One more party

So Ava's other little party was in Dallas over Memorial Day weekend.

By the time we got there, my mom had already started preparations for a cake.

When she told me her plan to make a Barbie cake, we both thought it would be a great surprise for Ava. But after some thought, my mom thought it might be more fun if Ava actually got to help.

So making your own fondant is hard work. Ava helped Grandma work in the powdered sugar.


Then after a laborious while and my mom's magic we had a Barbie cake,


Ava loved it! But she insisted in adding her own finishing touch-



"The crown"


Also known in some circles as a pencil eraser.


We had a delicious dinner, presents, and of course candle blowing and barbie cake eating.




She got "Papunzel", a Barbie, a coloring book, Princess sing-a-long DVD, and some jewelry.

We also celebrated Dan's birthday (coming up next) and enjoyed getting to see Mimi,

Looking pretty good for 4 weeks post-op!

and Mom and Dad,


and even a rainbow!

Hopefully a good sign for a good year!

Party at the Park with the Marcks!

I am a birthday party-pooper. Not by choice, really, mostly by lack of talent. I enjoy birthday parties, I just don't feel that I am very good at throwing them. I can have lofty ideas and beautiful pictures in my head, yet instead of trying to make it happen, I am apparently paralyzed and do little and/or nothing.

That's why this year, having a few little celebrations throughout the week sounded much more attainable than the be all, end all birthday party of the century.



So we started with a night at the park with none other than the Marcks. Ava would probably be completely satisfied if she never had another friend in life besides these kids.

Jorgie and Ava

Lainey is the supplier of endless laughs. She was smiling for the camera, making cute faces,


until all of the sudden she pulled this face,


and things went from sweet to "special".



We ate, played on the playground, watched the Koi fish, and petted some doggies. Luke got 2 ant bites on his face in true Luke fashion and lucky for everyone, they didn't cause any more reaction than what normally happens with ant bites.


We sang Happy Birthday,

and had cupcakes and presents.

The kids were so generous with their gifts. They each picked something out for her and she was thrilled with everything. Her favorite gift, however, deserves its background story be written down in the annals of Colton history.

Ava loves dressing up. We spend a lot of time with the Marcks, usually at their house. Among the clothes the girls dress up in, there is a dress that was given to Jorgie by her Grandma. From the first time Ava wore that dress, it became "the dress" or rather, "Jorgie's Grandma's dress". She wore it EVERY time we ever went to their house without fail. Even before we would get there, she would be asking me again and again, "Mom, you sink when we go to der house I can wear Jorgie's Grandma's dress?"

She'd ask me repeatedly, "When are you gonna make me a dress like Jorgie's Grandma's dress, wis the bells on it?" I was actually planning to try to replicate it.

It got so predictable that Val would get the dress out whenever she knew we were coming.

And since our beloved Marcks are moving away, they gave Ava, Jorgie's Grandma's dress. And I must be pregnant right now because it made me cry just to type that last sentence.

You can see Ava's disbelief in the picture.



And after a quick hug, Ava started undressing,


And because it was her birthday, we did a quick costume change,

And Ava was in heaven!

And after a bit more playing, we classified the party as a success!

When we got home and checked the mail, Ava found a package from Grandma Linda and Grandpa Don which was the cherry on top.


She was very excited to get a new book, some jewelry, and a new outfit (seen in the 4th birthday photos)! Thanks for helping us celebrate!

Ava the Brave

Two weeks ago Ava had to go to Texas Children's Hospital for some tests related to her past bladder infections, namely renal ultrasounds and a test for reflux within her urinary tract. We knew that last one would involve being catheterized and I made what I though were all the necessary arrangements to have her sedated for the procedure.

But while she went for a potty break during the ultrasounds, I doubled checked with the tech, who had bad news for us! Sedation was available but must be scheduled (thought I did that) so she would be unable to be sedated on this visit. At first I decided that we would come back another time, but after talking it over with Dan and even with Ava, she agreed that she could be very brave.

Thanks to a very talented Child Life Specialist, she did well. The actual insertion of the catheter was not pleasant for anyone, but she did as well as could be expected. I had to leave the room for the test because of the radiation, but Dan stayed with her. Immediately following the tests the doctor told us that everything looked fine. He would go over the results more thoroughly, but things looked good. Which of course is good news, but it also made us feel a twinge of regret for putting her through all of it for nothing. I guess it's not nothing-it is peace of mind.

The most difficult part was when Ava was unable to pee for the next 18 hours. She may have been having spasms but I think it was mostly just fear. She finally went the next afternoon and we haven't looked back.

Her 4th birthday was Saturday. We were in Dallas and celebrated with Mom and Dad and Mimi, who is visiting from Kentucky.

My sister Chandra is the best at family traditions and rituals. I always imagined that I would do things just like her and her husband have orchestrated in their family. But now that I am doing the Mom thing myself, I find it difficult to create and maintain traditions as I would like. But I did borrow this year from the Scholes Family Birthday Festival idea. I thought we could do little things to celebrate all week. (Which will require subsequent posts). And along the way I created my own new tradition for our family which I am going to try hard to perpetuate.

This was the first annual birthday photo shoot. I would like to have a dedicated picture taking session with each child on or near their birthday each year. I talked up the idea to Ava (who is usually not very cooperative with pictures). She complied pretty well for her and here is my four year old beauty in all her glory.









Happy Birthday to my Crazy Ava Girl!

Padre 2009

So we went.



We saw.




We enjoyed.


It was no cruise, but it was still great. In some ways it was better (24 hour access to the beach, bigger, better living accommodations)




and in some ways it was worse (getting our own food).

And after one terrible restaurant experience, we stocked up our kitchen and ate multiple times at restaurants we deemed acceptable.

Here we are at Blackbeard's, the worst food I've not been able to eat for a loooong time,



with our faithful dining comrades and travel companions, Jordan and Val,


Seriously the only reason we're smiling in these photos is because our food hadn't been served yet! Yuck!

We didn't do much more than relax, swim, and walk on the beach, which was fine with us.






Dan and I got burned pretty bad, due to our unfamiliarity with our sunscreen (water resistant instead of waterproof) and because of that we didn't go to the the big waterpark, Schlitterbahn as planned. Next time we will for sure! We did go on a dolphin cruise, though I didn't have my big camera which was sad.

In fact, I didn't take many pictures with my nice camera or even with my little PowerShot either. And when I did bust them out, the lens would always fog up from the humidity and it scared me.

Though this one turned out kind of ethereal if you ask me,



I was feeling soooo much better than I had been, as far as morning sickness goes, though still not great. And I decided I was not going to do anything that I didn't want to on this vacation and unfortunately for me now, I don't have even a quarter of the pictures I wish I did. For some sa-weet photos check out Val's blog.

All in all a good trip and a nice beach. We hope to make another trip down this summer with the kids and my parents.


And another hugenormous THANK YOU to my momma for keeping the kids!

Mother's Day Tidbits and we're off!

Our bags are packed, we're ready to go.

We're just waiting for the Marcks to come pick us up. I am anticipating that driving away as four adults will be the time when it really hits me that we're doing this.

As Luke banged on the shower door this morning and I wiped away a circle of fog to behold his cuteness, I immediately started to miss him.

I just got back from "Mother's Tea" (the Mother's Day party) at Ava's preschool. It was very cute and very fun. When I get home, I will post some pictures. But for now my favorite present was a laminated copy of Ava's answers to questions about me.

Miss Tamara wrote down their answers word for word:

I love my mommy because...I like it when her plays with me

My mommy is happy when...I obey things

My mommy is sad when...I'm being ugly

My favorite thing to do with Mommy is...give her an animal to sleep with

My mommy likes to...make cookies for me

My mommy is special because...I love her

My mommy is...26...years old

My mommy is prettiest when...her puts her make-up on

My mommy likes to make...chicken and noodles

My mommy always says...thank you for my picture

Mommy is funny when she...makes funny faces

If I had lots of money I would buy my mommy... some new earrings

My mommy is the best mommy because...her loves me forever


I am honored to be the mother of my babies. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in my life. Especially the one who is generously taking care of house and home and children while we're away. I love you!

and now, on to the beach!

Change of Plans

Just to be clear, I do not have the swine flu. My hatred was fueled by the fact that its very existence led to the complete CANCELLATION of our cruise. In Carnival's efforts to rearrange schedules and itineraries to avoid Mexico, they had to cancel 2 cruises, and we were unlucky enough to be on one of them. They did give us a refund. Though, needless to say we were all very disappointed.

I could not even type the words "canceled" and "cruise" in the same sentence until we had completely figured out something to do instead, because we are going on vacation next weekend. And we are going to have fun. No stupid flu is gonna stop us! Hopefully.

So having less than one week to plan a vacation for 4 is kind of exciting, but also pretty difficult. But after discussions and searches, we have reserved ourselves a condo on the beach on South Padre Island off the coast of Texas.


And it's not a cruise, but it will still be fun!