A long long day

Ava reclining on her little Tinkerbell couch. Lisa got her this. It seemed to be a big hit. She spent a good part of the day sitting on it for moments at a time, or jumping around on it. It folds out into a bed too.






Guess who bought the cha-cha leopard coat? She's modeling it for us. Believe it or not, there was no prompting involved. She just did this on her own.

It's a good thing I rested some last night. Today was really long.

I got up and had to do the 8,000 little things you have to do before you can leave town. I did take some time to have coffee on the porch, then went to the flea market for produce. I did stay longer than I intended becuase the weather was gorgeous, and there were a lot of yard sale people out. Still didn't find any glass though.

When I got home, I had to eat, clean up the kitchen, finish packing, do the cat chores, take out the garbage so the house didn't get stinky, and then get cleaned up myself. I also gussied up Ava's present a bit, since it looked so sad. I still got the award for ugliest gift.

Then I headed for Chapin, SC, my sister's new home, and Ava's birthday party. Lisa has a penchant for living off the beaten track, and this place was no exception. Turning off the highway, I saw a sign for an antique store, but didn't have time to stop. I got there about 12:30.

The party was a bit much for me. A bunch of Lisa and Carl's friends were there, and they had brought some kids with them. There were three there that were between 6 and 8, and they proceeded to try to tear the house down and break Ava's toys. They were too old to play with her too. Still, I was in a good mood, and prepared to be sociable. We ate lunch, talked, and watched the kids play. Ava is a very happy baby, and not shy, so we watched her play with her toys and stuff. That went well once a couple of the guys took the noisy kids out on the boat for a while.

My mother and my dad and Eve both brought rocking toys (Mom brought a rocking horse, while Dad brought a rocking stuffed elephant. They seemed to get along pretty well about it though. It's always weird when Mom and Dad are together. Their divorce was really ugly, and the custody trial didn't help any; but they seem to have worked through the worst of the hostilities these days. We spent a good while opening all the presents - the older kids "helped" Ava, who really was too young to really grasp what all was going on. Lisa loved the coat, which was good, and Ava seemed to like it too. I was happy about that. Ava actually wore the coat around for a while "modeling" it for us (at 1!!). I was pretty surprised, but glad to have pulled off a coup.

The birthday cake didn't go over too well with Ava, who has never been given sweets to eat. She didn't really know what the cake was for, and when she tasted it she didn't seem to like it that much.

I was pretty ready, when everybody left, just to settle in for a visit with Lisa, Carl, Cole, and Ava. After cleaning up from the party, Lisa fixed dinner, and we just watched the tube and watched Ava play with her new toys. Her favorite thing seemed to be the little sofa they gave her, and some plastic discs that came off the packaging from one of the toys, which she carred around for a good portion of the evening.

She's a surprising little child. Very bright and happy. She did lap after lap around the coffee table, visiting with everyone, laughing unexpectedly, watching a bit of television. She was adamant about wanting one of her new pairs of socks on, so I put them on for her, and she ran around delightedly. She also really liked the baby doll she got. She made a bee-line for a sparkly pair of flip-flops one of the girls wore, and spent a good portion of the afternoon today trying to figure out how she could wear them. Lisa may have the "no girly stuff" rule in effect now, but I suspect it won't be something Ava agrees with when she can express her opinion.

We just relaxed and talked and watched the tube. Carl did a delicious salmon on the grill. Cole and Reagan fought over cleaning up the kitchen.

We watched TV until about midnight, and I finally had to call it quits. I was just worn out.