2.

Ava Bug,
Two years old, already??? It hardly seems possible! Today is, however, your second birthday! You are getting to be such a big girl! You suprised us all by coming into the world on your big sister's second birthday (not sure she will ever forgive you for that). You were such a pretty and easy baby.


Ava Baby, you have been such a blessing in our lives. It amazes me what a sweet and kind soul I can already see you have. You give the absolute best hugs ever and are just about the cutest little kid I ever seen.

You are in love with Elmo right now. In fact, at this very moment, you are wearing an Elmo t-shirt, Elmo sweat pants, and and Elmo hoodie. Oh, and holding an Elmo doll! I know you'd be wearing your new Elmo panties, too if I'd let you :)

You've already got this funny little sense of humor and you keep us all on our toes! You have so much love for your big sister, sometimes I think it may just burst right out of you. Even when she gets so frustrated with you, you just want to hug and kiss on her, or simply be near her while she plays.


You've got the cutest, sweetest, little voice right now. You love soft fuzzy blankets and have been dragging around a fuzzy Dora blanket everywhere you go for the last year. You're learning so much right now. Counting, ABCs, colors, animal sounds, anything we'll teach you. You love to sing with Sissy. I can't wait to see how you grow over the next few years. I know with your sweet spirit you are going to be amazing little girl.


Happy birthday, snuggle bug! I love you so much!

Love,
Mommy

4.

Lily Bear,
You turn four years old today. I cannot believe it. You are turning into such a big a girl. It has been an amazing gift watching you grow the last four years. It seems like yesterday we were making the drive to the hospital when my water broke.


Bringing you home was the scariest thing I have ever done in my whole life. I did not want to leave that hospital. But, thanks to your wonderful Daddy and the rest of your family, we made it through those first few weeks and months. I loved watching you sleep as a little baby. I still love the few moments I get to glimpse at you while you dream.

You have grown up so fast and turned into such a beautiful little girl. It gives me so much joy to hear all your little thoughts. You love to sing. Not just songs you have heard, but ones you make up yourself, too.


You have become such a wonderful big sister. You teach Ava so much and I am always amazed when I see how gentle and loving you are with her. You will be an incredible momma someday. I am beginning to see how anxious you are to grow-up. While, I cannot wait to see the amazingly wonderful person I know you will become someday, there are times I wish I could stop time and keep you right where you are. This age of princesses and Barbie is so fun.

So, happy birthday to you, today, my little bear! I love you with all my heart!

Love,
Momma

My Little Bride

We are watching TLC's "Say Yes to the Dress." If you have never seen this show, it is all about brides buying their wedding dresses. Well, Lily is watching it with me and planning her wedding! She saw this one dress that was really pretty and she really liked. It had all the beading and the train and she said she wanted a dress just like it when she gets married. Then, they showed pictures of the bride at the wedding. It was an outside wedding and Lily decided, "I want an outside wedding, not and inside one." And then, "I need to marry someone who's my friend. Maybe, Benjamin." What a nut! "And, he has to wear a bow." As in bow tie. Silly girl! Then, she started planning Ava's wedding. She ran into a problem with who Ava would marry because we don't know very many boys Ava's age, so she decided she should marry our old friend Joshua, who we have not seen in at least six months! Oh my goodness. What am I gonna do with this one?

**Oh, also while watching this show a commercial came on for one of the "little people" shows on TLC and Lily asked me how there were little grown ups. Oh my...**

Princess Birthday Party!

We had the girls' birthday party last weekend. Their birthday is not for few ore weeks, but since it is so close to Christmas (Dec. 21st), we have to have their party a couple of weeks in advance. This year, Lily decided she wanted to have a princess party (she decided this in like July). So, princess, girliness it was!

My brother's sweet girlfriend dressed up like a princess for us and did face painting for the kids! So much fun! Here is Ava getting her face done.



I had to laugh at the beginning of the party because all of the little girls were gathered around the table with the coloring pages and craft things quietly coloring while the boys were running around beating up the balloons!


I made all the girls princess hats from this tutorial and the boy got crowns from this tutorial. I loved seeing all the little girls running around in their hats!




We played pin the crown on the princess. It did not go quite as planned. No one wanted to be bind folded and they didn't really close their eyes...









I made Lily a castle cake. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of it. It was kinda nifty, though.

Mmmm...cupcakes...

Mmmm...

And more, mmmm...

Nate and I also made a dragon pinata for the kids to "slay." As crazy and kinda scary as doing this with a bunch of little kids, they all had so much fun! Again, it was funny to see the difference in the way the boys hit it and the way the girls did. The girls gently tapped it and the boys would line up and wait for the perfect place to hit it!

I think the girls had a lot of fun! I can't believe it is almost their birthday! So crazy! They are getting so big! Happy birthday baby girls!

Thankgiving

I know it's December and I am just now getting my Thanksgiving post up...well, sorry. Things have been nuts! Anyhow, for Thanksgiving, my super duper sweet and incredible friend, Toni, gave us the run of her house while she was out of town! The girls thought it was just about the coolest thing ever...especially Miss Toni's incredible jacuzzi tub! Lily thought it was so cool that Toni had "a hot tub in her house."


On Thanksgiving Day, we went over to my Mom's for our big turkey meal. Grammy assigned the girls the task of snapping the green beans for the green bean casserole. Want to get your kids to sit and be occupied for a while? This is a great task! They both had so much fun! It was really funny to watch them trying to snap the beans. Ava even ate some...raw. Not sure I would recommend that, but she sure liked them!


While we waited on the turkey to cook, we went out back and let the kiddos play. It was such a nice day!

Love this face. There was some intense ball kicking going on :)

After we had finished up at Grammy's, we went downtown with Nana, Poppy, and Tara to check out the lights.

Lily in front of the fountain at Flagler College.

Sitting at another fountain after they had thrown in some coins.

Brrrrrr!

Poppy, Lily, and Ava in front of the mill wheel. Ava would not let go of that Dora blanket!

Tara, Lily, and Ava in front of the Lightener Museum.

Oh, one last pic from after we got home. Just the girls being cheese balls!