The Veldmans: Happy 3rd Birthday Ava!!!

Tomorrow our baby girl will be turning 3 yrs old. I can not believe how fast that time has gone and how I remember the day that she was born like yesterday. What a fond memory that day is for us. We were so in love with her that day, and somehow our hearts continue to grow as we love her more and more every day. She brings so much joy and laughter (and sometimes frustration) into our lives. She is a sweet and intelligent little girl who reminds us daily of the important things in life. This weekend we got to celebrate her birthday with family and friends. Ava wanted to have a "Minnie" Mouse party. We went to the party store last week and picked out all the party favors, napkins, etc. Unfortunately I could not find a Minnie cake. We ordered a Mickey and friends cake, and then Aunt Lisa brought up her Mickey Mouse cake pan and we added a bow to make Minnie. I must say that it turned out pretty good, and it must have tasted ok since it was gone by the end of the party.

Friday Aunt Lisa, Grandma Great, Grandma & Grandpa Becker, and cousins Reece and Zacky came. Grandma Great stayed at a hotel, but Ava got to have a slumber party on her bedroom floor with her cousins. Aunt Lisa slept in Ava's bed and got to hear the little ones up at 6 am on Saturday chatting. :)  Saturday was the big party. We had twenty some friends and family join us. Ava had a great time tearing her presents open very quickly. She also enjoyed her cake and ice cream. She finally went down for a nap with Grandma around 2:00. She was exhausted. That evening all of us and Aunt Lori who came up Saturday morning from Des Moines went out for pizza. It was a low key evening.

Everybody left by 11:00 this morning. Ava took a nice long nap this afternoon. After she woke up we went for a walk to the park in our neighborhood. We put Grant in his carseat and loaded up the double stroller. He has not been napping very well and has been a bit crankier than normal. We have a Dr's appointment for Ava's 3 yr well child check, and Grant's 4 month well child check tomorrow. I'm anxious to see how his ears look. I'm hoping he doesn't have another ear infection, but my gut tells me that he does or at least has fluid in his ears. I'm also anxious to find out if Ava still has her tubes in or if they fell out.  I'm hoping that they fell out so that we won't have to have surgery to get them out. This April it will have been two years ago that they were place. Let me say, two glorious years of no ear infections!!!

We hope that you all had a wonderful weekend. Thanks to all of you who took time out of your busy schedules to help us celebrate Ava's birthday!