Monday, July 1, 2013

Ava's Big Birthday Weekend

On June 25th our little Ava Marie turned three!  I can hardly believe it.  She's such a big girl anymore.  And she has been looking forward to her birthday for months.  She still doesn't totally understand the concept (she seems to think that her 'birthday' is just the part where we sing and she blows out the candle, not the whole day) . . . but she knows that it is something great and fun!

We were very fortunate to have Nana and Papa come down from Montana to spend the weekend with us.  It's always a party when Nana and Papa are around!  Papa helped Tim with building Ava's birthday present from Mom and Dad and Nana and Papa:  a new backyard playset!  They started the construction on Friday morning, but then we went out to lunch (vodka gimlets and burgers at Coopersmiths . . . YUM!) and to do some shopping and errand running and . . . ear piercing!!  In case you haven't seen the pictures yet, our little girls are pierced!  It's super cute.




On Saturday, Daddy and Papa really got busy working on the playset (after our tasty brunch of bacon, eggs and mimosas that we enjoyed on the patio).  At first we had planned to try to hide the construction of it from Ava, but you just can't keep the girl away from her Daddy, no matter what he is doing.  :)  She didn't really have any idea what it was until the basic frame was put together and they put the little door on.  Then she started referring to it as "my house" and went in and out the door about a million times while the guys continued to put it together.  They were able to finish it while she was *supposed* to be napping.  We brought her outside to see it after she got up and she was so excited!  She kept saying, "It's beautiful!" and, "It has swings . . . and a slide!"  She started swinging right away.

The framework.

Ava being a big helper.

It's beautiful!




Even Nana made a few trips down the slide!

She was a great playmate.
Eating snack on the bench by her "house"
with her new snake.  :)
Swinging with Nana.
Junie grilling with Papa later than evening.

On Sunday morning we dedicated June at our church.  Unfortunately it is really hard to take good pictures due to the lighting in our church, so I'm not posting any here.  It was a special event and we were glad to have family here to celebrate it with us.  That afternoon we had Ava's birthday party!  Things didn't time out so well; Tim's Grandpa had to have heart surgery the Wednesday before in Denver.  He was still in the ICU on Sunday and not doing that well so Grandpa and Gigi were unable to make it to the party.  Tim's Grandpa is doing very well now, though, and is back home in Grand Junction.  So it was a rather small crowd at the party, but Ava didn't mind.  Her best friend Sydney was the only kid that came who was old enough to play with her on the playset and boy did they have fun!  They ran all around until their cheeks were nice and rosy and their heads nice and sweaty.  :)  We enjoyed having the Fitzgeralds, Uncle Toby and Nana and Papa here to celebrate with us.

The party was sort of themed "Pizza Time and Cookie Dough".  Ava used to recite that phrase all the time and we are still not completely sure why.  We decided that pizza and cookies were good ingredients for a party, so that's what we had; pizza for dinner and a giant 12 inch decorated cookie from Eileen's Cookies as our "cake".  Ava's face lit up when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her (because, as you know, she believes that to be the actual birthday part).  It was cute to see how happy it made her.

Yummy Eileen's Colossal Cookie!



"Happy Birthday, Dear Ava!"

Mmm . . . delicious . . . 
Then it was time to open presents!  Woohoo!  What kid doesn't love that part?  Even at 3, Ava already knows present are a good thing.

PRINCESS SHOES!!!!


A classic.

She's getting pretty good at tearing that paper.

Junie thought the paper was fun.
Later she started filling Skylar's car seat with it.

Putting on some princess shoes!

New tiara.

Helping Sydney put on some princess shoes.  :)

Practicing walking like princesses!

A little piano time for the two princesses.

Papa Ernie was having some fun with the balloons.
All in all I'd say it was a successful, fun weekend.  We are so thankful for our little Ava!  Now . . . on to June's birthday . . .