Noah and Ava's bday Party

This year instead of doing 2 birthday parties we decided to do a joint party, since the kids birthdays are only 8 days apart. The planned theme was Rio. However after I started looking for party supplies realized they were few and far between. So I asked my friend Hailey to make cupcake decorations. She makes amazing things with gum paste and fondant. Hailey made Rio, Jewel, Nico, Pedro, and Raphael. They were awesome and a HUGE hit!!!

 

I made funfetti cupcakes and brownie cupcakes. They were so good! They looked awesome with the
Rio birds.
 

We had a bunch of friends come over for hamburgers, hotdogs, cupcakes, and presents. We had so much fun!
 

Singing to the birthday boy!
 

Opening presents! Both the kids got a lot of great presents!
 

Happy Birthday to my babies!!

Finally Spring!

We took a walk through the arboretum with my mom and had a great time. The weather was nice until it started raining on us, and all the fresh grass and leaves smelled delicious. I can't wait for more Spring days.

My kids love their Grammy!

Noah got to run around and he loved it! He also had the opportunity to touch a frog that someone caught, but he was too chicken. Maybe next time!

 

Happy 4th Birthday Noah!

Noah is four, and we can't believe it! He is such a fun, playful boy! He loves his cars, trains, and his sister. As wonderful as he is, he is still a very willful and deviant at times! But no matter what we LOVE him! And we are amazed everyday by how much he has changed over the year.

 

Happy 1st Birthday Ava!!

I can't believe that Ava is already a year old. She weighs 17 lbs. 9 oz. (quite a peanut) and is 27 1/2 inches long. She started crawling 5 days ago. Yahoo! Ava is still pretty slow, but has made great strides in a short amount of time. She is the happiest and sweetest baby! At her 1 year appointment we discovered she had an ear infection. We had no idea, she didn't have any fevers and she had a good appetite. So she started antibiotics again. This makes 3 infections and 2 ruptured ear drums. Poor thing! Ava is drinking whole milk and occasionally nurses. She finally has an appetite for familiar "real" food. Ava played in her birthday cupcake, but didn't eat it, and the tiny bit of cake she got on her lips she tried to spit out. She will get there!

Field trip to UofI cow and sheep barns

Today Noah's preschool class went to the UofI dairy cow barn and sheep barns. At the sheep barns we saw newly born sheep, and pet goats and sheep. All the kids in the class pet the animals except Noah. He is a chicken. At the cow barns we saw where they milk the cows, saw baby cows and smelled the cow stench. We had a lot of fun!

 

Playing at the Park

We got to enjoy a nice day at the park after nap time. Noah was feeling a bit camera shy as usual, but Ava didn't mind in the slightest.

 

Ava LOVED eating the bark and sticks.

 

The swings are always a big hit!

Soon summer will be here and we can spend many more fun mornings or afternoons at the park. 

Ava crawls FINALLY!!

My goal for Ava was to have her crawling before her first birthday. And she did!!!! Today the farthest she went was about 3 feet, but I am sure she will start going farther and get much faster.

Almost 1 and 4 years old Photo Shoot

My mom works with a lady who takes adorable pictures of her grandkids. So my mom set up a time with her so she could take pictures of my kids. We had a blast with Nita and my mom. Although when we were done taking pictures after two hours, we were all exhausted.

Ava with her bling!

Ava wasn't a fan of the skirt, but managed to take some cute pictures in it. 

 

Noah was not in the mood for taking pictures. Once my mom got to our house, he started be naughty and deviant. So I stopped and got some M&Ms to use as bribery. They worked for about 2 seconds.
   

My two wonderful kids!! They love eachother soooo much!  

It took Ava took some time to get warmed up to the idea of smiling for a stranger, but once I started growling at her and she growled back, then she started smiling.  

Noah didn't want to sit in the chair until we told him to put the fire out on the chair, since he was pretending to be a fireman, then he started being cute and less deviant.  

 

 

Ava hates hats in general, but the coon skin cap really made her mad, she tried to rip it off her head the entire 3 minutes she wore it.