Ava has something to tell you...

Ava is so excited to welcome baby

brother or sister in late October......she just doesn't really know it yet!

We now have a THREE year old!

Three years ago today my life changed forever!! I was blessed with the most beautiful, spunky, hilarious, one of a kind baby girl and she has rocked our world in so many ways!!!

This morning she woke up to a few little presents (that I had stored away from Christmas. haha!) This cash register has been a HUGE hit so far!

We went to an Easter Egg hunt bosted by our good friends, the Borgs. This Easter Bunny was not very popular to the little tikes. But as usual, Ava was his biggest fan. The girl is a sucker for anything in costume. She LOVES characters. Very fitting since she is such a little character herself.

Hunting for the perfect eggs. Doesn't her SheShe outfit look so sweet? I LOVE this dress so much. She got chocolate ALL over it. Praying it comes out. Not materialistic at all.

After the egg hunt we rode the Trinity train. We just love riding this mini train. It was fun to ride with our friends too!

We went to eat birthday dinner after the train and then came home for a little family nap. There is just something special about Sunday afternoon family naps, isn't there? After her nap we had cake and sang happy birthday at her actual REAL TIME birthday.

This is at 6:09 pm. Three years ago at this very moment she came into our world.

We love her so very much!!

Off to See the Wizard {Ava's 3rd Birthday Party}

                                            

  

Today was this little cutie's third birthday party! We had such a fun time celebrating her three years of life. 

She picked her theme of a Wizard of Oz birthday back in January when I was planning it all.

I really, really wanted to have her party outdoors so that I could go all out. My thoughts were to do a costume party, have all these fun themed snacks and games, and decorations & the whole nine yards. BUT every year it has stormed on her birthday/party day. So I decided to book it at a local jumphouse.

Well, wouldn't you know the weather today was absolutely perfect. Sunny, not too warm, and just great outdoor weather. However, this still turned out to be the BEST decision made, since we have just sold our house and we're knee deep in garage sale, decluttering, getting ready to pack up!

We invited about 20 of her little friends and she had the greatest time!

She was just beside herself all morning before we left the house.

This age is SO FUN because they are aware of what all a birthday entails. She had been talking about this day to every stranger she'd see the past week. She was thrilled when we went in to get her out of bed! I wish I would have recorded it.

She was patiently waiting for all of her guests to arrive!  

Sheila french braided her hair and I can't get over how grown up she looked! So bittersweet!!

The decorations in our little party room...

The favors

       

These ruby red slipper cookies were just as delicious as they were beautiful! My friend made them and she now has an Etsy shop here. She can make ANY COOKIE!

We ate pizza...  

                                                         

     We sang happy birthday as Ava grinned from ear to ear, sang along, and ate up all of

      the attention. She was singing while tilting her head from side to side. It was the

 cutest thing!

                                    

One of my ex student's mom made this ADORABLE cake for Ava. I was so blown away by how cute it turned out. The characters were so darling.

                                                          Some more pictures of her party...

                                         

                                         

We are so blessed to have such sweet, sweet friends come out to play, celebrate, and bounce! Thank you  to all who made her day so very special. She has talked about it nonstop since we got home. In fact, I can hear her in her bedroom, at 10:30pm, talking about her party. Might I add that she has been in bed since 8:00! Haha!
                                            And the fun continues tomorrow on her real birthday....

Our weekend

This weekend was such a productive one.
Such a fun one.
Such an exhausting one.

It began on Friday morning with a show to see Toy Story 3 on Ice!


We stayed at Aaron's sisters house in Dallas on Thursday and she came with us to see the show Friday morning. Ava was so excited I made her a Lotso Bear shirt with her name on it! She told me thank you 50 times. Lotso isn't my favorite character in TS3, but Ava just loves this huggable villain!
We got to the show and Ava was beside herself.


We got suckered into buying her a Jesse princess wand. Of course!


Waiting for the show to begin!


Some of our fav moments...














Sorry I didn't make a collage. These are all phone pics bc someone is forgetful these days and forgot the camera.
The show was a blast. A tad long bc it covered all three of the movies, but it was so magical for Ava!
On Saturday we had another eventful day. My grandfather from New Mexico passed away in Feb and we had a memorial service here in Ft. Worth at my family's cemetery where they buried his ashes. It was a sad service, but he had alzheimers and so we were celebrating the fact that he was no longer suffering and was at home in his mansion free from disease and pain. It was, also, great to see many loved ones who flew in from all over on this day.
Ava and mom before his service. It was outdoors and so all the little cousins came.


That afternoon I was heading to a baby shower. Except I never made it bc I was too exhausted. So I went home, took a power nap, woke up to get my car washed and then got a wild hair to go buy Ava and her cousin Wyatt a little pool.



Except it wasn't very little at all. And myself, Aaron, and my brother blew this thing up with a hand held air pump.
Yeah we aren't very clever.
Yes. There is a gas station down the street with an air pump.
Oh well.
The kids loved it and played in the pool all afternoon until bedtime!
And the grass in my house is lovely.
It's the gift that Keeps on giving.
Saturday night my brother and his son stayed the night. It was a cousin slumber party!


Notice the princess dress? It's a stage I hope passes soon.
This morning we got a call at 7am that our house was showing. Selling a house is no fun! We all woke up and cleaned super fast and had to get out. We missed church bc of this but had a great brunch at Cracker Barrel.
Aaron went to play golf in a charity golf tournament while I got another wild hair and cleaned out my closet and transitioned it to summer.


What an exhausting but rewarding task! I pulled out all the boxes in the garage and washed, dried, hung up, and organized clothes all afternoon.
I am pooped!
This evening we topped out the weekend with Ava's first Ice Cream from the Ice Cream Man!


Look at that mess!!!
She had a Dora ice cream.
Dora didn't last long in the 90 degree temp, however.
She was a melting mess within 5 minutes!

It was a great weekend and I need a consecutive one to recover from the madness:)

Sorry about the picture overload. But here's one more. We finished this cute set late Friday night and I am in love!! Can't wait to add this and more like it to our collection.


Monogram or no? This one is Ava's for SURE!