A Day Fit for a Princess . . . . . .

She is officially four! I can't believe I have a four year old. I realize that I'm four years older than I was when she was born, but really it feels like everybody else is getting older. I'm just getting wiser. :) We had a FABULOUS birthday! Presents and my signature Pop-N-Fresh Cinnamon rolls in the morning, a Princess Party, Dance class for the Birthday Girl, and Family to help celebrate. The theme of Ava's presents this year was, of course, Princess, anything girly, and skirts galore. This girl loves to twirl, and she's good at it. Every woman knows that a twirl is no good unless you have on a frilly skirt. Am I right Jess? Clogging skirts anybody?


She has not taken this skirt off since she got it. I don't see it happening any time soon either.




I decided to do a cupcake tower for a change this year. We did lots of fun colors and I figured Ava would love it. Well, on the morning of her birthday she said to me, "Where's my cake Mom?" I said, "Well honey, I decided to make you a beautiful cupcake tower for your party! Do you love it?" She said, "Sure mom, but where's my cake?" Hmmmm. She eventually came around and loved my idea too, but it wasn't working for her at first.

Ava had a few princesses over for a party and they played and played and played. Honestly, the easiest birthday party ever. Ava was in heaven.





My accomplices. We were SOOOO happy to have my mom and Aunt Jessica here for a few days. They were so helpful, especially when it came to making 2 batches of icing for the cupcakes. (My mom may or may not have messed up the first batch, which honestly consisted of 3 ingredients. LOVE YOU MOM!). They really did make the day special and I loved having 2 of my best friends there to celebrate with us.


Jessica was such a sweetheart and played a lot of Leapster and Strawberry Shortcake games with the Little Miss. Ava loved EVERY second and thinks that her aunts are the coolest girls ever.



Ava got to take cupcakes to preschool for her birthday and she was so excited! She's such a little ham.




I just had to throw these pictures in. The first picture is pretty much Kai's life in a nutshell. Poor kid. It's his own darn fault though. If he was less cute, happy, or kissable, he wouldn't have to deal with this craziness.

Suddenly a Toddler . . . . . . .

Can you believe this was my chunky monkey one year ago!

He's one! And it's just about doing me in. Seriously. I CANNOT believe my 9 lb 8 oz bundle of joy is 1 year old. It may sound cliche, but it seems like YESTERDAY he was born. He went from my sort-of little, smiley, sweet infant, to my skinny-but-tall, super-smiley, sweet toddler. Oh, and as of late, we can throw a few tantrums into the mix. I love him so much I can't even stand it. He is my little cuddle bug when he's tired and I seriously can't get enough of him. At a year, he has taken a few tentative steps, but definitely has not committed to walking. He can get anywhere in the house in 2 seconds flat with that super crawl of his. He LOVES his sissy so much and has recently figured out that if he yells loudly when his sister is too near him it gets the Miss in trouble. I suddenly have to be aware of not just one, but TWO of my sweet things being manipulative. It happens so quickly. *sigh* I would be a multi-trillionare if I had a dime for every time somebody said to me, "He's so happy!" He truly is the happiest kid I know and we are so lucky to have him.

Randy and I went shopping for a baseball tee. That's what Randy wanted to get him. Not a "ball and tee for babies". For Heaven Sakes, he's one now! Practically a grown-up! SO we went with this tee set. He may not walk yet, and it may look quite a bit too big, but you would be surprised how well he can hit it. It is comical and Randy has that "I'm such a proud father" look on his face even though he denies it. By the way, these pics were taken a couple weeks before his birthday because in the words of Randy, "Why wait until his birthday if we have it now?"



We celebrated his birthday in Utah last weekend with both sets of grandparents. Needless to say, he was sufficiently spoiled. He got the cutest Birthday Book and Bowling set from Grandma and Grandpa Cuff. Sadly, I don't have a picture of that. I know, how is that possible from the queen of pictures?

Nobody gave the memo to Kai's ears that there were to be no ear infections though, and the little dude was pretty miserable the whole time. :( This was my favorite pic. Kai really didn't care that we were all singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles on his Shrek cake.



Yummy Cinnamon Rolls for his Birthday Breakfast! I can make a mean pan full of Pillsbury Pop-N-Fresh Cinnamon Rolls. Mmmmmm . . . . . .

He's so ornery all of the time. Here he is on the little 4-wheeler he got from Grandma Annie and Papa. It is a RIOT to watch him ride it. He has learned how to push the button to make it go. Every time he does, he moves forward a little, then stops and laughs. So cute.



I love this picture. Both kids are pretty much salivating over the cake. I made him the Stoddard Classic caramel, chocolate, and cool whip birthday cake. Super easy and you really can't go wrong with it. On Ava's first birthday, she wasn't completely sure about the chocolate cake at first because I'm sure I hadn't given it to her before her first birthday. With Kai, since he is the second child, he knew exactly what it was and dug into it the first chance he could.


Since he had already opened the majority of his presents before his birthday, he ended up with a couple of shirts and a soccer ball on his actual birthday. The kid was loving the ball. I've recently had to buy a whole new tub to house all of the balls and bats we have in our house. He's only one people! What does this say about my future?

And this, folks, is probably the best time Kai had throughout all of the birthday festivities. He is eating the ice out of a cup. If only I would have known that's what he really wanted . . . . . . . . .

He had his one year well check today. He is 20 lbs (23%) and 31" (95%). Like I said, tall and skinny.

Love this time of year . . . . . .

My kids love being outside. They both get pretty upset when they have to come in. Kai throws himself on the ground with a crazy tantrum and Ava starts using her "lawyer" talk explaining to me that if I let her stay outside for just a few more minutes then she will be SOOOO happy! Usually I just bring them in, lock the door, and head upstairs until they've both come to the realization that I'm not going to let them back out and their actions are all in vain. You'd think they'd realize that this will be the scenario every time, but apparently they have a glimmer of hope that the next time might be the time that I say, "Okay - let's skip dinner, baths, and even sleeping tonight. Go play!" We'll see how that one works out for them. :)





This is what happens when you give a kid a chocolate chip granola bar . . . .

A couple of weeks ago I decided that I HAD to plant flowers and veggies out back. I had some ridiculous notion in my head that I actually had room for veggies, but alas I do not. Anyway, I actually had a lot going on that day, but once the spring planting was in my head, there was no way around it. I packed up the kids and made two, yes TWO (grrrr), trips to Home Depot, came home and planted away. Here is what we came up with:




I decide to try out these Aqua Globes. Since I intend on being in Utah at least a bit this summer, I thought these could be a good solution since I certainly am not close enough to any of my neighbors to ask them to water the plants. Well, that might be an understatement. I only know the name of one of my neighbors. At least I think it's her name. Anywho - the box says that they can water plants for up to two weeks, which would probably equate to about 2 hours in Las Vegas heat, but it's worth a try.

This is what I came up with for my "food garden." I have two of these little pots of soil, one for strawberries and one for tomatoes. It says on the package that they grow small, yet delicious strawberries and tomatoes. We shall see. If they turn out I will be super excited because I love tomatoes and Ava loves strawberries. Seems like a pretty good solution for my "no room for even one zucchini plant" backyard. Hopefully I have good updates to come on this . . . .

And here is Ava's special project. Wheat Grass! I would recommend this to ANYBODY that has small children. The first picture that we took of her project - i.e. the soil in a pot - was taken less than a week ago and the last picture was taken today. It grows so fast and works out fantastic for a little one with no patience. I swear that if I sat and watched this pot long enough, I could see it grow. Ava has loved it.




This is my son. Most people call him Kai. I call him "dirt-eater" for obvious reasons.

And this is why we are not outside as we speak. The darn wind. Poor tree. Poor us because it is making it very difficult to use our driveway. We've fixed it numerous times, but the wind keeps coming back with a vengeance. Dear Mother Nature, Could you please keep it to a slight breeze? Sincerely, Wind-Blown in Sin City