H is for Helping; H is for Hair

H is for Helping:

Ava loves to "help" Mommy. If I'm sweeping the floors, she likes to push the Swiffer around. If I'm loading or unloading the dishwasher, she likes to play with the dishwasher and I hand her the cutlery that is hers to load into the cutlery rack. If I'm sorting the laundry she likes to take the laundry out of the basket or put it back in the dryer after its already been dried. These little bits of help are so sweet, sometimes they make for more work, but its the thought that counts ;)

H is for Hair:

I have always had a love hate relationship with my long straight hair. If I get bored it usually means its time for a haircut or a new hair colour. My first experience with dying my hair was with Henna, I was in middle school and it was something new and relatively safe to try, I liked it. Then I moved on to Castings, then when I got older and more sophisticated I went to the salon to get my hair coloured. I usually stick with a red shade, but I did try blonde the summer after Ava was born. It looked good, but after looking back at pics from when it was growing out it didn't look quite as good as it once did. These days I'm back to reddy brown and from a box, maybe I'll go back to the salon the next time.

My biggest struggle is bangs, I hate that my forehead is too big and that I need these pesky things to cover them up. It seems like too much maintenance to go to the salon every couple of weeks for a trim, so I either attempt to cut them myself which has always been a bit scary or I attempt to let them grow out and put barrettes (these days Ava's little girl barrettes) or elastics to pull them back. I broke down the other day and pulled out the scissors again, I don't mind them so much at the moment, but I'm sure that will change again, just give me a few weeks!

G is for Grandma; G is for Grateful

G is for Grandma:

Ava adores her Grandma, she has a special Grandma Giggle, she lights up when she sees her and when Grandma is around Mommy doesn't matter ;) Ava loves it when Grandma and Granddad come to visit her, yesterday she got a nice visit with them while Mommy was at work. They brought her pizza, strawberries and a new glittery coloring book, what more could a two year old ask for :)

Ava's love of Grandma began the day she was born, after meeting her Mom and Dad, the first two people she met (other than the Midwife and nurses) were Granny Janny and Johnny Lightning, while the nicknames didn't stick her love of them did.



G is for Grateful:

On this gorgeous sunny day I am grateful for many things:

-Grateful for Derek and Ava and how on a crappy day seeing them play and laugh together makes everything better.

-Grateful for my family who have always been there when I needed them most.

-Grateful for my friends, past, present and future who have helped shape me into the person I am today and will continue to do so.

-Grateful for my health, without it I wouldn't be here.

-Grateful for the roof over my head, the food in my belly and the pillow I lay my head on at night.

-Grateful for the job that as much as I might complain about, allows me to have the above and continue to have the above.

and I'm also grateful for the technology that allows me to bring this inspiring blog to you.

So now that I've shared what I'm grateful for, what are you grateful for?

F is for Funny Girl; F is for Fixing up the House

F is for Funny Girl:

Ava has been super goofy this week, she's taken a liking to trying on people's glasses. We think she's a tad upset that she doesn't have any glasses of her own since both Mommy and Daddy wear glasses, as do Grandma and Granddad has reading glasses after getting his eyes fixed a couple of years ago. She also likes to wear glasses as a belt and thought it was so funny when Grandma told her "those aren't a belt" the other day. She likes to put glasses on her CareBear and other toys as well.

F is for Fixing up the House:

When we bought our house over 4 years ago we knew there was a lot of things we wanted and needed to do to it. The first thing we did was get rid of the horrible curtains that were hanging in the living room out to the patio, then the first big project we did was new counter tops and hardware in the kitchen, we also painted and had a dishwasher installed, that was year 1.

Throughout the years we have painted various rooms, and done small little things to make the house more of a home. This year we replaced all the carpet upstairs with Traffic Master Allure Plank Vinyl flooring. It looks great and really helps cut down on the amount of dust upstairs. Our next project we'd like to tackle are the floors downstairs. We would like to get rid of all the carpets and replace the old linoleum in the kitchen.

Another thing we would love to do is fix up the bathroom upstairs, there is a lot of empty space in there and we would love to add a double sink in there or at least replace the vanity that is in there now.

So much to do, now if only the lottery gods would pay attention to us!