Gotta love these back to back posts. I guess I have had a lot happen lately that I want to remember! We recently had visitors come and see us. Andre's father and his wife Rebecca stopped by on the way to and back from New Jersey. The kids had a blast with them. We were able to go to the train museum and that's what all the pics are mainly from. The only drawback was Andre had to work pretty much the whole time they were here.








Kael with Rebecca




Ava in the "hobo train"






This was one of their favorite things, I couldn't get Kael away from it!








Ava chillin in the kid caboose.








This was their kid area. They got to press buttons that activated the trains.









Kael definitely loved it. I know because he rarely smiled or even looked at me. He was just in pure concentration mode the whole time.














What'd I say? Concentration mode.



Ava & Kael in the actual caboose.






Ava way up high on a passenger's seat?







Completely focused. On the floor I guess.




Group picture....minus my face.








Kael in the engine. I was disrupting his conducting.

And this picture is of Ava and her grandpa reading a book.






These two are actually from the night we went to Hubb's corn maze in Clinton. We had so much fun there with some other families from our ward. The kids had a blast doing all the activities they had there. They rode a tractor, went in a little toddler maze, jumped on a giant jumping pillow, climbed tires, and went down giant slides. Of course I didn't get any pictures once we got there! And why can my daughter not have one serious picture??

Field trip!

Ava went on her first ever field trip today! I'm not gonna lie, when I found out her preschool did field trips my initial reaction was, "Field trips? For 3 & 4 year olds? No way!" But they do indeed! I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I think Ava had a pretty good time. I was able to be a mom volunteer (they even gave me a certificate! Yay!) and it was fun. I forget how much I love to be around little kids that age. They are all sooooo cute, and it's just so fun to talk and interact with them.


They rode the bus there and I was so sad I could not be there when Ava had her first experience riding a school bus, but no parents were allowed on the bus. Anyway they went to the first station and had a tour of the fire house. The guy giving the tour was such a good sport. He kept asking questions way beyond them, but the kids all thought he was so great. Ava behaved SO WELL until she realized I was there. I was helping these other kids and she heard my voice. She frantically looked around until she found it. From that point on she just wanted to sit with me, correction not with me, on top of me. She would not let go of my hand and would not let me out of her sight. We looked at their gear, the fire trucks, the fire boat (who knew?), their beds & kitchen, and of course, the fire pole.






She's so cute in her little handkerchief (3rd from the left)! Her best friend Banks is right next to her in the red shirt.
















All the kids watching a mom put on all the fire gear. It all weighed 60 lbs!













Ava on the truck with her friend Hayley.















The fireman asked all the kids if they had any questions and Ava promptly raised her hand. She asked him, "Where is the doggie with spots? You know, the white one and black one." I guess she thought every fire station came with a dalmatian.


My daughter being anti-social. She refused to sit with her group once she knew I was there.





















Toward the end she started having a meltdown because her teacher made her be in the picture with the other kids and she couldn't stand with me.











Can you find her back there?






















I got her to wave even though she's crying.













I knew trouble would really start when she had to get back on the bus without me. She really lost it when she was getting on the bus and I took off.









Wildly searching for me. This made it really hard for me. I didn't want to sit there and watch her, but I couldn't leave. She couldn't see me though, and that's what matters I guess.





And that concludes this session of "A day in the life of Ava Trochez". Honestly, it is difficult for me to let her go to school. I have never been away from her this much, and I don't enjoy being away from her. She tells me all morning she doesn't want to go, but then she loves it once she gets there. We'll see where all this goes I suppose. I enjoyed being there, and I even love my daughter when she's screaming.

I got a maid

Yes I did. I got a maid! She is SO great, and it's such a relief to have her around doing all the little chores that need to be done. It makes it easier for me to get to the bigger things. She does such a wonderful job, and I have to say, I have grown to love her so much!




























I ask her to do some things, but some things she just does for herself. Like she came and grabbed my hand and said, "Close your eyes, I have a surprrrrrriiiiise for you!!!!" She led me into my room and said, "Voila!" And lo and behold she had made my bed, and I never even asked her to. I thought it was so cute that used one of my pillows, and one of hers. She said, "Look, it's for mommy and Ava so we can lay down together!"


















Also something else I thought was so cute. I was taking her to preschool the other day and we had to stop on the way and get a couple of things to put in her lunch (we had ran out of drinks and bananas which are essential for school lunches, apparently) and at the grocery store here they hand out free cookies for kids. While I was checking out I told her she could get one. She came back with two. I said, "Ava, you know you can only have one" to which she replied, "But one if for Kael!" I told her Kael wasn't there and she told me she would put it in her lunchbox and save it for him. I thought "Yeah right I'm sure that will happen." Well I forgot about it and then I went to pick her up from school. One of the first things she does when she sees me is point out everything she ate for lunch. She'll open up her lunchbox and show me the empty contents because she's so proud she ate everything. Well when I first got there her teacher came walking up to me like she meant business. I thought, "Oh no, here we go." But her teacher told me that Ava refused to eat the cookie I put in her lunch. She said they kept asking her if she wanted it and she kept saying no, it was for her brother. Ava ran and got her lunchbox and the whole way home kept saying how excited she was to give Kael his cookie. We got home and she ran through the door and first thing gave Kael his cookie. Kael was very happy! I was very proud of her. Heck I'll buy Andre a snickers bar, and it's gone before I get home.