Just Like Daddy

I have to start this post with an Ava story. Lately Ava is not a big fan of eating...at all. We are constantly bargaining with her to take just one bite, okay just one more, please Ava please - you get the picture. Last night we made her a small turkey and cheese sandwich. It sat around, oh so patiently, for about an hour while she played Legos, Hi Ho Cherry-O, and Zingo. Finally she decided that she wanted a Popsicle. Our conversation follows:

Ava - Okay Mommy, I want an orange Popsicle.

Me - Ava James, you have to eat your whole sandwich first (it was only one piece of bread folded over, perfectly reasonable).

Ava - Oh Mom, that doesn't make any sense.

Me - (Stifling laughter. Josh and our two dear friends failed to do so.) It does make sense that you need to eat dinner before dessert. Eat your sandwich.

Ava - Of course you'll cut off the crust.

Me - Fine, I'll cut off the crust but you have to eat the rest of it. Does that make sense?

Ava - Of course it does! *tightly hugs my legs*

Evidently I live with one and a half future lawyers. Geez.


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M and Ava enjoying some honey sticks at the Farmers Market

Ava and her seedless baby

Our treasures

Our favorite park in Norman is at the Chevy dealership. It is clean, shady, relatively new, and never crowded.

I'm not sure what the real name of the park is, but I call it Chevy Park.
Ava's translation - Shovel Park.

The weather has been less oven-like lately, thank goodness. We are loving the break in heat.

Some of my family came to celebrate the 4th of July weekend with us. As often happens when family is around, I did not take many pictures. The only picture I took of all of us cut off Josh and Ava's heads, thank you ditzy waitress. Here are the few that we took.

Hannah helped me make a Red White and Blue Tart.

Light, beautiful, and delicious
Click here for the recipe, though we slightly adapted it to fit our desired color scheme.

Chasing Uncle Nate in Bricktown

She caught him, sort of

Lots of love between these two

This morning Ava woke up and asked if we could make a blueberry pie. How could I refuse?

Checking the blueberries for stems, then rinsing.

Mixing in cornstarch, sugar, and flour

Juicing a lemon to stir into the blueberry mixture

Using a pastry blender for the first time!

Adding the butter

Smashing the perfect dough into a disc

My little chef just went down for her nap while we wait for the gluten to do its magic in the refrigerator. I'll amend this post with finished pie pictures later. Click here for our pie recipe.