Took the night off

Easter dinner; check.
Reid's birthday; check.
Family birthday party; check.
Ava's birthday; check.

Whew. This certainly has been one crazy week and a half. Will post pictures of all the above mentioned activities soon, but not tonight. I took the night off...from everything. So don't stop by the house unexpectedly because it is a mess :)

Today is the day!

After multiple birthday celebrations, today is finally Ava's 4th birthday! With a family party on Saturday, getting sung to in Primary on Sunday, and a preschool party yesterday, it's just been a little confusing for the cuite pie what day her birthday actual is. Today is it birthday girl! Instead of doing the normal birthday collage, which you can check out last year's collage here, I decided to do a brief recap of this past year. Which I can't believe how much more independent, smart, helpful, and capable this little girl has become in just a year.

Here's Ava all excited to go to preschool and celebrate her birthday. She decided to bring Ring Pops as her birthday treat for her preschool class. Lucky class! Her favorite part of the day was getting sung to in music class and passing out all of her treats to her friends.


I cannot believe just how much Ava has grown in only 4 years. Here are the proud (and very tired) parents with Ava when she was only a few days old.


Awwww. She was such the sweetest baby.


Now lets get to this past year. A lot has happened during Ava's 3rd year. Mostly it had to deal with moving twice within 5 moths. So sorry honey! It was pretty hard for her having to leave her friends and the only place she's ever known. It hasn't been an easy thing for this little girl, but she's doing her best trying to adjust. Everything just takes time, and I know in a few months she'll love this place just as much as she loved CA.


Here are a few things you might of, or may not know about Ava. She LOVES fruit. For her birthday dinner she has requested macaroni, grapes and strawberries. She can't wait until the summer when she can eat watermelon and cherries again.


She loves dressing up and everything to do with princesses. She loves it so much that she's even gotten Reid to agree to dress up with her (in princess attire mind you). Below Ava is pretending to be one of her favorite princesses, Rapunzel.


She started preschool this year. She can't get enough of learning. Just yesterday she told me all the months of the year (in order) without any help. She can often be found in the afternoon flipping through book after book. She really loves learning how to write and especially writing notes to people.


She also started dance and gymnastics this year. It has been so fun getting to attend her dance classes and watch her improve from week to week. She has learned how to do somersaults, almost needs no help on the balance beam, and really enjoys learning all the ballet steps.


Her fear of animals has taken a 180 and turned into a big, enormous love for animals (dogs excluded). When she's not playing with princesses, she's playing and taking care of her stuffed animals.


Not only has Ava grown bigger this past year, her sweet tooth has grown as well. She just can't get enough of the sweet treats. She has decided that Easter is her favorite holiday because she gets a lot of candy.


Her favorite thing to do is play with her brother. She loves helping him and showing him how to do new things. She was a little disappointed when she found out she wasn't going to be getting a sister this time around. But by the end of the day she realized just how much she loved having Reidy around and now can't wait for her new little brother to arrive.


Since Reid has gotten a little bit older, it has been fun watching their relationship development even more. Here are the two siblings having a little conversation. So cute! Ava is such a great help with Reid. I really do appreicate all she does. She is such an important part of our family.


We love you, we love you, we love you Ava bug! Happy 4th birthday!

My baby boy is no longer a baby

He's a full blown toddler. When did this happen? I don't know if it had something to do with attending our ultrasound today and realizing how big our little guy is getting, or maybe it is the pregnancy hormones, but I have to watch myself or I'll become a blubbering fool thinking about how much I just love this kid. He is my little sidekick and I wouldn't want it any other way. He sure keeps things lively around these parts and we love his energy and love for life. When that doesn't include tearing up the house or breaking expensive things :) We love you very much Reidy and hope you have a great 2nd birthday!


Here's a walk down Reidy's 2 years of life.


Did you notice? Reid was able to grow some more hair this past year! Now we are just working on getting all of those teeth in bud. Happy birthday Reid!

Our first Easter in our house

Here are the kids right before we headed out to church on Easter morning.


The reason for the kiddies raising their hands was because I asked who wanted to go on an Easter egg hunt after church. Both kids couldn't wait. So after we got home from church, and of course the kids ate all of their lunch (gotta use a good bribe whenever you can), we headed to the backyard for our little hunt.


Here is Ava going for the egg hidden in the trees. Ava was very sweet during the egg hunt, not because she was eating all of the candy, but she made sure to leave enough eggs for Reid to get on his own. She filled up her basket and declared, "I have enough eggs. The rest are for Reidy to get."


Reid still remembered the egg hunt from the week before and needed no coaching in the egg gathering department.


Hmmm. I don't think that egg quite made it into his basket. He also remembered that the eggs have candy inside.


The kids excitedly emptying out their eggs to see what candy they got.


Later that afternoon Ava helped me decorate and set the table for our Easter dinner. She even helped make these "bird's nests" for everyone's plate setting. She's becoming quite the big helper around these parts.


She's also quite the good sneak when it comes to all things sweet. Here she is secretly nibbling on some chocolate dipped pretzels while we waited for Nana and Grandpa to come over.


We had a really nice Easter. I just wish the weather was warmer. Did you notice Ava had to put tights on after church for our egg hunt? But hey, at least it didn't rain on Sunday. And we did enjoy getting to celebrate Easter with family.

Sorry Molasses

Looks like Ava and I are going to be outnumbered because we are having another BOY!

Cast your vote

Only 2 days left until we have our 20 week ultra sound. What do you think? Is Ava going to get her wish of finally having a sister or will Reid be saved from playing princesses and dress-up everyday and get a brother? Let your voice be heard and cast your vote in the poll to the right.

Shoe Suggestions

Going to Disneyland in 3 weeks. Any recommendations for a good pair of shoes (that won't look dorky with shorts) for a 5 month pregnant lady to tromp around the happiest place on earth?

Master Easter egg pickers in the house

This past weekend our ward put together an Easter Egg Hunt over at a nearby park.


Don't worry, before the big hunt Ava and I taught Reid what the basket was really for. Seriously, before the big event I threw some plastic eggs on the floor and Ava showed Reid what to do.


Both kids had a blast. Josh stayed with Ava while I took Reid over to the younger age group. Sadly, I thought I was videoing Reid on my phone. Come to find out I did not get a single video of him picking up his Easter eggs. I almost started crying. Thankfully we still have another egg hunt this weekend or I think I would of had a complete meltdown. You should of seen him though, he was easily the best egg picker upper in his group. The pre-hunt practice paid off!

Ava also had a great time and couldn't wait to sit down on the grass and start opening all her eggs.


Did you notice that Ava's in a t-shirt with no jacket! The weather was gorgeous. Sunny, warm, and not windy. Crossing my fingers that this upcoming weekend is just as nice. We'll see though, since it's going to rain all week. So I better cross my toes too to be safe :)