Continuation of Birthday Photos

I am just continuing on with my posts of birthday photos. Sorry I am not getting them up sooner, but my evenings have been monopolized by the Olympics. I'm loving all the events, but bummed that they last so late into the night. Right now I have just watched Michael Phelps win his 7th gold by 1 - 100th of a second. Wow! That was close!

Anyway, here are some more photos... Also, a huge thanks to all the lovely comments on the last post! I loved reading each and every one of them!

The slide was a gift from Aunt Bethany and it was a huge hit.

Muncle Mike rigged up this little balloon fall for Ava and it turned out so cute.

Already trying to blow out her candles.


Love, Love, Love this picture!She ate so much black fondant that I thought she would be sick.

This picture is so cute of Jenna and Ava even though it is from the back.

Mommy, Ava, and Elbow
Aunt Tiffy and Trayton
Bo and I
Look how dirty with cake their faces are!

JonThomas helping the kids with their picture frames.

Our silly looking, saying "cheese" little family.
Ava and Aunt Bethy
Ava and Nana and Pop
Ava and JonThomas with the annual balloon release. They actually got stuck in our cable lines and Bradley knocked them loose with a ball.

Happy Birthday to My Little Girl!

Today is officially Ava's 2nd Birthday. At 5:36 this evening she will be 2 years old. I look at her and can't believe that it is has gone by that quickly!

I have been going through party pictures and I am so overwhelmed because there are so many good ones! Bo did an amazing job on them and there are just so many to chose from. So I am just going to start posting a little bit at a time. I want everything documented so we don't forget this wonderful party we had. To make it easier on me, instead of writing big entries describing the party, I will just add little tidbits of info above the picture.

So here is the first wave of pictures from Ava's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Birthday Party!

These cans were made by Bradley and I to hold the kids' party favors.

Ava's gifts
It's never a good sign when you start off in the corner at your own party.
Note the little fingers marks. Hence the sitting in the corner. Later a spoon mark would join the finger marks.
Ava and Mommy (she is still mad about the corner)

Ava and Trayton playing as usual.

Ava and Stacy (the cake maker)
A silly little girl
Grammy with Trayton and Gabriel
The 3 Cousins

Ava with her Cousins Trayton and Gabriel

Saying "cheese" in her birthday hat. She enjoyed it much better this year than last year.
Ava and Muncle Mike.
Words cannot express how much I loved this cake! My friend Stacy designed it and did all the baking and decorating and it was fantastic! It just looked so wonderful!
Ava with her Mrs. Potato Head from JonThomas. She was done with gifts at this point and just wanted to dig into this.

Opening her Donald and Daisy stuffed animals from Mommy and Daddy. These have become a bedtime favorite already.

Ava and Jenna opening presents. Jenna was lots more excited than Ava was. Ava was done opening after the first gift and just wanted to play. However, Jenna and Trayton were all about opening presents and Jenna would yell, "Yay!" after each one.
The easel was a hit. As soon as we brought it out the kids went wild. Ava has been really enjoying this gift from us.
Riding her horse from Nona/Elbow and Muncle Mike. They got her this horse because it reminded them off John Deere which she loved riding on.
If you look really close you can see the holes that little fingers have been making. She was mad here because we had to go outside for one last gift and she couldn't have cake right then.

We survived!

Well we survived the 2nd birthday party and it went off just fantastically! Ava had a wonderful time and all her visitors seemed to have a blast. My aunt did all the pictures and it was so great to not have to worry about getting out my camera. I just enjoyed the day. So here is a little teaser of things to come!

Big Girl Bed

The inevitable has happened and Ava's bed had to be changed to the toddler/big girl bed. She has been trying for a couple of months to get her leg thrown over the side, and on Monday she was successful. After months of practice, she finally swung those legs over and escaped. So on Monday night Nana and Pop came over and we all watched as the men changed Ava's bed and my life forever. (Yes, I am being dramatic.) But never again will I walk into Ava's room and see her sitting in her crib, talking and grinning at me through the bars. Never again will I have to lean way, way over and lay her down. Never again will I get to kiss her little lips through the bars all around her bed. And never again will my little girl be 1. This 1 year old thing is coming to a close and we are full speed in the middle of toddler hood. My little mermaid is growing at an alarming rate and sometimes in pictures, I look and think, "Who is this little girl and not baby?"

So with that said, this will be my last post of the week. We have so much birthday stuff to get to this week. I hope to return next week with party pictures. If you are coming to the party, have a safe trip and bring your appetite. Well, I guess as much as you can have for hot dogs... and Cheetos...

Acting goofy for the camera.

The morning after-

A Pirate Says, "Arrrgh!"

The other night I was up in the office working on pictures when I heard two voices calling for Mommy. When I got downstairs, this is what I saw...

I was using the small camera which she knows flashes so I get this little blinky smile.
Bradley said pirates need tattoos and Ava had already drawn some.