Happy Halloween!

I am so behind on blog posts but did want to share some pics of our family in costume!

We dressed as characters from Ava's favorite show "Wo Gabba Gab" as she has called it since she was 1.
(Yo Gabba Gabba for those of you who have not yet discovered the wonderfulness that is this cartoon. HA!!)
Ava got plenty of wear out of her costume this year. I am so glad for that, even though it only cost me about $35 from head to toe (and that is good for me. I stink at bargaining) and the tunic and pants can be worn any day out of the year so that is a bonus!!


And just how is it possible for a 2 year old to already have this much attitude? It scares me sometimes.

She had a blast with all of the Halloween festivities the past two weeks. We enjoyed our fair share of parties, play groups, festivals, trunk or treats, trick or treats, Thriller dances, and much more. To say I am Halloweened out would most likely be an understatement.
But this little cutie REALLY got into it all tonight while trick or treating!

She LOVED going door to door. We went through a few streets in our neighborhood and the weather was PERFECT this evening!
She told us over and over "Thanks you mommy. Thanks you daddy." She was having the time of her life.


Aaron was a stickler about her not walking in people's grass, so she was walking so carefully on the sidewalks and paths.

(see her not stepping in the grass? ha!!)
She would say over and over "don't step in the grass" and she made sure to tell every person thanks you for candy.
My child may cop a serious 'tude from time to time (okay A LOT of the time) but I am so proud of her manners.
This picture just makes me giggle.

She was petting this man's ghost lights. Ha!! She was not afraid of ANYTHING this Halloween. In fact, she was totally intrigued by all the scary stuff. The girl has no fear. Whatsoever!
Inside a "haunted house" (it was a blowup one).

We hope you and your little goblins had a happy halloween as well!

Holiday Orders FYI

We have been getting emails out the wazzoo regarding holiday orders. Sheila and I met last night to discuss the game plan as far as Thanksgiving and Christmas goes. We planned out what we would sell for both, when we would start/stop taking orders, and encouraged one another that we could handle the load, no matter how big (or small). Haha!
Here is the 4-1-1....
Halloween orders.


Those are out now, as you know. They will be available for purchase through September. We will stop taking Halloween orders on October 1st. The turnaround for all items at this moment is up to 3 weeks. That cutoff date gives us plenty of time to get your order to you and for your little pumpkin to get plenty of wear out of it for the month of October!

Thanksgiving orders.


We will post the turkey dresses and turkey shirts/onesies on our website September 15th. We have already relisted them on Etsy since it was just easy to do. These will be available for purchase through November 5th.

Christmas orders.

We will have many different options for Christmas attire, some of which will be available only as a presale purchase. I will explain more on that later.
We will have all Christmas orders ready to preview on October 1st. At that time we will take presale orders on specific items through October 8th. The non presale items will be available for purchase through December 10th.
We will cut off all sales on December 11th. For everything. We will be finishing up any remaining orders to get them rushed out before Christmas and then we will re-open January 15.
***If you know you are going to want us to make your child's birthday outfit and it falls during the times we are on break, please make arrangements for that to be created before our break time. I mean I won't even be checking email during that time. It will be just like Santa going into hibernation after his Christmas Eve delivery!! Haha.

So there it is! We are more than stoked to show you what's to come. Especially for Christmas!!! So stay tuned!

Let Freedom Ring!

I hope this post finds you happy, healthy, and proud of the great country we are so blessed to call our own!
We have had such a great weekend, just the three of us!!
We started out the morning (super early. 8am. yes, that is super early in this house) going to the July 4th parade in our home town.
Ava was super pumped about going to the "mermaid". I had to tell her over and over that we were not going to see a mermaid. We were going to see a parade. Haha!

Do you like her "Red, White, and Bouy" outfit?
It was a SheShe Made exclusive. Haha!
I told Ava her dress had stars and bouys on it.
She walked out of her room all dressed and ready to go, went up to Aaron and said "Look dad, stars and boobies!"
Real nice.

Anyway, back to the parade.
Um, do ya think these two could possibly look more alike? And their serious look just cracks me UP!

Ava had so much fun sucking on lollipops and watching the kids drive by and throw candy/wave to her. It rained for a split second, but it didn't rain on our parade (literally, haha) for long!


Some parade highlights...



After the parade, we went home and chilled, made a spaghetti lunch complete with red, white, and blue serving dishes.

Real fancy, huh?!?! I digress. It was lunch.

She's on a salad kick lately.
As far as the mess?
Well, that's nothing new.


After lunch we cleaned up and went to the Cupcake Cottage to get some cupcakes to take to our friends' house for today. They are all red, white, and blue and flavored chocolate, red velvet, pink lemonade, and vanilla. YUM!

After nap, we were ready to party! We went to Lonestar Park to watch the horses race,


get our bounce/slide on,

(Yes, I need a photography lesson in manual focus settings)


to ride the ponies,


love on some goats,



(bless her heart. she needs a lesson on goat anatomy and where NOT to
put her hand)


sing in the rain,


and watch the most amazing firework display we have ever witnessed!



Sidenote: Ava made some friends while we were there. Shoot! The girl makes friends everywhere we go. These 3 siblings were fighting over holding her during the firework show. It was so sweet!




Happy Birthday, America! God Bless the USA!!

Happy Daddy's Day

Happy Father's Day

to a man among men


and a dad among fathers.



We both love you to the moon and back

and we thank you for your love, protection, guidance, and selflessness you show each and every day.

You are the greatest husband and daddy we could ever ask for.

Happy Mother's Day

My hope is that you had a blessed Mother's Day, spent with the ones you love.
I had a great Mother's Day with lots of family time, hugs, kisses, and laughter.

Ava begged to wear her wings to church this morning. Too cute!

My Mother's Day gift from Ava was that she didn't cry when going to the church nursery today. YAY!! It's about TIME! She has been going since about 13 months (we were too chicken to put her in the nursery until then. I know. Hellicopter parents.)but she cried every. time. we. pulled. into. the church parking lot since about 20 months! I'm hoping and praying this means she is over the anxiety for good.
We went to lunch at Hibachi which was not our original plan, but it was the only place with less than a 800 minute wait.

Ava loves Edamame and steamed rice.

Oh what a mess she made with the rice, however! Aaron told them we were sorry about the second great oil spill of 2010. Ha!
My gifts were these beautiful flowers...

and a check titled "San Antonio Stroll". I was so excited! I have a good friend that lives down there and she asked us (Ava and I) to come see her for a girl's weekend. Which means I get to take Ava here!! I want Aaron to go with us, but with school ending, it's just too crazy for him to get away. And summer is too busy. So, we are probably going in the next few weeks. I am super excited!!
Now, I just have to get up the nerve
to travel in the car
alone
with her for 4 hours...
EEK!!!