Ava Kate's Pumpkin Birthday Party--The decor

We had Ava Kate's birthday party on her birthday.  It was Bama's off weekend so apparently several people had the same idea and there were several parties/showers that day!  We had the party at 11 which turned out to be a great time.  Ava Kate took a nap and slept right up to party time and was in a great mood...which the child is rarely in a bad mood but she knew it was her special day! :)  Also, the guests that had 10am parties were still able to come. 

 

When I knew Ava Kate would be born in October...I immediately thought about doing this theme.  Of course, pinterest really helped my ideas come together!  I wanted it to be like a mini fall festival with the old fall festival games. I bought a lot of things after Halloween/Thanksgiving last year when it was on sale and then I got to borrow a lot of things.  A sweet man even gave Riley a trailor load of hay for me to use! :) I also knew I would be using a lot of burlap and actually found it on Ebay.

The invitation was from a pay and print off of Etsy

I made the pumpkin door wreath. I had seen
this on Pinterest...its not as pretty as that one but
it worked!

The table food other than the hotdogs.
The banner was from the same package off of Etsy.
(Those are GREAT by the way)

Haystacks

Cupcakes and smash cake curtesy of
Publix!

I showed Publix a picture and they did it just as I wanted...
and for only 8.00!  :)

Cheeseball (that was supposed to be shaped like a pumpkin)

S'mores Mix

Scarecrow Treats

Drink Table...Juices, waters and a few sodas in the tub and
I made a Fall punch also.  I used Mason jars for the cups.

Sweet and Salty Treat

My Favorite...the monthly banner

Favors: A jackolantern bag (from
Oriental Trading) with
candy and a few other little Halloween
things and they got to take the little
pumpkin they decorated home.

Bean Bag Toss-- I ordered this from Oriental Trading

Pumpkin Ring Toss

Bob for Apples

I loved this! Pinterest idea :)

The Ball Pit

High chair banner also came from same
Etsy package and I added Burlap.

 

 We also had a jumpy house but I guess I didn't get a picture of it. 

A BIG thanks to my parents for coming to help me set everything up.  They are always such a great help with the birthday parties!!

Birthday Celebrations

October is full of celebration for our family.  Mom and Dad's anniversary is Oct. 2, Mom's birthday is Oct. 4, Ava Kate's is Oct. 6 and mine is Oct. 11.  So, Thursday night we went to eat at Cypress Inn to celebrate.   

We invited Pop Pop to join us. 



We sat on the deck and it was really nice...well when the sun went down anyway.

These two are great keeping the little ones occupied!

The two birthday girls!

This was the night before her birthday!

 

"Hey! Did you see my shirt?!"

"Tomorrow is my birthday!!"  Party!!!"

We actually sang and blew out candles two mornings. I must have not uploaded the picture from her birthday morning because she had pancakes with pink sprinkles.  The first morning we sang when she had the chocolate chip muffin, she got so excited!  I think it was more for the food than the actual

song and candle but it was funny!  The day before her birthday, she giggled all day long!  It is like she knew something was going on!

Ava Kate is ONE!!

This year has flown by!! Ava Kate is such a blessing to our family.  She brightens our day.  We just love our baby girl so much!!!  It is hard to imagine what it was like before her!

Here are some things she is doing at 12 months:

 

- She weighs 21.9 lbs and is 29 1/2 inches tall. 

-She wears size 4 diapers and 12 and 18 months clothes.

-She hates wearing a hairbow/headband or anything in her hair.  She usually pulls them out and then tries to put it back in.

-She takes a 1 1/2-2 hour nap in the mornings and a 3 hour nap in the afternoon.

-She goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 and wakes up between 7:30 and 8.

-She sleeps with her two bunnies and her favorite pink blanket. 

-She doesn't really have to be rocked and sometimes she won't let us but there are times when she wants that and I don't turn it down.  I will miss rocking them one day!

-She still only has 2 teeth but Dr. Roberts said she could see the top ones about to pop through soon.  We still have a LONG way to go and AK and teething aren't good together!

-She eats anything and everything!!  There isn't anything this girl won't try.  She is our garbage disposal!  She eats really fast too!!

-She did great switching to whole milk last month and only the sippy cup.  She LOVES her milk!

-We will probably start giving the pacy only at nap and bedtime soon but I am not rushing it as much as I did with AR. 

-She is crawling all over, pulling up on everything and trying to climb on anything she can!

-She will walk if you hold her hands.

-She will push toys and walk with them.

-But she is not too interested in taking off with walking yet.

-She is a wiggle worm and is all over the place...you can't keep her still!!

-She claps and waves bye bye.

-She says Dada, Mama, hey, bye and babbles other things that sound like they are turning into words! :)

-She loves to give kisses but she can also be a little rough and pull hair and pinch! 

-She just loves to torture big sis.  Whatever Anna Riley has...Ava Kate wants and she will pin AR up against a wall to get it!  (I have pictures to prove it!)  She is a tough one!

-She giggles all the time!  It is the cutest thing!

-Here lately she has been a Granna's girl or Daddy's girl.  She loves my Mom and sometimes prefers her over me! haha

-She loves to dance!  She will stand up and start shaking her booty!  SO funny!  When I did Zumba during my pregnancy, everyone always said she would be my little dancer!

 

-She doesn't sit still long enough to watch anything on T.V.  She watches it a little in the car but she has never really cared for any particular show.

 

-She loves playing in the playroom!  She isn't a fan of the baby toys and never really has been.  She already loves the kitchen, baby dolls, and all the little people sets. 



10 years sure did go by fast!

This weekend was my 10 year reunion.  It was so great to see everyone!  I went to a very small school and only graduated with 40 so we actually had a great turnout for everything. 

 

 

Getting ready to go to BHS homecoming game

 Friday night, we went to Berry's Homecoming game.  It had been 8 or 9 years since I had been to a Berry Football game.  It was actually a lot of fun and I got to see so many people that I don't see often.  We took Anna Riley but left Ava Kate at home with Mom and Dad since she would get tired easy and not to mention be all over the place!!

This wasn't everyone...we never could get a picture when
everyone was sitting down at the same time.

Anna Riley had so much fun a the game.  There were several of the other kids there and they all played together.  We left around 9 and she wasn't ready to leave then!  Her and Cooper (my friend, Peyton's little boy) played a lot together.  They are only 4 months apart.  We looked down one time and they had given each other a kiss.  Well, all she talked about was "Coopa"...so cute! 

Best Friends since Kindergarten

Saturday we met at the Fayette park for a picnic lunch and to let the kids play.  A few of the people that had planned on coming that day had to change plans last minute so we had a smaller crowd but the kids had a great time!!

The little ones

Saturday night we had an "adults only" dinner at the top deck of Mellow Mushroom. 

The Saturday night crew minus two that had already left

  I am pretty sure we will try to get together in 5 years rather than 10 because it just seemed like too long!  I miss all them...thank goodness I at least can see what they are doing now on Facebook! ;)

ARs first Bama football game!!

On Saturday, We had 4 tickets to the Bama game so we ask my Dad to go and we decided since it wasn't a big game we would take AR to her first game.  I told her a couple of days before when we went to see Big Al and she was so excited and talked about it everyday...."when is the football game?" "When will I see the elephant again?"  (which she still ask me multiple times about seeing Big Al).  I knew she wouldn't last very long in the game for her age but our tickets were free so we weren't out in money and I wouldn't feel like I needed to entertain her to stay. 

We stayed outside all morning and played with the neighbors for a while so that she would take an early nap and surprisingly she did.  I am usually pretty good at tricking my kids to think it is nap time if I need it to be! Haha! :)  After she got up we headed to campus.  We didn't plan on a lot of tailgaiting because I knew she would get tired.   

Even though we really didn't plan on tailgaiting, we actually saw a few people we knew on our walk and stopped by their tailgate and saw some other friends also getting ready to walk to the stadium so we got to visit with them for a few minutes before game time. 

We got in the stadium in time for all the pregame stuff and AR just stared at the field the whole time! She caught on quick that when everyone cheers...you shake your shaker!  She loved that part!  She was even trying to sing the fight song!  

It was very hot at 4pm but luckily we were sitting under the skyboxes so we had a little bit of a shade. 

We kind of let anything fly that day so she had lots of "good" food and drinks.  A sweet lady gave her a Sunkist and a chocolate peanut cluster at the tailgate and then when she got in the game she wanted Nachos and she drank some of my Sprite.  It wasn't 20 mintues later and she got my Dad to get her some popcorn and was drinking some of his Coke!  And then she topped all of that with some skittles!!  When she was getting ready for bed she said "Mommy, my tummy hurts!  I think I need some Pepto!" haha! Well I guess so!

We ended up staying for all of the 1st and part of the 2nd.  We couldn't quite make it to half time.  She was wearing down so we just left.  All she talked about was Big Al so we stopped by one of the stores on the strip and let her get one a stuffed big Al and she picked up two and said one was for sissy.

When she got home she said that its name was not Big Al because it was a girl!  Its name was Allie! 

This was the picture from CHOM
taken by Shutterbug!
I thought it turned out so cute!
It is a picture of a picture so excuse the
quality!