My tardiness in getting this out to friends and family is simply shameful. I am turing over a new leaf in promptness and getting this out not matter what!! We call it the Rayes Blog and from time to time news of Steve and I will trickle in but who am I kidding really. This is Ava's blog.

The little cutie is growing like a weed and talking up a storm. Like all children, she says and does the funniest things that have us laughing constantly. Like for instance, the other day we put Ava in the back seat of the truck and headed down a sizable hill into town. Steve and I were talking and Ava was chatting away to someone or something in the back. At some point she broke into our conversation saying "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" to which Steve responded "yes Ava", to which she responded "careful". She then called my name and said the same thing. Apparently she was reminding us to be careful while driving down such a steep hill. I sat there thinking to myself "man! it's like she has a direct line to Grandma or something!!!" Speaking of Grandma, we were playing around with Ava's stuffed puppy to other day and for fun I called it her "puppy dawg" to which she yelled out "Grandma!!!" It's seems she has an ear for regional accents :)

Her inner German is showing itself lately as all her "w's" come out as "v's". The other day I asked her if she wanted to go to the store and she replied "no vay". She reminds me that Daddy is at "verk" and that she is "vun" years old. Great Grandma Anna would have loved it I think.

We were at a holiday bazaar the other night and I had Ava in a back pack carrier. She pointed to a woman and yelled "Grandma! Grandma!" The woman looked at me and I explained to her that she looked like my mother. I got the impression that this woman had not embraced the "grandma" role yet and we quickly moved on.

Another funny careful story....(I am sitting here trying to recall them all before she wakes from her nap). I was sitting on the couch one night and Steve walked into the room having just put Ava to sleep. He had a grin on his face and shared that as he went to sit down in the rocker in Ava's room (in the dark) he had a bit of a collision with the foot rest I had put on the rocker while vacuuming. He went to sit down with Ava in his arms and had to try to divert mid squat before falling on his rear-end. Upon recoving he heard Ava say in the darkness "careful Daddy". I laughed so hard!!

Okay, one more story; I am ratting myself out with my lack of cleaning on this one....the other day I was in the bathroom putting on makeup and Ava was in there "inspecting" the shower. She pulled up the drain and attached to it was something resembling a wig (of hair). She jumped back, toppled over and looked at me saying "something yucky, something yucky" over and over. Then shuddered as if she had just gotten shivers down her spine. Now whenever we go in there she says the same thing but doesn't go anywhere near it. And yes, I did get rid of the "wig".

Love to All,

Lisa