Avery's 3 1/2 birthday celebration!

This year has been full of milestones for our family.

Probably the biggest one was baby Avery becoming

Little Girl Avery.

No more crib, no more diapers, no more stroller!

Avery has grown, loudly and boldly, into a

wonderful little girl.

So smart, so sweet, so sassy!

As I say at every birthday:

Thank you God for giving me something that

I never knew I needed so much!

Avery keeps our house happy, moving and loud!

Happy 1/2 birthday sweet Aves!

The sparkler candle was really cool!

To celebrate her 1/2 birthday, we had a small

family celebration. 

I baked a strawberry, heart-shaped cake,

(just a little crispy on the edges!)

Her wonderful big sisters gave her homemade

gifts.  A collection of their own stuff she always

wants, and usually takes!

She was so excited and I don't think she was any

less happy than she was at her "real" 3rd bday party!

Claire wrote Aves card in

"mathmatical terms"

She used fraction circles to write 3 and half.

Gotta love my math whiz!

Avery is never shy in expressing her feelings.

I guess this wasn't at the top of her list!

But she loved the collection of erasers and silly bands!

Happy Birthday sweet baby!

Tradition, tradition!

I hope you all sang the title of this blog in your head, as I do.

Traditiooonnnn, Tradition!

You know how I love my Fiddler on the Roof!

As is our St. Paddy's Day tradition, the Liskey and Rouse

girls loaded up and headed downtown for the parade!

This year was especially nice with the beautiful and

much warmer weather than last year.

While the weather was nicer, the parade was about the same.

Lots of beads, beer and PG-13 views!

But, we all had a great time irregardless! : )

The crew all lined up and ready for to start, really, seriously,

when is it going to start.......

Avery was so excited!  Candy was on her mind!

 She was not as excited about the loud trucks

as she was about the candy ~

What a beautiful group of girls ~

A nice shot before the street became flooded and crazy!

Our girls held their ground fairly well.

We still ended up with pounds of Tootsie Rolls!

As with all Traditions, it's the friends that make them so great.

We love you Liskeys!

Spring Break Fun!

What a week!  What a blessing!

The girls are all tucked in their beds.

Dreaming of the fun they had, as they prepare to head back to school tomorrow.

We had such a great spring break!

No traveling for us this year.  Just stay at home fun.

And fun was definitely had!

We kicked the weekend off with a show at the Civic Center.

Avery enjoyed her first live performance, Madagascar.

The big girls enjoyed it as well and especially enjoyed

their little souvenirs!

We were very blessed with incredibly beautiful weather.

Sunny, warm, beautiful.

We spent many hours each day enjoy that forgotten backyard.

And of course, with nice weather comes the tree climbing!

We also found some fun ways to enjoy the indoors too!

Like getting together with our friends to watch Megamind

at the Clive library. The girls had a ton of fun eating popcorn

and watching the movie.

Avery wasn't sure what to think of a movie at the library,

but she quickly got over it and loved the movie!

Between all of special outings, Zoo trip with Dad, movies at the

library and the theater, we found time to just chill out and

play around too!

These last few months Dave and I have been very deliberate with

our time.  We have been very conscience of our priorities in life

and living them to the fullest.

We are all too aware of how short life can be.

We don't want to miss it!  We don't want to let another spring break

or even a boring old Tuesday, go by without breathing in the moment.

Watching the girls play.  Listening to Avery laugh.  Catching Ella

and Claire reading together and giggling. 

Thank you God for the gift of life, family and friends.

Please help us to continue to savor the moments you give us

and help us to be grateful for it each and every one.