Easter Playdate 2012

Ash hosted an Easter playdate for the gang, and I just knew Ave was going to have a great time!  About a week before Easter, we pulled down some plastic eggs from last year to see what Avery would think.  She couldn't have cared less about them last year but this year she loved them!  The first night, I think I hid eggs about 20 times, she would not let go of her basket for bed time which resulted in a small fit, and she slept with two plastic eggs as a compromise.  This girl loves her easter eggs.  They have been inseparable ever since!

We did the egg hunt pretty quickly after we got over there.  The "big kids" (those able to walk) took off to collect them.

1st egg

Steph and Sophia were able to come so Sophie got to find an egg too!

Thinking about her plan of attack

Luke's favorite part of egg hunting was searching for the eggs with chocolate cheerios in them!

Garrett took a break to ride the tractor

Ash got some confetti eggs which were also a big hit.  

Sweet Gibson was just soaking it all in!  I gave Avery this giraffe sticker  from one of her eggs to give to him.  Nice placement Ave :).

Once we came back inside, Avery still was collecting any spare eggs that were lying around.

After some yummy lunch, we had some rice crispy treats.  Luke took his into this corner to eat alone in his chair.  This child cracks me up!

I am so, so thankful for these friends.  I think that after every time we get together.  We all had a great time and Ave was even more prepared for the big hunt on Easter morning!

March

I love March because it means warmer weather!  I have realized that my emotions are very much associated with weather.  I just am so so happy when it is nice outside.  Thankfully, Spring weather is here, and we have been loving it!  

A few weekends ago, we took full advantage of the sunshine.  Ave and Luke played in the water for a while and loved every second.

I have to include the shots.  We ended up giving them a bath afterwards since they were a mess, and it was really fascinating to see what they do in a bath together.  First, Avery had to make sure that Luke was really getting clean. Then they gave themselves bubble mustaches and entertained us for a while.  I realize that these baths will no longer be appropriate in a few years but I love them now :).

On days when the weather isn't so great, Avery has started to love coloring, playing with stickers, and playing with play dough.

Every once in a while we ask Ave to do this face just because it cracks us up.  She busts out laughing afterward too.

Also in March, Avery and I went with my Mom and Kelly to pick up her wedding dress and look for a flowergirl dress.  We were a bit unsuccessful with the flower girl dress but Avery did find herself a veil!

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to make Iphone pictures big.  If you know please please tell me! 

We also went to Samantha's baptism.  It was in a private room which was awesome because the little ones could walk around before and after the ceremony.

Sophia was all smiles!

My aunt and uncle have this little chair at their house and Ave thought it was just perfect for her!

I love love love this time of year and am so excited about all the upcoming events!  We have so much to look forward to!

Luke's 2nd B-Day

Luke turned two on the 17th!  How can he be two?  Time is just flying by.  Ash prepared a construction themed birthday party that was so cute.  Everything was so well thought out, and the kids had a blast! There were so many fun activities for them to do, and I'm pretty sure they were all completely wiped out after the party.  I took kind of an excessive amount of pictures so here we go...

There was a cardboard house outside that the kids could paint.  Ave LOVES painting so she couldn't have been happier!  This is where she spent the majority of the party.

Avery admired all of the birthday boy's work

This picture makes me laugh because I remember listening to an entire dialogue that Luke said as he painted.  It went something like this- "here is the street with sidewalks and there is the truck."  There was much much more.

Jack driving Luke's cool new tractor

All the kids got constructions hats.  I love that they wore them around.

Garrett was working so hard.

Paint was everywhere!  I love that he had it on his face, hands, clothes, etc.

Ave drinking out of her cool new construction cone cup

Cupcake time- Luke's absolute favorite thing in the entire world!

Kyle also got a giant mound of dirt for the kids to play on.  Luke was dancing as the big kids sung a special song!

This is about all that Ave knew to do on the mound as you can see by the following pics...

...until Luke and Ave's embrace.

I think Bill was trying to keep them both from completely eating it off the side of the mound.  I love the joy on Luke's face!

Next began the rolling down the mound

And finally, once most everyone had left Luke and Ave played in the house for a little while longer.

And Bill thought of the only logical thing to do next- throw them out the window which they loved for some reason!

Luke is such a special friend to Ave.  She asks about her Lukie all the time and really loves him.  We were so happy to celebrate his big birthday.  Avery had an absolute blast which was evidenced by the extreme amounts of sand, dirt, and paint that had to be removed in the bath that night :).

It's Rodeo Time!

We used to go to the Rodeo every year before we had Avery, but we haven't been since.  She now is old enough to enjoy it, so we decided to make a trip out this past Friday.

The train from the parking lot- I'm pretty sure this was her favorite part of the rodeo.  She kept saying choo choo and cried when we got her off at the end of the day!

Ready to see the sights

We first looked around at the all of the cows.  They were so close we could practically touch them!  This, of course, completely freaked Avery out.  She was clutching Bill so tight.  We have a big field behind our house that has cows in it and she loves seeing them but they are usually much further away.  I was even a little weary of being so close to them.  

Finally starting to warm up to them

Next, we checked out some rabbits.  She was in heaven!  Apparently, smaller animals are more her thing. 

Petting the bunny

Excuse me, wake up!

After the bunnies, we went over to the petting zoo.  Avery would not step foot into the petting zoo at the zoo last time so I didn't think she would have any interest in this one.  Boy was I wrong!  We opted out of getting food for them after Ash warned us that there were some aggressive animals.  I'm glad we did because there were literally goats jumping up on poor children for food.  

Ave warmed up with this little guy

This one was by far my favorite.  It looked like he was smiling at all times because his top teeth were showing.

Ave did some grooming in there too.

We stopped by the chick station before we headed outside. There were baby chicks hatching as we were watching.  It was so neat to watch!

The best place at the rodeo for little ones was the Farm Town.  Ave was able to plant a carrot seed, get fruits and veggies, take them to the "store" and get a prize with her money.  It was so neat and Ave loved it!

Ready to pick some fruits and vegetables

Kids weren't technically supposed to put the kernels of corn into their basket but Ave was having so much fun picking them up one by one and dumping them in.

Putting the contents from her basket into the bins at the store

We had a great family day at the rodeo!  I can't wait to come back each year!