This year Rich and Ava's birthday was on a Sunday. We had celebrated with Rich's family the week before, so we had a quiet celebration with just my family on their actual birthday. We had dinner, presents, and cake. Ava got a lot of stuff (probably too much) and felt very special. Rich got some great gift cards and some things on his wish list.
Since, I made Rich a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting for the celebration with his family, this day I let Ava pick the cake. She said over and over she wanted a white cake with NO frosting. Since I didn't think no frosting sounded good I made a few things. Ava was given a Snow White & 7 Dwarfs cake pan (made 8 individual character cakes) for Christmas, so I made those for her. I then made cupcakes with chocolate frosting and a heart cake for Rich with the extra batter. That way everybody was happy. The next day Ava had a cupcake with frosting and liked it too (I think even a little better).
The Super-Duper Big 3 Year Old and The Old Man
I feel pretty blessed to have both of them in my life. They make me happy and smile each day.
And they are just so darn cute...not too bad for an old man.
When Ava turned 3 she decided she was officially a super-duper big girl. That meant big changes and more responsibility. The big work in progress is potty training.
Ava's favorite place to take pictures is up in our tree.
While I worked on dinner Uncle Eric, Elizabeth and Papa read books to Ava. Reading is one of her favorite activities.
Ava enjoyed ripping through her presents. This was the big gift from us, LeapPad Explorer Tablet. She loves to play with Rich's iPhone and my iTouch, so now she has a toy of her own. She loves it so much we have to limit her time playing it and only let her play once she has completed the tasks on her list (brush teeth, make bed, etc.). It is a great learning tool and also a great motivator.
This is a princess game for her LeapPad from Papa & Nonna Kurz. She was pretty excited!
With Christmas so close to her birthday she was loving all the gits.
Uncle Eric got Ava a beautiful Sunday dress, some P.J.s, and a couple coloring books.
As everyone watched Rich open his gifts Ava was too busy with her LeapPad. She didn't really care about daddy's gifts (this is why we have a time limit each day).
Part of my gift to Rich included these knee pads. That is what he asked for. He plans on using them for some future home projects. In the mean time he has been wearing them as Ava rides on his back like a horse. He said it offers some cushion from our hard floors.
Ava and Rich blowing out candles. Ava asked daddy to help her. Ava's plate has 8 mini-cakes on it. One Snow White and all of the 7 Dwarfs.
Ava chose to eat Snow White first because she is her favorite.
