Ava's 7th Birthday!

So yesterday my eldest daughter turned 7! Where does time go?  I told her she could do whatever she wanted within reason and that made her pretty excited. We started the day by surprising her with her birthday present...a Nintendo 3ds. That just made her day! Charlie was still home and of course she thanked him profusely for the present...apparently I am chopped liver! Yes it was his idea but I bought it! Anyways we went to McDonalds for lunch...again her choice and after that we headed to the movie theater  to watch Puss in Boots. It was cute and we all enjoyed it...even Olivia! She was quiet the whole time and held my hand...so cute!

After the movie we ran an errand for Charlie and then returned home where she started playing her DS. Unbeknownst to her she had a surprise coming in the form of her Grandma Boo! That would be Charlie's mom :)  She was very excited when she got there although her mind was occupied by the DS. Oh well! After that she pretty much played her DS the rest of the day and we had a special birthday dinner of homemade chocolate chip waffles with Reddi Whip on top! Yummy!

All in all it was a quiet day but she had fun and is enjoying her presents. Thanks everybody for helping us make her birthday special this year with the phone calls, visits and presents! Here are a few pics from yesterday!

 Her cute new birthday outfit!

 Olivia just being cute!

 Ava playing her awesome new birthday present!

Grandma Boo and Ava!

Early Christmas Weekend

So this past weekend the girls and I loaded up the car on Thursday and started our early Christmas weekend. First up on our agenda was going to see the Nutcracker at the Fox Theater with Charlie's sister Megan. I have never seen a ballet before and it was amazing! We had great seats and the performance was amazingly beautiful. The skill the dancers possess is just ridiculous! It was fun to get dressed up to attend the ballet, however, by the end of the night my poor little toes and legs were so swollen the walk back to the car was literally painful. (Almost done!) We spent the night at my in-laws and had a yummy Waffle House breakfast!

After breakfast the girls and I loaded up again to head to the other side of ATL to visit with my good friend Stephanie from nursing school. We hung out at her place and the girls all had a good time playing! Jetta even got to roam free in their awesome fenced backyard, however she did take the liberty to break out and end up waiting for us in their garage! Go figure!

After that we headed down to Auburn to celebrate Christmas with my family. The whole family was there(minus Charlie--work again) and it was great to hang out together. I finally got to see Breaking Dawn with my bestie Audrea! I never go to the movies anymore so that was a real treat! The next day we met another friend of mine, Kayla, at the park and the girls had a good time playing there as well! We did manage to get a little last minute shopping in before we had dinner and opened presents! Unfortunately there was a fiasco while I was gone involving Jetta, Ava and a fish from my dad's pond. I'm not entirely sure what happened and the only witness was Ava but somehow a fish was laying in the grass next to the pond and Jetta was by it...Ava said she had it in her mouth...who knows...the fish was returned to the pond unharmed. Anyways, presents were opened and fun was had by all.  :)

The next day we headed home early so we could take Charlie to the doctor for some back pain he has been having. We had a great time this past weekend. I didn't use my camera alot so I don't have that many pictures. Oh well.

Uncle Todd and Ava.

 Olivia raiding the presents under the Christmas tree.

 Ava relaxing on the couch...it wasn't that cold :)

 Melissa and Matt opening presents.

 Olivia opening her bowling set. She likes it :) She doesn't know how to bowl but she likes the music and the ball. :)

 Ava and her Monster High doll...I still don't get the appeal of these things.

Ava's Birthday Party

So this past weekend we held Ava's 7th birthday party. That's right...she is turning 7. I can't believe my baby girl will be 7 in 10 days! Where has the time gone? So this year after much deliberating she decided on a Barbie themed birthday party. I agreed...I figured it would be easy. I'm somewhat of a procrastinator so I was a little stressed out in the hours leading up to the party and when the guests started to arrive but everything turned out great.

Ava had a few requests for this party, one of which was a pinata. That was one of the reasons I was stressed. Party City didn't have the right size Barbie pinata and the nearest Walmart didn't have a girly enough pinata. So this task unfortunately was left to the hours leading up to the party. Once we secured a pinata I hadn't even given any thought to how it was to be hung. I mean the pinata has to hung up right? My mom and I picked up some clothesline at a different Walmart but hanging it didn't seem like a problem at the time. I was wrong. Thankfully my Dad pulled through and made another trip to Walmart to get some plant hangers which he screwed into the ceiling of the patio and voila! we had a hanging pinata. Don't even get me started on the fact that we didn't have anything to beat the pinata with. Lets just make it simple and say that my wonderful sister in law, Megan, had a billy club in her car and it worked beautifully!

Ava's other request was a Barbie cake. I looked into how to make and figured it didn't look that hard so I would do it. Well there were issues with it. First of all, the barbie Ava picked for me to put in the cake and replicate had a skirt that wouldn't come off. I mean, really, what Barbie can't you undress...this one apparently. I worked my way around that and had my four layers of cake...but wait...it wasn't enough cake. I used scraps for the 5th layer. This Barbie was too tall! Next issue...I ran out of frosting. I thought 2 cans would be good...nope on the morning of the party we were picking up more cans...I ended up using a total of 4 cans of frosting! All in all it turned out well...I ran out of time to decorate it so it didn't look quite as pretty as I wanted but it still turned out well for a first attempt!

All in all, Ava had a great party. We had 4 other little girls come which was the perfect size party! They were a wild and crazy bunch of girls! Unfortunately, due to work obligations that arose at the last minute, Charlie was not able to be there. :( I definitely could have used his help! By the end of the day I was exhausted! I still am too! Thankfully I got a nap today! :)

Here are some of the highlights of the party. A big shout out to my photographer Megan! Thanks so much for helping me capture Ava's special day!

 Barbie cake! 5 layers, alternating red velvet and french vanilla! yum! don't judge the decorating job...the guests were starting to arrive and I hadn't changed yet!

 Playing pin the glasses on Barbie!

 Ava with some of her friends.

 The pinata that almost messed up the party. However it was a huge hit! Literally!

 Thanks Dad for your help!

 Ava taking her turn at swinging...notice me trying not to get hit!

 Haha! I was "forced" to take a turn. I didn't break it. Sad.

 The girls attacking the candy.

 My mom and Olivia.

 Having party snacks.

 Olivia was sneaky and playing with some of the candy from the pinata!

 My sister, her husband Matt and my Dad!

 Blowing out the candle!

 Barbie is saran wrapped, stuffed in paper towel roll, taped with blue painters tape and the saran wrapped again! She was nice and clean when I took her out!

 Opening presents. She loved her American Girl doll from Grandma Boo!

 Long day of partying wore this girl out! Miss Cranky Pants! (Ava, not my Mom :) )

Happy Birthday Ava! Love you sweet girl!

Where did my sweet Olivia go?

So lately Olivia has been laughing like a crazy, creepy person. I don't know where she picked it up but it's scary and funny all at the same time. The other day at dinner it was all she doing...of course it cracked my and the others up which only egged her on more. It was a vicious cycle I tell you! I was laughing so hard I was crying. Here is video of her from last night...she wasn't doing it as long but you get the picture! 

Enjoy!

Ava's Glasses

So Ava has officially gotten her glasses. We picked them up yesterday and she was beyond excited. :) It was all she could talk about all weekend...when are we going to get my glasses....are they open today....you get the picture! Her eyes aren't bad by any means. She has some astigmatism to her left eye and the glasses are more to help her left eye get equal playing time as the right. The doctor said it will help prevent lazy eye. I said sure, that's fine because for the first time in my life we have vision insurance and insurance covered the cost of the glasses minus $25 for "materials". Whatever that means!

Anyways here is my big girl with her new glasses! Lets hope she doesn't lose them at school!