Friday Firsts...

I'm not a birthday party mom.  I tried with Carli and Ava the first three or four years but I never really enjoyed the planning, stress and just the stuff.  Lots and lots of stuff!  So the last few years we started doing experiences for birthdays.  This year for Ava's birthday we decided to take her zip lining.  She was so excited to finally get go and to get to go with just Keith and I...that's right, Maggie spent the whole day with Mawmaw!  And we both survived!!

Keith took the girls to school, walked them in and forgot to walk Ava to her class.  Ha!  She was estatic!  They came home and I promptly left Keith with the littles and went back to the school b/c Carli was showing off their G/T projects that morning and was a wee bit upset that no one was going to come see her.  So I made sure to go and made Keith drop off Maggie b/c I figured I'd have a hard time doing that anyway.  

Carli with her poster and diorama.

She reluctantly agreed to take a picture with Ava's projects. 

But what's even cooler, is that our sweet neighbors came down to see Carli too.  The kids have developed a very special relationship with Mr. Joe and Mrs. Bobbie.  Carli was so pleased and proud that they came by to see her!

After making sure the other three kiddos were sufficiently taken care of, we loaded Ava up and off we went to go zip lining.  We took Ava to the New York Zip Lining Adventures out near La Rue.  She was so excited and smiled the whole way there!  Once we got there and checked in, she got a little nervous but she never let that stop her!

We did the six line zip line tour.  Honestly the first two lines were the hardest.  Ava made me go first every time!  She did so good though and by the end of the last line was ready to do it all again!!

I'm not sure we'd ever get Carli to go do the zip lining but Ava would go back in a heartbeat.  She had so much fun and it was a joy to just spend the day with her and see her enjoy herself so much!  :)  After our zip lining we went into Tyler for lunch at the mall (yep, she picked) and then to order her cookie cake for her class party on Monday.  We ended our Ava adventure day with letting her shop for her birthday outfit to wear to school.  If ya'll know me, it's a pretty big deal to go shopping with me!  Ha!  She's a good little shopper, pretty decisive which helped me survive!

We picked up Carli a little early from school, then gathered up our littles who had had a great day with Mawmaw and off we went to Rusk for some softball.  Carli and her Troup Bomb Squad came up a little short but she was all smiles afterward to get to go eat with Ms. Patty.  She also got to see Braleigh and Amanda and our favorite neighbors had come too! 

It was a busy, wonderful Friday!!