Big Girl Bed

Guess who got a big-girl-bed!!!...Livi! She loves it! Unfortunately it's changed our nightly routine, I have to stay in the room until she falls asleep. And if she doesn't, then she gets rocked by Daddy until she does. So much for watch-the-news-before-bed time; this is also the reason for the lack of posts lately, I'm too tired after she finally does go down. Oh well, this too will pass.

The rest of the birthday story

So I'm a little behind in posts...busy and stressed. But wanted to say thanks to family + friends for celebrating Livi's birthday, and thank you for all of the gifts! She was so excited, and really got the hang of opening packages. Thanks for the "helper" gifts for big sis, Ava, too.

Thanks for the soccer ball + horse, Aunt Lis + Uncle Andy.

Miss Glamour:

Thanks for the fashionable hat + shades, MeYou + Grandpa.

Thanks MeYou + Grandpa for the basketball hoop and big wheels!

And thanks Granny + Papa for the playhouse...the "pinkalicious playhouse!" Being the designer I am, the regular, out-of-the-box playhouse would not do, so I had Daddy pink it up....

They LOVE it!

Thanks for sharing in our celebration, Mel, Kiley + Cole...we missed you Denny!

It's a ladybug...in case you were wondering about the cake.

So who do you think is more excited, Livi or Mommy:

Livi, like her mother, has a thing for shoes....even her guests':

March for Babies 2009

Here we are, the "marchers." I wish the weather was a bit nicer; it was drizzling the whole time, but at least it wasn't hot. That may have been worse. I had a couple coworkers with me that were really nice to hang with us, and even take turns with the stroller. Not much else to report on the walk, other than all the great positive energy around. I'm excited for next year.

And thanks again to all my "sponsors"!! With your help I raised over $200!!! Twice as much as my goal!! Thank you, to Amy, Mom, Lisa + Courtney for your very donations! I absolutely couldn't have done it without you, and I was so encouraged by your generosity!

Ava has been having fun going to her friends' birthday parties, and actually I have fun too! We celebrated Mallory's 3rd birthday at a gymnastics place a couple of weeks ago. We've never been there before, so Ava was especially excited to check it out. They have a big foam block pit that you can swing into; I really didn't think Ava would do, but after watching all the other kids go several times she finally got up the nerve:

Here is the birthday girl, aren't her curls cute:

Ava and her friend, Ella:

Thank you, Richards Family!

I wanted to give a big THANK YOU to the Richards Family for sponsoring me at the March of Dimes, March for Babies walk coming this weekend! I, along with my colleagues from work, will be walking 5 miles to raise awareness for babies born prematurely.

Courtney + Matt's little Meredith was born prematurely in Italy last year. I can not imagine how scary that was for them, especially being so far away from all of their family and friends back in the US. I checked in on posts about Meredith constantly, and as you can see she appears to be a very healthy, thriving little girl.

I added the March for Babies "badge" sometime last week to my blog....mostly I just figured my mothers would sponsor me. Ha, I haven't really even mentioned it to them yet; we are also raising money at work through things like buying the right to wear jeans. Anyway, I was really surprised to see such a generous donation from a friend.

So, again, Courtney, thank you SO much! It really means a lot to me, and now I have someone in mind as me and the girls walk our 5 miles. We'll be doing it for Meredith and so other families maybe won't have to go through what you did in the future! (Courtney - I'm so sorry about the previous mix up too, I've never known so many Courtneys!)

Thank you!

A big THAN YOU to Aunt Jill + Uncle Robert for the birthday surprises!! Thank you so much for the cute book, little puppy and ponies! And thanks for including the "helper's gift". The little girls where SO excited!

Happy Easter!

Ava's Egg

Ava made an Easter egg at school this week. She brought it home in a bag with plastic grass; she was SO proud of it.

Livi's Day

Livi was greeted with balloons and gifts from Gracie this morning, thank you Gracie!

They sure love Gracie, their nanny, and that makes me so happy. We are blessed to have her! We're having a small party for Livi this weekend, but Gracie arranged a party with the kids they play with during the week, and their nannies, for today. The girls were so excited! All I had to do was make cupcakes, and Gracie did the rest!! Oh, Daddy picked out the Tinkerbell tableware. Thanks Daddy. Ava's special request...a pinata.