Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving at my moms house this year. We went to Fort Worth after David got off work on Tuesday. 

Tuesday night we went to Rosa's for dinner. 

Wednesday Bobby had to work but Lauren brought the kids over in the morning and they had a blast playing all day! All the big kids watching the penguin show together.

Ava got to meet her newest little cousin Josiah. She has been talking about going to see Maya's baby for weeks. 

Benjamin helping Mommy cook.

Lauren and I were ready to eat while the rest of the adults dawdled getting to the table!

My babies.

Granny with the Caivano sides great grand babies.

Will was my little buddy this week! I loved getting sweet William snuggles. 

These two boys are so cute! We got a small glimpse of things to come this week, they played catch together for a little bit.

Ben was worn out after a long day of fun playtime with cousins!

Friday we attempted to go to the Fort Worth Parade of Lights but after much traffic and ending up at the wrong parking lot we ditched that idea and went to Joe T's. It was a delicious consolation prize!

My two little buddies!

November

November has just seemed to fly by. We have spent our time in many fun different ways. We have done lots of Christmas shopping, we have had lots of fires, and we had a fun Thanksgiving craft playdate with friends. Here's a few pictures to show all the things we've been up to.

Ava and Ben went with me to vote. Ava kept saying to me, "Mommy are we going to motored (vote)?" We talked about what voting was and she was very excited to participate and especially excited about the stickers we got after we voted.

Sometimes baths are just a fun way to pass time... I will often give them baths in the middle of the day for a fun new way to play. Ava had gotten a Dora bath toy for her birthday and has loved playing with it in and out of the tub.

Ava and Daddy's creation... Daddy makes the best buildings. Ava and I later made a spaceship that did not even closely resemble a spaceship but Ava kept calling it one. :)

Ava Daddy snuggles.

CUTIE!

This guy likes to invade sisters bed even when she is just waking up.

Poor baby got sick for the first time this month. He required lots of middle of the night snuggles. (Which I was okay with since he isn't the snuggliest baby. I'll take them anytime I can get them!) He had strep and in addition to that he broke out in a full body rash. We went back to the pediatrician a week after he started his antibiotic and the doctor said that it was a reaction to the MMR vaccine he had received the week and a half prior. 

Rocking my poor sick baby.

Considering he was running fever and sick he was still in pretty good spirits. Still jamming to Daddy's beatbox.

David went to Atlanta for a youth ministry conference. He had a great experience and made lots of good connects while he was there. This is us face timing and David making crazy faces at me...

Ava and I playing hide from the dinosaur aka Buddy. She would put both her and Ben's chairs and place a blanket over them and say we are safe in the "tent". 

Ava got to stay up late and wait for Daddy to come home. She was so excited to see him and felt so special because she got to stay up late. David didn't get home until close to 9 so Ava and I had a nice evening playing together. We got some good one on one time together because Ben went to bed at his usual 7:15.

Ava was so happy to have Daddy home.

The Acura's transmission went out this month so instead of fixing it we decided it would be best to sell. We got our asking price! Praise the Lord! We are now a one car family and Ava has had to be woken up from her nap a few times to go get Daddy. She's not such a big fan of this, as you can tell from her face.

Ava is 3!!!

Ava turned three years old last Sunday. She is such a fun, sweet, caring girl. She is always up for a good time! And she wants everyone to be in on any fun that is going on. She loves people well. And I love the sweet heart she has. 

Ava proudly displaying her banner from her party the day before. She had been talking about her party for MONTHS! She was so excited and couldn't wait for it to be her birthday party. She would ask me when we would be out and about driving "Mommy are we going to my birthday party?!" I think that she thoroughly enjoyed herself. She still talks about it and when I ask her at night when we are saying our night night prayers what she is thankful for she says her party. Love her!

Ava loves going to church and seeing Daddy. 

She also loves playing in the youth center after everyone else has left. She feels that she has rule of the roost.

Poor baby was so tired after church he fell asleep in the car and then on Granny. I had to wake him up to eat lunch... Luckily he also took a good nap!

Sweet birthday girl eating lunch!

That night we went to Chuck-E-Cheese to celebrate Ava. She was so excited when she woke up from her nap!

Birthday hats!

Round two on birthday cupcakes!

Ava had two favorite things at Chuck-E-Cheese. The maze and this ride. I went through the maze with her twice and David once. And the ride was so cute both of the kids would smile so huge and giggle.

Party time!!!

Welcome to Ava and Benjamin's Dora and Diego Birthday Party!

Because I worked for two months on making everything/getting everything ready for this party I am going to show a lot of set up pictures!

Before all the party guests got to our house the kids had lots of fun playing!

I think Ben's favorite part of the party was the balloons! He spent so much time pulling on them and laughing at them. It was so adorable!!!

Ava and Lily got a kick out of life size Dora!

We also got a couple of family pictures before everyone arrived.

I love this look on her face!!! Such a sweetie!

The ball pit... 

I had bought 300 balls thinking that would be plenty of balls for this fun party activity... Needless to say, my mother in law spent most of the morning looking for more balls... The ball pit totaled 900 balls! Who knew it would take so many balls!

Ben was entranced by Jakin blowing bubbles

Ava and Papa

Fun in the ball pit!

Little man having fun at his party!

I'm so glad Uncle Andy and Papa helped clean up all those balls...

Both kids got their faces painted for the first time! Ben held so still for it... Ava wasn't so sure about the experience!

Ben wasn't so sure about the cake at first...

Investigating further...

He eventually tore the cupcake into pieces and decided it may not be so bad after all!

Ava enjoying her cake with her friends!

By the time the party was over they were pooped! They both had a blast! Thanks to everyone who made their birthday so special!

Ben could have cared less about opening presents...

Ava showed him how its done after three years of practice!

Although Ben was totally uninterested in opening presents he has LOVED one present in particular...

 his chair. Ava has also enjoyed this present as well. She now not only gets peace in her chair but she gets to make fun tunnels and "roller coasters" with the chairs.

When Ava opened the wings she said "I can share with my friends! I get pink Maya purple and Lily blue." Love her heart!