A Busy Week!

The last few weeks have been so busy at the Daniel house!  We love staying busy but those days when you don't have anything you have to do and can just hang around the house in your pj's are nice too.  Those days have been few and far between lately.  I have been slacking when it comes to blogging too so this will be an entire week at once.  

Last Saturday, Ava had her first of three birthday parties to attend this week.  It was her friend Katie's 4th birthday party and we went to River City gymnastics.  Ava had such a good time running around and playing with her friends.  Unfortunately, Kevin and I didn't take any pictures--bad parents!  We ran some errands afterward and then enjoyed a late night dinner at Ava's favorite place, Swanky's, followed by dessert at one of my favorite places, YoLo.  Side note--YoLo is opening a Bartlett location in a couple of weeks so now I won't have to drive as far to get my fix!  Hmmm, this could be considered good or bad.

Sunday, we had my family over to celebrate my mom's birthday and to watch the Grizzlies game.  The cake and ice cream and celebration were good, however, the game was not.  I'm still proud of our Grizzlies though.  Again, Kevin and I forgot to take pictures.

Tuesday I decided to surprise Ava when I picked her up at school and bring her cousin Addison with me.  Addison spent the day with us and Ava was so excited.  I actually did get some pictures of this:

Playing in Ava's playroom

Addison absolutely loves Kevin.  He went outside on the front porch and she went to our front door and banged on it and whined until he came back in.  He is just as smitten with her.  

Ava did a great job feeding Addison her lunch.

Then after lunch we went for a walk.

We took Addison with us to Ava's gymnastics class that night and Ava was so excited to show off her cousin.  We had a meltdown when Addison had to go home but otherwise it was a great day.

Thursday night Ava had birthday party #2 to attend at Pump It Up for one of her friends from school.  Kevin was on his own for this one as I already had plans with friends.  I love being married to a man who strongly believes that raising a child is a full partnership.  He has always been so involved with Ava when it comes to everything including the small things like bathtime and bedtime stories.  I think this is the way it should be but unfortunately, I know there are some dads out there (and moms--don't want to discriminate) that just leave it all to mom (or dad) to handle.  He was sending me pictures throughout the night of the party and I kept getting these pictures without Ava in them.  When I replied, "Why aren't you getting any pictures of Ava?" he said, "Taking a picture of her in this place is like trying to get a picture of a hummingbird!"  Ha Ha!  He did manage to get one picture of the kids though it is slightly blurry:

That same night, I enjoyed dinner with friends at the Trolley Stop Market on Madison.  It was yummy

--I had a great BLT with spicy pimiento cheese.   After dinner, we headed downtown for the Bon Jovi concert.  As we waited for the show to start, we played with different apps on our phones.  Look what I figured out I could do thanks to the Doodle Buddy app:

The concert was great.  Jon Bon Jovi still looks and sounds great and his smile is just so adorable!  Even though he is almost fifty years old, he can still rock a pair of leather pants and a leather vest with no shirt!  

Friday night, we went to see our niece, Mallory, play baseball.  It was a great night for being outdoors and we enjoyed just relaxing with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law.  Mallory is seven and watching those kids play was hilarious!  She is the only girl on her team and we were cracking up because she took it so seriously, crouching in her fielding stance in left field, while all the little boys played in the grass or stared up at the sky.  Unfortunately, her team did not win but we had fun and Ava got to play with her cousin, Leah, during the game.

Saturday brought birthday party #3.  Ava's cousin Lawson (Addison's brother) was celebrating his 3rd birthday.  The party was at my aunt and uncle's house and featured the Happy Times Farm traveling petting zoo.  We did cake and presents while the petting zoo was getting set up and then it was time to play with the animals!  Our entire family consists of huge animal lovers so this party was sure to be a hit.  

Ava feed the baby cow a bottle

 My cousin Brent's fiancee, Jess, volunteered to lead the kids around on the pony.

Ava feed and brushed the llama, Faye, until the llama feel asleep.  I steer clear of llamas--last time I was around one, it spit on my face.  No joke.  

We played with the cutest little pig, Jimmy Dean--I'm sure that is meant to be ironic :).

I fell in love with this pig.  Every time I scratched him, he would roll over so I would scratch his tummy.

The birthday boy is really into Thomas the Train so there was a train ride that Ava rode quite a few times.

The party wore her out, which is hard to do.

The ladies from Happy Times Farm were amazing and so good with the kids.  The kids had a great time and if you are looking for a cute birthday party idea, I would recommend them in a heartbeat.  

happytimesfarm.com  901-573-1384

We were able to relax at home last night and we all just enjoyed snuggling on the couch.  This post taught me two things:  we have to make sure to take pictures and I need to be better about blogging!