Ava pulled Daddy's face in real close. She's a sweetie.

A little blurry, but an adorable photo.

Sorry our blog has been giving us trouble again so we are a bit behind on the updates. All is well on our end. Today we were a little late for our visit with Ava and when she came to us she had wet eyes. I guess the caretakers told her we would be there at 10 and when we were about 10 minutes late she started getting upset. Poor baby. But she was all smiles once she saw us. She is doing really great. We don't have many pictures of her walking around since we are in a small room and can't go outside but she is walking great and rarely falls anymore. She is really into mimicking right now which is WONDERFUL. Today she was copying shapes that I drew for her. She's got circle down and is now working on perfecting the square!

Last night we had dinner with our friends the Issacs who live here in Pavlodar. It was great to spend some time with them now that we have settled in and adjusted to the time here. They have two young girls who really twisted my arm (not) until I played High School Musical with them on the Wii. It was a fun night! On that note however we are really missing our adoptive family friends!!! We are the only family here right now and it's very difficult. Peggy and Jan offered to play a game with us via Skype so that is sure to cheer us up but we really are missing having them and the others here in the flesh! But of coarse we are thrilled that they are home safe with their children by now.

Compliments of our boot camp crew, we have been reading through a book called, The Connected Child. This has been and will continue to be helpful as we integrate Ava into family life and life in America. If you are an adoptive family we would suggest this book. If you aren't an adoptive parent but are looking for ways to connect with your biological child or better understand someone close to you who has adopted , it's a small book with great things to say. Right now we are specifically learning about how to reduce stress and fear in her life through the way we speak to her, look at her, discipline her, etc.

I could write all day about Ava and all that she is doing and learning but the pictures of our time really best explain what we do during the day and how everyone is. The smile on her face really says it all!

Daddy made a lego airplane and explained our upcoming journey home.

Ava's polite way of telling us, "no pictures please."

Drinking water out of her sippie.

Using Daddy as a bench; fun times for all (and an ab exercise for Daddy).

Ava and Daddy Time = Swinging around with lots of playing and giggling.

Ava and Mommy Time = Reading books, cuddling and mimicking elephants.

Matching the animals in the book to the correct sound.

Ready to shop with her faux-animal furr purse!