birthday

Disneyland Day 1

~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

This year for Kaili’s birthday we thought we would take the family to Disneyland, you know while Averi is still free. We booked through Costco and got a 3 day park hopper package. That included the hotel stay, park tickets with 2 early morning entrances, one character dining and a $40 gift card.

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We left early on a Monday morning planning to meet grandma and grandpa at the Disneyland Pier hotel by 8:00 so we could be at the park when the gates opened.

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I got a ton of great information from people on what and what not to do with our three days there. I had a tentative plan in mind and so we started the day out hitting Fantasyland getting most of those rides done in a couple of hours while the crowds were sparse.

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For lunch we went to Downtown Disney and ate at Uva Cafe only because it was outside dining and the weather was perfect. That turned out to be my favorite meal of the trip.

After lunch we headed back into Disneyland and that is when the crowds started turn up. Averi met Goofy while Kaili was on a ride with Grandma.

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Later in the afternoon we got a text from our hotel letting us know our rooms were ready. After a few more rides and a lot of walking we headed to check in.

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The first day at the park was a success and the girls were amazing, and I don’t say that lightly.

After we unpacked our stuff we went to check out the pool and let the kids take a dip. The hotel had a waterslide and a kiddy pool that kept Kaili highly entertained.

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For dinner I wanted to check out Trader Sams in the Disneyland hotel. Although it’s a cool tiki bar, it’s more for drinks than it is dinner. Our food was good but the service wasn’t superb. My Mai Thai however was delicious.  After dinner we strolled through downtown disney in search of ice cream. As we ate the sun went down and we took that as a cue to go and put the kids down. They knocked out immediately and we weren’t far behind.  We had to get ready to do it all over again bright and early in the morning.

 

 

Late Birthday

~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

Finally, pictures of the Avester’s first birthday, next up, the thank you cards…I promise.

It was a small affair with just family and close neighbors. In other words, the second child gets screwed. Let’s face it, the first few birthdays are really for the parents anyway, and since we go overboard on Kaili’s, Averi will have to wait for her big shindigs.

I made a DIY taco bar with ground beef and shrimp tacos. Easy rice and beans from the Mexican market and doctored up a cake mix for a delish cake.

Chocolate cake mix cake, with a home made chocolate ganache filling and coconut cream cheese frosting.
Chocolate cake mix cake, with a home made chocolate ganache filling and coconut cream cheese frosting.

The cake was for the adults and I bought two cupcakes for the girls, I really wanted to make it easy on myself.

Averi enjoyed her first cupcake, she even made a wish before diving in. In Love with this picture.

"Make a wish"
“Make a wish”

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After a quick scrub down she diligently opened her pressies.

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Happy birthday sweet girl.

*Photo credit-Brian Kerr

12 Months better known as 1 Year

~ Girlmom ~ 1 Comment

“Aw, your baby is so cute, how old is he?”

“Thanks, he is 24 months. Hey, do you have the time?”

“Sure. It’s 972 minutes past midnight.”

I think I did that with Kaili and I blame the Doc. “We will see you back when she is 18 months.” I will do my best NOT to do that with Averi.

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Aves just had her 1 year doctor appointment I am happy to report there is not much to say. She weights 18 1/2 lbs and is in the 40th percentile for height and weight.

She is still going to bed about 6 and still waking up at 5:30 sometimes she goes back to sleep but most of the time not.

Unlike her sister she doesn’t love the bath, she would rather climb around knocking things down. She just wants to be on the move, investigating and eating everything she finds on the floor.

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I think she has a few teeth trying to make their appearance, I can’t wait for the teething to be done with.

We are slowly working with the whole milk situation. I am adding a little to her formula each day until she seems adjusted to it. Some days she gobbles up the fruit I give her, some days they all end up on the floor. She isn’t keen on the veggies, or the meat. So now I have two picky eaters.

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She whines.. A LOT. She sees me and starts crying. Her vocabulary consists of MAAM. DADA. WAH. NO. and EHHHH WHINE. My head hurts typing this.

But she is a lovable, cuddly, sweet little girl when she isn’t crying at my legs or throwing herself on the ground, I promise.

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Four for Frozen

~ Girlmom ~ 4 Comments

Kaili was adamant she wanted a “Frozen” birthday party. To us that consisted of a “Frozen” bounce house and some “Frozen” themed gift bags, ya that’s it.

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DIY “Frozen” playdough

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We had finalized the guest list a good month before, a chunk of our friends, some family and our neighbors (because we have the best!) She was inviting 6 friends from her school and 3 not in her school. I sent the invites out early and literally only had 2 RSVPs from her school mates, one I had to fish out. That was enough to make me not want to do this again, but tough shit I guess.

I went back and forth on having a taco stand but the price was a leeeeetle too much, so I ended up catering it from our local Mexican market and it worked muy bueno. Carnitas, carne asada, shredded rotisserie chicken and quesadillas ( thanks mom)  beans, rice, guac and salsa. An abundance of food and I am pretty sure we just threw out a good 4lbs. of leftover rice and beans.

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We had the bouncy in the front yard so the kids ran from there to the backyard where the playhouse is. I think it all got good use and went smashingly. The weather wasn’t the best and when it started to sprinkle I almost lost my shit but it turned out fine. While the majority was outside eating, chatting and playing, my family was huddled on the couch busy with something important, socialites.

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I had decided before the party that presents weren’t going to be opened when the kid guests were still around because it’s hard for them to sit still and with the amount of people we had it would be a lot easier to “maintain” later that day. See this post. But, if you can believe it, Kaili started opening presents earlier than I wanted, and not with me…or Shane!  Yep that is right, someone else decided it was okay for Kaili to open some presents without her parents present. I ran in to find the unwrapping underway and then it was apparently time to open presents. I have been called “dramatic” before and I have to say it took a lot for me to not lose my shit over this. I am still not happy about that.

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Kaili had fun and got way too much good stuff,  that is all that matters. Eventually everyone trickled out and the kids went to sleep so the adults could play.

Next year might be a little different as we will be having a very quiet party and Averi might just be shit out of luck and never have a birthday party.