{Another year}

Another year has come and gone. Eli made preschool look like no big thing and he loves his teacher, Miss Sam, so much! He's had so many wonderful moments.  We're so proud of him and know he'll do just as fabulous next year.

{a birthday party for Dean & Ava}

What a fun day this was! We decided, in lieu of the recent move and the hectic state of our life currently, that we would host a joint birthday party for Dean and Ava. That's right, two birds - one stone. Neither of them minded one bit when we promised "not too boyish - not too girly" and actually, when the day was through Dean asked if he could share his party with Ava next year as well. Such a sweet brother.

We held the festivities at the office I work for - though I usually do my work from home. I'm so thankful they allowed us to have it there on their new, shiny basketball court (Thanks Barry!) because it was a blast for the kiddos and the parents alike! We played basketball with our friends while the kids played on the bouncehouse and slide all day. And when I say "all day", I mean it. We ended up staying there, with friends, from 9am until 5pm - it was a great day for all and since there is even a little kitchen area, we couldn't have asked for a better venue. Not to mention, it was free. We may have to host there every year.

(As for Eli, I swear he was in attendance. I guess he was camera shy because he is not really featured in any up-close-and-personals.)

I love this last picture - the "beyblade huddle". Little boys are so fun.

{the new abode}

FYI - We got the house! And we have been beautifying it ever since. It didn't need a lot of work, but the yard was quite a mess so we tackled that first.

Here it is when we first moved in.

Here it is now.

And in the future it will have a red door, black shutters and many more flowers in the garden. But we will probably wait until it cools down in the fall to conquer that. Here is the "doctored" photo I sent with our proposal to the HOA for approval.

Anyway, that's what we've been up to. I have lots of photos of the kids to post but they still remain uunedited or, worse yet, trapped on my camera. Ha! Someday...

{little girl is the big three}

What a special little lady we have been blessed with. I wish I could say she has remained as easy going as she once was, but to be honest, she runs the show. When people comment on our "older brother and little sister" setup, we always say, "yeah, well don't be fooled. She's the boss of us all."

And we're not kidding! Oh, how we love this vivacious little cutie! She is such a hoot and keeps up laughing all the time with her silly ways.

We love you, Ava. Happy birthday!