Parks, ducks and pulling weeds!

The weather has been so nice around here lately. I even noticed the other day that my rhododendron bushes were starting to get little buds on them...and its only February! With the nice weather we have been trying to do lots of stuff outside since I know that the rain will be here in no time. Kaiya didn't have school last week. I love when Kaiya is out of school.We went to the park in our neighborhood a few times...Stacey and Casey joined us one day for a picnic and playing. Ella likes to play on each toy for a span of about 8 seconds and then on to the next toy. Kaiya is a big helper, when Casey is with us she likes to tote him around and play with him.

My friend Sandy moved from Oregon a couple weeks ago and I am sooo excited!!! The girls and I went over to check out her apartment which is on Lake Washinton at Coulon Beach. She walked us down to the water to feed the ducks. Ella loved the ducks and kept saying, "nice...nice". She wanted to get close and try to pet them so I had to stay close to her and make sure the crazy geese didn't get her. Sandy bought 3 bags of bread to feed the ducks. Ella's bag was gone within 10 minutes...Kaiya likes to take her time and it was funny to see her bag 3/4 full still when Ella's was gone. Kaiya also had a couple duck friends that she named Shirley and Bob. After feeding the ducks we went over to the big play area with slides and swings and toys. We then went to a sandwich place and a frozen yogurt shop in The Landing. The sandwich I had was delish!! I love sprouts on my sandwiches and they had sprouts!

On Saturday morning Stacey called to see what I was doing. I was going to run some errands for a baby shower I was throwing this week but she asked if I wanted to go to my Grandma Jean's house. I hadn't see her for a while so I thought that it would be fun! Stacey then told me that she was going there to pull weeds and that was her present to Gram for Christmas...she also said that I could just go and hang out with Casey and Ella. When I got there I knew I was in for it. I was not dressed for weeding but I also wasn't going to sit there and watch Stacey and my Grandma do yard work! I took off my heels, rolled up my pants, took off my sweater and got to work. It actually turned out to be really fun and it was wonderful to visit with Gram. She gave me some flowers from her yard. On the way home I decided to stop by the cemetery to drop some of them off at both of my Grandpas graves. I have been thinking a lot about my Grandpas lately and I miss them a ton! I wish they were around for my girls to know.

Hearts and Kisses - Vday weekend with Ava

Ava arrived! Kaiya was really excited so I let her stay home from school (after making sure with her teacher that she wasn't missing anything big). The girls played for a bit and made some Valentines cards before we decided to go to Chuck E Cheese. The kids had a blast and it was hard to drag them away. Kaiya, Ava and I went to the store to pick up some cupcakes for Kaiya's school Valentines Day party. They also wanted to get some cookies to make after dinner. When Ava is here she picks one of Kaiya's purses and the entire weekend the girls take them everywhere. Even Ella got into it this time and had to have a purse. They are all such girly girls. We got home and the girls played until it was time to take Ava to her mom at Grandmas house.


Ella found the blue glue stick and thought it was chap stick.

On Friday Ava came back in the morning. She would be staying for 2 nights in a row. I was nervous at first that she wouldn't want to stay the 2nd night. She did great and wanted to stay even longer. She kept saying that she wished that she lived with us......we wish she could be here more often.
I decided to let Kaiya stay home from school most of Friday also. Her class party was at 2:00 and her teacher said it was okay to bring Ava. The girls wanted to decorate for the Valentines party we were going to have that night with my cousin Steph's kids. We wanted to introduce Ava to family this visit and felt like it was the next step for her. I dropped off Kaiya at noon and Cirdan, Ella, Ava and I went to McDonalds for lunch.

I took Ava to Kaiya's school. As soon as we walked into the class the kids were confused. They thought Ava was Ella because all they have heard is stories about Ella, mainly about her pulling Kaiya's hair. Kaiya had to tell them that this was her other sister. They then made mention about a half dozen times that they didn't look like sisters. Ava had fun and she fit right in...not shy at all. Miss Ray let her decorate cookies and sit at Kaiya's desk. The classroom was FULL of sweets, and the kids were wild off of the sugar. At the end of the day the kids got to watch Berenstein Bears. Ava and Kaiya huddled up front watching the movie together.


Notice the three red tomatoes on the next picture full of sugar and fun...

When we got home the girls waited for their 2nd cousins to come over. We had pizza and decorated cupcakes. The girls all played really well together. Cirdan even made a comment that they were so quiet and playing so well. They all got to decorate three cookies and eat one of them. After the sugar it was a complete 180...the girls were running around, screaming and jumping on the couches. It was pretty funny. Greg came over to pick up a couple things and the girls had been playing school at the time so they told him he was the principal. He would chase them back to Kaiya's room telling them they were in detention and they would all scream and run. They were hyper!

That night the girls (minus Ella) went to sleep in the spare bedroom while watching Ratatouille.

On Saturday morning Cirdan made some yummy waffles. Kaiya and Ava put a bunch of clips in their hair and said they were the Cool Girls/The Coolios. The girls and I went over to my parents house for Ava to meet her Meema and Papa. She felt right at home which my parents were surprised about. She definitely fits into the family. The girls went downstairs to play Rock Band while I helped my mom with her ipod. Cirdan came over as soon as he was done with some work. My mom gave Kaiya, Ava and Ella their Valentines day presents...which they loved. We left shortly after and took Ella home so that the three of us could go get their nails painted. We did that the last time Ava was here so now she requests that we get nails done when she is here. Afterwards we decided to go to Walgreens to get a Vday card and some gifts for Cirdan from them. They were so happy to pick out the stuff. On the way home Ava whispered to Kaiya in the car and said..."we should tell your mom thank you for letting us get all the stuff because we love it!" The rest of the car ride home they thanked me. Such sweet girls. We also went and rented a couple of movies from the Redbox.

Nathan, Amy and Emma came and met Ava that night. Ava enjoyed meeting her baby cousin. Kaiya had eaten so much candy and junk for a couple days that she got sick. She threw up a few times and went to bed early. I felt so bad for her and really need to remind her in the future not to eat so much having such a sensitive tummy. Ava and Ella watched Bambi before falling asleep. Cirdan laid with Ava until she fell asleep.

Valetine's morning!! Ava woke up first and I heard her talking in the room. I went to make sure everything was okay and she was just sittng up in bed playing. She got excited when I told her that she could go wake up Kaiya. Once they were awake the first thing they wanted to do was put Cirdan's gifts in the bag...they were so excited to bring him the gifts! I told them that they had to wait for him and Ella to wake up....which was hard for them to do. Cirdan loved his gifts (a bear and some chocolates) and got up shortley after to make pancakes.

The girls played Wii until there were fights every couple minutes. Ella wanted to play but she just wants to push pause every couple of seconds. Cirdan and I brought out the girls presents ...MORE candy!! That entertained the girls for a while and they enjoyed playing with the cow that poos candy. It was getting closer to the time Ava had to leave. We all spent some time together and ate delicous steak, mashed potatoes and green beans. About this time Kaiya was getting really whiny and grouchy because she was getting sad that Ava was leaving. We loaded up into the car and all drove her to her Grandma's house.

All weekend Kaiya and Ava would talk about how old they would be when the other was a certain age. For example...

Kaiya "how old will Ava be when I am 12?"

Ava "will I be older than Kaiya when I am in college?"

Kaiya "how old will Ava be when I graduate high school?"

It was cute. I am really missing Ava today. When she is here it feels like our family is complete. All the girls are 3 years apart and she fits in so well. She is such a sweet loving girl. We cant wait until she comes back in April! She will be here for Ella's birthday party and Easter (which fall on the same day as El's birthday)!!!