Michigan Weekend

Avery and I headed to Detroit for the weekend for my cousin Adrianne's wedding shower and got to see some friends, too! On Friday, we went to Beth and Pat's house for dinner (Olga's - my FAVE) and got to meet their daughter Claire which was well overdue. She was super sweet and Avery was a great playmate and helped get her ready for bed and read some stories. 

We headed to Rebecca and Jordan's for the rest of the weekend and it was wonderful! Avery and Ella slept together the first night - Ella needs a brighter nightlight so Avery said to Rebecca "Ella really needs some light which I TOTALLY understand and would never want her to be scared but it's a little bright for me. Do you have a sleep mask?" Rebecca did and Avery then put her white noise on her iPad with headphones and passed out. On Saturday we watched Ella's tennis lesson and then had lunch at Coney Island, frozen yogurt and then went to Marvin's Marvelous which was a blast from my past and pretty much the same as it was 25 years ago. Avery and Ella had fun winning tickets and trying some of the old time "games" - There was one with this old guy who looked like his head was falling off and was spitting/vomiting holding a bunch of bottles. It was super weird and both girls were appalled!! We went shopping and found a dress for Maddie's wedding (YAY). Ella then went to Mina's and Avery had the rest of the night with Hannah. The adults went out to dinner and Linde and Bryan joined us so we had tons of fun catching up and Avery and Hannah learned some new dance routines with the sitter. And got to watch some shows and giggle in Hannah's room before crashing.

Sunday we headed to the wedding shower and got to see lots of Teri's family along with Grandma T and Aunt Maddie. Avery was the best little traveler and loved listening to "Crime Junkies" with me on the drive home.

Hung and Tay had a fun boys weekend. On Saturday the Baloun boys came over and Tay got to play with his buddies Briggs and King. On Sunday, Uncle Cullen took Tay to Smiley's while Hung got some errands done. They had some time outside in the snow and had fun with Magna-tiles and action figures, too (especially Paw Patrol!).

It was a great weekend but I missed Tay and was excited to snuggle with him when we got home!!

Tay showing Grandma T that he loves his new coloring book from Australia - He told me this is his "real smile" and got super mad when I questioned it. LOL.

Mommy Daughter Day

Avery cashed in her Mommy Daughter Day Out Coupon from Christmas last weekend and we had SUCH a great day together. We started with getting our nails done and then headed to lunch. I loved having un-interrupted time to hear all her stories about school and friends. We also started listening to Crime Junkies and were talking about all these unsolved cases - she was fascinated!!

After lunch we went roller skating - She has gotten pretty good and doesn't need me for balance but still wanted to hold my hand the whole time which I adored. I was cracking her up with stories about how I thought roller skating rinks were so romantic when I was in elementary school and middle school. 

We then headed to the mall and found a cute dress for Avery to wear to Maddie's wedding and she also bought a locket and then put a picture of me and her in to remember our day. Melted!!

We finished our day out with seeing Little Women. I love that I can take her to more "adult" movies and we can enjoy them together and talk about them. When we got home we did some face masks and went to bed. We were both exhausted but it was a special day that we both really loved!

Happy Birthday To Me!

While I am not a huge birthday person and don't like being the center of attention, I did love sweet Avery wanting to celebrate me. She really wanted to do breakfast in bed which we did a few days early since my birthday was on a Tuesday.

She brought my pancakes and strawberries along with a SUPER sweet card, a coupon book and a MOM craft she made. Hung pitched in and Tay told me "I did nothing to help". LOL Then he felt bad and gave me a sticky note with T written on it from him. It was perfect!

On my actual birthday, we went out to dinner with G, Papa, Uncle Cullen and Aunt KJ. Of course G had balloons and presents for me. It was the perfect, low key way to celebrate!!

Funny things to remember

A few things I don't want to forget :)

• If you are in Tay's way he'll say "You're blocking my INTERVIEW"
• Avery's imagination continues to run wild - She created a Monster imaginary friend named Camie. Drew a picture of him and made a bedroom for him under her bed. Then Tay needed one, too and named his Cam Cam and also made a room under his bed.
• Cam Cam led to Tay having a whole "Ghost Family" - He sometimes sleeps under his bed to be with them or will tell us he doesn't need dinner because he already ate with his ghost family
• Avery started a Book Club with 5 girls from the neighborhood. She takes it really seriously and it's so sweet - For the last one they read "Cat in the Hat" and Avery asked everyone what they would tell their parents if the Cat in the Hat visited them. Avery and Ashley may Pinterest worthy themed snacks. Then Tay wanted to have his own "Book Camp" and started making invitations for all of his friends.
• Grandma and Grandpa were having a rough night as the had to put their sweet Sadie down. Tay face-timed Grandpa and asked when they could play again and then asked if they could maybe play 7 more times together. It was SO sweet.
• When you ask Tay a question the answer is usually "Anything boys like". What do you want for breakfast Tay? "Anything Boys like".
• I was leaving to go visit Grammy and would be gone overnight and Tay said "I am gonna miss you SO HARD Mama".
• Tay got his own Elf this year and named it "Skin Skin"
• At Thanksgiving he said he is most thankful for "Noodle Blankets" - His teacher Stephanie had to text me to understand what he was talking about.
• He uses the word "actually" ALL the time and uses it to tell us he us right. "Actually it is".
• Tay's vocabulary is amazing - A few words he has used correctly and then gave me the definition for include Avoid, Secure, Familiar and Evidently. 
• He discovered the extra hole in his underpants to pee through and is FASCINATED by it and totally obsessed.
• He calls "crotch" a "crunch"

NYE and Rest of Winter Break

We had a great rest of break - There was lots of relaxing, seeing movies, sleeping, eating, puzzles and playing!! It was hard to get up and go back to normal life this morning.

We hosted some neighbors plus Du, Cullen and KJ for NYE. Taylor was in NO mood for having his picture taken but he perked up later in the evening. The kids had fun playing in the basement, doing crafts, playing video games and watching movies. We put Avery in charge and paid to keep an eye on the madness and alert us to any issues. Both kids made it well past midnight and slept in until 11am on New Years Day!!!! They loved the "champagne" toast - Avery had Hung "top her off" and Tay kept asking to be re-filled as well and thought it was hysterical when Du put a juice box in the glass (not sure why it was so funny). It was a fun night with good friends, food and drinks!

Some other activities were a play date at Grayson's house (Tay's Best Bud), ice skating, seeing Spies in Disguise, Smiley's and Dinner with Marija and the girls, Harlow's 5th birthday party, sleepover at Austyn's, White Elephant party at Kathleen's (Avery baked brownies for everyone on her own) and lots of time playing at home!! Onto 2020....

NYE Fesitivities

 Tay's first attempt at a smiling picture

 And what he did during the kid group picture....

 As midnight approached he got happier....

 The 4 kids who made it to Midnight (we lost the other 6...)

Best Buddy Grayson!

 Fun at Smiley's 

 Ice Skating with Donnelson's

 Avery's super yummy brownies

 Puzzles and Bingo Snuggles while Avery was at a Sleepover