Grant’s Baptism

The day after Ava’s birthday, and on Grant’s four month birthday, we had Grant baptized!

His gown was the same one Ava and Reed wore. My mom bought it in Chinatown in San Francisco before I had Ava and the detail on it is gorgeous. 

We arrived at church early that morning and Ava wanted to snuggle her brother.  

Just a few pictures of the ceremony.   

And some photos of us with our families.

With Grant’s godparents, my brother, Nick, and my cousin, Joanie   Later that afternoon, we had a party to celebrate Grant, and we also went ahead and celebrated Ava’s, Reed’s and Caroline’s birthdays. Ava wore her sweet dress that was designed in honor of Leslie.     

My mom brought the cakes for the party from where she and dad live. This grocery store there makes THE BEST cake. I went low key with the decorations this year but they are awesome at decorating. Last year they made these incredible character cakes for the kids and they loved them.

This photo of Ainsley and Sophie (my cousin’s little girl) cracked me up. They look so serious.

The girls and Aunt Stephie 

Caroline wasn’t so sure what to think about opening presents. She quickly learned though. :) 

She LOVED this little puppy in a carrier – which was a good thing since she got three of them! haha!

Reed was hilarious with his gifts. He peeked in a bag and it was something he desperately wanted so he went around the living room asking people if they had gotten it for him, except he didn’t ask my aunt who actually had gotten it. Someone told him to ask her and he said “SHE DID NOT!” And then he asked one of my uncles who just said yes for the fun of it and Reed was just beyond excited. It was comical. When he finally opened it, he said “i’ve been dreaming and dreaming about getting this.” 

And of course Ava was excited for her turn! 

Ainsley loves Uncle Zach!! 

When it was time for blowing out the candles, Caroline cried for her turn! She didn’t like it at all. 

  

Reed loved his turn! 

And so did Ava!  

And I had to share this because we laugh at how straight faced Caroline is. It takes a lot of work to make this girl crack a smile. I took her outside to play for a few minutes and she kept going over to this gate. I had tried to get her to smile at me for a photo with my dad and she wouldn’t do it. I told my dad I was going to get a smile and peeked over the top of the gate at her and she loved it. It’s so nice to see a big smile on this precious girl’s face.

It was a very special day and we had a great time celebrating our little boy and also our big kids surrounded by our families!

Ava’s birthday celebrations

I have several things I’ve needed to blog about since last weekend, but our week last week was busy, hectic, filled with the unexpected and I just didn’t get around to it. So now I’ll attempt to catch up.

The night before Ava’s birthday, we invited over some of the girls in her class for a party. She asked for a girls only party this year and she had specific things she wanted to do so we tried to do those things she wanted.       

We started with pizza for dinner. Like Grant in the background? His daddy had to come pick him up halfway through the party because he couldn’t hang.  

Ava had asked if we could do a craft so we found some bracelet making kits. I seriously underestimated the amount of help the girls would need for these. They had fun but it wasn’t as hands on for them as I had hoped. Some of them got it and some of them needed a little more help.

The other specific request Ava had was to play bingo with M&Ms. I found some cute printable candy bingo cards on Etsy and then gave the girls a cup of M&Ms.

She looks so old to me in this photo!

And of course no party is complete without cupcakes!!! 

She had a great time with her friends and went to bed for the last time as a six year old!    

We started the morning of seven off with muffins for breakfast!

She was given some lip gloss from her friend Luci and she decided she needed to try it on that morning. She might need a little work ;)   

That morning, she and I went to get our toes done! She enjoyed the big pedicure chair and the massage it gave her!We took our annual picture with our fingers. I’m not sure what we’ll do when she goes past 10!    It’s hard to believe we’ve been parents for seven years. We are still not even close to being experets and have a lot to learn, but are loving this ride!       

She impatiently waited all day to open her gifts from us. She sure was ready!!!

And we had a few cupcakes leftover so we had to sing and blow out candles one more time!           

I think she had a pretty good birthday!!! And lucky for her, since we have family spread all out, we have a couple more celebrations coming up for her! She loves that her birthday goes on for a long time! :)