Ava's Birthday

I was contemplating haveing a princess birthday party for Ava this year, she is so social and loves to have other girls around and I thought it would be fun, but parties are a lot of work, and since she was going to a Daddy daughter princess party the following weekend I figured a family party this year would be fine.

We did our typical tradition of some dollar store items I set our for all the kids to play with in the morning and balloons

I got pin the crown on the princess for them to play and a pinata

Ava in the morning in her birthday princess crown and jewels!

Carter having fun with the balloons

The great thing for her was her birthday was on a Saturday which meant Dad was home so she didn't have to wait until he got home to open her gifts!

Her Belle doll with matching dress for her to wear

And a trunk of Dress up clothes

Hear she is modeling all of her dress-ups because she made sure she had a chance to wear them all!

I ventured out and tried to make a princess Tiana cake for her, It turned out pretty well, I thought it would be fun to make strawberry cake because it was pink, but we will never do that again, the kids thought it was fine, but me and Jordan hated it!

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Here they are playing with their "party favors".  One of the things I got was a kit that showed us how to make balloon toys, Jordan figured out how to do a few of them, mine are the awesome hats they are wearing or my failed attempts at trying to make anything!

 

Blowing bubbles

 

Carter loved the bubbles

Her awesome balloon hat! =)

Our traditional birthday breakfast of champions...donuts!

Pin the crown on the princess, Gavin did it first and pined it perfectly, he must have been cheating!! He says he couldn't see....

 

Pinata time! It was a pull string one, but what is the fun in that!  We let them hit it a few times before we pulled the string

 

Talking to Grandma and Grandpa Smith on Skype

I took ava to her first movie, Beauty and the Beast 3d and it had a short movie of Rapunzel at the beginning, she loved it! She did really well, but I could tell towards the end she was getting tired, but she did awesome!

Cake time! She had been waiting for this all day! She loved the Tiana cake and still talks about it, makes me happy that I did that for her!

Ava's first time in curlers

So, I thought it would be fun to put curlers in Ava's hair and see how it would turn out.  We did it the night before her birthday and I told her we were getting her hair all done for her big day! We just had a family party, but hey, there are enough of us it seems like a party! :)

 She was super excited about doing this, she is such a girly girl, and she had fun being able to stay up late and do this with me.

 

The unveiling...

 

The back of her hair reminded me of a Grandma's hair.  They get perms and then they go in and get it all curled and teased!

 

She looked cute, she always does, but it just gave it a straighter kind of curl, but I think I like it best with out the curlers!! Good thing, it is easier! But it was fun and we will probably try some more things or maybe even do it again, just because she liked the feeling of being pampered, and being the only the sister surrounded by boys, a girl needs it!

Milestones!

 Ava turned 3!!

Weight: 27.56 lbs (18%)

Height: 32.24 in. (13%)

HC: 15.6 in. (46%)

Ava has a very strong personality, she is definitely a leader and LOVES being the center of attention is an understatement. Even when she was a baby she used to stare people down until they looked at her and then she gave them the biggest smile she had! She has A LOT of energy and is always the one setting the pace at our home! She wants to be able to do everything Ayden and Gavin are doing and tries her darnedest to keep up! She is a cuddle bug and definitely can calm down when she wants to! Although she can be  a beast, she is also the sweetest little girl!  She says Hi to everyone while she bats her long eyelashes, and she will play with anyone!  She always wants to show everyone who walks in the door her barbie house and she is obsessed with dancing!  She loves it!  We started her in dance this January and I swear at least once a day she says "I love dance!" she does so well at memorizing her dances she learns, she does them around the house all day, I swear the animal cracker song will never be the same! she is definitely my daughter and I see a lot of me in her, scares me a little! =) We love her and we know our family would not be the same with out her, we are grateful to have our sweet princess in our home!

 

 

Carter turned 9 months

Weight: 21.16lbs (60%)

Height: 28.94 in. (72%)

HC: 17.5 in. (26%)

Carter just seems to be growing so quickly! Writing this he is now 11 months, it is amazing how big of a difference a few months makes!! At 9 months he cut his bottom teeth and now at 11 months he has cut his top two teeth.  For the most part, he eats what we are eating and just this last month he decided he doesn't want my help at ALL! I have to hurry and put food on a fork for him while he is throwing a fit that I am even doing that and then I have to set the fork down so he can pick it up and feed himself. I have decided feeding him rice and yogurt are impossible and messy! He freaks out and wants to do it himself, but he can't, I don't know why I still keep trying! He started crawling right before 10 months and is all over the place! He started out scooting himself along our wood floor, it was funny to watch, but then caught on! We are excited for when he starts walking, he really wants to be part of the group, as it has been with all the kids!

This has been a TERRIBLE winter for us, the worst one yet! We have been sick with one thing after another for about the last 2 months; carter has had it the worst of all, poor guy!  He is a trooper and handles it well.  It has really been messing with his sleeping schedule though!!  He loves to rock out to music, he can tell us no by shaking his head, and he claps, if you say "hello" he puts whatever he is holding up to his ear, he says Uh-oh, and if something falls or he gets startled he does this cute "Oooh" noise. He is a smiley baby who definitely knows how to work the system to get what he wants!! We love him and it is so fun to watch him grow and to watch the interaction between him and his siblings develop!