Spring Break 2021 - Day 4 and 5

For our last day in Gatlinburg, we did a little hike to Laurel Falls. We debated trying another falls too but the forecast wasn’t looking great so we decided just to do the one. Zoe ended up not wanting to walk at all so what was supposed to be an easy hike ended up being a tough one because she was on my back on the way there and DJ’s on the way back. But, the falls were beautiful!

After hiking, we decided to have a picnic one last time at our same spot at Greenbrier. The girls attempted getting in the creek but Zoe couldn’t stand the super cold water. Ava braved the cold and ended up really wet and freezing but she had a blast.

After the cold swimming, we headed back to the cabin to enjoy the hot tub one last time. And we let the girls have an extra special vacation treat - roasted marshmallows! You can’t go to the mountains and not roast marshmallows. Our cabin didn’t have a fire pit but the charcoal grill worked just fine.

After supper, we were getting cleaned up and starting to pack when we saw a bear walk across the driveway! Then 3 more bears joined it! In all my years going to Gatlinburg (and my parents’s times going without me when I got older), I’ve never seen bears that close to the cabin. We watched them walk right in front of our window and then down the driveway. The girls were amazed! It was a super fun way to end the trip.

The next day, we headed back home to get ready to pack and move! We stopped along the parkway for a picture of the beautiful mountains. We also stopped at Biltmore for a picnic lunch. It was such a wonderful vacation for the 4 of us (well, 5 including Winnie. Lucy was enjoying a calm week with my mom)! We needed that time away, especially after COVID.

Spring Break 2021 - Day 3

Our 3rd day in Gatlinburg was also Zoe’s 4th birthday! We started the day with birthday cupcakes right after breakfast. We picked the cupcakes up at this super cute bakery in Pigeon Forge the night before. The girls each got to choose their cupcake flavor, icing flavor and sprinkles. Zoe picked a strawberry cupcake with buttercream icing and rainbow star sprinkles. Ava picked a strawberry cupcake with chocolate icing and pink sprinkles. The cupcakes were huge and took several sitting to finish (well, Zoe never actually finished her’s) and the girls loved them!

After cupcakes, we headed into town for our first meal in a restaurant in over a year! We had brunch at Flapjacks Pancake Cabin. The girls each got the bear pancakes and they were so cute! On our way back to the cabin, we watched 3 bear cubs cross the road in Cobbly Nob, our cabin neighborhood!

Then, we packed our picnic food and headed to Cades Cove. This place is so special to my family. It was my dad’s favorite place to go in the mountains so it was special to celebrate Zoe’s birthday there and also remember him on the 6th anniversary of his death. The girls loved checking out the cabins that are similar to what Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in (we are reading those books right now). We saw a bear along the road, which was exciting. And the girls played in the creek at the picnic. I tried to get some 4 year old portraits of Zoe but she was too distracted (so we got them later after we got home and moved to the new house). I loved sharing this place with the girls again because the last time we were here, Zoe was a year old.

After Cades Cove, we headed back to the cabin for Zoe to open her presents and have pizza for supper. It was a special way to celebrate Zoe’s 4th birthday!! Just cannot believe she’s already 4!!

Spring Break 2021 - Day 2

We took it easy this morning and then headed to one of my favorite spots for a picnic…Greenbrier. My family would always come to this exact spot (and I was always upset if it wasn’t available) for picnics. It was so nice because it was never crowded and had plenty of area to play in the water. I was so excited when I walked up to it from the parking lot and saw it empty. We spent the morning here enjoying our lunch, playing in the creek (although it was super cold) and collecting rocks (mostly Zoe).

That afternoon, we headed to Pigeon Forge for gem mining. The girls were super excited about this adventure because they both love collecting gems and crystals. They had a blast mining and it was fun to go to another place I went as a kid with my friends, Betsy and Katie, who we always camped with. I told the girls about the time that our dads tricked us all by sneaking fools gold into our buckets and made us all believe we found gold.

Spring Break 2021 - Day 1

After not being able to do much of anything for over a year, we decided we needed a vacation and Ava’s spring break was the perfect time to take a family vacation. Even better, Zoe’s birthday fell right in the middle of it. So, we decided to rent a cabin in Gatlinburg (Cobbly Nob, where my family would rent cabins) and spend the week in the mountains. We figured it was a safe place to go because everything we wanted to do was outside and we knew we could distance ourselves from people. It was crowded but never too bad. We were able to enjoy so many spots that I enjoyed as a kid growing up and it was so nice to finally be able to get away as a family!

On the way to Gatlinburg, we decided to stop at Biltmore for a picnic lunch and to see the festival of flowers. The flowers were so gorgeous and it was a nice way to break up the drive before we got settled into our cabin.

Easter Portraits 2021

So these portraits were taken well after Easter this year but I wanted to keep them in line with the Easter post. The day after Easter we headed to Gatlinburg for Spring Break. Then, 4 days after we got home, we moved to our new house. Needless to say, we were a little busy to get portraits taken but better late than never. Plus, added benefit of waiting was I got to take them at our new house!

Easter 2021

This year, we finally were able to have a normal holiday! We spent Easter with my side of the family and because they had all been vaccinated, we didn’t have to wear masks and we all got to hug my grandmother for the first time in a year! It was so nice to feel a sense of return to normalcy after so long!! We started the Easter weekend with egg dyeing at our house on Saturday. Easter morning, the girls got their Easter gift bags (because their baskets were already packed and I had no idea where they were) and then we headed to my mom’s church for their outdoor service with my family. After church, we all went to my mom’s house for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. My two uncles even got in on the fun and hunted the eggs that the girls hid. I hate that their Grampie wasn’t there to join the fun but I love that my uncles are willing to help fill that void on my side of the family for the girls. It was such a wonderful Easter celebration!

A Cold Day in the Mountains

We were all itching to get out of the house and do something fun one day this winter, so we decided to head up to Dupont State Forest. It ended up being a super cold day but we had a great time walking to the waterfall, eating a picnic and enjoying the views at Caesar’s Head.

School Dress Up Days

We are so thankful Ava was able to go back to school in person full time. She missed being with her friends so much and missed the fun activities like dress up days. This winter they were able to celebrate the 100th day of school and reading in the month of February with the annual book character parade.

Dressed up like a 100 year old person

Book Character Day - The Ruby Princess

Snow!!

We finally got some snow this year! It snowed on Feb 7th and we loved having a snow day!! It ended up being a decent amount of snow for us and was the perfect snow for building a snowman (of course he had to be Olaf!!) and snowballs. Zoe’s first move in the snow was to plop down for a snow angel. She’s been wanting to make a snow angel forever now because of her Bitty Baby book so she was thrilled we actually had enough snow to make lots and lots of snow angels. We even made snow cream. Winnie and Lucy got to enjoy the snow as well! Now we are all looking forward to next winter, when we will be able to enjoy snow at our new house with a decent sledding hill.

Ava is 8 and a half!

It is so crazy that Ava is already halfway to 9! Well, more than halfway now. The past 6 months have still been so crazy and strange with COVID that it feels like time is flying even faster. I don’t want to admit it but I know her birthday will be here before we know it. She is just growing up way too fast! She really seems like such a big kid now. We wish we could keep her little much longer but it is fun to see who she is growing up to be as well.

I feel like I don’t have as much to update for her half birthday this year because she isn’t changing quite as much these days. But, I do have plenty to write about. So, here is what Ava’s life is like at 8 and a half.

Ava is really growing so much these days. She keeps having huge growth spurts and getting so much taller. I really feel like it won’t be long before she is as tall as me, or even taller! Since she hasn’t been to the doctor (thank goodness!), I don’t have any weight or stats. But, I did measure her on our growth chart and she is 52.25” tall. She’s grown about 2 inches in 6 months!

We can see how much Ava is growing in her clothes. She is already outgrowing some shirts and some of her pants are looking a little short. I am just hoping they hold on until it gets warmer. She is wearing size 8 in most things but I’m looking at 10s for the summer, especially in shirts because of her height (they start getting a little too short on her belly). She is wearing size 3 shoes. It is crazy to me how close she is getting to juniors/adult sizes!

We also see how much Ava is growing in how much she wants to eat these days. She is always hungry because she is always growing! She is getting pretty good at trying to make sure what she is eating is healthy. Although, she does still love her snack foods like crackers and goldfish. She is learning to eat more foods because she gets free lunch at school (one tiny COVID benefit). She thinks it is so fun to get lunch at school and gets excited to try new things there, which has helped us add new foods to our suppers, like chicken pot pie. One of Ava’s new favorite things to eat is roasted kale chips. She gets so excited when we have that as a side for supper and we try to do it very often so she gets some good leafy greens. Unfortunately, due to COVID and some new dietary restrictions for me, we haven’t been able to eat out much. Ava definitely misses eating out at any Mexcian restaurant, Tropical Grille, Sidewall Pizza and Swamp Rabbit Cafe. We keep hoping things will get better COVID wise so we feel more comfortable eating out but that isn’t the case right now. She will be so excited when we can finally go to a restaurant!

Ava is growing physically but she is also growing so much in school as well. This is the strangest school year ever but she is making the most of it. We are so thankful they are in person full time now because she thrives in the classroom with her friends and her teacher. They have plexiglass dividers on their tables and have to wear masks all day long, which is so strange. But, she loves being there in person and is so much happier with school than she was when it was virtual. She is working hard to learn multiplication and division facts. They have been doing a lot of culture studies in Social Studies. And they are constantly working on writing books. I think she is writing a book about Red Pandas right now, because of her favorite stuffed animal. She says she loves science because of the experiments. She also loves her art and music classes. This year is definitely strange (like having to send valentines in a few days early to quarantine and no field trips) but her teacher and school are trying to make it as special as they can despite the circumstances. We’ve also been working with her teacher from last year to help with some extra tutoring. She loved her teacher (who was really a long-term sub) last year and is so happy to have that one on one time with her once a week. We started it when they were virtual, to give her some extra support but she loves it so much we’ve continued it. They work through her homework or on any subjects she needs a little extra help with. She’s doing so well with her work and her report cards have been great! We are proud of how well she’s doing in this crazy year!

Ava’s favorite subject at school is reading. She could read all day some days. We cannot keep enough books around for her. Books are the one thing she wants to spend her money on and what she asks for the most for Christmas and birthday gifts. She can fly through a short chapter book in one evening at bedtime. We let her read for about 45 min at bedtime but a lot of nights we do find her reading much later and have to tell her it’s time for lights out. She gets so caught up in the books that she loses track of time some nights. Some of her favorite series are American Girl books (any of them), Star Darlings, Whatever After, Princess Diaries, Never Girls and Magic Treehouse.

Ava also continues to grow socially. She is still very shy but comes out of her shell much easier. School has been the best thing for her socially and we are so thankful she gets that social experience this year despite all the craziness. She has a new best friend at school this year because her other best friends from previous years are not in her class. Makayla was in her class last year and they played some but weren’t super close. This year they’ve grown very close and it’s so nice to know she has a sweet friend at school. We haven’t seen many other friends lately because of COVID. We aren’t going to church in person anymore now that they’ve moved indoors so she doesn’t get to see her church friends like Ella and Maisy. We are so ready for the weather to warm up so hopefully they can start having church outside again and we can see friends. Ava definitely misses all her friends that we don’t see these days and will be so happy when things can go back to at least a little more like normal.

One area where Ava has really grown in the past 6 months is ice skating. Our local rink finally opened back up in October and she was able to start her lessons again in November. We weren’t sure how well she would do after such a long break but she shocked us and her coach Ms. Juliana with how she picked it all right back up. She is working on spins, one foot spins, skating backwards, gliding on one foot and little cross over hops to start. She loves skating and it is fun to watch her do something she enjoys so much and to see her improve each week.

Ava has also really mastered her bike in the past 6 months. We always knew she could do it but she was pretty timid and afraid to fall. She learned how to pedal without training wheels a while ago but would never really get going with it. One day she finally decided she was going to do it and it clicked and she’s been unstoppable on the bike ever since. She just needed the confidence to do it and now she loves riding her bike. She also loves trying her roller blades that she got for Christmas. I saw several figure skaters on Instagram practicing on roller blades and thought that was a great idea since we can’t get on the ice all the time. Ava loves being outside and is so excited about our new house (which should be done in the next month or so) and having a flat concrete driveway to ride her bike and roller blade on. She and Zoe have already decided on a hide out area in the back yard near the woods and love playing in that area whenever we go check on the house progress.

Ava is also still obsessed with crafts. She loves being outside but she is quite content to spend all day inside making crafts as well. She loves to cut and glue creations together, especially paper dolls and their accessories. She says abstract art is her favorite kind of art because she loves just drawing different shapes and putting them all together in a design. She says she wants to be an art teacher when she grows up. Another benefit of COVID right now is Bonnie, a college girl from church, is doing school virtually at home this year and Ava has been able to hang out with her some. Bonnie is in art school and Ava loves working on art projects or just coloring with her. Bonnie is also adopted so it is wonderful for Ava to have an older girl to look up to who’s been through similar things in her life. Bonnie has been so sweet to mentor Ava this year!

Ava’s current favorite toy is her doll house. She loves to spend time playing by herself with her doll house and creating her own little worlds there. She also loves her American Girl doll still but says the doll house is what she enjoys the most right now. We recently found a new show on Netflix called Gabby’s Dollhouse. It is about a girl who can shrink down into her dollhouse. I think Ava wishes that magic was real and she could play with all her toys in her dollhouse too!

Speaking of TV, Ava and Zoe both look forward to the weekends because they know that means they get to watch TV in the mornings. It is hard to find shows that an 8 year old and a 3 year old can agree on but lately they’ve liked Vampirina, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Hatchimals, Pete the Cat, Curious George, and Magic School Bus Rides Again.

Ava and Zoe are still best friends. With COVID, they have really had to bond well together because they are usually the only playmates available. They definitely have their normal sister moments of fighting (a lot more when we are stuck at home) but they really do love each other so much. They are going to be sharing a room when we move and we hope it will be a special time for them. The first little while will definitely be an adjustment. The few times we’ve let them have sleepovers in Zoe’s room, Zoe keeps Ava awake talking way too much. She is super social and will have to learn not to talk all night. But, we think once the newness wears off, they will really enjoy being together. They have a big age difference, which can be hard sometimes. Ava always says she wishes Zoe was older. But, now that Zoe is getting bigger, they can do so much more together and they have a blast together. We hope they are always each other’s best friend.

Ava is still a very sweet kid. Teachers and anyone who is around her always comment on how sweet she is and how she is such a good friend. She is very empathetic and cares about making sure other people are not hurt. She is still sassy (always keeping it real) but she always makes sure to tell us how much she loves us.

We are so thankful for the past 8 and a half years with this girl! Our lives would not be the same without her. But, as I always say, we know that our joy in her comes with pain for her birth mama and we never take that lightly. She means the world to us. We are so thankful for her and are thankful for the relationship we have with her.

Happy Half Birthday, Ava Girl!

We love you to the moon and back!!