Happy Birthday Pa!

Pa's birthday was on March 18th.  We knew that we would not get to see Pa on his birthday so we planned to take him to Little Mexico the Friday before so we could give him our gifts and celebrate!

The girls were super excited to make Pa a birthday card with glitter.  Carli wrote her msg all by herself (she copied what I wrote for her) and then she put the glue and glitter on.  This resulted in her msg being a bit difficult to read, but she read it for Pa just fine:  "I Love You Pa!" followed by a heart and her name.  She drew pictures of Pa with Logan, Ava and herself.  Ava just picked the colors of her glitter and added a few creative drawings with a marker, she was a little too busy twirling to take time to mess with all that letter writing!

The rest of us went in and got Pa a keypad lock for the lakehouse.  We have had one on our house as part of a product test that Keith signed up for at work.  Pa really liked it so we got one for him to use.  It will come in handy for those times when we end up at the lakehouse unplanned and with no key!

 

 

 

He taught me to smile through the pain and hugged me when there were no words to find comfort in. He lived his faith, he didn't just talk about it on Sunday. He talked me through some of the biggest decisions of my life. He celebrated and beamed with pride when I met my goals. He gave me the most tender hug and kiss on my wedding day when he gave me away, I will cherish that feeling for always. He loves me more than words can say, and he loves my kids even more. He treats my Mom like the Queen that she is and he loves my Grandma with the devotion and care you can't describe. He has worked hard all his life, and he has done it to provide for his family, not to find wealth. He is my Dad. He is awesome. And I am one blessed girl. Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!

Only Child Syndrome...

Last Thursday, Carli and I met up with Pa in Jacksonville so she could go spend the night in Alto.  She and Pa had a very important date on Friday to go see Logan at his new school in Leon.  His class was putting on a little rodeo and he specifically asked for Pa, Grammy, Uncle Tone, Carli and Ava to come.  Since it was on a Friday at 8:30 in the morning 1.5 hours away not everyone could make it.  But Pa and Carli put their heads together and decided that the two of them should be able to make the trip to see their favorite little boy.  Carli was so very excited to not only spend the night with Grammy & Pa but to get to go on a trip all by herself with Pa.  Giddy doesn't even begin to describe her!

 

From all accounts, Pa and Carli had a great trip!  They called the house at 6:15 Friday morning so Carli could let us know that Pa's donut shop did have sprinkle donuts!  And much to Pa's surprise, Carli ate all of her sprinkle donut AND a glazed donut.  They made it to Logan's rodeo just fine and enjoyed watching.  After the little rodeo, they stopped off in Fairfield to see Grandma and Aunt Carolyn before coming home again. 

Ava was not very happy with us when she learned she was not getting to go with Carli and Pa.  She was refusing to give Carli good bye hugs thinking this would keep her from leaving!  It dawned on us that Ava has never slept alone in a room - she and Carli have always shared a room.  So, when I told Ava she could have a sleep over in Momma and Daddy's room, she decided it was okay for Carli to leave!  When I got back from dropping off Carli, Ava was sound asleep on her blow up mattress in our bedroom floor.

 

Ava makes a really good only child.  Not that she doesn't smile all the time when Carli is around, her smile just seems to get bigger as an only child.  She giggled and laughed a lot.  She ate up getting 100% of the attention!  Friday morning, I promised her donuts since I knew Carli was getting them too.  So Ava picked out her own clothes (and they matched!) and I told her good job!  She threw up two thumbs up and said "Good Job!"  I had to ask her who taught her that and she promptly replied, "Ms. Robin!"  Turns out Ms. Robin is a HUGE Aggie fan, so the two thumbs up really means "Gig'em!"  Ms. Robin would be proud!  All day long Ava would throw up her thumbs at anyone who asked...

 

Ava got to spend the morning with Kayla at Grammy's until Pa and Carli got back about lunch time.  She was so happy to see her big sister, but I am pretty sure she would trade her 12 hrs as an only child for anything!

Office Toys Get a Facelift

We got new storage at our office in Alto and it made our many times over hand me down toys look a little shabby.  So the girls and I loaded them up one Friday and brought them home to give them a face lift.  They turned out really good!  Apparently Little Tikes puts something in their plastic that prevents paint, even plastic paint, from sticking very well but that's okay.  They look a lot better than they did and good looks or not they get a lot of play time with the girls when we work at the office in Alto!

Here is our lady bug cozy coupe.  It was the original red and yellow that my aunt picked up from a garage sale for $5.  She bought it for her oldest grandson when he was little.  He is graduating from high school this year!  It has definitely gotten some good use!

 

And then there was our little tikes desk.  It was red, blue and yellow.  We made the black part chalk board although I am not sure it will work it still looks tons better!

And here is the designated play area for the girls at the office.  I thought it turned out looking really good!

 

Sweet Smiles

Here are some "Just Because" pictures....

The other weekend we were in Office Max and Ava found these cute little tape measures.  She immediately wanted one and wanted to get Grammy one too b/c she remembers "breaking" Grammy's.  Mom and I don't remember this but since they were just $1, we let her get it and give it to Grammy last week.  Ava was very proud of her find!

Afternoon snack is always better when it involves chocolate and icing!

Weston Turned One!

My cousin Dionna's little boy, Weston, turned one in February.  They had his party a week after his birthday and it worked out perfectly so that we could all go!  It was the second weekend in a row that we carpooled with Grammy and Pa on a trip!  We headed down to Conroe Saturday morning.  We timed it just right to meet Aunt Carolyn and Grandma at Chick-fil-a for lunch before heading over to the festivities. 

Weston's party was my kind of affair.  Very laid back, surrounded by family and cute kids.  :)  Doesn't get much better than that!  Ava really enjoyed the bubbles.  Dionna had gotten a lot of little bubbles and I am pretty sure Ava went through half of them.  It helps that when she has a bottle in her right hand and her elbow itches, that she throws her arm over her shoulder to scratch it...and the full bottle of bubbles ends up on the ground.  :)

 Ava caught a big bubble!

 

Ava showing Weston how to blow!

Weston is getting to bond with Grandma the way that my girls were blessed to bond with Grandma and Pawpaw.  He looks for her in a group.  He LOVES to walk with her on her walker.  They are pretty cute together!

It took a little convincing but Carli and Ava finally decided that they would give their Kangaroo Climber to Weston for his birthday.  I am pretty sure it was designed for kids 3 & Under.  Since both the girls climb over the little door to play in it and prefer to climb up the slide instead of go down it, it was obvious they had outgrown it!  They were pretty cute showing Weston how to slide. 

Weston did a pretty good job blowing out his one candle.  Although he would have preferred to have touched the fire on the candle than blow it out!  He worked very methodically at eating his cake and gradually got himself nicely covered with icing!

  

Weston's grandparents and parents got him a nice wagon for his birthday.  All the cousins enjoyed taking a ride in it and then taking turns pulling each other.

 

We had a lot of fun celebrating such a sweet little boy!  Happy Birthday Weston!  We Love You!