Some fun pictures of Ava 17 months....

Such a grinner

Ava playing with the clothes in the dryer

Ava's favorite pass time when the dryer door is open is to remove all the clothes, piece by piece. She will attempt to wear as many of them as she can at once. You may even catch her throwing her leg up to try to get into the dryer to get the clothes in the back she can't reach.

An Adult Get Away.....

A shark in the aquarium

At the aquarium at the MOA

Brad and I escaped to the twin cities for a long weekend to celebrate my 30th birthday. It was our first trip away from Ava. We had a nice relaxing weekend. We each got a massage and I also got a manicure and pedicure which was wonderful (wish we could do that every weekend!) We went to a movie, enjoyed dinners at sit-down restaurants, and did some shopping at the Mall of America. While at the Mall of America, we visited the aquarium there which was really cool. We did have to hit some bad weather on the way home, but we made it safely. Ava stayed with my parents while we were gone. I don't think she missed us all that much as Grandpa and Grandma were paying lots of attention to her. She didn't nap as much as usual for Grandma, but I think she did pretty well overall. We enjoyed our time, but missed Ava and were glad to be home.

Ava is 17 Months....

Ava "cleaning" the fridge like Mom Cuddling by Daddy

No, I am not getting into anything

It seeems with each passing month, we see more of Ava's personality develop. A favorite thing she likes to do right now is hide. She will randomly disappear into a distant room and slip behind the door and be as quiet as she can. Sometimes, it takes several minutes to find her. She has not mastered how to open doors yet, but she works on the door to the garage alot and I think the time is coming. Great, another place I can look for her! She also loves to run around the ottoman in the living room, be chased or chase Daddy around the house, and sit in the corner and page through magazines. We also spend quite a share of time playing peek-a-boo around and behind many household objects. She never tires of this!

Hopefully, the weather will improve and we can start playing outside on a regular basis. Ava loves it now for short periods of time and it is freezing! Someday we will have spring....