Ava's Continuous Birthday

We went to Chicago for Ava's birthday and afterwards she got to celebrate with her cousin brothers and Grandma and get presents from Grandpa, Grandpa and Grammy, and Great Grandpa and Nother One Grandma. She was a very lucky girl this year and loved all her birthdays.

I love Jamie's face in this photo.

Ava calls this a "Darby." How cute is that? We recently bought a bunch of toys for Toys for Tots and the Salvation Army Angel Tree. One of the things Ava picked out was a Princess Darby with lots of accessories, but she then had second thoughts about whether or not she was willing to part with it. In the end, she made the right choice and gave the doll up. But Santa, if you're reading, please bring a Princess Darby.

P.S. Ava just reminded me that she named the Darby in the above photo Calico Woman. In case you were wondering.

Yes, she hugged every present like this after she opened it.

Car Washing

When Ava saw David washing the car, she had to help. But we only had one washing mitt, so I had to give her my oven mitt : )

It's possible that more water ended up on Ava than on the car, but at least she had fun.

Tiny Dancer

Ava started dance class this year! She's in a class of 3 and 4 year olds who do ballet, tap, and tumbling. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever. The only downside (other than the cost, yikes) is that the only class that worked with our schedules is from 6:00-7:00 pm, so she's sometimes pretty worn out by the time we get there.

I don't really know why she's making this face, but I love the little outfits they wear.

Berry Picking

We had so much fun this summer with Ava's cousin brothers. This is at my grandparent's raspberry patch. I don't think we made it back to the house with any berries, the kids ate them all sun-warmed directly from the bush.

All the kids love this trail wagon of my Grandpa's and beg for rides every few minutes.

And they always get one. : )

Living Room Update

I also bought some new chairs for the living room over the summer, so I took a few pics.

It's amazing what fresh flowers can do for a room. These were from the grocery store.

The new chairs! I love them, David is not a fan. He thinks they're uncomfortable, but if it were up to him, our house would be full of La-Z-Boy Recliners and nothing else.

But Ava likes them!

The other side of the living room. (P.S. that table was only $20 at the Pottery Barn outlet).

Deck Makeover

This summer, I gave our tiny deck off the kitchen a little makeover. Here's the before and after.

Before:

Note David's stack of half-used bags of charcoal....

After:

S'more Cupcakes

I love, love cupcakes. And my favorite way to make cupcakes is to doctor box mixes. These are S'more cupcakes, but they started life as boxed spice cake mix.

Here's the recipe:

• box spice cake mix (NOT carrot cake)
• crushed graham crakers
• chocolate frosting
• Hershey's chocolate bar
• Marshmallow Fluff
• Mini Marshmallows

Mix the cake batter following the directions on the box. Fill up cupcake pan 1/4 full, then add a spoonful of Marshmallow Fluff. Cover the Fluff with more cake batter. Bake according to the directions on the box. After the cupcakes have cooled, frost, then roll the edges in the crushed graham craker. Decorate with chunks of the chocolate bar and mini marshmallows. Enjoy!