It's Always Fun When Grandma Comes!!

Finally!! The day we had all been waiting for, and counting down to for forever (75 days to be exact) had finally arrived!  May 4th, the day Grandma was flying to Kalgoorlie!  Yay!  Lily and Ava even made special meet grandma at the airport shirts that said, I love Grandma.  We were so excited.  We had to wait all day long until 5:30 at night to pick Grandma up at the airport, but finally the time had arrived.

 We waited excitedly as people came off the plane.  We even saw some friends, but still no grandma!

 Finally, one of the last ones to exit the plane, Grandma made it!!  The girls are jumping for joy!

 After, who knows how many hours flying, (too many to write out, it's painful!) Grandma got to have her first Sofie snuggle!  Makes it all worth it!  Just like childbirth!  ;)

 Grandma came bearing gifts, from her and Grandma Rappleye.

 Thank you, Grandma Rappleye for the Lala Loopsy and all the other fun and exciting things you sent for us!

 Grandma's suitcase was full of her handiwork!  Just thought I would showcase a few of her amazing master pieces.

 I specifically asked for American stuff we could sport on the 4th of July.  Aren't these amazing?

 The Sofie Snail bug bag!  Lily has assigned all the kids in the family an insect.  She is a ladybug, Ava is a butterfly, not sure about Will, he seems to always be changing, but last I asked he was a bumblebee and now Sofie gets to be a snail.

 Grandma even brought some much needed new suits for Bishop Rowe.

Thank you, Grandma, for enduring the long, miserable flight to come visit us and for giving up all of your suit case space to bring us wonderful things from America!  We love you!

Ava's 5th Birthday

Oh, how we love our Ava girl!  I don't think a more perfect blend of spunk and sweetness could possibly exist.  Ava is our happy, fun-loving, friendly, non-stop laughter, relentless tease, tender-hearted little girl. Ava is currently obsessed with unicorns.  She loves her friends and is always making plans for parties and social events to invite her friends to.  Ava has quite the sweet tooth and loves to bake anything tasty, especially cupcakes and cookies.  She hates trying anything new and can only be talked into it by her older sister, Lily.  She loves hugs and cuddles.  Her favorite shows are My Little Ponies, Peppa Pig, and Ninjago.  Ava loves learning and sharing what she learns with others.  We all love the way she talks and pronounces things and we hope it will never change.  We love her so much and are glad she is a part of our family.  

Here's Ava at school, passing out her treat for her birthday.  We made shape sugar cookies and they were delicious.  

 Here's Ava with her birthday cake, with a unicorn on top.

 Here she is with her presents.

 I think Will was the most excited. :)

 Cake time!

 Licking the frosting off her unicorn.

It was a great birthday.  We can hardly believe our little Ava is 5!

Back to School

The next day, after Ava's tea party, the girls went back to school. I was nervous about school drop off and pick up with four kids, but it went so smoothly. like a dream.  We were early even.  I couldn't believe it!  That first week back was so smooth!

Both girls wanted to share Sofie for their news time the first chance they could get.

 I love these pictures of Ava showing her class her new sister.  She is such a proud sister and Sofie looks like a doll!  Eeek!  So cute!

 Here's Lily sharing Sofie with her class.  She was also so adorable.  She was such a proud sister and she was rocking her back and forth, it was so cute!

 Now that the girls were back to school, Will, Sofie and I decided to dust off the old double jogger.  I was just going to walk, but I was feeling so good this time around that I decided to jog a bit.  It felt good!  :)

 My little troopers!

 Sweet little Sofie!

 Here are a few other fun pics of Sofie sporting her teeny tiny jeggings!  They are so adorable!

Ava's Morning Tea

So Ava wanted to have a few friends over for a tea party to celebrate her 5th birthday.  She had been talking about a tea party for her birthday since Christmas when she got her tea set from Santa.  I thought it sounded easy enough and I decided to plan it early during school holidays so that I wouldn't have a baby and spoil everything.  Well, it turns out, I did have a baby and spoiled everything the day before the scheduled tea party.  So we rescheduled for the last day of school holidays, April 28th.

So I baked way too many cupcakes (I'd rather have too many than too little) and some of the other mums stayed and helped and it was a smashing success.


Ava's friend, Annabelle, came early and helped us frost all those millions of cupcakes.

 Here's the table all set up.

 It's very darling and girly, isn't it?

 Here are the first guests, Sonya on Ava's right, and Annabelle on Ava's left.

 Will thought he was part of this thing and so we let him sit there til the other guests arrived which worked out well since he was done by the time they got there.

 Ava's other tea party guests, Lara, Shylah, and Stephanie.

 Lily served them all tea and cupcakes and fruit and veg.  Then she took them all on a treasure hunt she organized.  Lily is one of the best party planners ever, I love having her around.  

 Then we made this awesome butterfly craft and then the girls just played til it was time to go.   This butterfly was Will's...I think he ate some of the candy out of one wing before I snapped this pic. Haha!

 Here's Ava after her party.  Could she be anymore girly?  Princess dress, fairy wings and arms full of ponies!! Love it!  That's so Ava!