coach is going to be great for taking her from the basics to the next level. She is really working on perfecting the basic moves and strengthening her muscles to master the more complex moves. She is really good at gliding on one foot and skating backwards. She’s really working on mastering the spins, lunges and dips. It’s so fun to watch her do something she loves so much.

 Who are your friends?

Mikayla, Emily, Ella, Maisy and Zoe 

Mikayla was Ava’s best friend at school this year. These two girls really bonded this year in the crazy school year. Emily is also a friend from school but she and Ava have actually known each other since they were babies. Emily’s family used to go to our church and her mom and I were so excited that they were finally in the same class this past year. Unfortunately, they won’t be in the same 4th grade class. Ella and Maisy are Ava’s best friends from church. They are sisters and are such sweet girls. And I just love that Ava added Zoe to the list of friends. They can fight like cats and dogs (like sisters do) but they still are the best of friends. They are sharing a room now in the new house and it’s had its challenges but it has also strengthened their bond. They spend so much time together playing in their room or playroom and it is so sweet to see. 

 What do you like to do with your family?

Go to Paris Mtn together and hike in the fall

Paris Mountain is the state park right by our house. We are so excited to be so close to it when it cools off and we can really enjoy it (too much heat, humidity and poison ivy right now). We love being able to hike in the mountains and love feeling like we live in the mountains now. We are all looking forward to our normal fall outings of hikes and apple picking and pumpkins. 

 What do you want to be when you grow up?

Somebody who works at an animal shelter 

Ava loves animals. She had been saying she wants to be a vet but we were talking to her about what a vet deals with, sick and possibly dying animals, and she wasn’t so sure she’d like that. She said she wants to work at a shelter because she could just love on the animals until they go to their homes and she wouldn’t have to deal with them being sick. She has such a sweet heart for animals!

 What is one thing you hope to do before your next bday?

Memorizing my multiplication facts

Ava worked really hard in math this past year but didn’t quite memorize all her facts. I am impressed that the answer this year and last year both centered around multiplication. She isn’t a big fan of math, she prefers reading and social studies, but she is working hard to understand it all. We had her continue tutoring this summer just to keep those facts straight and get some extra practice before the school year starts. She loves going to see her tutor so she didn’t mind doing it all summer. She really does love school and learning and is very ready to start 4th grade. She is super excited to have the teacher she wanted and cannot wait for this year (which will hopefully be more normal than last year) to start!

 What is the best thing that happened to you when you were 8?

Going fun places with family

After over a year of going nowhere due to COVID, it is no surprise that this was the best thing to happen to her this past year. Like I mentioned before, we went to the mountains and the beach. We all four needed those vacations. It was so nice to be able to get out of the house and explore Gatlinburg and Charleston as a family!

 Ava is still a very empathetic kid. We think this skill is going to really help her in life as she forms relationships. When there was girl drama (already started in 3rd grade) she was very affected seeing some of her friends get their feelings hurt or having her own feelings hurt. She is such a sweet friend! She still feels big emotions herself and is still  working on learning the best ways to express her big emotions. Like I’ve said before, because of her big emotions, the girl is full of so much love for her friends and family - adopted family and birth family. She loves wholeheartedly and we are so thankful to be part of her love.

We truly cannot imagine the past 9 years without Ava. She is a huge blessing to our family. But, like I always say, that blessing comes from a huge loss. Ava is still processing her adoption and the love she has for her birth mom. The connection that they have is undeniable. That bond is there and it is strong and we will always honor that special bond. We love her birth mom so much and we hope that one day she can have even more of a relationship with this beautiful girl. We are so thankful to her birth mom for making such a difficult sacrifice in placing Ava with us. We never take our privilege of parenting her for granted and we look forward to what this next year has in store for our girl. 

Happy 9th birthday, Ava Girl! We love you to the moon and back!!

Ava’s Unicorn Party Fun

Ava had such a great time at her Unicorn birthday party. Her best friends from church, Ella and Maisy, were able to come. One of her best friends from school, Emily, also came. And her cousins, Grace, Karla and Braddock, came as well. Karla and Braddock played with Zoe while the big girls did their own thing. The girls loved creating their own unicorn paintings and they all did a great job! The especially loved the water balloon fight - which turned on DJ at the end. And then they had a blast splashing in the kiddie pool. We are so thankful for these sweet friends and how much they love our girl!

Ava’s Unicorn Art Party

Ava requested a Unicorn party for her 9th birthday. I had the idea to combine it with another party theme I’d seen on Pinterest and make it an art party as well. She invited a few friends from church, her cousin, and a friend from school to celebrate with her. The girls had a blast painting, eating ice cream sundaes, having a water balloon fight and playing in the kiddie pool. Since I have a ton of pictures, I’ll just share the decoration pictures here. I created the canvases for the girls to paint their own unicorn designs. We had flowers in honor of Ava’s birth mama. I made sure to include roses in the flowers because those are Ava’s favorite right now. I made unicorn horns out of sugar cones to go on top of their ice cream sundaes. And of course, I had to make a fun unicorn decoration for the porch. It was a fun way to celebrate our Unicorn obsessed girl!

Summer Camps 2021

This summer was our first summer venturing into summer camps. Both girls did 2 camps each over the summer. Both of their camps were local, no overnights yet, and they both had a blast.

Ava did 2 different art camps at Christ Church Episcopal School. The first one was a beach themed art camp and the second one was a magic themed art camp. She loved her camps and came home with lots of really awesome crafts. We were super proud of her for going to a brand new school where she didn’t know anyone and being super brave. She even made friends each week and loved it. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of her time at camp.

Zoe did 2 different dance camps at her dance studio. The first one was a Princess themed camp and the second one was a Moana themed camp. At the end of each camp, they did little performances for the parents and she did great. They danced every day and made fun crafts but Zoe’s favorite part was snack time. This was Zoe’s first time being away from us for 3 hours (other than with a grandmother babysitter) and she did so well! I do have some pictures from Zoe’s camps, thanks to the studio, so you can see our cute little dancer!

July 11th

I still cannot believe Ava is 9 years old! It blows my mind that she is only a year away from double digits. But for now, here is a look back at Ava on July 11th for the past 9 years!

July 11, 2012 - Newborn

July 11, 2013 - 1 Year Old

July 11, 2014 - 2 Years Old

July 11, 2015 - 3 Years Old

July 11, 2016 - 4 Years Old

July 11, 2017 - 5 Years Old

July 11, 2018 - 6 Years Old

July 11, 2019 - 7 Years Old

July 11, 2020 - 8 Years Old

July 11, 2021 - 9 Years Old

Charleston - Day 4

We ended our beach vacation on Ava’s birthday. Unfortunately, most of her birthday was spent in the car riding home. But, we made the most of our chances to celebrate her that day. We started with a special breakfast in downtown Charleston. Ava got to enjoy some yummy pancakes for her birthday. Then, we walked a different route back to the battery and got to see some more amazing houses. We walked back along the water and said our goodbyes to this gorgeous city. Once we got home, we celebrated the birthday girl with her presents. It was such a special trip to FINALLY be back at the beach as a family, to let Zoe FINALLY see the ocean and collect as many shells as she wanted and to celebrate our big 9 year old!

Charleston - Day 3

Our 3rd day in Charleston was very similar to the day before. We spent the morning at the beach. It wasn’t as hot this morning so it was very nice! The girls played in the sand and built sand castles. Zoe was very meticulous in arranging the sea shells on her castle and making sure every inch was covered. Zoe didn’t venture out into the waves this day but Ava did and she loved every minute of it! You can see the pure joy in her face!

That afternoon, we headed back into downtown Charleston. We took the girls to a bakery in town to get special treats for Ava’s birthday (a day early since we would be traveling on her actual birthday). Ava got a strawberry shortcake cupcake and Zoe got chocolate gelato. Then, we let them walk off the sugar by walking past Rainbow Row (picking out a house for each of us) and then all the way to battery park. It was hot but it was worth the walk to see the battery and gorgeous houses. Then, we made the trek back to the heart of downtown for supper.

After supper, we headed back to the beach for one last walk on the beach before heading home the next day. After this last walk, we had 2 trash bags full of shells to bring home! The girls were super excited to find their sand castles still in tact! Both girls couldn’t help but dance along the beach as we said goodbye to the beach.

Charleston - Day 2

Our 2nd day in Charleston involved a morning spent at the beach and an afternoon spent in downtown Charleston. The girls played in the sand and water and hunted for shells for hours! Ava couldn’t wait to splash in the waves. Zoe was a little hesitant but finally came out and loved it! That is, until we took her out a little farther and she had a wave crash in her face. She was done with the water after that. But, walking along the beach collecting as many shells as she wanted was a huge hit!

After we cleaned up at the hotel, we headed into downtown Charleston. We walked to the pineapple fountain park and then to the market. It was definitely a different experience going to the market with the girls and explaining the history to them. Zoe isn’t old enough to understand the significance of the Market but Ava does. It is eye opening to look at that historical place through the eyes of a brown skinned person and realize how significant it is to her history. The girls loved shopping in the market and checking out all the amazing items. Of course, they each left with a sweetgrass rose…can’t go to Charleston without getting one of those. It was a fun day together!

Charleston - Day 1

We FINALLY made it to the beach!! Zoe’s dream of seeing the beach finally came true this summer! I realized after the fact, that the last time we were at the beach was the first week of April 2017…when Zoe was born and we didn’t even know it! We spent 4 days in Charleston/Mt. Pleasant/Isle of Palms in July. We timed this trip to be there for Ava’s birthday, which ended up being a super fun way to celebrate her birthday.

They were calling for rain the day we were arriving (thanks to Hurricane Elsa) so we made plans to head straight to the aquarium. The girls really enjoyed the aquarium and seeing the sea turtle hospital. Once we finished there, we headed to our hotel to check in and eat supper. After supper, we surprised the girls and headed to the beach to walk around and let Zoe see the ocean for the very first time. We thought we’d just walk along the sand and put our toes in the water…but as you can see from the pictures the girls (especially Zoe) had different ideas. Zoe ended up completely soaked but it was worth it to see the joy on her face!

Dancing at the Drive Game

Zoe was invited to be part of a special event at a Greenville Drive baseball game. Her dance studio was hosting a princess night at the game and was going to be dancing on the field between one of the inning breaks. They invited the studio regulars who took part in their Princess Dance Camp this summer to do the dance. We agreed to let Zoe do it as part of a fun way to start our family vacation (we were heading to the beach the very next day). It was such a fun night! They hosted a special princess party before the game with 5 princesses. Then, after a rain delay, the girls danced with Mrs. Molly and Mrs. Beth to their Princess Tea Party dance after the first inning. We stayed for a few more innings to let the girls watch their very first baseball game. We had a great time and Zoe did such a great job dancing with Mrs. Beth (although, she was NOT a fan of Reedy, the mascot)! Again, we can’t say enough how much we love our dance studio!!

Children’s Museum Fun

My aunt and uncle were keeping their granddaughter, Blake, for a week so they invited the girls and I to join them for a fun day at the Children’s Museum. The girls had a blast with their cousin! The adults spent the day chasing the crazy girls as they ran from exhibit to exhibit. We love watching them play together and seeing their bond grow! We can’t wait for Lucy and Baby G to join the fun when they get bigger!

Happy 90th Grandmama!

This year was a big year for my grandmother, she turned 90 on June 19th! We had a family party to celebrate her big milestone birthday. It was such a fun day to have our whole family together to celebrate this special lady. I think the highlight for her was having all of her great granddaughters in the same room together for the first time (including Baby G who is due in Sept). We all love you Grandmama/GG!!!

All the Last Days of School

Time for my typical post comparing all the last days of school….wishing time would slow down!

Last Day of 3rd Grade

Ava officially ended the strangest school year ever on June 4th. I thought 2nd grade was strange (and it was with the sudden shut down and never returning back to school) but 3rd grade was even stranger. This school year started with 4 days of e-learning and 1 day in-person. Moved to 2 days in person then 3 days in person then all days in person but with masks and plexiglass on the desks. The kids couldn’t get close to each other all year. The teachers had to get creative with parties, like sending in Valentines or snacks 3 days in advance so they could quarantine. On top of all that, Ava’s teacher had a hip replacement a few weeks after school started and was out most of the fall semester. Thankfully, her long-term sub from last year (who is also her tutor) filled in while her teacher was out so she had someone familiar to help with the strange transition. In spite of all this, Ava had a great year! She loved her teacher (and the long-term sub) and made some great friends. She finished with really good grades and learned so much! She won the Ravenous Reader award from her teacher, Honor Roll, Technology Award and E-Learning award (for being one of the few kids to complete all e-learning assignments). We are so proud of how well she did in such a strange school year. It was definitely a school year we will never forget. We are hopeful next school year will be a little more normal! Just cannot believe she only has 2 more years of elementary school!!

Playing Hookie

The end of the school year is always filled with fun and not a ton of work. So, after Ava had her state testing, we decided she deserved the chance to play hookie. And to be honest, the day was just as much for me as it was for her. I took the girls to the American Girl store to see the original 6 dolls (the ones I grew up with, like my doll Kirsten) that they brought back out in honor of American Girl’s 35th birthday. I invited my mom to come with us since she experienced those original dolls/catalogs with me when I was Ava’s age. It was so cool to see the dolls back in their original outfits with the “Meet…” books in the original Pleasant Company design. My cousin made the comment that American Girl couldn’t have planned this better because all of us who grew up with those original dolls now have little girls who we are buying dolls for and she was so right. It was definitely a fun girls’ day out!

Career Day

Ava had one final dress up day at school before the end of the year…career day. She decided to dress up as an art teacher this year. We think this is actually a really great career option for her! (Although, we should have turned her apron around because she said people thought she was a worker from Publix, haha).

April 7th

April 7th is always a day filled with so many mixed emotions. It is a joyous day to celebrate Zoe and all that she means to us. We are so thankful she was born 4 years ago on April 7th. It is also a day filled with sadness. We are sad for Zoe’s birth mom because we know this day is filled with loss and grief for her. We are also filled with our own grief remembering my dad’s last breath on April 7th, 6 years ago. It is a day to celebrate new life and death. We are so thankful God chose us to be Zoe’s parents and chose to provide some redemption for such a hard day in our lives. We all miss my dad so much and wish he was still here with us to celebrate this precious girl with us. But like I always say, even though he never met Zoe, we know they share such a special bond in this day.

This year, we spent the day in my dad’s favorite place. We drove all through Cades Cove, walked to the cabins, enjoyed a picnic, saw a bear and admired the gorgeous mountains. We took the girls’ Grampie bears with us and made sure to get some pictures with them. This place was definitely his happy place so it felt so right to be there celebrating his and Zoe’s lives. It was definitely hard to go to all those favorite spots without him but it was also fun to show the girls all the things he loved so much.

Zoe, I know I say this every year but your Grampie loved you so much. He never met you and for that we are so sad. We grieve what could have been in your relationship. He would have loved playing with you, laughing with and at you (since you love to make people laugh), trying to sneak you candy, and exploring the mountains with you. He was an amazing Grampie and I hate that you never got to meet him. But, I know you love him. You talk about missing him and that makes my heart happy and sad at the same time. I love that you recognize him in pictures and you know how special he is in our lives. We all look forward to seeing him again one day in Heaven and never having to say goodbye again!