Our Carli is a Blessing - A Gift From Heaven Above

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

A WEE BIT OF HEAVEN DRIFTED DOWN FROM ABOVE

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

YOU LIGHT UP THE WORLD WITH YOUR SWEET BIG BOY CHARMS

Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers

You're So Precious to Me, Sweet as Can Be, Baby of Mine

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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Ava's Birthday - Day

Ava's birthday fell on a Tuesday which meant she got to celebrate with her friends at school.  That morning the girls and I went to the donut shop for a birthday breakfast.  Ava was so excited to pick anything that she wanted.  She tried to convince me to let her have two kolaches and four sprinkle donuts but we comprised with one of each.  :)
 
 

 
We were actually on time for school - a rare occurrence these days.  Ava got to take a cookie cake to share with her friends.  When she brought it home later that day the whole pink crown had been eaten.  Apparently her whole class loves the color pink!  :)  Carli got to take mini double doozey's to her class.  They had a chocolate allergy in her class so we had to compromise with sugar cookies instead of chocolate chip.
 

We also had a mini family celebration on her actual birthday.  We sang her the birthday song and let her open her present from us. 


We gave her a "soft" shirt and shorts.  The story behind this is that last year I found a drifit shirt at a garage sale for $1 for both Carli and Logan.  They did not have one in Ava's size.  Carli, being an awesome big sister, is always quick to point out that Ava doesn't have a soft shirt like she and Logan do.  So, Momma and Daddy remedied that situation and paid full price for Ava a "soft shirt." 

 
I think she liked it!  :)  It is actually made to fit snug.  I didn't like that so we are going to take her back to the store and find one that fits more like a shirt.  
 
Such was part 1 of Ava's birthday celebration...next, the party!!

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Saturday, May 25, 2013

Happy Birthday Uncle Tone!

We actually did give Uncle Tone his gift on his birthday which was May 15th.  I'm just not as speedy getting it on the blog!  The girls gave him a "You are my Sunshine" sign that they made with their handprints.  Kind of similar to Kayla's but we did the wording a little different to make them both special!  We also brought him a brownie marshmellow fudge cake that we made especially for him.  He should have felt special...it was the last thing I made in my old kitchen before it got demolished the following day.  :)


 
Happy Birthday Uncle Tone!  We Love You!
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Friday, May 24, 2013

Happy Birthday Logan!

Have you met the most fun, smart, cutest little boy ever?  No?  Well, you should b/c today he is even smarter, even cooler and even more one of my favorite little boys ever b/c today is his 6th Birthday!!


This kid is awesome.  We still miss getting to see Mr. Logan every single day but now when we get to see him (as in last wkd and this wkd too!) we just cram in all his awesomeness into the time we have!  Can't wait to see you on Saturday Mr. Logan and celebrate you being 6 years old!  You are going to make one amazing big brother - and we know this for a fact because you are one amazing big cousin! 

 
Happy Birthday Loganator!  We Love You!
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Thursday, May 23, 2013

Mother's Day 2013

I had a wonderful Mother's day this year.  The girls and Keith gave me a new waffle iron and then made some yummy waffles with it!  We spent our Mother's Day Sunday at church followed by a quick visit to the Rose Garden to get some pictures for our end of year teacher gifts.  Keith was a good sport and suffered through all the pollen.  He came home, took a benedryl and pretty much slept the rest of the day - he did wake up for evening service and was back in bed by nine.  Poor guy.  The girls had fun seeing all the roses and we even got some fun pictures! 

Ava's personality always seems to show in her pictures!

 
The girls and I after we rescued a rose from the water for Carli.
 

See - Carli's rose she found on the path, which Ava through in the fountain to give it a bath.  Daddy finally was able to rescue it for her.  She was very much relieved that it didn't drown!
 

My Baby Girl 


 Ava might have beat me or at least that is what she told me!


I wanted individual pictures like this of the girls with their Teacher Signs. 
So I got on the grass to show them how... 


I don't think they were impressed with my efforts.


One final shot of Ava-Bo as we headed home...


A day with my little family couldn't be a more perfect way to spend Mother's Day!

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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Happy Birthday to my Beautiful Momma!



Can you teach someone to care so much it hurts? Or cry when someone else fails b/c you feel their pain? Or rejoice when the goal is met and tears of happiness flow down your cheek? Or cheer from the sidelines with such enthusiasm, everyone knows your the best cheerleader a kid could have? Or keep such a calm presence and assurance when it seems to others the pain will just be too much to bear? To constantly put others before yourself b/c they just mean that much to you? Can you teach such things? I sure hope so, because my Mom is the best teacher I have ever met and I pray that one day perhaps I can teach my girls how to care, cry, rejoice, cheer, pray, love and give with such grace and humility that my Mom has...if I can do that, that would be an answered prayer.

Happy Birthday to the most beautiful, humble, hard-working, caring, giving, loving and Godly woman I have ever met. How blessed I am to call you mine! I love you Mom!


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Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Our Baby Girl is Three!

Ava -

I can count on my hands the number of times I have successfully gotten your Daddy to write on the blog.  But when I asked if he would write your birthday letter, he simply said "Okay."  You are so special Ava and we are so proud to be your parents!


Dear Ava:

If there’s one word that comes to mind when I think of you, it’s JOY.  Life seems to come so easy for you and you’re constantly wearing a smile.  I’ve never known anyone that can make me laugh the way you do, and I can’t even begin to count the number of real belly-laughs we’ve shared together.  There’s a long way to go in this journey together, but I can honestly say that the first three years have been an amazing blessing.  Words cannot express how lucky we are to be your parents, and to experience life through your beautiful blue eyes.  We are so proud of the little girl that you are and eagerly await what the next year has in store for us.  Our prayer is that you continue to grow and discover new things, but that you hold onto the innocence and joy that you spread to everyone you meet.  I hope you never doubt our love for you, and the love of God that trumps it all.  I pray that you learn how to love those that love you…and those that don’t.  I hope that you hold onto your sense of humor and never take yourself too seriously…that you always “Keep Calm…and RAWR!”
 
With much love -
 
Daddy
 
Happy 3rd Birthday Ava-Bo!
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Sunday, May 12, 2013

Princess Shoes

I told Carli to go put her shoes on so we could make a very important run to Sonic for Happy Hour...this is what she came back with...


She told me they were her princess shoes...see her princess pose?  Poor girl might have inherited her mother's sense of style!

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Saturday, May 11, 2013

A Princess Tea Party

Back in April, the girls got invited to their friend, Avery's Princess Birthday Tea Party.  They were pretty pumped to go to a princess party and got all dolled up in their tutus!  Once we got there, they were a little shy since they didn't know everyone, but that did not stop Ava from enjoying all the yummy food.  Carli pretty much sit and observed everyone.




They have an awesome Daddy, not that we didn't already know that.  They insisted that he sit with them and help them with their "tea" and treats.  He did not object. 

They had a great time!  Thanks Avery for inviting us to your wonderful party! 



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Friday, May 10, 2013

Chuck Wagon Day at OTA

Carli & Ava had Chuck Wagon Day at school a couple weeks ago.  I didn't have any problems convincing them to wear boots BUT they both had to wear a dress b/c they were princess cowgirls.  Well, of course!!

Here they are practicing "roping" and laughing at themselves!


 The last time I stayed with the girls for their little parties was in October.  We had a lot of fun but it backfired on me when both girls cried hysterically when I had to leave.  Because of that, I did not go back for their Thanksgiving Feast, Christmas party, Valentine's Party or Easter Egg hunts.  But we all had a long heart to heart, and both girls told me they would be big and we would all have fun and there would be no tears.  So, I got to enjoy Chuck Wagon Day too!

Ava's class was the first to come out and visit all the animals.  Ava had a blast! She touched all the animals:  ducks, rabbits, horses, goats, sheep, a baby calf and llamas.  No fear!  :)  She is so funny.  She is fearless as long as Carli is not there.  But if Carli is around, Ava won't do anything unless Carli does it too.  Ava even rode the miniature horse, twice!  She loved it and insisted I take a picture on my phone and send it to Pa so he could see what a good horse rider she was!  She helped drive the horse drawn carriage twice as well.  Needless to say, Ava was a big fan of Chuck Wagon Day!  When it was time for me to go see Carli with her class, Ms. Robin helped me out and took Ava for a potty break while I slipped away...tears avoided, success!




Carli's class got to see everything that Ava saw plus she got to paint a horse!  That was one patient little pregnant horse.  I guess she reached the point in her pregnancy that she just didn't care anymore!  ha!  Both girls just HAD to show me the rooster in the tree.  They both thought it was so funny that a rooster climbed a tree! 

It took a lot of convincing to get Carli to ride the horse and buggie but after I showed her Ava's pictures and told her Pa would never let her have her own mini horse if she would ride this one (sorry Pa), she finally gave them both a try and she loved it!  Little stinker.  




Carli was true to her word and did not shed a tear when it was time for me to go.  She gave me a hug and told me to be careful.  Shew!  We all had a great time!


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Thursday, May 9, 2013

Big Girl Beds

The girls originally had a Pottery Barn Catalina Bed with a trundle that I snagged off of Craigslist for a good deal.  This worked pretty well for about a year.  Ava slept on the trundle and Carli on the bed.  But then Ava started not sleeping very well and we decided she would probably sleep a lot better if she had a real big girl bed.  So the search began.  Now that Ava is no longer a baby, her clothes take up a lot more room!  The one chest of drawers wasn't cutting it plus we had no extra storage.  I knew that I wanted some kind of captain's bed so we could utilize the storage.  We searched a lot of stores, online and even found plans to build them.  Buying two beds from the local furniture store was ruled out when the quality really wasn't that great and it cost almost $1,000 just for one bed!  We really liked the Pottery Barn version but the same issue was the cost.  We were leaning more and more toward building them but I wasn't so positive it would happen before the girls started college since Keith's time is a little tied up in school right now.  I finally found a bed on Pinterest and just called to get a price.  Turns out it was only $1200 for both beds AND they were hand crafted and made from real wood!  I was sold!  When we got an unexpected refund from Ford for a recall on our car, we immediately ordered the beds.  We got them in February but it took until this month for me to get the room kind of pulled together with stuff on the walls and corner unit and to find a curtain I liked.  I still want to make a Roman Shade out of the curtain but for now this works.  :) 

 



The storage is AWESOME!  We actually have about four empty drawers.  Plus we can access the dead space on the back half of the beds through a door at the end.  The girls love their own space plus having their own beds.  Most importantly the infamous Poof Chair still has a place of honor in the corner!  Keith and I have spent many sleepless nights on that chair when the girls are having a rough night! 

If anyone wants to volunteer to do the Roman shade for me, I won't object!  :)  Thanks Kid's Alley for an awesome product and great service!

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