Daddy Daughter Dance

Van's school hosted a Daddy Daughter Dance last weekend. Ava was so excited, and looked forward to it for weeks. Jared has some pictures from the event that will be posted later, but I took some video of her before they left. For some reason they will not post to blogger. So if you would like to see the videos, here are the links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ecp7-9skzs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIjVsadvJu0

School Pictures

I was recently asked by Van’s School to take the school pictures. I took the liberty of using Ava as the model to get the lighting adjusted, thus allowing Becca and I to get pictures of the kids in the same setting. It was fun and I learned a lot about off camera lighting.

Won't you be my neighbor?

 

Interested in moving to Armenia? Good News! There are 2 different lots 2 blocks from our house! The first lot is on a lovely trash lined street in true Armenian style. 

Your neighbors to the right consist of the affluent tenth of society. Your neighbors to the left however are representative of how the rest of the Armenian society lives. Those houses are complete with outdoor plumbing!

Families live in these bunker style 12x20 foot "homes" 

The latrine stands about 5 feet to the left of the bunker homes

You should be careful when walking small pets in this area, because they are likely to be lost in the cavernous pot holes that adorn the street. 

The second lot is close to the first, also offering many of the perks of the first lot!

On a more serious note, I posted this blog because I wanted to capture the dichotomy of society here, and share with those who have never personally experienced this type of stark contrast. Pictures however do not do it justice. I have been humbled by my experiences here and I'm glad that my children have been exposed to this, to know how blessed we truly are.

Princess Party

It seems unreal that four years have past since I brought Ava into this world. In these 4 short years she has continuously amazed me with her loving, caring personality. She is truly a ray of sunshine into the life of every person she comes into contact with. She is so sweet, and always trying to make those around her happy. I cannot express the happiness and fulfillment that she has brought into my life. And to think, 4 years ago I was afraid of having a daughter! She is amazing. Ava, I love you so much!

Beautiful Princess Ava

Decorations for the big day!!!

All the Princesses who attended the Royal Ball

The castle cake that took me 4 hours to make!!!

My beautiful, crazy, phenomenal Daughter!

Ballet

The Ballet instruction here is very different from American pre-school age dance classes. There are no fun dances, no recitals, no cute costumes. The classes are "Russian ballet" style, focusing on technique and stretching. In Ava's 30 minute class, they stretch for a good 15 minutes and then move to technique. When we arrived in Armenia, there were no ballet classes for 3-5 year olds. The youngest we found was a class with two 6 year olds and an 8 year old. I talked to the manager of the gym and asked if we could start a class for the younger girls. This class was made up especially for Ava. There are usually 2 other girls that attend this class as well, but they were absent the day I took the video. This is Ms Anush's first time teaching pupils so young. Ava really enjoys going to ballet, in spite of the stern atmosphere.