Ava Turned *~2~*

Whoa baby! This is my ~6th~ post in 6 days! That's a first for me!!!!

I love this new blog frame from Megan! These are a few recent photos of Ava that were taken in March & April. No, she isn't on the bottle any more. She went cold turkey in March and never looked back. Yay!

Ava turned *2* on Saturday! I still can't believe that Heavenly Father sent her to us. Isn't that weird to say? I look at her every day and think to myself how lucky we are to have her here. We really thought we were done with kids. Brycen was my last and he was already 9 by the time Ava was born. I just figured our family was as complete as it was supposed to be. Delightfully, I was wrong!

She has been a complete joy! I guess I'm realizing how busy I was when I had the others. Macie, Molly and Brycen are all a year apart. I didn't really have time to enjoy the baby years like I am with Ava right now. Having 4 kids ages 5 and under was soooo tiring. 3 were in diapers at once. Jillian was just entering Kindergarten, so they were all home most of the day. And how much can a 5 year old do to help Mommy anyway? Now...I'm not saying I didn't enjoy those years with the kids. I'm just saying that it flies by so much faster when busier. I wish I had taken more time to just slow down and soak in all the moments.

This time around, the 4 older kids are SUCH a big help! They have all done their share of changing diapers and I have built-in babysitters. I have alone time with Ava while the kids are at school. It's nice to be one-on-one with her. Things aren't as busy when there is only 1 small one at home. I feel like I have all the time in the world to enjoy her.

Whew. 2 years old already. I wish I could freeze time!

Macie's a teenager now!

What am I going to do with ~*2*~ teenagers now?! Yikes!

My sweet little Macie Boosies is now an official teenager having turned 13 today. She has grown up a lot in the last 6 months. She does NOT like Hannah Montana any longer. Oh no, she is beyond her. Now she is into top 40 music and IM'ing with her friends. No more cartoons...just bring on the telephone. -sigh-

I'll miss my little girl, but I'll now enjoy the young woman she is becoming.

*~*~Happy Birthday Macie~*~*

EDIT***One more thing I forgot to add about Macie turning 13....she is super excited that she can now sit in the FRONT SEAT of our van! She is old enough and weighs 2 pounds over the recommended weight. Weeeeeee!

My 1st Blogoversary!

Yes, today is my blogs ~1 year ~ birthday! Or should I say my blogoversary? I couldn't find a good graphic for a blogoversary, so we'll say birthday.

It's hard to believe I have been blogging my views, reviews, photos and silly website advertisements for a whole year! Are you sick of me yet?! I hope not cuz I'm not going anywhere for a loooong time. I'm a blogoholic.

Ava turned ~ONE~

I wasn't going to post about Ava's birthday until I digiscrapped some photos, but if I wait for that to happen, you'll never see a birthday post. My scrapbook software is super duper slowwww. I need something nicer, but the funds won't allow right now. So anyway, here are some random photos from the party we had for Ava. We invited several family members and we ate some grilled hamburgers and hot dogs etc. My camera has a mysterious error message on it (note to self: don't lend out the camera to any of hubby's friends again!), so most of the pictures were taken by Jillian with her Canon. Jillian loves to snap photos of everything. My low disc space is a testament to that.


The cake I made for Ava looks eerily similar to one that I had made in March for Jillian! My girls really liked the polka dot cake, so I made one for Ava.


I made a separate cake for Ava to eat all by herself. I have done that for each of my kids. Of course I made a yellow one with white frosting. No chocolate here. I'm not stooopid. The one I had for Brycen when he turned one was sooo messy. It had blue frosting which he got up his nose. I had to make holes in each nostril so he could breathe. Too funny. Ava is a much "cleaner" cake eater.


Here is the birthday princess waiting for her cake.


I don't usually do video and this one isn't really much to look at, but it's still cute that at first Ava wasn't sure what to do. She sure didn't want or need the spoon that Molly was trying to give her!


After she caught on, she did a pretty good job demolishing the cake!


Getting tired of the excitement.


And now she was done with it all. Done. Done. Done.


Later, she opened her presents and the excitement was back on!

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I'd say her favorite present was the Monkey book given by Uncle Lee and Aunt Linda. Her 2nd favorite was simple plastic barnyard animals from her cousin Christi and family.


Men don't really get into baby birthday parties, so they play Guitar Hero instead. Haha. Here is my nephew Michael, who was visiting from Mississippi, playing for the first time. He rocked the house.


Here is my great-niece Alayna wearing Ava's princess crown. She is so shy most the time, but quite the princess herself :)


And last, but not least, we used some birthday money to finally buy Ava a big girl car seat. She grew so fast that I had to get one asap. We both love it. Ava can see me in the mirror now and also see what's ahead. I like it because it can recline, has an EZ off cover for washing, and has a no-thread tightening harness. All I have to do is roll the knob to tighten and also loosen when needed. I love convenience. Not to mention the fact that I've heard is a nice safe seat.

All in all, Ava had a great birthday that we all enjoyed. I'm a bit misty about it though since they only turn 1 once and this is the last of my babies to enjoy that moment. I'm not too sad though. At least I get to look forward to the fun and exciting things that all 5 of them will be doing in the future such as graduating and getting married. There will be plenty of memories to be made right?

Pink Cake Box

So I made a chocolate pink polka dot cake for my daughter who turns 15 today. When looking for designs, I stumbled across a fabulous blog!

A lady from NJ has pages and pages of the most imaginative cakes! Take a looksee! ~Pink Cake Box~


Oh, and maybe I'll post a picture of my polka dot cake, but it's put to shame by Pink Cake Box's cakes....kind of embarrassing actually. Haha. So much for the Wilton course I graduated from. *sigh*

Macie Boosies

Backing up a little bit....I'm finally getting around to Macie's birthday post. This time of year is always full of hustle and bustle, so it's not surprising that I didn't have time before now to post it. Her birthday was December 18th.

What can I say about Macie?! She has so much personality!

~She is feisty (I suppose that comes from starting her life out that way...seems she had to fight to live, so she might as well be feisty for the rest of her days!)
~She has a high tolerance for pain (she once had her fingers caught in a glider rocker and didn't make a peep as it was rocked over her tiny fingers over and over!)

~She is animated (you should see the goofy faces she can make!)
~She is a cuddler
~She tells what she thinks (is ALWAYS telling me that she loves me)
~She's a follower (that could be good or bad!)
~She can also be a good leader
~She's a planner (always cooking up schemes haha)
~She's a babysitter (sooo good with Ava)
~She's a fake burper (can't actually burp due to the nissan surgery)
~She is a tooter (again, because she can't burp! It has to come out somehow right?!)
~She is a laugher
~She is a songbird (she thinks we can't hear her while singing in her room, but we love it)
~She is a lover of Hannah Montana
~She is a lover of CHOCOLATE! She has eaten about 3 pounds of it just this Christmas season alone!
~She is a big lover of BROCCOLI!
~She's a beautiful spirit sent to us at just the right time and we are grateful for her every single second of the day.

Here are some random pictures that are my favorites of her.....

First here I am pregnant with her and Ricky at 30 weeks along. I delivered them about 3 days later...can you imagine how big I would've been had I gone another 10 weeks?! Whoa! Excuse the way I look...it was in the hospital just after I woke up that day...plus it was 12 years ago so give me a break will ya?!



Insert baby picture here. Ok....no baby picture has been inserted. For the first few months of her life, we kept her indoors due to her condition, so she didn't get any professional photos taken. I didn't get any until she was much older and would you know it....I can't find them. What kind of mother am I?!

Anyway, here are some of my favorites of her after the baby years:







It's not that visible in the post, but I love this picture because both of her front teeth were missing!



And now for some recent photos of the newest YW in the N.M. Ward.......

See? She's a big time cuddler!


And here she is just yesterday after she got new highlights in her hair, that she paid for herself by the way. Why do they have to grow up soooo dern fast?! Next thing I know she will be married with kids of her own!





And of course I can't forget that she shares a birthday with her twin...my "sweet boy" Ricky. The photo was when he was a couple weeks old. That's my dh's wedding ring on his arm in the photo. He was only about 4 pounds when he died. He may have only lived for 3 months, but we will never forget the impact he brought to our family. He is missed more and more each day, but dh and I are blessed to know we have a perfect child just waiting for us. He was too perfect to be here on this earth very long, but he did the work he was put here to do. He stayed just long enough to make sure that Macie would be healthy and enjoy a full life. I'm not going to get in too deep on this subject since this year seems to be a bit sadder for me than the past few. I always have the "what ifs" and "should have beens", and this year is no different, but I know where he is, I know he is safe and happy and I know that HE knows I love him and miss him. And that I did all I could do to keep him here but it wasn't the plan that Heavenly Father had for him.

Ok, enough of that sappy stuff!
Next month I'll have another birthday post, but for Molly. She is jealous that Macie was first, so I had better gather some pictures of her too! haha

It's her birthday!

I haven't seen my friend Tami in soooo long...but she is still the best friend I could ever ask for! I have to pay homage to her on her 29th (hee hee) birthday!

We had some good times growing up and there were tons of pictures to choose from, but I went with the ones from the photo booths. There were several taken at different times, so I guess we really liked these crazy booths!

These 2 photos were labeled August, 1985 at the Eastbrook Mall. I don't think they call it that any more. Is it even a mall now?





This one had no label, but I think it might have been taken at Cedar Point in 1985 or 1986.

This last one was probably in 1985 also. I don't think I've ever had hair as short in my whole life as I did back then. It was a temporary "try it" for me. I prefer long hair, but Tami always looked good in short. Maybe I was trying to copy her since I looked up to her so much :) Or maybe I got talked into doing it by some person who now lives in Georgia!!!! Yeah, that was it....haha



Anyway.....
I doubt Tami will ever see this post because she doesn't get online much, but I've been thinking about her lately & wish her fun and relaxation today with a splash of chocolate :)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAMI!

Celebrate!