Ava's early Birthday Party

My first born is about to turn 3 (oct 24th)....how did this happen???!!!

Though she's had the attitude of a 3 yr old for a little while, they are quite the manipulators.

I've been warned that 3 is worse than 2, I'm believing it!

So this is the cake I stressed over for a week or two. But this wasn't what I was initially going to make for her...it was going to be a Cinderella doll cake. My attempt at making that one didn't go so well, so it got put in the trash and a Castle was brought to life instead!!!

(So much easier!)

Not perfect, but I keep trying. One of these days I'm going to take classes, that's my goal anyways.

No matter any imperfections...Ava still LOVED it!
And it was eatable.

Like the mess on my shirt? Not sure what that is, must be water.

Showing off my wanna be talents!

So this all took place after Mya's blessing with all the family there.

Ava loved all her gifts, thanks!

(I swore I wasn't going to buy her another doll or baby, but I saw Sleeping Beauty

and decided she needed it, as if she really does!)

My Mom made this cute card. Went perfectly with the cake!

This cute dress had a matching dress for her dolls, how fun.

As you can see, she got lots of fun stuff. Which is now spread all over my house.

Time to go through the toys and hide ones we don't play with now.

I'll do a post after she actually turns 3 about herself!

Mya's Blessing!

Yesterday we blessed my beautiful baby Mya! It was a special day

for all of us. We're so blessed to have the family that we do.

Above is Mya's Great-Grandpa Clift.

Grandma Workman (my mom) and Mya


Grandpa Bill (my stepdad) & Mya napping together!

Me, Mya & my sis Melissa

The family that came for the blessing! Thanks everyone!

And somehow we fit all 22 of us in my tiny house for lunch and a party for Ava.

We had a great time visiting and eating.

4 Generations of ladies!

Ava, Jer, Me, Mya, my Dad & stepmom

Our first pic as a family of four!

And now for the main person....Miss Mya

Isn't her dress BEAUTIFUL???? My Mommy made it for Ava and now Mya gets to wear it.

I'm bummed because I never took individual pics of Ava wearing it,

so my sis and Mom made sure to take these of Mya.

More blog posts to follow from our weekend....it was a busy one. We also celebrated Ava's 3rd birthday a week early, wait till you see the cake I made!

We're still surviving! :)

Aunt "Lissa" is here for the weekend to meet Mya and see her blessed.
But Mya's not sure what to think of her???

This is what happens to you when you sit on the floor, playing on the computer and not paying attention to what your daughter is doing to you.

Oh so sweet Mya! (Or at least she's sweet a couple times a day)

First real smile captured on camera!!!

It takes alot of work to get her happy enough to smile though.

For those that don't know the book "Babywise", it's all about getting your baby on a routine and getthing them to sleep well. So this is me stressed out, trying to find out what to do with my child. You can't see her screaming face, but the arched back says it all! We've knicked named her "Cranky Pants", while Ava is now called "Sassy Pants". We're in trouble!

Mya's trying to get revenge and eat Ava up!

But aren't they a cute pair????!!!

Life over here is a bit stressful right now. Mya is proving to be quite the cranky baby and likes to spend most the evening fussing and crying, sometimes until 12 or 1 am. It's reallly frustrating! Especially since most nights I end up sleeping on the couch with her in the swing. I know this is only going to make sleep training harder, but what else can I do? I'm trying to cut dairy because she spits up alot and has lots of gas, and I think it's helped some. Oh but I miss real ice cream! But we still love her and can't wait to get past these first couple of months!!!

As for Ava....she's POTTY TRAINED!!!! Jeremy was off for another two weeks and finally put Ava in panties. She had one potty accident and one near #2 accident. Only problem is she'll back up her system for a few days at a time until her tummy really hurts, then she'll go and be so proud of herself. She's even waking up most mornings dry and at nap times. So Awesome!!!!Can't believe she'll be 3 in just over week! We keep talking about her birthday and having a party. So everytime we go shopping she grabs toys or candy and declare "I need this for my birthday." She even learned how to hold up just 3 fingers to show people her soon to be age. She still loves her sister a little too much, but gets mad when she's told to back away and let her breath some. It's a battle everyday. We still love her too, though she makes me want to pull my hair out multiple times a day.

The rest of us (Jer & I) are just plain surviving. We did recently find out that Jeremy's upcoming 3-week training for work will be in SEATTLE and not CA or some other far away place. I'm quite nervous about it though, because it's right after Thanksgiving that he goes there and that's the same time I go back to work. It's going to be rough, but we'll spend my long weekends up there in his plush hotel with him. But at least we'll get to see him!

Sorry this is long, just felt like updating recent events! Now on to bless Mya this weekend and spend time with lots of family members....fun!!!





Ooops, this pic got left behind! So cute how Mya fell asleep on Daddy!

Family Fun Day!!!

We've lived in Portland for 6 years now, but have never visited Oaks Amusement Park.

Though really it's like a year-round permanent Carnival, not the best rides, but fun for little ones. A Mom at a local park informed me that during the Summer this place has "Preschool" mornings for the kids under 6 yrs old, for only $6.25 for 2 hours of rides. So the very last day of it, we decided to give it a try.

And I'm soooooo glad we did, just wish we would have sooner so we could go again for that cheap (and not so many people). Ava had a BLAST!!! She was freaked out on a few rides, like the minature roller coaster and some dark mining ride. But she ran from ride to ride, at times cutting in line (oops). So fun.

I was suprised she wanted to try this one, but it doesn't drop them fast, so not too scary.

It was a great 2 hours of fun for us all, I even got to ride a couple rides with her.

Below is Ava & I on the train.

The 3 of us just chilling on the couch, though Mya is too happy, probably caused by Ava climbing all over us.

Me and my girls at the Park. (Boy do I need to dye my hair again...)

Nothing else too new. Still struggling with a decent nighttime routine and alot of fussing. We are getting excited for Mya's blessing on Oct. 17th. Both my parents will be coming, my sis from UT and my brother & family from WA. Plus family from across town. Good times!!!

Lots more cuteness to be seen!

Just chill'n with Daddy.
And with big sis too...

Showing off her new "Big Sister" jammies!

So glamorous!

Love how Ava is all smiles while Mya is crying and getting her face smashed.

Poor baby, somehow she's still alive!

Sleeping is oh so good.

Mom tortured Mya for a photo shoot, so not professional though.

Hardly ever this alert, still a big sleepy head.

Look at that smile, don't think it was intentional by any means, but adorable!

(I bought this cute outfit before she was born thinking September would still have some warm days left, well it took till the end of the month to get a almost 80 degree day. But by noon she had spit up all over it, so she got changed, oh well.)

Wow, can you say HAPPY??? We thought she'd love a pony ride, some place nearby

had them in the parking lot for a sale event. So we took Ava and she didn't smile once!!!

Then the horse shook a little bit and Ava jumped off onto Jeremy, she freaked and wouldn't get back on! Chicken! And she was hoping she'd get a pink pony to ride, bummed that they didn't have one!

News: We are still suffering with Mya wanting to be awake from 10 pm to 1 or 2 am. Last night she cried almost the whole time, but thankfully I was sleeping and Jer was taking care of her. Not sure what to do about it, but it's wearing on us fast. Jeremy has the next 2 weeks off, which is AWESOME, so hopefully we'll both find time to sleep.

Ava is a very loving, involved big sis, but it drives me crazy at times. Occasionally I'll be feeding Mya and Ava will be climbing on my shoulders and kicking & squirming all over. She's still a bit too aggressive with Mya at times, so we are always on guard. I have to keep Mya locked in the room with me when I take a shower, so Ava can't get to her....which pisses off Ava! Oh the fun we are having here! Still love my girls though!!!!

So let's compare!

My Mom is certain Mya looks just like me as a baby. This picture doesn't do it justice though, I have some others that really look like we are baby twins. And that's Ava in the middle, not Mya.

Like I said in a previous post, Ava & her cuz Kiera are 7 months apart and so is Mya and her cuz Liam. So we had to take the same pic again with the 2 babies.

These 2 pics of Jer & Mya and Jer & Ava don't match alot, but cute nonetheless!

Don't know about any one else, but I think they look pretty dang similiar.

Mya is up top and Ava below. Ava did have quite the cheeks to begin with, which

makes her face look different from Mya's.

Either way, my girls are just too cute!

More updated pics to come soon....

Calling all Crafty Ladies!

So I'm the "Enrichment" Leader at church and need some help from the crafty ladies out there. We were going to do a "Super Saturday", but it's not going to work out this year. But we might do a crafty night for our November activity. So I'm looking for easy, yet fun & cute crafts to do that require little time. Vinyl lettering is always a hit, I've seen a few cute ideas. But does anyone have any new, awesome ideas for crafts? I'm so brain dead right now, I need all the help I can get. Thankfully there are lots of websites out there with ideas also. Thanks for any ideas you can give!!!!