Ava is 3!

On Friday the 24th, Ava turned 3! We spent the day together planting flowers and playing outside. It was just a low key day at home, but we had a ton of fun. We are having her actual birthday party this weekend so I can post pics of that later.

Farewell our furry friend

On Saturday, we said goodbye to Toby after 4 years. He went to live with a new family (a fam that we know and trust) that has older children and another pug (he'll have a girlfriend!). It was a very hard and sad decision, but we know it was for the best. Over the last several months we have had trouble with him peeing in the house (just upstairs). We thought maybe he just needed to be retrained, but our efforts didn't pay off. The vet told us it wasn't a health problem, which leaves a jealousy/attention problem. We're not sure what was going on, but we couldn't keep having him pee in the house. We know he is at a place where he will get lots of attention and love which makes parting a little easier. We were wondering how Ava was going to handle the change...he has been gone since Saturday and she has yet to ask where he is. Guess she doesn't miss him too badly! I do miss his company, but I really miss how he would vacuum my carpet and clean up the kitchen floor. I have to sweep and vacuum every night now...

So happy together!

We have finally reached a point where the kids can play together. It is really great most of the time when they are getting along, but there are usually a few tears shed at least once during the day! As I type this, Ava is pretending to be Dora and she is making Anderson be Diego...such a silly girl!

Playing in the toy box

Ava using Anderson as her life size dress up doll!!

Easter Sunday

We were up early on Sunday morning so we could all get ready and make it to the early service at church. The Easter bunny didn't come until after church b/c we wouldn't have made it on time if he came before!

Easter Baskets!

Ava showing off her new Cinderella sunglassesAva trying on her new shoes (great combo with the dress, huh?!)

We had my parents, sister in law, and Angi and Brian over for Easter lunch. I made a ham for the first time, though I cheated and bought the precooked, spiral cut ham. It was good though! We had a really great time visiting and playing, but everyone was really worn out by the end of the day. We actually had beautiful weather so Ava got to play outside for awhile too.

The Hunt

On Saturday, I took Ava to her very first egg hunt. My sister and Rylan joined us. Ava was really excited...she immediately took off. They divided the kids up by age. She was technically still 2 so she had the advantage of being in the 0 to 2 year old group.


The basket she used was her daddy's Easter basket when he was a kid. It was nearly as tall as she was!

She came away with quite a bit of candy (most of which she won't eat!).

They also had games and face painting set up inside. We waited in line for quite awhile so she could get a blue butterfly on her cheek. I was worried we would get to the front and then she would freak out and we would have waited for nothing. To my surprise, she sat very still and loved every second of it! And to top it off, while we were waiting in line, they called Ava's name...she had won a door prize. Out of everything on the table, she choose a Hannah Montana ink pen. She doesn't even know who that its!

We also played the ring toss game and she came away with a 2 liter of Dr. Pepper that was as big as she is!


Rylan and Anderson just hung out in the strollers and waited patiently. Such little troopers!




After the hunt, we stopped at "Chick n play" (according to Ava) for lunch and then made a quick trip to Sam's. When I am out with Angi, we ALWAYS get asked if we are twins. We each also have boys, who are only 3 weeks apart in age, so that even confuses people more. While we were at Sam's, we sat both boys in the front of the cart and the first person we saw when we walked into the store asked us if they were twins...they look nothing alike except for the blue eyes and blonde hair. We are getting a bit tired of that question!

Rylan and Anderson cruising the aisles of Sam's....

Stair master

0n Friday I watched my nephew for the day. The only problem with having 2 little guys is that I only have 1 highchair. So at lunch time, I was feeding the boys in shifts. While I was feeding Rylan, Ava announced she had to pee. She had a bunch of dress up gear on so she wasn't able to get it all off in time to make it to the bathroom. So I stripped her and sent her upstairs so Dan could put some clean clothes on her. Since she was being taken care of, I went back to feeding Rylan. I Then realized I haven't seen or heard Anderson in several minutes. I started walking around looking for him and I then hear the ball popper start upstairs. Ava left the stairway gate open and he crawled up all by himself! It really took me by surprise b/c he had not shown any interest in the stairs before. I had even tried to get him to climb up with me behind him and he wouldn't move. Anyway...we now have to be very vigilant about closing the gate!