Happy Birthday Ava!

Today is Ava's actual birthday.  She face timed with my parents and opened her gift from them.  She is in LOVE with the bracelet that they gave her!

Zach got her this hat that she saw at a local shop.

Andrew got her a bracelet too...Ava is all decked out now!

Greg and I got Ava tickets to go see Piano Guys in April and these 2 skirts that are made out of recycled saris.  They are really fun and bright - just up her alley.

Ava got to pick dinner and she decided she wanted to go out.  They brought her this special dessert - she was pretty happy.  We love our Ava and can't believe she's 11...Happy birthday Ava!!!

Buca di Beppo

We took the kids out to dinner to celebrate the end of the quarter and decided to go to Buca di Beppo.  Greg and I hadn't been in years and it was delicious!  

We had a lot of fun and did some great celebrating!  Nice job kids!!

Carnival Fun

Ava had her school carnival on Saturday.  We met up with friends and the girls all walked around together and had a great time.  They had to try a few times, but eventually they all won a cake at the cake walk.  It was the highlight of the carnival!  They are such great girls and they had a wonderful time together.

Bunnies!

Ava's piano teacher has bunnies and they just got a new one.  Ava was excited to go out and see both bunnies.  

They really are cute and so, so soft!

This is the new one.

It has longer fur and is unbelievably cuddly.  Ava was in bunny heaven!

A gift for Lindsay

Lindsay showed me this "recipe" from an episode of 'Friends' where Rachel accidentally puts beef with peas and onions as one of the layers in an English trifle for Thanksgiving.  She wanted it for a Thanksgiving decoration, but we never got around to making it.  I remembered and gave it to her for her birthday last week.  It was so fun to have something that I knew she would want and would be excited about.  She was as excited as I thought she would be.  Happy Birthday Lindsay!

PJs, Popcorn and Personal Progress

We had our first Personal Progress activity and I got Greg in on it!  

I had an idea of how I wanted to make this container, and he helped make it happen.  This is made from the old floor boards that we pulled up in the house.  Add some paint, jars and vinyl...

And we have a new display for Personal Progress!  The girls were excited to use it and have little pom poms as the tracker for how much they've accomplished.  It was well worth the work.  

At the end of the night, we had all of the girls updated on the online system, had the poster tracking their progress updated, had introduced the new pom pom system and got 19 new experiences signed off.  It was a great night with these awesome girls!

A clay bouquet

Ava got some model magic at her birthday party and has been making some good creations.  This was my favorite...a clay bouquet!  Love it.  

The art of asking a date to prom

Andrew didn't have a typical experience in asking Kelli to prom.  One of her friends asked if he thought it would be fun to go with her and he said yes.  Before he knew it, they were going to prom together.  He is excited to go, but didn't do the "official asking".  Like in many other places, it is typical here to do some type of a gesture when you ask.  He thought it seemed silly because they had already established they were going together, but I knew she was really hoping for something special anyway (I have the YW down-low now).  Andrew and I brainstormed and decided he could do a countdown instead of an ask...time to make a candy chain!

She loves Ghiradelli and Dove chocolates, so that's what we used.  48 days till prom!

A little poster making needed to be done too.

He's off to give her the candy chain!

Kelli was really excited and Andrew was glad he did it.  They are going to have a great time at prom.  Let the countdown begin!

Ava's Birthday Party

Ava has been planning her party for months!  She wanted to go and see 'A Wrinkle In Time'.  Her wish is my command.  We went to Flix Brewhouse so we could all eat lunch there too.  After, we came back to the house for dessert and presents.  

The kids went downstairs and played while we got things ready, then they came up and got ready for cupcakes!  

Ava wanted ice-cream cake from Cold Stone.  They have these cute cupcakes that are perfect!  

Make a wish!

All the kids at the party...

Greg got a little over excited while eating his cupcake!

 

After cake, it was time for presents.  

What a great group of kids!  

They played until their parents picked them up!  Ava had a wonderful time.  

I love this girlie and am so glad we could throw the party she wanted.  

YW notebooks

We had our first YW activity for the Laurel class since I got called.  We did it here at the house and the girls decorated notebooks to use in class.  It was a suggestion from a training meeting that would allow the girls to write down ideas, quotes, etc., and to not get distracted by their phones during class.  It also gives the girls an opportunity to write down a private question and give it to me or the adviser and have us personally answer them.  I have had 2 girls do that so far.  I think it's going to be a great tool for all of us.  

3 and Counting

When we were shopping in Zionsville, we came upon a jewelry shop that had bins of silver jewelry you could sort through.  Greg helped me and we found a charm bracelet that would work for me.  I had enough loose charms that I knew it would completely fill up a third bracelet.  I brought it home and got all of the charms on.  It definitely filled it up!  Now I am ready to get new charms and a new bracelet.  3 and counting...oh how I love these bracelets!

New Beginnings

I got called as the YW President just two weeks before New Beginnings.  The program had been set, but the assignments hadn't been given out and of course the event hadn't happened yet.  That was my part!  Luckily I have a great presidency and we have great young women.  Here is the program and the chairs - all ready for the people to arrive.  

Kail made the refreshments as one of her 10 hour projects!

Julie, my secretary, is a wonderful artist and provided the statues and paintings as decorations.  Pretty amazing to get original artwork for an event.  

The program went really well and the girls did a great job!

Here is a picture of all the girls that were able to make it.  What a cute bunch!

There was an amazing sunset happening right while we were having our dessert.  I had to step outside and snap a picture.  

Back inside, everyone was enjoying each other's company and the delicious treats!  The evening was a great success and it sure felt great to have it under my belt too.  Mission accomplished.  

I got sent home with some flowers, so the next day I had this pretty reminder to wake up to.  What a nice way to remember a great evening.  

Cyndi and Cortney Day 3

Sunday was a busy day for me, so I actually didn't get to spend much time with Cortney and Cyndi.  Greg and the kids did though!  Greg and the kids met me at sacrament meeting (I had meetings before) and then they went home after.  They went out with Cyndi and Cortney and showed them more of Carmel and Indianapolis.  

I had New Beginnings that night, so I was at church late setting up too.  I ran home for about an hour and then needed to get back.  

That did give us enough time to play 'Shut Your Mouth' though!  We had some very good laughs.  

When I got home, we played some more games.  We were playing 'Telestrations' and Ava kept describing the item when she couldn't remember what word to use.  She wrote little novels.  

This was a pretty good little vending machine - too bad it wasn't the original clue!  We had a lot of fun and definitely laughed a lot.  

We had to top the night off with some delicious Handel's ice cream!

They got up early the next morning and were out the door for the long drive back to MN.  It was so wonderful to have them here.  

Cortney left me this little message and it warmed my heart.  It was a wonderful visit with people we love dearly.