Happy Birthday Weekend

The first weekend in November we headed to Eagle Crest with the family to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday.  It was such a fun relaxing weekend with the whole family.

My sister and I both showed up in our yellow pants...haha! 

 We worked on a very special gift for my dad this year for his birthday.  My sister and I contacted some of his friends and family and asked them to write down a memory of our dad.  We put 60 memories in 60 different envelopes.  He was pretty shocked when he saw all of the envelopes. 

 We spent the rest of the night reading all of the memories.  There were a few tears but mainly lots of laughs.  It was so much fun and such a special gift for my dad.

 I even had Andrew and Ava do a letter.  Andrew's said that he loved that Papa came and fixed his wall and then he drew a pirate ship.  Ava's said that she loves his hugs and kisses and she did a little coloring too.

 

The next day we headed into Sisters to walk around a bit and have coffee at Sister's Coffee Company.

 

The kids had a blast looking at the bookstore.

 That afternoon the guys went golfing while the girls and Andrew went back to the house so Ava & Leyton could take a nap.

We spent most of the afternoon playing Uno Attack with Andrew. 

 Andrew really loves his baby cousin.

 After dinner we headed to the indoor pool for some swimming.

The kids had a blast! 

 But Leyton was a little unsure.

The next morning we just lounged around and packed up.  The kids hung out in their pj's and watched cartoons.  We were all pretty tired since the kids didn't sleep much that weekend.

 

 It was a beautiful morning so we took a few pictures.

 This is such a classic Ava face!

 Dad and his girls.

 Ava really wanted to be in the picture.

 And in this picture too :)

 After we packed up we headed back into Sisters to grab some lunch before heading home.

We found this cute little barn and just had to take a few more pictures!

 

Thanks Mom & Dad for such a fun family weekend.  Happy Birthday to you, Dad.  We love you!

11.2-11.4.2012- Andrew 5, Ava 2 1/2 years, Leyton almost 1 year old

Trick or Treat

Ava was a strawberry this year and Andrew was Batman again (2nd year in a row).  Last year both of the kids were sick so we went to only a few houses but this year we were healthy so we were able to go to several.  

Here they are with their superhero poses.  Ava always copies whatever Andrew does.

The first house.  Andrew was so excited and absolutely loved trick or treating.  Ava was a bit more hesitant but was having lots of fun until she saw a kid with a mask on and totally freaked out.  The rest of the time she wanted to be held.  She kept saying that she wanted to go home.  It was so cute because Andrew told her just one more house and then they could go home.  So sweet taking care of his sister when he was having so much fun trick or treating.  I decided to take Ava home for the rest of the night while the boys continued to trick or treat.

 Checking out all of her candy when she got home.

 Nate and Andrew went around the block and then told Nate that he was done and that if he wanted more candy, Daddy could just buy him some.  Ha!

Checking out all of his candy before deciding on a sucker.

Andrew loved seeing all of the trick or treaters come to the door and Ava hid every time she heard a knock at the door.

A fun Halloween and a fun night with Pama and Papa!

Halloween Day

Halloween day was super busy.  We started our morning by taking Andrew to school and then heading to Gymboree class.

It was cute to see all of the kids dressed up.  

 Ava loves Gymboree and asks almost everyday if she can go.

 Ava with her teacher Laurie and her friend Charleigh calling for Gymbo. 

 Ava and Charleigh taking a little rest.

After Gymboree class we headed to Andrew's school for his "Orange" party.  All of the kids dressed in orange, they had cupcakes and played games.

 

 Andrew didn't like the cupcake....

 but Ava did!

 They did a little fishing for pumpkins....

 and pin the face on the pumpkin. 

 My little ninja (a blurry pic, but had to add it since this is the pose I get often from him).

Pumpkin Carving

A few days before Halloween we carved our pumpkins.  Too be honest, this is not my favorite thing to do.  The kids want to do it and expect it to not take very long.  You end up doing all of the work and they end up whining through the whole process.  At least this is how it went at our house.  I'm hoping that each year it gets a little better.

Andrew hated cleaning out the guts of the pumpkin.  Nate refuses to do it because it grosses him out so much, so I am always the one to do it.  This year I told Andrew that he had to help me out and he thought it was so gross too.  Looks like I'll be doing it for the next several years!

 Nate trying to show Andrew how to carve.  

 Unfortunately all of our carving tools broke so we only ended up doing Andrew's pumpkin.  Thankfully Ava didn't care.

 He was so proud of his "mad" face pumpkin.