rainy day distractions

I have never seen it rain harder than it did last night! It seems like it hasn't stopped raining in 2 days! I know, for you east coasters, you're probably thinking, "oh, Cassie, get tough! you used to live in Massachusetts for God's sake!" Well, I'm used to my sunny northern california perfect temperature days now, and I miss them. The rain, I imagine will cause flooding. It's coming down hard and in sheets. Now I see where the term "buckets of rain" comes from. yikes! Anyway, there are some brief breaks and Ava and I gear up and hit the puddles for them, but for the most part we've felt a little trapped inside and the park is out of the question. So here are some of the things we've been doing to keep ourselves busy...

see the rain in this picture?

MORE MUFFINS! This time we made carrot cake muffins. A recipe from Nana who made this (in cake form) for Ava's first birthday! Delicious and dairy free, my favorite. (lick those little fingers, Ava)
Nana's Carrot Cake (muffins)
Daddy came home early from work on Monday, which was a special treat and Ava was waiting to play. Her latest fascination is playing "knock knock". She's gotten pretty good at knocking on a door herself. When daddy came home from work he knocked on the door. Ava was so excited and a little nervous at the realness of it all. She was happy to see daddy and they played "hot tea" party and "fye bodee fye" (fly, birdie fly) together while I made dinner.
hugs for Daddy. so sweet. Daddy is in heaven.
You get to see Brad's goofy side in this video! He is so silly with Ava sometimes, such a great Daddy. I can't say enough good things about the kind of Dad he is to her. He loves every little nuance about her, as do I. For some reason he gets hung up on the way she says "bus", or really anything that ends in "S". He can't get enough of it! He thinks it's the cutest the way her mouth looks as she says it (something about the way her teeth touch her tongue, I think). I'd say he asks her to say it at least twice a day! So, I included a second video, a mini-clip, of her saying "bus", so you can see how very cute it is, indeed! :)