Pizza and Pajama Party!

Daddy, Mommy, Avery and Kendall before the party.  Judson was still napping. 

For Avery's birthday this year we did a Pizza and Pajama party at the house.  When the girls arrived, they worked on decorating and personalizing a foam frame, which doubled as one of their party favors.  My mom made a big frame from foam board covered with cute wrapping paper, and she took pictures of Avery with all of her guests and family using this frame.  We gave the pictures to the girls after the party so they could put them in their foam frames they had decorated.   The next activity we did was an act of kindness for a family in our neighborhood who had recently had a baby.  I had made a poppyseed chicken casserole and some rolls ahead of time and the girls helped me make a fruit bowl and decorate some cupcakes.  We loaded everything up in the wagon and the girls took turns pulling it a few streets over to where the family lives.  The family was so grateful and thought our idea was really neat.  They let the girls go in the house and they oohed and ahhed over the baby (a 2 month old little boy) who was asleep in his swing.  When we got back to our house we had pizza and fruit kabobs for dinner, and then went upstairs to play games.  We played a partner race with bathrobes, a game where teams dressed up one girl using toilet paper, Twister, and freeze dance.  It was kind of crazy, but a lot of fun!  Then we went back downstairs to decorate cupcakes.  My mom had made several colors of icing and brought candy, sprinkles, etc for the girls to use.  After everyone was finished decorating, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Avery and let her blow out her #8 candle.  Next up was opening presents.  Avery received a couple of beach towels, a CD, several stuffed animals, scented pens, things to play school with, a nail kit, 2 pairs of pajamas (one pair was scented and matched Maelyn's), a Justice gift card, an iPod and from Mimi and Poppi, and an iTunes gift card from Aunt Aumy and Uncle Chris.  She also received money from her other aunts and uncles, and the movie Frozen from Memaw and Dedaw.  After presents we had about 30 minutes to kill, so we played Bingo with the cage and ball Bingo set we have.  My Mom and I were exhausted after the party, but Avery had such a wonderful time.  She said it was the best birthday she's ever had!  And to top it all off, she got to have Maelyn stay and spend the night with her.  For an eight year old, I don't think it could get much better!

Avery and Mimi

Mommy and Avery

Silly Daddy with the birthday girl.  Scott and Judson went and picked up the pizzas for us and then spent the rest of the evening over at Memaw and Dedaw's house.

Avery and Kendall

Working on their frames

Explaining the act of kindness activity to the girls.  They all helped add the fruit for the fruit bowl and then we drew numbers and partnered up to decorate the cupcakes that we took over.

Getting ready to walk the food over.

The girls had fun on our walk pulling the wagon and linking up arms while singing silly songs.

Delivering the food.  Three of the girls at the party knew this family either from church or because they lived on the same street.

Avery leading the way to go back home.

Pizza time!

The robe game.  The girls had to partner up, hold hands, and race to see which pair could get the robe from one girl onto the other without letting go of each others' hands.

Group one making Kendall's toilet paper outfit.  This was Avery's group.

Group 2 making an outfit for Mylah.  After both groups were done, they did a fashion show and Mimi judged.

Playing freeze dance to the new Kids Bop CD.

Dancing robot style

more robot

As the freeze dance game went along, the girls started giving me suggestions for types of dancing they could do.  One that Avery suggested near the end was wheelbarrow.  Not really dancing, but fun!

the cupcake set-up

Avery and I with her decorated cupcake all ready to eat.

Some of the girls really got into the cucpake decorating and used all the colors of icing and all the candies and sprinkles.

Ready for her "Happy Birthday" song

Make a wish!

Group picture!  We gave one of these to each girl for her foam frame as well.

Swoops the owl from Mimi and Poppi

New PJ's from Mimi and Poppi.  We let Kendall sit by Avery when she opened their gift since Avery had already opened the gift from our family.

Justice gift card from Makena.

Bridgit Mendler CD from Ella

Little owl stuffed animal and school supplies from Kylee.

Scented PJ's from Maelyn

Personalized beach towel and scented pens from Katie

Little raccoon stuffed animal and beach towel from Adelyn

Nail kit and headbands from Rylin and Mylah

Avery and Maelyn in their matching PJ's

 silly girls!

Since we didn't get a complete family picture before the party, we took one on Sunday after church and Poppi's birthday lunch.

Avery's school birthday party

Happy 8th Birthday Avery!

Avery's birthday fell on a Monday this year, so Scott went to school with her that day as a Watch DOG.  He helped with some general things around the school, helped the girls' teachers some, and got to eat lunch and go to recess with both Avery and Kendall.  The GATES teacher had also asked him to speak to the second graders that day about dental impressions and how people can be identified by them.  Avery was so proud and excited that he got to speak to her GATES group.  At the end of the day, Judson and I took cupcakes to her classroom.  They were milkshake cucpakes that had icing piled up to look like whip cream, colored sprinkles, a cherry sour, and a little paper straw inserted in them.  Some of the kids were asking what the straw was for and some were actually trying to slurp their cupcake through the straw!  We finished the day by having dinner with Mimi and Poppi at Kincaid's (Avery's choice), and then we gave Avery her present from Scott and I when we got back home.  We gave her a pink Razor Scooter, which she loves!  Glad you had a fun day Avery!

The milkshake cupcakes.  The school had a new rule this year that any treats brought to the class had to be store bought.  so Kroger made the cupcakes for me with the icing and sprinkles and I added to cherry sours and paper straws.

Being silly and pretending to drink her cupcake like some of her classmates.

All smiles!

Avery on her new scooter

To Avery on your 8th Birthday

Avery- 8 yrs old (March 31, 2014)

To my sweet Avery,

Eight years ago a beautiful, bright-eyed, dark haired little angel was born into the world, and it was this angel that made me become what I had always wanted to be. . . a Mommy. What an amazing, joy-filled 8 years it has been.  I know that you are constantly learning and growing and changing, but often I don't realize it until I sit down to write a letter like this one and reflect back over the years.  At this point in your life there are not as many big milestones to report as when you were younger, but you are definitely becoming more independent, confident, and mature.  You love spending time with friends and have had lots of after school playdates this year.  You also went to your first couple of slumber parties this year. You still like to pretend (playing school is your favorite), but you don't really play with toys too much anymore.  For better or worse, you have started getting interested in popular music and all the little trends like rainbow loom bracelets, mismatched socks, and certain kinds of shoes and clothes.  Last summer you moved up to the Gold level class in gymnastics, which you continue to enjoy, and in August you started piano lessons with Memaw.  You don't like practicing much, but you are doing very well and you even gave the Bedichek family at little concert at Christmas.  You go to running club after school on Wednesdays and you participated in a 2 day basketball clinic and performance at BNHS back in January.  Your teachers have the nicest things to say about you:  not only that you are a very bright girl and good student academically, but that you have the kindest heart and are so respectful.  You continue to be in the GATES program at school and it seems like you have really enjoyed the forensic science-themed unit this year.  Daddy even got to come speak to the group about bite marks and let everyone make one in wax.  Daddy and I can also see that you are growing in your understanding of God's word and what it means to be a servant in His kingdom, which makes us so happy and proud.  We have always known that you are a very special little girl and as you have grown it has become more evident where your talents lie.  You are so observant and so good at reading people.  You can tell how they are feeling and know exactly what to say or do.  You often do this for Judson to cheer him up or for me when I am frustrated or having a hard day.  You are very nurturing and have such a sweet spirit.  We are extremely proud of you and love you very much!

Love,
Mommy

Birthday Blessings for Avery and Kendall

Avery and Kendall listening to their birthday song

In our small groups at church we decided to start celebrating the kids' birthdays as a group to encourage them and to give the adults, particularly their parents, a chance to affirm them.  March was the first month that we did this, so we actually celebrated all the kids who had January, February, and March birthdays, which included Kendall and Avery.  I made a cake and we gave each of the 5 birthday kids a piece with a candle in it.  After we sang "Happy Birthday" the dads all had a chance to say a blessing over their kids in front of the group.  It was embarrassing for most of the kids, but I think it will be memorable and meaningful to them later on.  For Kendall's blessing, Scott talked about her determination and self-control and how we believed that those two qualities would help her to do great things for God's kingdom.  For Avery's blessing, he talked about her ability to read people and help them or give/say to them what they needed.  He also talked about how she was very nurturing and would make a wonderful Mother one day.  The kids all received a card signed by the adults with encouraging words and messages.  I think it was very special and fun for all the kids and I'm really glad that we decided to do it!

Scott blessing Kendall

Scott's blessing over Avery

Avery and her friend Eden reading their cards from the group

Spring Break in Houston/Galveston

Kendall, Judson, Avery and I on the Khema boardwalk

Scott went on a mission trip to Honduras over Spring Break this year, so the kids and I went with my parents on a little trip to Houston and Galveston.  We traveled down there on a Sunday and arrived with just enough time to realx and swim for awhile before going out to dinner.  Monday morning we went to the NASA Space Center there in Houston.  We rode in the shuttle simulator, explored the inside of a shuttle, and checked out several exhibits before our hunger and poor night of sleep caught up with us.  But after naps/relaxing everyone was refreshed and ready to go back and check out Rocket Park with the Saturn V rocket on display.  It's size was very impressive and there were quite a few displays detailing each of the Apollo missions.  After that we headed out to the bay (Khema) for dinner at Landry's and some fun on the boardwalk.  Since my Dad takes lots of business clients there to Landry's, he was able to get the manager to reserve a table for us right by the full length windows overlooking the water.  The food and the view were wonderful.  My mom and the kids and I rode the carousel and the ferris wheel there at the boardwalk, then we finished off the night with some ice cream at Marble Slab.  After sleeping in and a late breakfast at Cracker Barrel Tuesday morning, we drove out to Galveston to go to the beach.  The forecast had been showing rain, but it ended up sunny and clear.  A little chilly for swimming (I think it was in the mid-high 60's), but nice enough to build sand castles, collect seashells, and fly kites on the beach.  It's always fun to watch the kids play in the sand and water.  Since all the seafood restaurants were super-crowded, we ended up eating dinner at a pizza place, and then we went and bought some t-shirts and souvenirs for the kids at a neat little store.  We spent Tuesday night there in Galveston with an ocean view from our hotel rooms and then headed back home Wednesday morning.  It was a wonderful little getaway and truly a nice break from our everyday routine.

swimming at the hotel

checking out some freeze dried astronaut food inside a shuttle at NASA

Wish I remembered exactly what this thing was, but it looked cool!

Judson pretending to fly the space shuttle

They had some rover robots downstairs in the kids' area that you controlled upstairs from this room.

Judson the astronaut!

Kendall the astronaut!

And Avery the astronaut!

This was a simulator for the kids where they laid down flat on their backs and watched a video showing a shuttle launching.

Avery was really interested in all the exhibits.  I wish we could have spent more time letting her explore and watch some of the movie presentations.

This screen showed an ariel view of the Earth from outer space. 

The Saturn V at Rocket Park.  It is 32 stories tall!

posing with some of the Apollo astronauts

and silly posing with astronauts

The kids and I at Rocket park

yet another picture with astronauts

Dinner at Landry's over looking the water. We ate at this same restaurant when I was about Avery's age and we had gone to Houston for a gymnastics meet.  There was a big storm that evening and the waves were crashing up against the glass and we saw lots of boats coming in.

Silly Judson!

The guys

Kendall and I riding the carousel

Mimi and Jud on the carousel.  He wanted to ride on the dragon that Avery got on, but he settled for a zebra.

Avery on her colorful dragon.

Kendall kept talking about how pretty this horse was.

Giddyup!

Jud and I on the ferris wheel.

Judson showing off and being silly at the beach

There's nothing quite like the majesty of the ocean.

Judson mostly just played in the sand, but he did get his feet wet a few times.  He loves the water and swimming, but he has a healthy fear of the ocean waves.

Running out to play in the water.

Guess they're all mesmerized by the waves.

sisters at the beach

Judson kept wanting us to dig holes for him to sit in.

All smiles!

Kendall's jump for joy- just wish you could see her face!

 Avery's Toyota jump

Queen of the Ocean!

Judson and I playing in the sand.

I love this picture of Kendall.  It is just so HER!

The kids and I with our sandcastle.

sibling love

Mimi and Poppi with their grandbabies