Skating & School

Day 6 of our snow and ice adventure began like this. Have you ever seen such a happy backseat? I know you're jealous that I get to see this in my rear-view mirror every afternoon.

J and JK's mom treated us to a special lunch at Red Robin.

Then we headed to the ice skating rink. It was my first time on ice skates since 8th grade and Ava's first time ever. Surprisingly, the skating skills were still with me. Not surprisingly, Ava was brave and balanced on the ice, only falling a few times.

I love the walker things for little ones, really saves the parent's back.

On Thursday a special Valentines Day package arrived in the mail from Mimi. Mommy was thrilled with the adorable red and pink clothes. Ava was thrilled with the marshmallow cupcake on a stick.

Since I've been out of the classroom since May I have realized that I miss teaching. I think more than anything I miss the aha/light bulb moments in my students. I've always worked with Ava, but this semester I've been more intentional with school time with her. She is so eager to learn, and begs for me to bring out her school box whenever we have a spare moment.

This was her lunch that she colored, cut, and glued all by herself. I only cut out the lunch sack. We talked about the different kinds of healthy foods that she packed in the sack, and what letters began each item.

With all of this snow it was only fitting that we build a paper snowman. We sang Frosty the Snowman as she colored, cut, and glued him on this decorated blue paper. I cut the hat and arms.

It's important to get to know your students. She drew a picture of herself (in her favorite color of course) and told me about it, "Ava's laying down in her bed because she is sleepy. And then suddenly I was crying because I was sad. And now I'm happy. That's all I need."

After coloring the bus and school, Ava selected an orange crayon to help the bus find its way to the destination. As you can tell, she found it with no trouble at all.

Working on her alphabet arch

with great success!

Ava gets personalized lessons and I get to soothe my teaching itch, win-win.

Snowkids

As indicated by my previous post, we were all desperate for some time outside. The problem was that all of my snow clothes are in Texas and Ava has none. Lucky for us the precious family I nanny for had plenty of warm ski clothes to share! With schools closed again today (well, not OU) we all headed out for a day of fun.

Can you believe we had the park all to ourselves?

Dashing through the snow

in a one-horse open sleigh

We found this darling snowman and had to strike a pose.

Teaching Ava sledding basics

Heading down the hill

Loving it

I felt a little guilty having this much fun while Josh was across the street in class.

Beautiful girl

Here we go again

Tuckered out and ready for hot chocolate

As I'm writing this post the weatherman is talking about more winter mix expected Wednesday evening through Friday and another big system on Monday. We've got warm clothes to wear and great snow playmates, I say bring it on!

Of Snow and Scandal

The snow is not melting. Today the low was supposed to be 32, but we didn't make it to 27. Don’t get me wrong, I love the shimmery frosting that makes even on-campus housing look magical. However, I think the time spent indoors is encouraging my often overactive imagination to a point of borderline insanity. I’m afraid to talk to Josh and Ava about my observations, as we may be stuck together in 600 square feet for at least another 36 hours. I love them too much to frighten them. So, my blog faithful, the task of indulging my musings falls to you.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we’ve moved Ava’s dollhouse into the living room. The dollhouse has a revolving door for stray residents of The Hundred Acre Woods or Disney Princesses. While I often find myself longing for Norah Loving’s cozy laundry room, I never envy the too-often dinner guests of six doe-eyed princesses. Norah, the dollhouse mom, looks great for a woman who birthed three kiddos, most recently a set of twins. But with her frizzy hair and nursed-for-too-long chest I often worry about her and Nat’s relationship. Today as Ava was napping I began the task of gathering up the toys so that we could walk through our living room. Josh was outside scraping ice from our car doors so it was only fair that I work too. Imagine my disgust when I found Nat Loving, dollhouse dad, and Aurora, Sleeping Beauty, nestled a little too snuggly beneath the love seat. He just stared at me with his plastic poker face full of excuses like, “Ava put us there,” and “It’s really drafty in here.” Whatever Nat, I wasn’t born last night. All of my lingering fears for Norah materialized in that moment. As I write this Nat and Norah are sitting in their bedroom talking things out I guess. I don’t know how she can stand it. I can’t even look him in the eye.

Am I crazy? If so I come by it naturally. When I was in middle school my mom was convinced that the meteorologist on the channel 8 news detested the female anchorwoman. “Look at how he cut his eyes at her,” she’d say as my dad and I stifled a giggle. When the meteorologist moved to a new network she was even more confident in her suspicions. Once, when my sister was about three-years-old, we were sitting at the end of our sidewalk waiting for a family friend to pick us up. We had been close friends with their family for years, and she was rescuing us from our new baby brother. Sarah looked at me with a gleam in her eye and said, “Hey Autumn, when Mith Rayeanne geth here leth tell her my name ith Otha-thuth-thuth.” Problem 1: Obviously Rayeanne knew her name, and 2: Why would a sweet little girl with a lisp choose a name with five S’s in it? Thee? Nuth...er, See? Nuts!

Sometimes it’s easier to just accept the crazy and go with it. All I can say is Nat Loving better watch himself, I saw that Target had Ken dolls on sale this week.

Happy Texans

We are so blessed to have sweet family (mostly great-grandparents) who sent cards to Ava for her third birthday. She loves receiving mail and was surprised to see green stuff inside of the cards. After thinking about how to use her birthday money for a while we decided to put it toward dance classes. A local church has a very low-stress, low-cost, age-appropriate dance class - think of darling tots twirling to a funky version of ' I'm a Little Teapot'. Grace had already been taking the class for a little while and highly recommended it. Although a little timid, Ava seemed to enjoy the class.

On Thursday at 12:00 OU canceled class through Friday. The ice was falling, and local meteorologists' voices hit a frantic level that led us to use words like 'snowpocalypse' (thanks Dean). While the ice-induced shut in was a welcome early end to the week we were still hoping for some real snow. We enjoyed breakfast for dinner with a hopeful eye on the sky.

Banana-pecan and apple wheat pancakes, in true Cafe Cappuccino fashion

Don't worry, we had crunchy bacon and scrambled eggs too.


There's a superstition that if you want snow you should sleep with your pajamas inside-out and a spoon under your pillow.

Hey, we were desperate for snow.

IT WORKED!

The wind wasn't howling and the ground was powdery soft.

The snowflakes were so large they looked like styrofoam falling.

Happy to be outside

Attack the mommy!

We had to be careful not to walk underneath the ice-laden trees. Branches were constantly falling under the weight. Luckily, they avoided the power lines in our area.

Crazy ice

Catching snowflakes

HLS took a well-deserved break to play with us.

Snow angels

Anyone up for a picnic?

I snapped this picture just before I started this post. You can tell how much snow we've had if you look on top of the mailboxes.

The snow was supposed to stop at 2:00 this afternoon but they've pushed it back to around 10:00. We moved Ava's dollhouse into the living room where it's warmest, Josh is studying and working on his resume at the kitchen table, and I'm just enjoying them both. It's been so nice to be snowed in with my two favorite people on earth. Happy happy me.

A very Olympic 3rd birthday

Ava James turned three on Friday, January 22.
She started it off with her favorite breakfast, hot dogs (also known as pigs-in-a-blanket). Josh's schedule is wonderful this semester and he was actually able to enjoy the birthday breakfast with us.

Opening her presents from Mommy and Daddy

With a little help

from both of us.

The perfect birthday outfit

My family came in on Friday evening to kick off the birthday weekend. Ava picked Hideaway Pizza for dinner.

Choosing her frozen yogurt dessert with Uncle Brandon

Loving our Orange Tree treats

Chocolate face

Uncle Brandon and Ava worked on a puzzle while we prepared for the party.

Not sure how we fit all of the cooks in our tiny kitchen, but it worked out fine.

Ava has been taking gymnastics at Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy since August. Most of our friends take gymnastics there too, so it was an ideal location for the party. I kept asking Ava what theme she'd like for her party, Pooh? Wonderpets? Fancy Nancy? All she would ever reply was "Orange". We requested for our guests to wear orange to the party in her honor in lieu of gifts.

A little shy at first

Ready to party

Sliding with Nadia

Introductions

Gabby loving on her mommy

Aunt Sarah and Uncle Brandon took their orange to a whole new level, decorating their shirts just for Ava.

Sliding with Noah

Hugs for Mimi

Chatting with Gabby

Silly with Mommy

Loving her Baba

Snuggles with Aunt Jaryn

All of the party guests used the parachute to wrap Ava like a present.

Then we pulled and she twirled around and around.

The kiddos played inside the enormous air bubble.

Everybody in

Fun with Geoff and Pops

Going over the rules.
The most important rule: Have Fun!

Trampoline fun

Ava landed funny on the trampoline. Luckily, our resident chiropractor was there for a quick adjustment.

Gabby on the beam

Playing in the foam pit

Julia Kate and Ava jumping in the pit

Relaxing

Ava wanted me to do a cartwheel. Instead I walked on the tape line. I have never in my life done a cartwheel. Didn't want to break a bone before cake.

The 3 Locketts at the 3rd birthday party

Swinging

The kiddos at the party
(the ones we could round up anyway)

The whole crew

For months we have driven by the cutest cake spot in downtown Norman. Sugar did such a great job making her cake orange and girly, my two requests.

Happy with her cake

Is it time to eat it?

Cake time

Blowing out her candles

Mimi helps her take a few bites.

No one followed our 'no present' request. Have they seen the crackerjack box we live in? We are so thankful for the thoughtful gifts. Too bad Daddy may have to move out so we can fit everything. Here are the kids showing '3'....well, sort of.

Hugs from Gus

We were all thrilled to have an unexpected visit from BART CONNER during presents! Yes, those of you who are slightly older than this blogger, that Bart Conner. The gold medal-winner in the 1984 Olympics.

Ava wasn't so sure about him, gold medal or not.

After sweetly wishing her a happy birthday, Bart left our crazy orange group.

Jack and Julia Kate help Ava sort through their gift.

Daddy helps read some cards from the great-grandparents.

Smiles

The two best aunts ever! We can only hope Ava grows up to look like a mix of these two beautiful ladies.

With sweet Susie and Geoff

The birthday fairy

Even the Oklahoma sunset dressed in orange for Ava James

Ready for some Ted's Mexican food

The princess and Coach

We are so thankful to our friends and family for helping us celebrate Ava's 3rd birthday! After a year of so many changes, the love we've felt from friends, old and new, and our amazing family has been a welcome constant. We love you all dearly.

The Magical Land of Doors

Once upon a time there was a sugar-plum-pink-bow-wearnin' princess and a handsome-J Crew sweater-wearin' king, (for the sake of time we'll call 'em Princess Sugar and King Crew, respectively).

Now these two noble folks had been given the adventurous task of returning the Christmas treasure to The Magical Land of Doors. With brave hearts and warm socks they set out to conquer the mission.

The Trusty Steed was heavy-laden with holiday booty as King Crew followed Princess Sugar past the icy mountains.

Would the Key of Wonders permit them access to The Magical Land of Doors, as was foretold by the Keeper of the keys?

Yes!
Princess Sugar and King Crew were not daunted by the throngs of seemingly identical doors. They knew that their Treasure Key would only unlock the Special Door at the top of Shakey-Shakey Ladder.

Suddenly they spotted it!

Valiant King Crew scaled the ladder and safely returned the treasure to its rightful place, where it shall remain until next Christmas season.

With a brilliant smile Princes Sugar left The Magical Land of Doors upon her Trusty Steed.

And they lived happily ever after.

No, I haven't lost my mind. I know I snapped pictures at a UHaul storage facility.

I promise I have a point.

I have become more aware of the power I have as an adult, and especially a parent. My attitude and perspective about a situation can either make it sparkly fun or pure torture. I knew that we had to take a trip to storage with our Christmas things. I knew Ava would have to come along. Josh and I made a conscious choice to make the outing as much fun as possible. She totally bought into it. She 'oohed' and 'ahhed' the entire time. As a two-year-old she doesn't have a lot of control over the things we do. More often than not she's just along for the ride. Why not make a little extra effort and transform the mundane into magical? I feel like I owe it to her, and really...I had a blast too.

Not Mustard or Mayonaise

Must be Ketchup.
You know, catch up...because it's been so long since I've blogged.

Over the Christmas holiday the Texas Cedar trees attacked Ava with a vengeance. The combination of congested child/lack of sleep/wheezing/coughing/snot constantly running/sad sick eyes/trips to Urgent Care/hundreds of $$ in medicine and doctor visits/kicking myself for not anticipating the allergies and bringing the breathing machine caused me to not take many pictures. On Christmas Day Ava was the sickest I've ever seen her. Thankfully, she recovered quickly with the help of some miracle elixirs. Hopefully I can get the few pictures snapped by grandmas and aunts to throw on the blog later. For now, this is the best I can do.

Happy in her adorable tutu and headband from Mamaw and Papa.
Have I ever mentioned that orange is Ava's favorite color? Since she could talk she has loved the color orange. Orange is the theme of her 3rd birthday party. Can you guess which tutu she will be wearing at the party?

For Christmas Eve at my parents house I made Beef Bourguigonne (or Beef Burgundy, or Boeuf Bourguignon). Click above for the recipe.

Close-up of the meal

I made a few handmade Christmas gifts.

This is the kitchen towel I made for Judy's red/cherry themed kitchen.

Beene Beene has an odd-shaped end table that was in need of a cover. Sewing for the Beene is like cooking for Martha Stewart. Once (in a very loving way of course) she ripped every seam in an apron I'd just made to show me the right way to do it. It was actually a very valuable learning experience, but oh so humbling. I decided to be brave and make a custom table cloth for her. She loves yo-yos so I went a little crazy with them. I've been commissioned to make another cover just like this for her coffee table. I guess she liked it!

Coach made puny Ava a very special candy cane-shaped cinnamon roll with red-dyed icing and sprinkles.

Josh and I spent a few days with our sweet friends, The Broadduses, in Sugar Land. Three days of great food and board games. I think we spent 70 of the 72 hours in our pajamas playing Settlers of Catan. We miss you guys like crazy.

We returned to Norman after the infamous Oklahoma Blizzard of 2009. There are still mountains of snow everywhere, but the roads are clear. This little Texas family is thrilled to see the white stuff - especially since it isn't inconveniencing us in any way. Hopefully we'll get to see some of it fall soon.

This week we are enjoying our last full week before HLS goes back to the dungeon on January 19th. We hope you all are snuggled and warm during this cold weather. Thanks for reading.

I'm a prize and you're a catch, and we're a perfect match

On January 1, 2005 Josh and I were married. Five years ago! I can't believe it's been five years, and I can't believe it's only been five years...if that makes sense at all. I know this blog is usually all Ava all the time, but this post is about us. Enjoy a trip through our wedding day.

Here is the chapel.

Me and my bridesmaids

Josh and his groomsmen

I l-o-v-e this shot of our dads.
So patient and sweet.

My handome hubby-to-be

Josh and I chose to see each other before our wedding. I absolutely hate sitting at a reception for an hour waiting for the wedding party to finish pictures. We refused to put our friends and family through such torture. Plus, who wants to miss a minute of their reception?
Our photographer set up the chapel with no one inside but the two of us (and him, snapping away). Josh had his back turned until I walked about halfway down the aisle.

Spending a few minutes admiring one another before the day gets crazy.
This is one of my sweetest memories of our wedding day.

The whole wedding party
Note the beautiful light streaming in the windows. If we'd waited to do pictures after the ceremony the photos would have been cavernous.

A windy, overcast, 70 degree January 1 created a fun outdoor shot

Programs ready to go

Saying a group prayer before the ceremony

About to walk down the aisle

We do!

It's official!

Ready to slice my cake

Cutting a piece of Josh's grooms cake

Loving our first few moments as a married couple.

Josh serenading me at the reception. He sang 'I Love You Truly' from It's a Wonderful Life.

Picture perfect day

This is a little more realistic

Stealing a kiss on our way out

In the limo

Everyone waving goodbye

This shot always makes me want to sing the song 'So Long, Farewell' from The Sound of Music

What a magical day! If you were at our wedding or have become a part of our lives since then we'd love to hear from you. Please comment below.

These are a few of my favorite things

JOSH IS FINISHED WITH HIS FIRST SEMESTER OF LAW SCHOOL!!!

Those of you who know our marriage well are aware of the fact that I'm only allowed one exclamation point per blog post...at most. All caps is an absolute no-no. There was just no other way to kick of this happiest of posts. Josh survived (and I'm sure kicked some major booty on) his first round of law school finals.

These are some things I am loving about the end of those pesky tests:

1. I woke up next to my hubby this morning
2. Ava gives a hearty belly laugh every time he enters our room and comes back out without a hefty book
3. His hair doesn't have twisted spots from 'twiddling' (although there is one adorable silver-colored one that sprouted this semester)
4. Two parent parenting is just SO much easier

Our sweet friends, the Browns, invited Ava and I over to make gingerbread houses on one of Josh's last nights of studying. Here are the silly girls working hard on their houses.

Getting down to buisness

The finished product

Playing a vintage Raggedy Ann board game

The Browns also treated us to some fancy desserts to celebrate the end of the semester.

We'd discussed our favorite desserts in Sunday school a few weeks ago.
Tiramisu for me
Turtle Cheesecake for Josh
Adorable sugar cookies for Ava

Amazing friends, thank you so much.

Since we will be leaving on Sunday for a whirlwind driving tour of Texas we decided to have our little family Christmas early. Here are each of our favorites:

A pink whistling tea kettle, love it

Josh has listened to me talk about New York City forever. It's a place I've never been but am extremely homesick to go to. I call it homesick because I don't know how else to describe my feelings. Perhaps Jay Z and Alicia Keys say it best, "The streets will make you feel brand new, Big lights will inspire you".
My sweet hubby gave me a trio of NYC themed gifts along with a promise to take me someday. He even addressed one of the gifts
To: BK from Texas
From: your Jay Z.
Those of you who know the song will understand the romance in the gesture.
Precious, and one of my favorite gifts ever.

My gifts for Josh were all about relaxing for the month. Some new Malcolm Gladwell books, a new Zelda game for his Nintendo DS, and some fun lawyer-themed cards (because to buy the print of this favorite The New Yorker cartoon was crazy expensive). I matted and framed one of the cards at Hobby Lobby. It works for now. The card reads, "You have a pretty good case, Mr. Pitkin, How much justice can you afford?"

Some yummy gifts for all three of us.

One of Ava's favorites - a laundry room for her dollhouse. Josh and I are extremely jealous of the Loving family these days.

She also got her first 'big girl' Legos and a Mrs. Potato Head.

I close this post with one of the best parenting tips I've ever heard. Some of you may have seen this before, and if you have I'm very mad at you for not sharing it with me. On Sunday morning at church our precious childrens minister, JJ, saw Ava and I struggling to put on her coat. She took a few moments to show us 'the flip'. After a few lessons from Grace, Ava is a pro at putting on her own coat. No frustrating 'I want to do it alone, but my arm is stuck' or 'No, this arm in this hole, no that arm, no your left one, no the other left one'.

The Flip
1st - You just lay the coat on the floor in front of your kiddo.
2nd - Have the kid stand at the end with the hood (or top if there is no hood).
3rd - Stick arms through the sleeves from the inside.
4th - Flip the coat over and on, the hood will automatically cover the head.
5th - Hit the road Jack 'cause you're ready

Still confused? Observe:

Merry Christmas from The Three 'Law'ketts!
(Oops, I used another exclamation point. Deal with it.)

100!

Welcome to my 100th blog post!

I got a little nostalgic when I saw that this would be my 100th post so I peeked back at my first one.

Oh so much has happened since I was preparing this little angel's nursery.

My sweet boss invited Ava and I to see The Nutcracker with some fun girls on Saturday afternoon. Luckily Baba and Pops recently outfitted Ms. Well (the doll formerly known as Noel) and Ava James in perfect Christmas ballet clothes.

Thanks to Little Einsteins Ava has been humming Tchaikovsky for weeks.

Ready to go with our 'up to something' faces.

Still trying to get a good shot of both of us

We need smile-at-the-same-time classes.

Almost an okay picture, strange height difference angle

Our pretty girls at The Nutcracker

Where should we look?

The little girls discussing plot lines in the ballet.

A little dramatic flare

Have you noticed someone missing from this 100th post?
Poor HLS. No rest (or fun) for the weary.

Three finals down, one to go.
Think of us on Friday at 1:00 when we celebrate the end of Josh's first semester of law school!