Ava's 3rd Birthday Party!

Today we celebrated Ava's 3rd birthday! We started off the morning with a present from mommy and daddy. I wonder what's under the sheet?

Ava got her very own 2 seater Barbie jeep! We spent most of the morning getting a cardiovascular work out as we tried to keep up with our speed demon. Anthony and I saw a glimpse of the future and let me say, it was scary! She loves to slam her foot to the pedal and prefers the 5 mile per hour speed as opposed to the 2.5 mile an hour speed. Steering is an issue and we hope she will learn this skill soon! She loved it!~

Her party was at Texas Skatium! They have several bounce houses, slides and crawl throughs. She had a blast with all of her friends! I highly recommend having a party there.

Ava super excited! Haylie in the background.

Jumping with Morgan!

Leigh Ann and Alex!

Cousin Lalia!

Andrew & Liz!

Ava's sweet friend Abagail!

Lillian & Madison skating with mommy Kimberly!

Guess who else wanted to skate? Ummmm, yes my baby girl! I was very excited about this. I don't want to brag, but back in the day I could get my roller skate on so I was really hoping she would want to try it out!

Well, it took me longer to get on our skates then it did to actually skate. After one good slip, Ava decided it was "slipbery" and opted to go back to the bounce house area!

The party included face painting for all of the kiddos. Ava got a soccer ball!

We had some awesome sitters for sweet Aubrey. Pictured her with Harmony and Gigi. Aubrey had a cute outfit that matched her sister, but she is on antibiotics for an ear infection, and well, let's say it has side effects!

Sleeping with Pepaw!

Posing with Haylie!

All of the kids had pizza and got there own animal balloon!

Friends Allie Claire, Ava and Morgan!

Sweet sisters Lalia and Paige!

Pizza face!!!

Next was cake time! I have to explain this cake. We did not have a themed party this year. We had her cake decorated to represent Ava's nightly story telling. She is really into telling stories. Her stories typically go like this which is an adaptation from the book The Littlest Dinosaur: Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess name Ava Leigh. Ava began walking one day chasing butterflies and frogs who were jumping on lilly pads. Ava got lost in the woods and it was dark. Ava found a friend, a dinosuar, who was scared. (The story typically has a monster, but we didn't want to scare any kiddos!) Ava prayed to Jesus for help. (This is my addition to the story) The mommy dinosaur flew from the sky and rescued Ava and the baby dinosaur. Ava's parent's were so happy. Ava went to bed and dreamed of her big adventure.

So the cake is chococlate to represent night. There is a cross star in the sky to represent Jesus. Trees, butterflies and frogs on lilly pads are on the side of the cake. And of course the top is Ava and the dinosaur. Ava loved it!

Blowing out her 3 candles!

After her party, we went to Papa and Gigi's house to "open" her present. Outside was her very own bounce house! She was so excited. We spent the rest of the evening bouncing!

What a fantastic day! Happy Birthday to our "baby" girl!

Picture Perfect?

Take One

Ava: I'm watching Scooby Doo. I don't won't to take a picture.

Aubrey: Cheese?

Take Two

Ava: Okay, I will look at the camera, but I won't take my fingers out of my mouth.

Aubrey: What is Sissy doing?

Take Three

Ava: What is Scooby Doo doing?

Aubrey: What is momma doing?

Take Four

Ava: Cheese, and this is the most I'm going to remove my fingers out of my mouth for you.

Aubrey: Cheese!

Last Take

Ava: Not pictured.....she is officially done with pictures at the moment.

Aubrey: I LOVE the camera!

Who let the dogs out?

Again, the things that Ava says crack us up!
Today we went "exploring" around our land which is one of favorite things to do. We walked to the front of the road and the neighbors 4 dogs came running up to their fence line barking. Ava asked to go pet them. Anthony and I saw this to be a teachable moment. We explained that not all dogs are nice and that she should ask an adult before petting dogs she doesn't know.

Ava's reply (yelling and pointing at the dogs) "leave my mommy and daddy alone" she than began to growl at the dogs. Seriously, where does she come up with this stuff?

Potty Party!

Last weekend I decided to try the dreaded potty training again while Anthony was out of town hunting. Instead of doing the rigid routine that I tried before, I decided to keep it simple this time. I put Ava in panties and let her have a couple of accidents. I explained to her that when she needs to go pee-pee she needs to go to the potty. We purchased a "froggy potty" at her request as she saw that this is what her friend Alex used. After a few accidents the first day, and a couple on day two, by george she got it! NO pee-pee accidents by the end of day two!!!!! I did bribe her with little animals from Target that she loves to play with. I put them in the "surprise" bag and let her close her eyes and pick out one each time she went into the potty. She has an entire zoo now! I am a firm believer to just wait until they are ready.....and its really no big deal!

To cap off her success, we celebrated with a "potty party" at Chuck-E-Cheese! She had never been there before and she LOVED it! The merry-go-round was her favorite. She rode it atleast 20 times. We told her that Chuck-E-Cheese made her  a special cheese pizza and she ate 2 1/2 pieces! This may not seem like a lot, but Ava is not a big eater......not even pizza! We also got her a chocolate cake that Chuck-E-Cheese delivered himself! GiGi came out to celebrate the big event and Aubrey had a blast watching all of the kids!

What a great day!

On our way to Chuck-E-Cheese.......cheesin!

On of the numerous times riding the merry go round!

Aubrey wanted to ride, too!

Riding with Chuck-E-Cheese!

Waiting on our chocolate cake.....

Sweetness.......she was so excited! The cake was hand delivered by Chuck-E-Cheese himself!

High five for a job well done! GiGi in the background celebrating!

Little Miss Sunshine

Aubrey Madeline is 5 months old! I call her my little miss sunshine because her face lights up everytime she smiles. Ava has become quite the baby sitter these days. She keeps Aubrey entertained with funny faces, noises and dances. This allows me to cook dinner or get some sort of chore done! Aubrey loves to watch her sister and laugh at her! It is so precious!  I can already tell that she will be imitating everything that her big sister does. Aubrey is playing in her exasaucer and jumper. She is more into toys and textures everyday. She can hold her bottle and sit up for a couple of seconds independently in a frog position. We started rice cereal and she is still trying to figure out how to manage it! She is a slobber baby......ususally using 2 bibs or so a day. She puts her fist in her mouth as well as anything else she can manage. She makes lots of noises and her most frequent sound in "guh". She plays on her tummy, but typically rolls over quickly. She is sitting in the upright stroller for strolls and loves to be outdoors.

Drool monster!

See what I mean? Pure SUNSHINE!