LOOK.......

at what I got in the mail today!! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Brutto!! I love my new outfit!! Love, Ava P.S. Go Huskers!!

The first four months at home

SUMMERTIME

and the livin' is easy...
fish are jumpin'...
and the cotton is high.
Your daddy's rich...(not really)
and your mom is good lookin' (oh yeah).
So hush little baby...
don't you cry.

BUSTED!!!!!!!!

Uh, yeah.....I forgot.....I'm not supposed to play with the dogs food or in their water bowl. But, mom, look....Shiloh says it tastes better when I feed her piece by piece. P.S....What does "or else" mean...I hear it all the time lately....

Saturday afternoons.....

It is so blazin' hot here today....can't even go outside. 104 degrees...I'm starting to glisten.
Grandma and Grandpa Knowlton came over to visit today. Grandma wore Ava's pimp-hat....now when she goes to school, she can say "oh yeah, my gramma is da pimp." Ava is still scared of her push-behind walker, so Grandpa thought of another way to use it....she sits on the table and he pushes her. Now, she's not so scared of it!!! Yay!!

Time of our lives

St Louis will never be the same.....

Some of the ladies of Hope
Hens in the hotel lobby
Ava & Anna
The infamous Grace & Addis
Dave & Ava Eskimo kissing
Zoo
Alma braiding Ava's hair
Wow....did we have a great time!! Thanks so much to our friend, Rhonda, for putting on such a super weekend. Ava did fairly well on the flight....I'd say about a 6.5, one being bad and 10 being great. We got in to St Louis Thursday night and went over to Rhonda & Anna's place to visit with them. Ava and Anna became fast friends. It was so awesome to see them together. When we first got in the car, at the airport, Ava and Anna grabbed each others hands and held them the whole way to Rhonda's....so cute. I wondered if somewhere, somehow they would remember each other. Friday we met Kristine, Chris and her 3 girls and Grace, Mir, Anteneh and Addis, Mike & Amy and the kids. What a thing to be able to meet friends face to face. Wow. We went to a really neat waterpark and out to Meskerem Ethiopian restaurant where we met a bunch of the rest of the Hope crew and Shimeliss. It was such an awesome thing to see all of the kids together. Beautiful children smiling and laughing everywhere you looked. Saturday we had the reunion picnic. It was great. Lots of Ethiopians there and boy, did they bring food!! I do believe that Dave went through his entire lighter lighting all of the hot plates. :) It was so great to be able to visit with everyone. The Ellerbee and Simmens clans are such unbelievable families....just beautiful. Sunday we went to church with Shimeliss. I have never been to a church where everyone was so warm and welcoming....they all wanted to know when we would be back. After church we went to the basement where we had more Ethiopian food and coffee. Again, Ava loved the food. After church we went to the zoo....absolutely gorgeous zoo. I think I was getting a serious case of the vapors....it was a tad warm. But, so much fun. We had dinner and then sat and visited by the pool. It was hard to come home. I can't believe that it is over....I'm ready for next year!! Here are some pics......