Straight from the mouth of Ava and Reid

Here are a few things that have come out of Ava's mouth this past week.

Ava and I were talking about what a big girl she is now. I mentioned that I was a big girl too; Ava beg to differ. This is Ava's response.
Ava: Mommy, you're not a big girl.
Me: Then what am I?
Ava: You're a bad boy.

I think this conversation is pretty self-explanatory.
Me: Ava, did you just toot?
Ava: Yeah. I toot all the time.

You might all be questioning why I put Reid's name in the title of this post. You might not believe me, but here's what went down.

To give you a little background, Josh and I have been trying to teach Reid a few signs (American Sign Language). Reid is one of the loudest babies I know, especially when he sees something he wants. We just needed to lower the decibels in our home...for our sanity! Now he doesn't get so frustrated when we can't figure out what he wants. Totally worth it.

Back to the story. After eating lunch I was asking him if he was "all done" or if he wanted "more". He quickly did the "more" sign. Then I asked him if he wanted "more food" or "more drink". After I asked the question he did the sign for "more" and then said "Mama". He got so many hugs and kisses after that that he probably regretted giving that response! I love these kids!

We celebrated under the sea

Ava couldn't wait for her first friend party. The night before the big day we were getting her ready for bed and she looks at me and says, "I need a lot of rest for my party." And then promptly gets in bed and falls asleep. Wow. Is that what it takes to get kids to fall asleep at their bedtime?! By the way, doesn't she look darling in her party dress?

Here are the invites that we sent out for the party. Boy, I am so glad that I married a graphic designer. Don't these invites look awesome! My hubby sure knows his stuff :)

After we had already sent out the invites I happened upon this tablecloth in the clearance section at Target. Two promptly made it into my cart. This tablecloth had to been made just for Ava's party.

Especially since I was already planning on making this for the cupcakes. I think the cupcakes turned out pretty sweet. It is kinda weird to put a goldfish cracker on a cupcake, but none of the kids were complaining.

Josh estimated that we blew up around 300 balloons. I don't have the heart to tell him it was probably closer to 450. Thankfully we had two balloon air pumps. And thankfully we blew up the bulk of them on comedy night Thursday!

I couldn't resist hanging sea creatures all over the apartment. Especially since they all cost a total of $4.99. I don't know how many times I heard "It's Nemo! Dory!" This generation of kids are going to grow up not knowing the real names of the fish!

To help set the mood, we set up a bubble machine near the front door. Word of advice, bubbles will make tiled floor slippery. Josh quickly moved some of our floor mats from the kitchen into the entrance. Problem solved.

When the kids arrived we had them color different sea creatures. I found the cutest coloring book, scanned the pages, and enlarged the animals. I had made a pretty pathetic ocean out of streamers on our kitchen wall. Once the kids were done they got to tape their sea creatures on the wall in the "ocean". It was so cute seeing how excited they were to get to tape their pictures up.

After all the kids arrived it was time for the fun to begin. We played pin the crown on Ariel. Yep, that's Ariel in case you couldn't tell. One creative thing we did was instead of tying a blindfold on the kids, we taped paper onto the outside of one of Ava's sunglasses. It was a lot easier to put on each kid and they weren't afraid to put them on.

After playing Fish Fish Shark (the under the sea version of Duck Duck Goose) we headed over to our next game. Which just so happens to be where the bulk of our balloon blowing effort was (we were too cheap to buy the actual plastic balls!) Each kid got a turn to search for a treasure bag. The kids were so well behaved. They all waited their turns and didn't push anyone. Ava's got a good bunch of good little friends.

After blowing bubbles outside we came inside for cake! Which I made the same chocolate cake that I made for Reid's birthday. And it still was just as awesome as before. But seriously, I could of just saved some time and gave Ava a plate of blue frosting!

Here's all her little friends eating their cupcakes.

The final activity was of course opening presents. You're all probably wondering how a bunch of 3 year olds reacted to Ava getting to open all of the presents. Well, there were no tantrums, if you can believe it. Each kid went and got their present and then they patiently waited their turn to give it to Ava. It was pretty cute seeing how excited they were to have Ava see what they picked out.

Thanks everyone who took time out of their day to make our little girl feel so special. She's so lucky to have such a great group of kids to play with. I know she had a blast getting to have everyone over.

She's got game

For the past few times we've played Candy Land Ava has drawn the ice cream card within a few turns. For those of you unfamiliar with the game, that card will skip you to almost the end of the game. I even made sure to mix those cards up really well this time! Can someone explain to me how this happens! She was quite proud of herself for beating me so badly.

Also, we were playing Hi Ho Cherry-o and I lost. I lost so horribly that once Ava cleared her first tree, she was able to clear not only the second tree, but the third tree as well. So she cleared three trees before I could even clear one. And I was even trying to win! So sad!

A little brotherly love

We had a special little visit from one of Josh's brothers last night. Joe flew up to the area for a quick business trip and swung on by to join us for dinner.

A certain little girl was beyond excited to see her uncle. She even thanked Heavenly Father for Joe in her dinner prayer. So sweet! Joe even read her a bedtime story. She loved it! She didn't even notice that Joe was making up the story as he went along. Which she always gets mad at her parents when they paraphrase :)

Thanks for stopping by Joe! Even though it was a short trip it was fun getting to see you.

Taken just for Grandma and Nana

I've been dying to post these pics of the kids, but wanted them to be a surprise for our very special mothers. So now that Mother's Day has come and gone, here they are.

These kids are becoming closer friends everyday. They have the cutest game they play together. Ava counts to ten (to give Reid a fighting chance of getting away) and then she goes and catches him. It is hilarious. Her little brother will try to hide but the moment he sees Ava even twitch he books it across the room. You've never seen little arms and legs move so fast. Once caught they both let out little giggles and Ava gets up and starts counting all over again. So cute!

Ava went in for her 3 year appt. this week. She weighed in at 24 lbs and is 34 inches tall. In happy news, she is now in the 2 percentile. Which has NEVER happened in her full 3 years. And if you can believe this, her BMI (body mass index) ratio puts her in the 17 percentile. Gasp. The doctor actually said she was starting to fill out a little. That's not a joke. He really said that. Must of been all that cake we've been eating these past few weeks. Happily no shots were needed this trip. Which made the visit a fond memory. Many of her toys have also had to see Dr. Ava for a check-up. Sadly, they didn't get off as lucky. Most, if not all have had to get shots.

Yep, that's my boy! Doesn't he look so big standing on his own two feet. He's been walking for a few weeks now, but still finds crawling is faster. And he is one determined little kid. This past week he just figured out how to crawl onto the couch. Reid was excited about his new skill, Mom not so much. Trying to discourage this new pastime, we have moved our coffee table, laundry baskets, whatever is around in front of the couch. Does not work! He will wiggle, and squirm until he has pushed his way past the "obstacles" and then laugh at us as he lifts he chubby little leg on the couch. Okay, he doesn't really laugh at us, but he does giggle once he's made it on the couch. Right now I'm too nervous to leave him in the living room by himself. Maybe I should just gather all of the pillow and blankets in the house and put them at the bottom of the couch :)

Happy Birthday Ava

Isn't she just the cutest!

Wondering why the little ones are extremely happy. Reid's Jack in the box. Took a few days for him to warm up to it, but now both kids think they toy is hilarious. So I did know what I was thinking when I got it for him for his birthday!

Ummm Reid. It isn't your birthday bud.

Her favorite gift was the Ariel the mermaid doll. Both Grandmas gave Ava a princess birthday card. One of them even sings "A Part of your World" from the Little Mermaid. She's memorized the little snippet already. The best part, she's never seen the movie.

Ariel has been on a lot of adventures in the Bunting household these past few days. She even got to join Ava and Reid in the bathtub tonight. If anyone has a 3 year old girl, this is the best $7 you could spend!

Besides being into mermaids, Ava is way into games and puzzles. My little smartie pants will sit down and do the whole puzzle by herself. Anytime Reid goes down for a nap she always wants to take the opportunity to play a board game.

Ava requested an ice cream cake for her birthday. I found this recipe online and decided to give it a try.

So good! It doesn't beat a DQ cake. But when you live over 20 minutes away from the nearest DQ, this comes in a close second. And it was so simple. Ava was even able to get in on the cake making fun.

Yum! Here's one happy birthday girl.

Notice the binky? Ice cream cake and a binky. Baby heaven.

I learned my lesson. All my family members would much rather prefer an ice cream cake over a traditional cake.

Happy birthday Ava bug. Even though you announced that you were now a big girl and that big girls don't need hugs, I appreciate that you still gave me one. I love you.

I've joined the dark side

Don't worry, I'll be posting pics of Ava's birthday soon. But I figured I should probably post some pics of me first so you aren't wondering who that crazy person in the pictures are. So, for those of you who haven't seen me this past week, lets just say I've decided to go back to my roots :) Below is a pic of me that little Miss Ava took. Yep, that's me!

I'm still in a little shock over the color. Hence the reason it has taken me all week to post pics of it. My hair has gotten a lot darker since having the kiddos. I was getting tired of always seeing my roots when my highlights grew out so I decided to go brown. But I wasn't expecting this brown! Thank goodness it has faded since Sat.

Since the weather has started to behave and stop raining, we've been going on LOTS of walks. I think we even went on two walks on Monday :) One day we were walking and came across a few friends who had been evicted from there home.

Right now the ducks home, aka the pool, is under construction and is empty. So I guess they are trying to make some money by being a guard dog for neighbors :)

All that practicing wearing hats has paid off because Reid leaves his hat on...most of the time. Which is good because I think he looks adorable in baseball hats.

Here's Reid showing me his stick that his sister gave him. He loved that stick and held onto it for the entire walk. Now every time we go on a walk Ava has to find Reid a stick.

My favorite 3 year old

The shirt doesn't lie, this little cutie pie is now officially three.

No birthday would be complete without a special birthday collage! (there is a row for each year of Ava's life) It amazes me how much a little person can learn and grow in just three years. She's now an extremely active, loving, caring little person who knows how to negotiate until she gets what she wants. We love her enthusiasm for life and are so grateful to have her sweet spirit in our home. We love her and are enjoying getting to celebrate her big day with her. Happy birthday Ava bug!