Dora, Friends, Babies, & Ebay

I love spring, spending time with family & friends, & good deals! :)

Ava helped me make brownies for our guests last weekend. She loved it!

Davis-Kidd Booksellers had "Breakfast with Dora." It was fun; after breakfast, a lady read a Dora book to the children, then they worked on crafts until Dora could make it around to each table to take pictures & autograph & give out balloons. Ava said, "Mommy, I want to hug Dora." Too cute!

Our friends from Alabama, Lonnie & Nicole, spent the weekend with us. Ron has been friends with them all of his life. He remembers playing GI Joe under the church pews at his dad's church:) We took them to Texas de Brazil- wow, incredible food! Then we walked around downtown Memphis for a little while before heading home to watch Kung Fu Panda.

Below is the "housewarming party" invitation for Brittany & Job...I think her friend, Angie, likes polka dots as much as we do!

I need to get some pictures of the inside of their house. It seriously looks like they've lived there for much longer than a few weeks. Everyone has worked hard to get them settled in. It does blow my mind when I think about what the interior looked like a month ago!

Here' s my mom (Mimi) and Ava at the party. My mom is the BEST!!! My cousin, Tracey, brought her the pink poms & she didn't put them down all night.

Some of Job's family at the party:

My gorgeous sister (who apparently is the only one who knew I was taking a picture! ha) & our dad & Tracey.

Here's Christie, one of my best friends since 4th grade, with Ava.

I had to work of course before the party, and Brittany called & was rushing me which is nothing new- we always want each other to be early if we're having something at our homes...Then she was a bit irritated that my parents are always late. I was thinking, "What's new? Don't worry about it." Then I was upstairs trying to fix Ava's hair when Britt insisted that I come down stairs & help her with punch...kinda weird. Then she said, "I know we talked about how Ava has too many toys, but I got her a little something." Again, nothing new. I saw that it was an Etch A Sketch--Britt likes getting Ava classic toys (like Mr. Potato Head). Anyway, she said, "Let your Momma help you open that." I noticed that it had already been 'sketched' on...Here's what it said:

I read it twice. Showed it to our mom and then got SUPER EXCITED BECAUSE I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNT AND AVA'S GOING TO HAVE A COUSIN CLOSE TO HER AGE TO PLAY WITH AND I'M GONNA SPOIL THAT BABY!!!!! :)
Later, when more friends & family arrived, Job prayed over our food- at the end he talked about the extra space for the new baby! Everyone went crazy! Tuesday, March 23 was a great day!

And last but not least, I got a fabulous deal on curtains for my living room! I've been eying these at Pier 1 for a few years & hadn't made a decision (not sure why picking out curtains is hard for me). For the 96-in length in the store, they were $49.95/panel, & I needed two. I found them on ebay and paid $32 total--including the shipping for 2 brand new, in the package panels! What a deal!!