Christian Turns Two!

For Christian's 2nd birthday, we had planned a pirate water party. Sadly, the weather was so cold and very windy, so we were not able to have the water activities. The pirate party still turned out to be tons of fun and we were so thankful for all those who braved the wind to come celebrate with us.

Christian was so excited for his birthday and was so happy to have so many family and friends come and play.

 Here's Ava and Sophie in their matching swimsuits.

 And here are some more of our fun party guests.

Christian loved when we sang "Happy Birthday" to him and was clapping along with the song.

Even though there was no water, Christian still had fun playing in his new pirate ship swimming pool.

We love our little pirate!!

Ava's 4th Birthday

Back in December, (I know we are really behind on our blog), our sweet little Ava turned four.

Pretty much her whole life she has loved mermaids and had decided she really wanted another mermaid party. She had also had a mermaid party with her cousin Annissa when they both turned two.

Ava was very excited about helping me make lots of little mermaids.

Here she is doing one of her mermaid poses waiting for the party to start.

It turned out to be such a fun party and we are so glad that so many family and friends could be there.

Here she is getting ready to blow out her 4 candles.

We love you Ava and are so happy you are in our family!

Princess Birthday Party

We recently celebrated Ava's third birthday by having a princess birthday party.

In attendance were several young princesses including Princess Abbey...

... and Princess Annissa.

And several older princesses including princesses Betsy, Lauren...

... and Madeline.

The festivities began with several games followed by opening presents (with Oliver supervising).

We then gathered in the kitchen for sandwiches and cookies.

There were tiara-shaped sugar cookies which the children frosted and decorated.

Seth was intent on getting the frosting on his cookie just right.

Next Ava blew out the candles on her Disney princess cake...

...and obliged her parents with a smile for the camera.

Before we knew it the party had come to an end so Ava handed out the party favors to her cousin Sophie and other guests.

Later that night Ava opened presents from her parents and little brother.

Her favorite gift seemed to be these Disney princess pajamas.

She wanted to try them on right away, which proved to be the perfect segue to bedtime.

Happy Birthday Ava! We love you!

Two Little Mermaids Turn Two

On December 13th, we hosted a Little Mermaid-themed birthday party for Ava and her cousin Annissa, both of whom turned two this month. Here's Ava in her mermaid dress anxiously waiting for the party to get started.

Soon everyone arrived and the festivities began as we gathered "under the sea" (i.e. in the basement). Ava was quite entertained by the party favors.

The main event of the party was a show performed by The Balloon Guy. Prior to the party, he made two life-size Little Mermaid balloon sculptures for the birthday girls. Ava (who loves anything having to do with Ariel) was absolutely ecstatic.

Here's The Balloon Guy in action twisting a balloon puppy for Ava.

This is a slide show of everyone with their balloon character.

Once everyone had their own balloon character, we opened presents. Here's Ava opening a Little Mermaid doll. Very appropriate considering the theme and all.

Annissa was quite excited about this present. Wow!

We concluded by heading up to the kitchen for mermaid cake and fish-shaped cookies.

Thanks to everyone who celebrated Ava and Annissa's birthdays. They both had a great time.

Happy Birthday Larry!

While we were out in Pennsylvania, we were able to celebrate Larry's 30th birthday. It was the first time since Larry turned 18 that he was actually home with his family on his birthday. We first celebrated at Olive Garden (the night of the musical) with a very yummy chocolate cake. Ava was enthralled with the candles.

Then on his actual birthday, we had a very fun birthday bash at the Furr's home with fabulous decorations, our favorite stromboli, and a delicious ice cream cake. (Did we mention that Ava was sick with an ear infection for most of the trip?)

The cake was complete with 30 candles for our thirty-year-old!

Ava gave her dad a picture book about all of her favorite things to do with her daddy. Pictured is Larry's mom to the right and Patricia (Danny's girlfriend) to the left.

Larry also got everything you can possibly think to need for washing your car; including Ava's favorite—some very fun, big red buckets.

Ava thought it was so fun playing peek-a-boo in the buckets. (These were taken a few days later, after she was on antibiotics for the ear infection and feeling much better.)

Now we know what to get Ava for her birthday!

Happy (belated) Birthday Larry!

Ava's Birthday Party (2 of 2)

While we were in Pennsylvania visiting Larry's family, we celebrated Ava's birthday for the second time. The main event was letting her devour her own birthday cake. Although "devour" may not be the best word to use. "Picking at" would probably more accurately describe it. How dull. Then again, we suppose there's nothing wrong with having her be dainty and ladylike. After some prompting, however, she did eventually start to get a little messy. Here's a video of all the fun.

P.S. Here's what the cake looked like before it was given to Ava to "devour".

Ava's Birthday Party (1 of 2)

We recently celebrated Ava's first birthday. Since we will be visiting Larry's family during the holidays, Ava will be having two birthday parties this year. Here are some pictures from birthday party number one. Prior to the party kicking off, Ava didn't really understand what was in store. She just stared longingly at her Christmas tree (a new favorite pastime of hers) while the rest of us conversed.

Ava's interest in her birthday party piqued once it came time to open her presents. She received a lot of really nice gifts from everyone, but the Fisher-Price Stride-to-Ride Lion appeared to be her favorite.

After opening the presents, we put her in her highchair and placed a special birthday tiara on her head. She didn't care much for wearing the tiara, but she understood what sitting in the highchair signified.

Since Ava has become such a big advocate for fairies as of late, Krista decided that a Tinkerbell themed party was in order. There were really fabulous decorations, but sadly I (Larry) did not think to take any pictures of them. I did, however, get a picture of the birthday cake (only because Krista kept reminding me to).

Ava quite enjoyed eating her birthday cake (we think this may have been her favorite part of the day). And Granny O was of course more than happy to oblige Ava's sweet tooth (she only has one, literally).

Stay tuned for pictures from birthday party number two....