Happy 4th Birthday Ava!!

4 years ago our sweet little Ava blessed our lives on April 10, 2008 at 2:20 PM. At that moment she forever changed our lives and has made it so colorful in ways we never could have imagined. She started our journey of parenthood and has turned our lives upside down and balanced it at the same time. She is definitely our free spirit and loves her independence. Ava has developed such a fun, loving and caring personality...and lets not deny that she is still a strong willed and feisty little girl...but we take each new day as it comes! She exerts much of her energy outside and has become very artistic. She will sit for hours coloring, drawing, writing, making things and decorating anything in sight. She can write her name and copy others once we write them. Not that I thought her name would ever be hard to learn...AVA...but we are still impressed! She knows all her colors and numbers in English and Spanish and has a very colorful vocabulary. Her favorite "Seriously Mom, you are being ridiculous"!! What can I say...she brightens our lives every day! We love this little girl more than life itself and can't imagine our lives with out this incredibly special and amazing knucklehead.

Ava Marie 4 days old

 To show her how incredibly special she is, we celebrated her BIG 4 with a fun filled day all about her! It was super fun for Tyler and me this year because she was so into it and crazy excited...as we all do until that number gets to high and we would rather forget it!! We decorated the house the night before so she would wake up and be surprised and then we opened gifts from mommy, daddy and Landy Lou. She has been asking us for about 6 months to get her ears pierced so we figured her 4th birthday would be a perfect time to do so. Tyler and I took her to Willow Bend for lunch, shopping, play time, ice cream and of course ear piercing. I thought for sure this tough cookie would chicken out but she was a champ! No tears, no worries and no complaining! She then had to go to the play area and show any kid she could find...she seriously propped her self up like a little show pony! We then had dinner planned at Benihanas with the whole family. It was SO much fun! The kids absolutely loved it and were amazing there for 3 hours!! It was a fantastic day and I am pretty sure I was more bummed about the day being over than Ava was. At least we still have her super fun Princess and Knights party scheduled in a week so she can celebrate with all her friends!

 

Happy 4th Birthday pretty girl!!

We love you to the moon and back!

Love

Mommy, Daddy and Landy Lou

Happy Valentine's Day

 Ava and her two best friends (Auna and Hannah)

The girls with Mrs. Lauren

(Lauren is preggers with her 1st baby and it's a GIRL!!)

Valentine's Day this year was spent with my three favorite people. Tyler had planned a romantic night away for the two us which was so sweet. Unfortunately it got canceled because I was leaving the next morning for 5 days and just wanted to spend the evening at home in our pj's! I know so romantic but hey that is how we roll these days. Ava and I made her yummy valentine's treats for her school party the night before (a pinterest project and no pics to show how cute they were). Hope everyone had fun celebrating with your special loved ones!

Sunny California

I had a business trip to San Diego last week and boy was I excited! Tyler and I lived in San Diego for 3 years and then moved back to Dallas in July '04 before we got married in September. Crazy enough neither of us have been back to SD since we moved....I know so sad! Now that my regional office is there I will be making many trips to beautiful California. One of my very best friends, Brooke, and I moved to SD from Dallas (her 2001 and me January of 2002) and were roomies. She stayed and has officially become a Cali girl. I have begged and begged her to move back to Dallas for years but after this trip I now remember why she never wants to leave and don't understand why Tyler and I ever did?!?! Anyways long story short, I had business there Wed-Fri and then stayed the weekend with Brooke and had some awesome and much needed girl time with her! We had so much fun and I can't wait to go back in a couple of months!

Check out these new locks!!

Someone got a haircut.....

18 months

 He doesn't even look like the same baby to me! He looks like such a big boy! I obviously have not cut his hair in a LONG time. I finally took him today and was a bit nervous because we all loved his long hair, but I am sooo much more in love with his new short blondie locks!!

Family Photos December 2011

We finally got our family pictures scheduled after booking them 3 times and having to cancel due to scheduling conflicts. I was super excited to try this new photographer, KT Photography, that some mommy friends I know had used before and I absolutely loved their pictures!! We had them taken right after Tyler and I had celebrated Lindsey and Clayton's wedding in Jamaica...so we had a nice little tan! The kids were great and Kendra was amazing with them. She was super cute and got them to pretty much smile (and look) at the camera for every picture!! Pretty amazing with a 3 1/2 year old and 17 month old. Enjoy!!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love decorating the house with all the fun sparkly decorations, picking out our tree and hanging all our special ornaments that have been collected over the years, beautiful holiday cards that come in the mail from friends and family, the excitement in kids eyes and their enthusiasm when you talk about Santa and Jesus's Birthday (Ava thought Jesus was coming over on Christmas Day to eat cake...so cute!!), carriage rides to look at Christmas lights, holiday parties, gathering with family and friends and all the joy and kindness that surrounds this time of year. Our family is very lucky and blessed to be surrounded by so much love and support. I get so excited for the race against time and all the chaos. I love the time we get to spend with family and friends celebrating, eating amazing food and drinking good wine!! This year we spent our first Christmas in our new house and hosted Christmas Day with 20 people!! It was of course hectic and crazy but very special. As of today I still have not taken the Christmas decorations or tree down!! Not for the lack of time but just becuase it is all so pretty! I guess I need to get to work tonight!! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

 

Christmas Morning