Back to School Playdate

(See previous post on Ava's 1st day of school. If you view the blog from your iphone you have to view the full web version and scroll down)

The Friday before school started I had a few of our friends over for a Back to School themed play date. I came across this blog, thanks Carla, and I have been meaning to read some of the books to Ava and do the activities to go along with them all summer. I dropped the ball on that one but I figured it's better late than never! I chose a back to school theme since Ava and a lot of her friends were about to start back to preschool. 

None of the ideas are my own. They all came from the website and I just executed them. I read the book Don't Eat the Teacher about a shark who goes to school and when he gets excited he eats things. Really cute book and the kids liked it. I made shark cupcakes to go along with the shark/back to school theme. 
 

The girls immediately changed clothes once they got to our house and played dress-up.

Before the story we played Simon Says to remind them how important it is to listen to their teachers at school and follow directions.

Pretty safe to say the boys liked the book the best. :)

Thanks to Rebekah for taking all these pictures! I didn't even realize it and it was a pleasant surprise as I was going through them. 

I don't know at what point this was taken but they were all worn out, especially towards the end. 

Just when you think Rebekah has her hands full with her 3 kids she goes and pulls a nice gesture and offers to watch her niece and take her along too. ;) You handle crazy well my friend! We were so glad you brought cute Alice. 

 Tired princesses

I didn't get a picture of it but we also made a shark made out of paper plates and practiced writing our names for school on the teeth. You can kind of see them at the top of the picture. (that's where we let them dry) For lunch I made mini pizzas on english muffins and cut them in triangles. They were supposed to look like shark teeth.

Thanks to all our friends for coming over and helping us get even more excited about going back to school!

1st day of school

Yesterday was Ava's 1st day of school. We have both been waiting for this day to come! ;) Not that I don't enjoy my time with her but we desperately needed to get back in a routine.

We layed out her clothes the night before and I told her that if she put her clothes on with no crying or complaining then she would get a sticker. When I went in to get her in the morning she had everything on that we had layed out except a different shirt (this yellow one). It matched and I was impressed that she got herself dressed so I let her wear it and she got her sticker.

A peak at our new black door. Macy wanted in the picture too.

 

 

As expected she walked right on in to her classroom and didn't even look back to say goodbye. I didn't get a kiss goodbye but I did manage to get a picture with her new teachers, Ms. Kyuong and Ms. Sara. They seem incredibly sweet and organized. I think I am going to like them!

 



Many of Ava's friends from last year are in her class again this year. She seemed very happy, but sleepy, after I picked her up from school. I didn't get much out of her about her day other than she didn't have any accidents (was worried about her not telling her teachers when she needed to go potty), a new friend in her class was wearing sparkly pants, she played on the playground and got shweaty, and her and Ryan talked during rest time and the teachers had to move them. Surprise surprise!

Connor and I had a very low key day by ourselves. I had big plans to run a few errands between naps but he had other plans. He didn't nap well at home and I had to get him up several times because he wouldn't fall asleep. His top teeth are about to come through and it has been messing with his sleep lately. He finally fell asleep by 11 and slept a couple of hours so we didn't get out of the house like planned. Oh well, still nice to have some time with just him and I and have some quiet time for mommy.

Alli's Engagement Party and Special Visitors

Completely forgot to post pictures from Alli and Greg's engagement party! And for all those friends who I haven't talked to that know Alli... she is engaged!! :) I'm pretty bad at communication these days. Nonetheless, we are all so excited that Greg popped the question and she said Yes! My sister is far from traditional and not one to follow the book so for her engagement party she wanted to have a BYOP (baby pool that is) engagement party. I actually really loved the idea! There were baby pools all throughout Alli and Greg's back yard and pretty much the only way to stay cool was to be in one. We threw a joint engagement party with my cousin Britney and her fiance Bryan who also got engaged this summer. It was hot but so much fun! I already love Greg like a brother and it made me so happy to be able to celebrate him and my little sis!

Pretty adorable aren't they?!

 



Pretty sissy

 



My mom, Bri, and Mimi came in town for the party as well

 



Yeah, I don't know. Alli was shading me under her hat and I don't think I knew our picture was being taken.

 



I had the idea to set up a lemonade stand for Ava and she had so much fun with it, especially when people started putting money in her piggy bank! That girl was passing out lemonade faster than people could drink it because she wanted that money. I think I had at least 4 cups of lemonade to drink. Needless to say she drew a lot of attention.

 



Posing of course

 



And then she had to switch up the poses

 



But the second someone stepped up to her table she was all business

 



This is where it gets good

 



She makes my heart happy :)



I started messing with the settings on my camera from this point on and I clearly have no clue what I am doing.

 



I sure did enjoy my time with our visitors

 



This one would have been sooo cute if I wouldn't have messed with my camera. Ugh!!!I'm sticking with Auto for awhile (sorry Vaune!)

 



Granny Jeanne came to visit awhile back as well and I never posted these pictures. She cannot get enough of Connor and Ava. She lights up like I have never seen her when she is with them. :)

 



Hello Monday- Iphone Photos

Hello Monday!

 

Hello cute Connor in your swimsuit you have hardly ever worn.

 

Hello to Tappy's outings with my girl

Hello to sibling snuggles in their pj's

 

Hello to silliness from being indoors too much

 

Hello to the best dog in the whole wide world

 



 

Hello to my precious ballerina

 



Hello to Friday grocery shopping days with my helpers

 

 

Hello sweetest boy who is never empty handed thanks to his sissy

 



 

Hello to my newly painted black door that didn't quite turn out as we planned and still needs more paint.

 



Hello to this cute little man giving a sneak peak at his Halloween costume that mommy snagged for $3

and Hello to my most favorite boys in the whole world!

 



5 months old

 Well sweetest boy, another month has gone by in a blink and you are now 5 months old. The time seems to go by even faster than it did when Ava was a baby. I seriously feel like you were just a newborn! This month has been such a big month for you as far as changes.

*The biggest change of all is that you are now able to put yourself to sleep (no more bouncing from mommy) and you are sleeping so much better at night and your naps are much longer too. Once you started squirming your way out of the nap nanny and taking shorter and shorter naps, we knew it was time to start sleep training you. It was so hard for us in the beginning but you are a much better sleeper and even happier (if that's possible) as a result!

*You go to bed around 7 and most nights you will sleep through the night. You have been waking occasionally once at night. You are chewing on your fists and making noises although never really crying. I am almost positive you are teething again and expect to see those front teeth peak through any day now. 

*You take 3 naps a day.

* You have rolled over both ways but it still takes a great deal of effort for you to do so. The dr. assures me not to worry and that it is because you are so  huge! I just put you to sleep on your belly every time now because you get stuck so often trying to roll over on your own.

 *Your sissy adores you and has been calling you "Buddy Boy". You love it when she talks to you and grin ear to ear. If you notice her across the room you will just stare at her as if wanting her to look your way and give you attention. When she does you give her the cutest smile. I know yall are going to be best buddies.

*You are getting bigger and bigger. I am still amazed at how big you are. You wear a size 3 diaper now and size 9 month clothes fit you best. You are so close to outgrowing your infant carrier too.

 *In your colicky days I used to say that you were very high maintenance (sorry!) and I have to say that you are the complete opposite now! You are such a happy, easy going, and flexible little baby.

 *You have outgrown your bath tub so I now set the bath sling in the big bath tub so that you can lay next to sissy while I give you a bath. She likes to help mommy bathe you and you seem to think it is pretty fun to be big like her.

*You still take a bottle when we need  you too! Woohoo!

 *We gave you rice cereal and baby oatmeal this month and you hate it! The pictures speak for themselves. I have tried making it several different ways but you still make awful faces and spit it out every time. I guess we will just skip it and start with fruit and vegetables in a month.

Just a pic of your cute tushy!!

 

 Buddy Boy, you continue to be one of our greatest joys and the perfect addition to our family.  We love you more than Ava loves crafts, more than Macy loves squirrels, more than Daddy loves baseball, and more than Mommy loves Pinterest! You are my sweetest boy forever.
                                                                                            xoxo, Mommy