The Schrage Family: A Huge Milestone

You didn't think I would actually get around to putting pictures up of Ava's birthday did you? Well here they are!

Ava's birthday weekend kicked off on Friday when Grandma took her for a "special day". She picked her up from school and took her to get a manicure, which the nail tech did do a pretty good job on 1/4 inch fingernails complete with designs on each one. Then they got to go shopping where Ava got some sweet new jewelry, stick on earrings, and the mother load of annoying gifts, a Justin Bieber microphone complete with a Bieber picture frame, autograph book (just in case you run into him on the street), and of course a I heart JB iron on patch. Then Grandma really surprised her by taking her to the highly anticipated 3-D flick, Never Say Never. Grandma said she did pretty good, which I was kind of surprised since usually she doesn't like 3-D. I can't really blame her. Then Quinn and I met up with them for a late Applebees supper. As I was tucking in a very tuckered out girl she told me, "Mom this was the best day ever!" She was probably right.

Then Saturday was the big "friend" birthday party. We invited everyone in her class over on Saturday for a Bieber themed party. I was worried that about 2 kids would show up and think "this is the lamest birthday party" especially since typical me, I didn't get the invites out until Tuesday (filled in invites bought at Shopko the night before nonetheless). I knew we had at least one attendee as I can always count on Myranda but we ended up with about 12 kids! Another little friend had her party on the same day so we just did a little party time rearranging and I went and piled in about 6 kids from her party in my van and scooted them over to our house. I thought they would want to play all these games I had planned but they were mostly more into hide and seek and just checking out all the toys we had.

Sunday after I worked for about 5 hours in the morning we had all our family and friends over
for tacos, chips, dip, cake, and ice cream. My house wasn't what most would call clean but it worked and everyone had a good time. Ava got new pink cowgirl boots from Grandma and Grandpa, a camping chair from Tony, Heather, and Char and of course more Zhu Zhu Pets and Barbies. Poor Char had strep throat so they couldn't make the party. Ava told Tony on the phone, " Well you can just stay home with Charlotte and Heather can come and bring me my presents." Real nice...

That weekend was a classic example that I really need to remember of Nicole the Mom/Wife/Accountant/Chef coming through and saying, "life your busy, sometimes you suck, but I always somehow win the battle."

Ava and Grandma at the end of their amazing day enjoying a birthday ice cream Sunday. (I don't know what's going on with Grandma's eyeball) I couldn't miss out on the dessert and had to order myself a Maple Honey Brownie Concoction. I love desserts. Plain and simple. I could live off of brownies. I would rather eat a fresh warm chocolate chip cookie over a steak any day. So lately when we go out to eat I get the cake and I eat it too. I know its adding a couple inches around the middle but frankly I could care less.

Ava girl : My crazy, kooky, short hair loving, sister kissing, toothpaste left in the corners of her mouth, positive about everything, big eyed 5 year old. You are my baby and will always be a baby to me. Your dad thinks I let you get away with way to much and he is probably right. Every year it changes from saying, "She's only 2, She's only 3, She's only 4." I don't think I can pull the "She's only 5" card too much anymore, which breaks my heart. You are growing and changing all the time and I love just asking about your day, if you stayed on green at school, what you had for lunch, what the best part and worst part of your day is. Which most of the time you say everything was the best and nothing was the worst. You still want to cuddle but your cuddles have turned into a very large child blocking my view. The other night you woke up from the thunderstorm and came in and slept with me. As I laid looking at your face I realized how grown up you look but how you still have the same features I first fell in love with when you were a baby. Happy Birthday 5 year old!

Quinnie helping unwrap the early morning gifts. I had gotten Ava a new J. Biebs shirt for Quinn to give to her. Friday morning I pretended I found the present in Quinn's crib when I woke her up. Ava was completely shocked. This was her actual reaction , " She must have crawled out of her crib last night and came into my room and seen that I love Justin Bieber and then went to the store and got me this shirt!" That is exactly right Ava she crawled all the way to WalMart, pulled some money out of her diaper to pay, crawled home, found a gift bag, and crawled back in her crib before 6:45.

The best/worst gift we may have ever purchased. Ava got an IPod shuffle last year for Christmas from Doug's aunts and uncles. I went along with it, while under my breath thinking a 4 year old should not have an IPod. Well low and behold I was right and she left her ear phones out and Cooper enjoyed them as a snack. I tried to get some new ones but of course because its a shuffle she needed the ear phones that cost just as much as buying the whole thing over again. So we decided to go with a boom box. She absolutely loves it. She can jam out in her room any time she wants and believe me she does, all the time. So hear comes the worst part of the gift, the music selection. When I came home from work that Sunday all Doug said was "If I have to hear Baby Baby Baby one more time I'm going to blow my brains out." So I've been trying to get her to rotate in the CD's a little bit. A week or so ago she started listening to my old Natalie Imbruglia CD I had while I was in high school. That definitely brought back some memories for me of doing the same thing she loves. Jamming out in your own little room, your own corner of the world you can call yours.