Easter

We had a great Easter. The Easter Bunny did not disappoint and brought lots of candy, books, cars for Sam, and lip gloss for Ava. She did not appreciate the fact that Sam thought her lip gloss was candy!! Oh well! We spent the day in Russellville with my mom and Matthew. She made a wonderful dinner and put a lot of work into hiding eggs for the kids.
Is it just me - or does it look like James is trying to make a getaway to anyone else??

Time to hunt!! My mom had two areas - one for my little ones, and the other for Erica's kids.

On a side note, I really did take some pictures of Erica's kids hunting eggs, but they are just blurs in the picture. They were moving fast to get those eggs!

Catching Up

I have lots of things to write about Easter, but I am not organized enough yet to download the pictures. I will just catch you up on what has been going on.

We are redoing our living room. We sold most of our furniture, and we spent last week sitting on the floor :) Our new furniture is in, and I will post some pictures as soon as I am done decorating. I am already in love with it!

We are playing outside a lot. We go to the park, ride through the neighborhood in the wagon, play with chalk in the backyard, etc. Their favorite thing to do though is dig in the dirt.

I am just swamped with school. I have decided to take a class in May and two summer school classes, so it is not going to get better any time soon! I am just ready to get through.

I promise to write all about Easter this week (with all the pictures for Grandma and Grandpa).

Spring Has Sprung

It is officially spring since we made our little trip to Wye Mountain yesterday to see all the beautiful daffodils. Here are just a few of the pictures I took.

They pretty much refused to look at the camera the whole day :) The flowers were much more interesting I guess.

Every once in a while you get a picture that really captures your kids - this is one of them!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! We are going to enjoy this nice weather today before it gets cold again tomorrow!

In Love

I adore the new Liberty of London line at Target. I have been spring shopping for the kids, and I stopped in Target yesterday and fell in love! They also have the cutest kids clothes and hair accessories. Ava has had to wear her new headband for the past two days.

It has been so long since I posted. Everything is really crazy right now, and I don't think it is ever going to slow down. Also, we are doing a little rearranging in our house, and I am changing computers. What a pain to move everything from one computer to another!! I hope everyone is having a good week :)

A Child After My Own Heart

Did you just love book orders in school? I did! Ava got her first book order last week at her little Mother's Day Out class, and she cannot stop looking at it. She won't even stop to eat a snack.

Ava's Birthday Week

I felt a little bad because we did not have a party for Ava this year. Instead we did a little something just about every day of the week to celebrate her birthday!! It worked out great; in fact, I think I want a birthday week this year:)

On Tuesday night we went to Russellville and had dinner with my mom and Matt. We had Italian Gardens lasagna (yummy!) and cupcakes. Ava had fun sitting in my mom's lap and listening to stories. Sam even found a new friend in Matthew.

On Wednesday, Ava's actual birthday, we went to have a birthday lunch with James. And we surprised her with her big present - a princess bicycle! Also, Grandma and Grandpa drove in from Texas to celebrate the day.

James put the bicycle together at his office and took us on a little treasure hunt to find it.

Ava would absolutely not look at me. She was so excited to get a little bicycle.

On Thursday, I took cupcakes and Ava had a little party at her Mother's Day Out class. She was so cute wearing her special little hat and watching her friends sing Happy Birthday. Can you believe I forgot my camera for this?? I am still kicking myself.

And then finally on Friday, we had a birthday dinner with the family.

Tyler and AJ

My mom was very excited about bringing this cake (she said she always wanted one.) Of course she didn't come, but I had this made because it meant so much to her.

What a cute picture - totally jealous!!

A special thank you to Grandma and Granpda for all of their help this past week. I could not have done it by myself!

Whew!!! Lots of work but totally worth it. I hope it was a special birthday for a very special girl!

Ava Margaret Piraino

February 17, 2007

I remember everything about this day three years ago. I couldn't believe how much you could love someone. She was so tiny, and I was absolutely terrified of taking her home and being responsible to keep her alive. I loved watching James with her (and still do). It is hard to imagine that it has been three years.

Ava at 3 months

Ava at 6 months

Ava - 1 year old


Ava - 2 years old

Ava,

You are such a special girl. I knew from the very beginning of your life that you were beautiful from the inside out. Your dad and I are so thankful that we get to be your parents.

You are always singing (usually at the top of your lungs). And you make up songs. The other night you said "Let's sing the shu shu song." I have no idea what that is so we made one up. You thought that was pretty funny.

You won't drink anything unless it is chocolate milk.

You love your brother. When you go to Mother's Day Out and I pick you up, you are both more excited to see each other than me.

You love to dance. After dinner Daddy turns on music and you and Sam dance in the living room.

You are my little snuggle buddy. You STILL wake up in the middle of the night and come to our bed. You usually bring your pillow, blankie and at least two of your dolls with you. I don't get any sleep when this happens, because you have to hold onto my neck.

You really want to be Fancy Nancy. The other day you looked at her mommy (in the book) and said, "Maybe I can have that mommy". I was horrified by this statement, and you said, "OK Mom, I will stay with you." Geez- thanks!

You and your daddy play this game that I think is horrible! You look out the window for scary things - snow monsters, witches, etc. I am afraid that you are going to have nightmares for a long time. Your daddy thinks it is really funny. He teaches you dances to keep the snow monster away - terrible!!

You are such a picky eater. You like chicken, french fries, oranges, noodles, bread, and anything sweet.

You say your best friend is Haven. You are just glued to her every time we see her.

When you make a mess you say, "Don't worry mom, you can just clean it up." You say, "Don't worry mom" a lot!

You like to cause trouble with Sam. You say, "Come on Sam, let's go where Mommy can't see us." I can hear you say that :)

You are sweet. If someone is hurting or sad, you want to help them. When we are reading books, and a character is sad, you insist on going to help them. The other night you actually cried because I told you I didn't know where Fancy Nancy lived to go help her. You said we could just get in the car and find it. Precious!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ava! We love you so much!