Ava's 3rd Birthday Party

This Saturday we had Ava's 3rd birthday party. I finally broke the bad weather curse. The weather was beautiful. It was 80 degrees and sunny. For Ava's 1st and 2nd birthday, it poured rain as soon as the guests started arriving, so this was a welcomed surprise!

Ava woke up from her nap around 3pm and let me get her all dolled up.

We enjoyed some yummy mexican food and cake and jelly beans, of course.

Troy was nice enough to grab my camera and take pictures at cake and present time.

Get ready for picture overload....

Bobo helped her blow out the candle

Cutting the cake

Feeding some to Grammy

The Cake

Ava and Great Grandma. Ava told her that she loved her and it made her day.

Opening her stickers. Ava LOOOOOVES stickers.

The kids hanging out with Grandpa Dee.

This morning we pulled out some of Ava's presents. She got a Dora puzzle mat that Ava, Mike and Noah put together. Ava likes to slide on it with her socks on.

 Here is the best, most awesome bubble machine we have had. I have tried many of them.

She also pulled out some sidewalk paint and painted the back patio. I will be washing it off tomorrow because it will be all over Noah as soon as he can get over there.

It was a great day with lots of friends and family. I can't believe that we have had 3 of these and many more to come. 

Cow Walk

There is a neighborhood near us that we walk in and they are zoned for animals. We see horses, goats and cows. Every night when we go for a walk, Ava always wants to walk on the "cow walk". It is a long stretch behind some houses that has a field with some cows. We always let her. She likes to run. I think of it as getting some energy out before bath time and bed time.

Here she goes, off and running...

Noah loves the cow too!

It is the simple things in life that make her happy. Happy girl, Happy Mama, Happy Life!

Oh Gee, Look Who Turns Three!

It's Ava, of course! I cannot believe it. I will say that every year. I just can't believe that she is 3. I remember her birth story like it were yesterday. I, sadly, don't remember her as a baby, just as she is now. I look at pictures, but it just doesn't seem like the same girl.

Ava,
Happy 3rd Birthday! What a year you had. You became a big sister this year. Your vocabulary grew by leaps and bounds and your personality came through.

You are strong willed. You want what you want when you want it and you cry if you don't get your way. Noah has really pulled that out of you. He wants what you have and he wants it now, so there is a big of tug of war going on daily.

You LOVE, LOVE, LOVE books. We read you 3 books before nap time and bed time. You pick them out and try to negotiate a 4th book on many occasions. You say that you have been a good girl, so let's read another.

You are silly. In the middle of a conversation, you will say "fart-butt" just to get someones attention and a laugh.

You love to dance to music. You do this by running around in a circle. You will do the occasional booty shake too. You love any song by Katy Perry or Paty Kerry as you say. (I know, bad parenting!)

Bobo is still your best friend.

We got rid of your paci in Jan 2012. It was tough on you, but you managed to be fine without it.

You had jelly beans for breakfast today. (Thanks grandpa Ron and Nana!)

You have a great imagination. You play by yourself so nicely and talk to all your animals. Stuffed animals are your favorite. You like to hoard your things into different spots around the house. You love putting things on top of the landing above the couch and on top of your play kitchen. 

Here you are with mommy and daddy:

You are becoming more independent. You like to walk instead of being in the stroller. Sometimes you like to do things on your own and others you still want mommy and daddy's help. 

You are my early riser. (I was too, but you are really early). You usually up by 5:30 am.  You still wake up at night. Right now it is about every other night, but you go right back to sleep. You take one nap a day. You usually talk to Bobo or sing to him before you fall asleep. Last night was too cute, after mommy read you books, you sang happy birthday to yourself. Mommy and daddy listened on the monitor!

We went to Barnes and Noble for your free cupcake and brought it home to sing happy birthday and for some reason, you did not like it.

 But you had fun opening your presents.

We love you so much miss Ava. You are the Aves de Graves, Ava Grace Leptuch Von Tickle, Princess, Aves and sissy. I cannot imagine my life without you. You challenge me daily, but it is all worth it. Happy Birthday!

Here are 20 questions that I asked you today:

1. What is your favorite color? BLUE

2. What is your favorite toy? BOBO

3. What is your favorite fruit? PEAR

4. what is your favorite TV show? DORA

5. what is your favorite thing for lunch? CHICKEN NUGGETS

6. what is your favorite outfit? YOU ARE A CASUAL GIRL. PANTS AND A SHIRT.

7. what is your favorite game? IT IS A MATCHING GAME WHERE YOU PUT A HEAD TO A BODY TO THE FEET.

8. what is your favorite snack? CURIOUS GEORGE FRUIT SNACKS

9. what is your favorite animal? DOG

10. what is your favorite song? RUDOLPH THE RED NOSE REINDEER

11. what is your favorite book? WHO'S THERE

12. who is your best friend? BOBO

13. what is your favorite cereal? A MIX OF LIFE, HONEY BUNCHES OF OATS AND CHEERIOS.

14. what is your favorite thing to do outside? PLAY IN THE SANDBOX

15. what is your favorite drink? JUICEBOX

16. what is your favorite holiday? CHRISTMAS

17. what is your favorite thing to take to bed? BOBO

18. what is your favorite breakfast? ENGLISH MUFFIN WITH HAM AND IT IS EVEN BETTER IF DADDY MADE IT FOR HIMSELF.

19. what do you want for your birthday dinner? CAKE

20. what do you want to be when you grow up? A TIGER

There you have it folks! Out of the mouth of a three year old.

You were 38 3/4" tall and 32.8 lbs at your 3 year doctor appointment.

Our DIY and House Weekend

What do a cat, HOA, and owning a house have in common? They have all caused us to spend a lot of money over the last week.

Let me explain. Recently, a cat decided that our sandbox was the perfect litter box. So this weekend, I shoveled all the sand out. Mike bleached the sandbox and next, the kids and I will put new sand back in.
Cost: $45

We recently got a new HOA management company along with an almost $3 increase in our dues. Along with that we got 2 letters, not 1, but 2 letters from them saying we had to pull our weeds and fix our side gate. So the past couple of weeks, Ava, Mike and I have been pulling weeds. Cost $0, just sore thumbs.

We had to replace the wood slates and spray paint the rusty side gate too. That was actually a fun job. I got to stain the wood pieces and I love me some home projects. It was just what I needed. Mike did the spray painting and cutting of the wood. Cost $66. But priceless for the both of us.

Gate Before

Gate After

Side by side comparison. The neighbors is how ours used to look and ours is the beautiful after!1

On Monday of last week, I ran the dishwasher at night. When I went to unload it, I thought that maybe someone interrupted the cycle because the dishes weren't clean, so I ran it again, only to find out that it was not working. Mike tried to fix it, but it didn't work. Mind you, this dishwasher has been on it's last leg for a year, so I can't complain. We went to Lowes on Wednesday night and bought a  brand spanking new one only to find out that the life of a dishwasher is really only 5 years. SUCK!! Cost of the actual dishwasher $808. Cost to mama: Major dish pan hands until ours arrives.

Last night I woke up for whatever reason and realized that I didn't hear the AC fan running. (I leave it on at night for circulation and background noise). When I went to check it, I couldn't hear anything, so I cooled it down a degree to kick it on and waited. Nothing. I realized that it was dunzo. We just replaced the outside unit less than 2 years ago. I woke Mike up and we ended up turning it off for the night. We called some Heating/Cooling people to come and give us an estimate and just as I had expected, the blower motor went out. Cost to replace the parts $880. It had to get done, but we really need to replace the whole unit which can be anywhere from $1800-$3500 and we really need our duct work redone. We have 2 rooms in the house that really don't get any air and the guy said it is because it is a track house and they did a shotty job installing it. That will be about $5000 to fix. UHHH, that will all have to wait. Let's just add it to my list of things to do with our money for the house.

I also was able to clean the ENTIRE house this morning. Yes, the ENTIRE house. That never happens. I have been trying to clean one major room a day on the weekdays. It doesn't always get done because life gets in they way, but I was determined. Plus, Mike has been sick and not wanting to work out which leaves more time to get stuff done. I even steam cleaned the floors!!

It has been an expensive but rewarding week/weekend. Oh yeah, did I mention that this was the first year since we bought the house that we decided NOT to renew our home warranty. We figured that we already replaced the AC unit, what else is there? Yeah, the other half of the AC unit!!! Oh well. we live and learn.

Underwear

I am not sure what it is with my kids and underwear. The other day we were in Ava's room and Noah got into her underwear drawer. (It is the bottom one). Anyway, he just pulled out a couple of pairs and did this...

Since Ava saw that I was taking pictures of it and that I thought it was funny, she wanted in on it and this is what happened next...

There was a pair hanging on that pole like a flag, but Ava took it off before Noah could.

Ahh the joys and laughs of parenting.

Noah Is 13 Months Old

Noah is 13 months old today! Crazy how fast time is going.

What a big month we have had since he turned one.

He is officially walking. Just last week, he learned how to stand up from the ground without the help of anything. That usually means that kids will be walking all the time now and that is the case with Noah. He loves to just walk around and follow Ava.

He no longer is taking a bottle. We cut out the night bottle about 2 weeks ago. I just replaced it with a 6pm snack and he had no problem. I miss it more than him. I miss the cuddle time.

He doesn't like the taste of milk, so he really only gets it in foods and I make sure that we eat a lot of foods with dairy.

He is a pretty picky eater, but is also called the "ultimate goat" around here. All he wants to do is eat when someone else is eating. Some mornings he will eat 5 times in the first 3 hours. He doesn't really like to eat the same thing in a row. One day he likes something and the next day he doesn't. I guess that is most kids though.

We are going through "that" stage of whining all the time and pointing and grunting at things. I don't remember or chose to block out Ava doing this for a long period of time. I hope it doesn't last long.

This was taken first thing this morning and he is still sporting some bed head.

Noah has gotten 2 of his one year molars and he doesn't hide how he is feeling. His naps are mostly disrupted from the pain. Sometimes when he is eating he will just start to cry and I think he bites down on something that hurts his gums. The 3rd molar is starting to make it's way. I just can't wait until we are done with teeth!

We are experimenting with the whole nap thing too. Some days he only gets one nap and most days he is still taking 2 short naps. I can't wait to get them on the same schedule.  He is still sleeping through the night, so I guess I can't complain and has been sleeping in until 6 am lately. (Which is about an hour longer than his sister!!!!)

He loves to be outside and going places. If he is fussy, take him outside.

He is just started to really get into books. Once Ava goes down for her nap, Noah and I read a lot of books. He still isn't into them like Ava was and is, but each kid is different.

He is off his prevacid also!

He has taken a liking to a dog, named Buddy! He doesn't sleep with him, but he gets happy to find him.

He still loves Ava and wants to hug her and climb on her, but she still could care less and prefer he stay out of her business. She does like to do nice things for him though.

He is more of a cuddler than Ava ever was. He loves to be held and have attention. When he gets mad, he gets mad and it takes a while for him to come out of it.

He loves taking baths. I hope he will like the pool this summer. We have yet to enjoy pool season since Ava was born.

He loves animals. Real ones and ones in books.

Not a lot of new words added this month. I think he is saying duck and dog, but mostly what's that and Dada. Oh and a lot of whining and pointing.

He is wearing 24 mos clothing. 18 month pants are nice because they are not too long and he doesn't trip on them when he walks,but he should be in 24 month ones.

He isn't as shy as Ava was. We went to a story time at the Library the other day and when story time was done and they brought out the toys, he went right in to play with the toys. He would look back at me occasionally to make sure I was there.

I can't wait to see what this next month brings.

Adventure Day

A book we recently got from the library is called "Daddy Adventure Day." It is a story about a dad that takes his son on an adventure day to a baseball game. Last weekend, Mike took Ava to Seven Eleven for a slurpee and then to a close by nursery where they have chickens and a waterfall. Just the two of them. They called it Daddy and Ava Adventure day. She was so excited. She would say, "Daddy and Ava go and Mommy and Noah stay home."

So, yesterday (1/31), our family went on an adventure day to the Waste Management Open. Mike's company does the propane for the tournament and he gets tickets. We had skybox tickets on the 17th hole. Nothing was really going on yesterday. Just some big wigs golfing, the real stuff starts on Friday, so we thought it would be the perfect time to go.

Ava kept saying that we were going to a baseball tournament and was just so excited. They both played around on the seats.

Here are some pictures from the day.

The weather was perfect. We hung out for a couple of hours and then headed home. We are going again on Sunday with Susan and Troy.