4 Yr Pics...

Today I decided to take Ava's 4 Year Old pictures!! She did a wonderful job showing me her beautiful smile and seemed to enjoy the photo shoot!

Missing Teeth??

I managed to snag this picture of Garrison and Liliana. I can't help but chuckle at all the missing teeth they have between the two of them! Missing teeth and all they are both so adorable!!

Happy Birthday Marc...

Today Marc turns 33! 33 years ago two of the most wonderful people gave life to a handsome, caring, kind, loving, generous, all around AWESOME man! 23 years later, I was lucky enough to meet him, fall in love with him, and marry him! He is my best friend and perfect match! I LOVE him so much!

Happy Birthday Marc!

Enjoy some photos of Garrison showing his awesome daddy some love!

A Helper And Mess Maker...

Can you guess which one is which??
As Ava vacuumed up the leaves, Garrison would grab the remaining on the rug and throw them at her! Little stinker he is turning into! But oh so very cute!!

Happy Birthday Princess Ava...

Today our little princess turned 4 "ears" (as Ava says) old! This morning she awoke to find a pile of gifts on the art desk in the loft area. She quickly ran into our bedroom and as loud as possible shouted "It's my birthday!" Next she came over to my side of the bed and whispered "Mommy are those presents out there for me?" Needless to say the entire house was awake at this point. The morning went on as any other Saturday morning does. Breakfast, baths/showers (for those in need of them), cleaning before company was due over, and the curling of Ava's hair! She decided since she was having a princess birthday, she would wear her pretty princess dress. She just HAD to have her hair curled since "all princesses have curls"!

Around noontime the family began to arrive. We had a delicious lunch and then if was time to show Ava her special princess cake, made just for her. Her eyes lit up. She was in princess heaven. Its moments like these I cherish the most. She counted as I inserted 4 candles and then her "good luck candle", the number 4. We all sang as she sat there with the BIGGEST dimpled smile on her little face. She blew the candles out and could hardly contain the excitement as she waited for her piece of cake! As soon as her piece of cake was gone, she jumped out of her chair and asked "Can I open my presents yet?!"

Present time...

She was happy and thankful for all she received but 1 particular gift stood out. Her "puppy Barbie". (Its a barbie that came with a puppy). Out of the package the barbie and puppy came. Into the bathroom Ava and Liliana went with barbie and puppy. Soon I had a small plastic puppy peeing on my table! All I will say is "Thank you Aunt Donna"!! =P


All in all it was a very fun day. She enjoyed her "family, party, food, cake, and presents"!

Pretzel Crayons...

Ava was snack packer for her Little Lambs religion class this week. I gave her a few options for which snacks I would be able to make for her to bring and her choice was...

PRETZEL CRAYONS...

For those of you interested in trying this out... here is the link

http://www.gourmetmomonthego.com/2008/08/runs-with-scissors-and-eats-crayons.html

A big thanks to our cousin Erika for posting this link on her blog a few months ago!

Games with Great-Grandma

Great-Grandma Simpson offered to stay with us for a couple days so that I could surprise Marc with a night out to a hockey game. Not just any hockey game but a game where the Phoenix Coyotes would be playing against his FAVORITE team the Buffalo Sabres. Once every year the Sabres come to town to play the Coyotes. Each year it has worked out where Mom and Dad can watch the kids for us (since the game is usually on a school night). This year it didn't work out since our niece's baptism fell on the same weekend. Mom and Dad would be in Texas, leaving us with nobody to watch the kids. Marc's cousins were busy. Other relatives offered to watch them but that meant they wouldn't be going to bed in their own beds on time (not something we would be ok with). So Marc's AWESOME grandma offered to come stay with us for a couple days, visit, play with the kids, and watch them the night of the game! I was a bit hesitant to take her up on this offer given that she just turned 80 yrs old last week and she would be watching 4 energetic children! She insisted she could handle it and "wanted to do it"!

1 FULL day and night of ...10 games of go fish, 10 games of memory, 15 games of DVD Bingo, 5 games of Mickey letters and numbers, 4 games of hands down, 6 puzzles and who knows what else while Marc and I were at the hockey game!

Great-Grandma slept very soundly Monday night! She even slept Tuesday during the day and napped awhile on Wednesday! Needless to say my children tuckered her out AND some!

She did have a nice visit but I don't think she will be volunteering to watch my children anytime in the near future and for good reason!!