Friends, Parties, and Fireworks!!

We had a great weekend!! We kicked off the weekend with Ava's first Tball practice. It was kind of crazy because it was pouring rain so they held it in the gym at the Y. Basically it was a meet and greet with the coaches. After practice we invited Gavin and his parents over to cook out and swim. Unfortunately, swimming wasn't in the cards because of the lightening. But the kids had a blast playing!

Saturday morning brought the first Tball game. It was crazy!!! There are so many kids and half of them do not know what is going on. Ava included. I may have to up my anxiety meds for this one. There was a ball that went zooming past Ava's head and she wasn't paying attention. My heart may have stopped for a second.

She seemed to enjoy it but she kept saying she likes soccer more. I think she likes to run! LOL!

We had a quiet afternoon gearing up for parties on Saturday night!! First off, a graduation party. We were there for about 5 minutes and Ava was introduced to the kittens. We didn't see her the rest of the party. She was in love!!

After the graduation party, we headed to Wehner's annual Fourth of July party. Horses, clowns, bounce houses, and fireworks! THey know how to have a party!! Ava had a blast!! She came up to me as we were leaving and said "I really liked this party!" She got to play with friends, old and new!

Up for today? Ava's five yr pictures. How is this possible? Stay tuned...I'm sure they will be super adorable!!

It's Friday!!!

My number one confession today just happened about 30 minutes ago....

1. I really, truly got so grossed out this morning on my way to work. I was sitting at the stop light and a car pulled up next to me. I looked. And then cringed. Inside was a 400+ lb man, hairy with no shirt. Ewwww....Put a shirt on!!! And then since I overthink everything, I started thinking "Where in the heck is he going with no shirt on?" You can't go into a store or a restaurant or even a gas station. Whatever. Gross.

2. Here is my favorite story of the week. We invited The Grigson family (from soccer and now Tball) over tonight after practice. I figured it would be hot and the kids could swim and we can cook out. Well, Jen called me about 10 minutes after soccer practice to tell me this story:
She was putting Gavin in his seat and said "Friday night after Tball, we are going over to Ava's to swim and eat dinner" and Gavin replies "The black Ava?" Bahahaha!!! I've been laughing about this all week!! She is so dark from swimming, too! Love Gavin!!

3. I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. We have so much going on and Ava's birthday is coming up! Of course, I haven't slacked on my planning for that but it's been crazy at The Ho's. I had to take a break this week and bail on my Ladies Night Out with my FCC mama's. I was bummed but my house needed attention and it was the only night I could do it. Once Ava's birthday is over, we are done with big stuff for awhile. And then we can relax....

Have a fantastic weekend!!!

Last Night of Soccer

Tonight was Ava's last day of soccer. I'm so bummed for her. Ava absolutely loved soccer!! I may have to check around and see if there is somewhere else she can play. Her game got rained out at half time, but afterwards was a potluck and she got a medal. She had great coaches who really helped her grow! But we don't get too much of a break....she starts T Ball tomorrow!

We really clicked with another family at soccer. The Grigson family is awesome! And us moms may have played it out so they are on same T Ball team. Here is Ava and Gavin:

Stay tuned for the the T Ball updates!!

Daddy's Little Helper!

Ava stayed home with Daddy on Wednesday and they went over to Sara and Eric's to help with some yard work. I called to check on them a few times and I kept hearing she is being a great helper! What?? Well, he proved it to me by capturing these pictures!!

After a long, hot day, they headed home to swim! Even the neighbor came over to swim!

I'm so glad Daddy let Ava help him! And of course my little tomboy loved it!!

Happy Birthday, Nana!!

Last night we went to El Camino and celebrated Nana's birthday!! We kept it low key per Nana's request. But we still needed a cookie cake!

Happy Birthday to the best Nana in the world!!

Monsters, Birthdays, and Baby!!!

I was going to do a weekend recap, but you already know how I spent my Saturday. :)

Sunday was family day since I missed my girl so much from the day before! First up! Monsters Univeristy!! I loved it! Ava got a little scared at times. Mostly when they were scaring the kids. Not hard to believe, right?

From there we headed to Evan's 5th birthday party! Everyone in the family was there, except for Sara, Eric, and Sam. But that's to be expected, right? Evan is starting kindergarten in the fall and Ava is having a hard time understanding why he is going in the fall and she isn't because she is going to be 5. John and I have decided to hold her a year. She isn't good with change and since we aren't sure when we go to China we decided it was best. Don't what to give the girl too much to handle this year. Anyhow, back to Evan's birthday! It was just a small get together with cake and ice cream. Oh, and swimming. Lots of swimming....

After Evan's party, I had went almost 24 hours without seeing Sam and it was time that Ava got to meet him. So, we headed to the hospital. Funny story first...

Sara delivered at Bay Park. This hospital is behind Meijer and share a driveway. I pulled into the parking lot and Ava says:

"She had the baby at WalMart?"
Haha!!!! Cracked me up!

Ava loves him so much! All she keeps asking is "When do I get to hold Baby Sam?" So sweet. I hope you had a great weekend too!!

Samuel Forester Smithers

Friday night Ava and I went to bed about 10:30. I left the door open and didn't put my ear plugs in. It's like I knew something....:)

At 12:07 a.m, my phone rang. Sara's water broke!!! The plan from the beginning was that I was to be in the delivery room with her. I was an instant nervous wreck! John was working nights, what was I going to do with Ava???

Since it was going to be a long night, they admitted Sara to the hospital and told everyone to get some sleep and come up in the morning. I picked up Sara's mom at 8:30 and we headed to the hospital. The midwife told us to get ready for a long day. Sara was only dilated to 2. Her contraction were pretty mild at this point. Some strong ones, but she was handling it ok.

We all hung out until around lunchtime and we decided to head to lunch. Sara's mom stayed back but asked us to bring her a tuna sandwich if we went anywhere. We decided to go to El Camino, but stopped at a deli on the way back for Shirley. Well, when we got back they had given Sara some Nubain. Also know as a medical margarita. She was hilarious!! Here is the conversation:

Sara (eyes closed, slurring words): Where did you go to lunch?
Me: El Camino, but we brought your mom back a tuna sandwich.
Sara: El Camino has tuna now????

Bahaha!!!

Poor Sara labored all day but nothing was changing. At 6:30 they decided it was best to do a C Section, as her water had been broken for so long. We were all kicked out as the Mommy and Daddy to be prepped for the big arrival.

At 7:15 pm on June 22, 2013, Samuel Forester Smithers made his appearance weighing in at 7 lbs, 3 oz. and 21 inches long. I love him so much!! Mom and baby are both doing well!!

Confessions!!

1. I confess I had a major case of the birthday blues this year. MAJOR. I didn't want the day here. I didn't want anyone to acknowledge it. I felt like it was a burden. And I may have shed a few tears more than once. I truly have no idea why. It wasn't a milestone so it came out of left field. Thank you to my poor husband who put up with me and to my awesome neighbor who came through with the birthday cake. I woke up Tuesday about as happy as they come. Whew...maybe I  need to up the anxiety meds. :)

2. Speaking of birthday cake. It was my only request. It may have been one of the reasons I cried. I love cake. I love birthday cake. Seriously, my favorite food. When I found out my husband dropped the ball on my cake and watched him calling every local bakery (which are closed on Monday's), I was so bummed. It's all I wanted. Cake. He said he would go to Kroger. When you love cake as much as I do, you don't want Kroger cake. You want bakery cake. How selfish am I at this point?? But behind my back I found out my neighbor and John were in cahoots and she showed up with a cake from Michaels. With my exact wishes. Chocolate cake, white frosting. Neighbor of the year award goes to....Kelly Rowland. No, not that one. She was never part of Destiny's Child.

3. While it was nice having family in town, I confess I am soooo happy we have our lives back to normal. Only one small party this weekend. It's time to catch up on snuggles with my girl, laundry, sleep, and sun time.

4. I'm not sure who is more excited for Monster's University, myself or Ava. I can guarantee, my girl and I will be lined up this weekend to take in a little Mike Wazowski and Sully!!

5. I'm on a roll, huh?? This morning I got a call from school that Ava got hit in her eye with a toy. "She can't open it" "It's red and swollen" "it could be scratched". I blew out of my meeting, ran to my car (IT'S HER EYE!!!), calling the Dr. on the way. I get to daycare and she is running around my mom's office like nothing happened. I couldn't even tell which eye. Truly. She had a big smile on her face. So, I cancelled the Dr. Appt, gave the whole "Mommy has a job and you can't do this" lecture, shipped her out to the playground, and went back to work. I did all this in...are you sitting down....23 minutes! I don't even know if my boss knew I left.

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days...

Mani/Pedi night -- She is so into the different colors!

 My birthday cake from Ava's view

 She must have thought we were getting married because she slapped some frosting on my nose!

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend! I will!!!



Walking the Dogs!

Tonight Nana stayed with Ava and Evelyn sine all of the adults had plans. Aunt Tammy came over to visit and brought the dogs. The girls had a blast going for a walk with them!

Evelyn goes home tomorrow. While we'll be sad to see them go, I'm ready for my life to be back to normal and get my girl back. She and Evelyn are attached at the hip so there has been a lacking in the snuggle department.

My Friday Confessions (Monday Style)

I'm catching up on my blog after the weekend...So let's confess...

1. This isn't my confession, but my mom's. I love this story! A few months back she had a bone spur in her heal. She had many of issues and pain and ended up getting shots in her foot to help subside the pain. It worked. Well, a few days ago her foot started to hurt again. She was really worried that the bone spur was back. She struggled for a few days and then realized when she wore a different pair of shoes that there was no pain. Are you ready?? My mom confesses that she had a thumb tack in the bottom of her shoe. That was where her pain was coming from!! Bahahaha!!!

2. The day before the party, my mom came over to see what we needed help with. I really needed to clean my bedroom and bathroom. So yes, my mom cleaned my bathroom. And I cleaned my room. And I think between the two of us, we found 150 bobby pins between the two rooms. She kept asking "What the hell do you do with all of these??"

3. Last night we had to take my Aunt Tammy to the emergency room. She was having horrible muscle spasms in her neck and they weren't able to get them under control. They drugged her up quite a bit but she was still struggling. They did get them under control. But she is still pretty sore. But here are the things I learned at the hospital:
St. Charles Hospital is really close to the East Side
Just because you can get it buttoned doesn't mean your should wear it
And how in the hell does the ghetto guy who got jumped know my sister??????

Back to reality for me tomorrow. I'm actually ready.

John's 50th Luau!

First a big thank you all of our friends and family for coming out and celebrating with us! Although we had a few drops of rain here and there, it was a super successful!! Now check out the pictures!!