Sweet Summer Days 2

Emily & I have known each other for about four years. We go to church together, and she is my hair stylist. She was one of the most excited people when I told her I was having Ava. At the time she was a new mom to Levi. Her daughter, Tuesday, was born about 8 months after Ava. We joke that we're opposites on a lot of things, but our love for artsy stuff makes us tick:). Yesterday, Emily invited us to her parents' AWESOME home/pool for a day of sun & fun! 

Her dad, Al, is super-talented! He added onto their home, built the 'cabana,' and the waterfall, as well as did all the landscaping & stuff himself. It is so beautiful. When I'm at their place, it feels like I'm a thousand miles away at a resort! 

I also took a few pics inside of some of the art work that Emily (that's her wedding pic too- couldn't resist) did for her mom. The fish painting above the bed is great, as well as, her neat method for using scrapbook paper on the island in the kitchen. Enjoy! 

(Also, I just upgraded to a 'better' blog posting thingie, and I need my sister or Haven to show me what to do...so I have some weird picture formatting going on today...Sorry!)

Friends & Easter

Ava is at the age where she loves to have other children to play with; she cracks me up because she is so motherly! One of the families from our church came over last Saturday night for pizza & a movie. Jeff & Emily (who also does my hair: she's awesome!) have these two cute kiddos: Tuesday & Levi. Here they are watching The Incredibles.

I've been trying to remember to snap a pic before church each week too...
Ava LOVES "church nursery" so much (I wonder if it's because of the sucker they give out at the end:).

It's so hard to comprehend that one of my best friends since middle school & I have daughters exactly one month apart. Ava had a great time playing with Mary Abbott.

Ava looks so much like me, and Mary Abbott looks so much like Niki!

Our church had a huge Easter egg hunt Saturday...

Family pic at the hunt...It was fun! We enjoyed hanging around for a little while and visiting with friends.

Well, I let Ava have an Easter cupcake for breakfast Sunday morning. Gotta live a little sometimes!

I love this outfit! Niki's sister Mandy has the cutest children's clothing store ever! I help Mandy do some decorating at her new home, and instead of paying me cash--I get to pick out outfits like this for Ava:)

My parents came after to church to have an Easter cookout with us. It was so much fun. Ron is such a good griller! Our menu was barbecued chicken, garlic & cheese mashed potatoes, green beans, garden salad with balsamic vinaigrette, homemade yeast rolls, sweet tea, & "bunny" cake for dessert. Yum!

This is one of my favorite pictures! Ava was telling Mimi all about her fingernail polish (she was upset that one of her nails chipped-ha!).

Mimi & Papa brought her a basket full of goodies; her favorite was the playdough.

One of my mom's friends helped her make this cute cake!

After a leisurely lunch, we all went outside to enjoy the gorgeous weather. Then, the four of us played a Wii bowling game. It was so funny because my parents are not the video game types but they were really good at this game. I was terrible:(

Ava cheered each time we bowled, which was a lot, considering four people had ten rounds. She was exhausted and went to sleep when her head hit the pillow. I am thankful for my family and friends and such a good Easter weekend.

Our pastor's sermon on Sunday was "What if you knew you only had one month to live? What would you do differently? Live a life with no regrets." I'm certainly going to try!

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!!