A Grand Council

Ava was playing intently with her animals today. I came upon this. It appears to be some sort of council of the animals. Probably not the guy I would have picked to be in charge, but then again, he's the only one holding food (a fish). Maybe they are actually cornering him to steal his food! That wolf looks pretty hungry.

Ava's Birthday

Ava has been talking about her birthday, and what she wants for her birthday, for the last 6 months at least. Among other things on her list were a 4-wheeler (full size), a trampoline, an airplane (full size), roller skates (which she played with at her cousin's house in CA), and a scooter. The girl dreams big.

These were her invitations:

That's an actual balloon coming out of her mouth. I used little water balloons. The theme for her party was bubbles. Ryan brought home one of his bubble foam machines, which they use for the 5K Foam Fest, and we brought out our bouncy house. We filled the backyard with bubbles and let the kids go wild.

Ezra has got some sticky fingers. He swiped several hamburger patties and a 

cupcake without anyone realizing.

Rody got in on the fun too. Go Rody.

Keeping with the bubble theme, these were the party favors. Mini bubbles, gum balls, candies, and dum-dums (because they are Ava's favorite, and they are round {smile}).

I wasn't able to get photos of the treat table before the goods were consumed, but the star was the bubble cake & cupcakes (gumballs and Sixlets on top). Also we had Trix-krispie treats, Playdough icecream (scooped into balls, of course), and something else that I can't remember.

My favorite moment of the party was when Ava put on the fairy wings she received as a gift. She looked confused and said, "It's not working." Then she said to several different people, "I'm not flying. I'm not flying." Fittingly though, she also received a set of fairy dolls (including Tinkerbell) as a gift.

Some of her favorite gifts were the roller skates from her Michaelis cousins (by request) and the backpack from daddy (also by request). She thinks that if she has a backpack and she is 3 then she can go to school, and she really wants to go to school. I told her that after her birthday, no more Pull-ups at nap time, and she has remembered that and repeated that to me, and so far no nap time accidents! I may try bedtime soon too!

Happy Birthday big girl! Thanks to all her friends for sharing in the party fun!

Lake Powell 2012

Another fun year at Lake Powell with the Cook-Forbes family. We found a fantastic beach this year. Ava spuradically didn't like the feel of the sand under her feet. Ezra couldn't get enough of the shovels and climbing in and out of holes.

He may have eaten some sand, despite our best efforts.

Didn't like being buried alive...

 But they got used to it.

Creating a wind block with sleeping mats so that the grill could actually cook our dinner:

Gathering on the dinner boat. 

It was a fun week with no bad sunburns, hooray! Ava swam well with a life jacket and couldn't get enough of the slide. The first day she must have gone down the slide at least 100 times. When she landed in the water she would pop up with a look of shock and terror on her face, then swim over the ladder and do it all over again, laughing all the way.
Some of the big boys dug giant trenches along the beach for the traditional game of spotlight, and the kids loved them too. Ava loved going on the banana and the tube, and learned to say "Ye-haw!"
Can't wait for next year!