Liz's visit

We didn't take that many pictures while Liz was here, but I did manage a few good ones. We had a really nice time at the festival on Sunday afternoon, and Aiden got to ride all of his favorite rides one more time. Liz and I took the kids to the zoo yesterday, and that was fun too.

Happy birthday Aunt Jackie

Tonight after Chuck got home from work we sang Happy birthday to Jackie and released balloons and a card up to heaven. We hope you like them Jackie! Happy birthday...we miss you...

"Who does she look like?"

People always ask us who Ava looks like, and I have a hard time answering because I never really knew...until now. We stumbled upon this wonderful picture of Chuck's mother, Jeanette, in a scrapbook that Jackie had made for Chuck a few years ago. Right away I was struck by just how much she and Ava look alike! It is the expression on the face, but also the nose and cheeks. Amazing! I tried to find the pictures of Ava that resemble Jeanette the most, and I think these were the winners. What do you think?

Footloose and fancy free!

We're having a nice visit with Liz, despite the weather (which has been awful!). We're hoping that it will dry out by tomorrow in time to try to enjoy the last day of the festival (fingers crossed!). Anyway, while Liz is here we had the kids try on their outfits for the wedding. With some minor adjustments to Aiden's suit, he looks great! Ava didn't enjoy the modeling session (see below) but doesn't she look darling? Thanks to my dear friend Holly for the adorable hair bow to match her organza dress!

Aiden's 3rd birthday party

Aiden's birthday party this afternoon was a definite success:) Everyone left all sugared up and smiling, so it was a good day! The weather was beautiful--we really couldn't have asked for a better day.

Here are the pics (and a few of Ava right at the beginning). Aiden got a ton of great presents from all of his wonderful friends! Thank you so much to everyone for coming!

Diego cake!

Here is the Diego cake I made for Aiden's party tomorrow. The actual cake ended up being a lot smaller than I had intended (I had to cut the sheet cake in two pieces and stack them up) so I did some extra cupcakes around the cake. I hope Aiden likes it!

Ava has her second ENT follow-up appt. tomorrow to check out her ears and make sure they are still cleared out after the last procedure. Keep her in your thoughts please! I am really hoping that she passes both ear tests!

I'll post pics from the party tomorrow. Liz comes on Thursday--we are so excited!

Happy Birthday Aiden & Aunt Deb!

It is one day early, but since Aiden has his school party tomorrow, we decided to do cake and presents at the house for him today. Deb is turning the big 50 this week also, so she and Aiden got to share a yummy chocolate cake:) Aiden, of course, got 3 candles and Deb got 5:)

There are TONS of pictures in this slideshow, be warned! All of the pics of him enjoying his cake and opening presents (his favorite I think is the scooter, thanks Liz and Dave! He was really getting the hang of it!), then also pics from playing outside on Friday (a puppy even came over to play with us!) and at the Balloon Glow last night (hot air balloons glowed at dusk--it was ok, but we stayed out pretty late!).

We hope everyone is having a great weekend! We are really enjoying Aunt Deb and Uncle Bill's visit. I forgot to bring my camera to the Cherry Blossom festival yesterday, but I promise to take pics when we go again.

Photo Friday

Poor Aiden is sick:( He came down with a fever on Wednesday and we had to cancel his birthday party, which was supposed to be yesterday. It is rescheduled for Tuesday, so pray for nice weather to continue down here!

The semi-annual MOPS consignment sale started last night. I sold a lot of things this time around, and Aiden was feeling very sad about me selling some of his baby toys. So he was quite happy to wake up this morning to a few new things:) I got Ava a lot of new dresses for the summer, a few pairs of shorts and a shirt and some shoes for Aiden, and a few misc. toys. Aiden is, of course, the most pleased with his new Bob the Builder trucks. We already have quite a few, but 3 in this pack were new, and Aiden has already thanked me about 15 times, lol. He is still not feeling very well (as you can see in this picture) but I think the new trucks brightened his mood!

We are very excited about Deb and Bill coming for the first weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival! They should be here tonight and hopefully Aiden is feeling much better by tomorrow and up for all of the festivities!

Ava's favorite part about the new kitchen table: she can fit underneath it!

Ava feeding her "be-bes" as she calls them. She is so funny because she stabs them in the eyes first, then jams the "baba" in their mouths, lol. Lucky for them they are just dolls!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

First, please keep Chuck's dad in your thoughts, as his heart stent surgery is today. Hopefully all goes well and he will be home in a day or two.

Second, a very happy birthday to my Grandma Ray! Happy birthday Grandma!

And finally, just a few pics to brighten your day. Happy St. Patty's day--I hope it's great! We're having the traditional corned beef and cabbage tonight--yum!

My friend Susan was so sweet and bought this giant Elmo for Ava. This is Ava meeting him! She loooooves him--thank you Susan!

Aiden modeling our new kitchen table!

Ava enjoying her favorite treat--marshmallows! I have to be careful that she doesn't see the bag when I open the cupboard or she goes bonkers until I give her some! (You know I'll be bringing a big bag of those on our drive to Jacksonville for the wedding and cruise! Lol)

Video of the day

Here is your clip-of-the-day. Enjoy!

Fun in the sun!

It's just not spring in GA without an unusually warm spell in the middle of March, and we had ours at the beginning of this week. It's still supposed to be fairly warm today, and then go back to normal for the weekend (60's/70's). Yesterday though, it was 86!! Here are some pics from Monday (the kids playing in the water table and Ava having her first popsicle, which she LOVED!) and Tuesday--we had a playdate at our house and the kids loved playing in the sprinkler and riding bikes in the driveway:)

PS--our grass isn't dead, it is just still in winter hibernation mode--that's why it is all brown! It will green up here very soon!

Pigtails!

To brighten your Monday (my second post today--I promise I'm not neglecting my kids! lol)

For the love of Elmo!

Well, if's official: Ava LOVES Elmo. I knew one of my kids would probably end up liking him, and since it wasn't Aiden, it was probably going to have to be Ava, lol. She hasn't seen him on tv in months (not since we borrowed Elmo's Potty Time from my friend Susan), but we have several books featuring the furry red monster, and as soon as she sees him she starts shouting, "Elma! Elma!! ELMA!!!" She only has a few words, so this was pretty surprising to hear her burst out with it this past weekend! I took the kids to the bookstore yesterday and she immediately found a stuffed Elmo doll and refused to put him down the entire time we were there, even while reading 3 giant "ELMA!" books as well, lol. Too cute!

Misc pics

Good morning! We are all battling a pretty nasty cold, but the weather yesterday was too beautiful not to play outside. This is a slideshow of misc. pics from the week. Ava is really enjoying walking, although she is still a pretty whiny Lil' Miss a lot of the time! Aiden has been loving digging in the sand table (thanks again Liz and Dave--the kids LOVE it!), swinging on his swingset, and telling me that he wants to put his sister in the closet! (Stinker!).

More videos...

Just 2 new videos of the kids. Nothing much happens in these videos, it's mainly just the kids playing and doing their usual, lol. Ava is walking pretty much everywhere now, but still veeeery cautiously! In the second video, I love when Aiden says he wants to put Ava in the closet, lol. At our house, when the kids won't share a toy and keep fighting over it, it goes into the closet for the day. Apparently he wishes that he could just put Ava in the closet instead--I guess it would make things a lot easier for him! Enjoy:)

SNOW!!!

Something that happens once in a blue moon in GA...SNOW!! It has never snowed this much since we've lived here--pretty amazing to see. Especially since the kids and I all went down for a nap at 2pm and it was raining, and when we came downstairs at 3:40pm--it looked like this! We're not supposed to get more than an inch, but WOW!

These **were** my daffodils:( Now they are buried in snow!


The hot tub and deck


Our backyard

The view from the front door

Walking...again!

Well last night Lil' Miss finally decided to give walking another go. For about a half an hour she was walking between me and Chuck, laughing and doing great. Even stopping to stand on her own for a moment! This morning she seems to remember, but is a little more hesitant (the video is from the morning). It looks like Chuck is holding her hands, but he is just standing in front of her encouraging her to keep going! I really really really really hope she continues to do this!

**well, she just had quite a bad fall in the den, landed right on her face. That might discourage her for a while....sigh**