Conga Line!

**hhhhhhhhhhhhhhoooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!**


That's me...blowing the dust off of enjoylifeinthewoods. Whoa! It's been a little while! You know, I go through my days running across all sorts of things -- what? Ava counted to 10? Blog it! Wow! We survived another year as parents? Oh! Blog it! Really? I have gone a month without my Route 44 Sonic Diet Dr. Pepper with Diet Cherry and Vanilla? Uh...no. BUT, If I had I would have thought, "Blog it!"

So, I have this endless list of items, milestones, and horrifically embarrassing moments in the "Blog it" section of my mental file cabinet. I have NO idea where to start. I mean, out of all of these things what on earth could I start with?! What calls out to me more than anything else? What deserves the spot light after months without blogging? What do I NEED you to know about? Hmmm...oh! I got it.

Yes friends, this has been months in the making. And now, I think I am now ready to share. Ready? Let me present...

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The Conga Line.

By: Ava Claire Wood

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Since I blogged last, Ava has officially taken us by the hand and led, okay pulled, us into a whole new world. A world filled with intentional hugs and kisses, with laughter, with funny little quirks, with a new word every day, with scribbled on kitchen floors, with stomping feet, with naughty chair visits (did you notice the down hill progression?). Yes...Ava is two. And you what? I truly believe that Ava began practicing her two-ish ways the day she turned one. So, she has had a whole year of coming up with and storing her sneaky ideas and now she is putting them to good use. I joke. She may know how to prolong bedtime (even if it means doing something she shouldn't so she can spend a few more minutes awake in the naughty chair); she may have temper tantrums that I expect to see advertised in our community newsletter, but I cannot even begin to express the spirit this child has. Her ability to make me laugh daily baffles me. How can she be so funny? The way she is sensitive to others humbles me and makes me envious of how she sees the world. And the things she does! Just the other day, we were at Walmart (and she talks about "goin' to Walmart" if you simply say hi to her) -- she had on a plastic fireman's hat that is held together with duct-tape, one of those elastic headbands (you know the really thin ones that look like giant rubberbands) around her neck like a necklace, and a fuzzy pink purse draped around her shoulder. Had I not drawn the line somewhere she would have had on her hot pink feather boa, her blue Chinese panda shoes, and her lime green beach bucket in her other hand filled with all of her beloved plastic animals.

That brings me to...The Conga Line.

I have been following this troupe over the last few months. This was their debut. You'll notice that they are all facing in the same direction. Here they are enjoying the nice view of the backyard.

I am glad to see our friends like to stay in shape. They don't go as fast as I would like to see, but here are a few of our dedicated four-legged pals on the treadmill. I think here they were at an incline of 0 and going about 0.0 miles an hour. I can confidently say that I think I can go faster.

And here we have caught the mastermind at work. I think our plush pals were a little jealous of the fun that our friends from the plastic variety were having.

Snack time. With a special guest "Puppy." Yes, we are all about the creative names. Did I add that our faithful friend "Quack Quack" is now "Duck"? He's all grown up I guess.

This was the welcome ceremony for "Horsey" who was a birthday present from a dear friend of ours. Notice how they all look up to her like she's something special. I mean, she does have pretty hair with lots of body and she has long legs (which I would die for) and she may know how to pose....her eyes are a little out of proportion though.

Here are the actors in the bunch. I suspect they are waiting for their curtain call.

This one is something special. I gave Keith a haircut one Sunday afternoon and all of the sudden, they appeared. Kinda creepy, really.


And here they are in true Conga form. We had some new additions in this session. I held onto about 30 Happy Meal toys from when I was in high school and went to McDonald's. Happy Meals were cool. I pulled the bag out for Ava. I was Mom of the Year.

I will post some more pictures in the days to come. Not of animals. But they are still around from time to time. I think they hit their prime in August and September. Every once in a while they will show up when and where you don't expect them. In the bathroom on the edge of the bathtub, on the piano keys, in the tupperwear cabinet...you just never know. It's sort of like me and Santa Claus...you just WAIT with anticipation and excitement for the day you'll see them.

Thanks for reading.

Emily