Avery's 9th birthday party

What a fantastic weekend we've had!  Friday started off with Avery and Abby's birthday party at Main Event.  Bowling, pizza, donuts & games.  Had the place all to ourselves at 4:00 and the kids loved it!  It's so fun to watch them with their friends and how close they all are.

 

Finished off the party with a surprise gift for Abby & Avery with 1st concert tix to see Meghan Trainor.  To say they were surprised would be an understatement!

 

Last Day as an 8-year old

How has the time flown by so quickly that my baby is turning 9 tomorrow?  I'm so proud and honored to be her Mommy!  She is beautiful, kind, big-heart, her own person, loving, goofy, smart, happy, I could go on and on.

We went to her favorite restaurant, Grimaldi's, tonight with Darmi & Poppy and enjoyed a beautiful evening.  Tomorrow's a big day!

Mother's Day Poetry Tea

This morning I got to go to Avery's school for a Mother's Day Poetry Tea.  Avery made a special book just for me with all sorts of poems in it.  They served us raspberry tea and cookies and we listened to each of them read a couple of their poems.  Such a sweet morning!

Happy Thanksgiving and lots of Football!!

We had a really nice, cozy Thanksgiving this year.  It was definitely bittersweet without Rich and we missed him dearly.  Tim gave a beautiful toast in honor of him and dedicated our meal to him and we all cheers-ed and enjoyed just being together with one another.  

Part of our spread…we always seem to have way more food than necessary but isn't that the meaning of Thanksgiving - leftovers!!

Love these 2 women so much.  They mean the world to me!

This is Tim and I's favorite holiday and we love hosting our families.  So in Love!

Typical Ella fashion, she was too busy dressing up and showing off to join our family pic

2 Fabulous Men

And, as if there wasn't enough football on Thursday and Friday we had the Joneses and the family back over on Saturday to cheer on the Buckeyes!  What a wonderful afternoon catching up and hanging out. We can't wait to do it again next year!

Bowling with the Kiddos

We took the girls bowling for the 1st time up at our favorite bowling alley, Splitsville.  

7:00 A.M.

7:00 A.M. - it's when the alarm goes off in our room for us to get up and Tim get ready for work.  Every morning, ALL summer, Avery would wake up no later than 7:15 to come down and hang out with Tim before he left for work.

Yesterday, she was talking about how she has to wake up by 7:00 so she can see him before he leaves for work because if she wakes up at closer to 7:30 he is already out the door and she has to see him before he leaves or she is so sad.

This morning, at 7:00 on the dot, the pitter patter of her feet coming down the stairs filled the house as Tim and I snoozed before getting out of bed.

She loves her Daddy so much and it's so sweet that she makes a point of waking up every morning to see him off before work.  Over the summer I would love to just lay in bed and listen to them talking in the bathroom while he got ready

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Yesterday, she came home and changed into her "Daddy's Girl" shirt because it was a special Daddy/Daughter day for them.  She's been excited all week waiting to go back to school shoe shopping with him.  And, then, they decided to go have lunch together and shop around at Watters Creek.

I love that they are such Best Friends and I hope they continue to be forever!  

Little Hands

The past few nights when I've put Ella to bed I sit with her for a few minutes to chat with her about our day.  I love to look at her sweet, toddler face and smell her sweet baby smell.  I know so soon she will be as big as Avery and the baby parts of her will be gone.  She talks and talks and talks...when did this start happening I wonder?

The other night she said, "close your eyes Mommy".  And, of course I willingly obliged.  Then the softest touch of her little hands caressed my forehead, then my cheeks, my nose, my lips, covered my ears, smoothed down my hair, over my shoulders and down my arms and then one more sweep across my lips and she said "open your eyes Mommy...you are ready to sing" :)

Every night I try to get her to do it again because it just melts my heart.  Being the toddler that she is I strike out sometimes but mostly she does it and then asks me to do the same to her and after we sing 'Call Me Maybe' because that is her choice.