Pittsburgh: Visiting the Schulers, Meeting Braden, Grandma's B-day, Mike's New House

We had not visited Doug’s Aunt and Uncle in quite some time, so we planned a trip to visit them during Doug, Ava and Liam’s Spring break at the beginning of April.  We were excited that Grandma and Grandpa Carey AND Aunt Tracy and Uncle Tim decided to visit the same weekend. 

It was Grandma Carey’s 66^th birthday that weekend, so we were able to celebrate with her.  I asked Ava how old she thought Grandma was, and she said “15”.  J 

We had not yet met Braden James Logan, Tracy and Tim’s first little one, who was born January 22^nd.  He wasn’t quite three months old when we met him for the first time.  He is a cutie!  Tim has Aunts and Uncles in the Pittbsurgh area, so Tracy and Tim were able to see quite a bit of family while there. 

We were also able to see Mike’s new house, which is gorgeous.  The place is pristine and has been really well-maintained, has a beautiful, flat yard (which is an anomaly for Pittsburgh) and has very nice landscaping.  Mike has done a nice job decorating it with the help of Aunt Jackie.  The kids seemed to warm up to Mike’s dog Bosley, too! 

We started driving on Friday afternoon and spent the night in a Hampton Inn in Charleston, West Virgnia.  I know I’ve been through West Virginia when I was younger, but it was nice to see again.  The hills are pretty.  When we arrived it was nighttime, so we didn’t get to see the landscape until the following day.  We arrived in the early afternoon.  Tracy, Tim, Braden, Jim, Mary and Mike were all at the Schulers’ house.  We had some dinner at the house and visited.  Tracy and Tim went to Mike’s to see his house while the Careys’ and Aunt Jackie went to church.  Uncle Bill started dinner.  I told him to help me earn my keep, so he let me help him cook.  He made a bourbon glazed pork of some kind, green beans and linguine with lemon sauce.  Aunt Jackie made a Strawberry Pretzel jello salad.  Yum. 

The next day, we had breakfast at the Schulers’ and then drove over to see Mike’s house.  The kids enjoyed exploring in Mike’s backyard.  We then made our way back to have dinner at the Schulers'.   Tracy and Tim ate with us all.  Braden ended-up falling asleep on me.  He is such a sweet baby!  We had fun perusing a family photo album, too.  The kids enjoyed some bunny cookies the Schulers bought. 

I think it was Sunday when, all in the course of a few hours, we saw the following weather: snow, rain, sleet, cloudy skies, clear skies, sun shining.  Unbelievable!  We celebrated Grandma's 66th birthday that night, going out to Longhorn Steakhouse.  The Schulers got a cake from Coldstone’s with mint chocolate chip ice cream, covered with chocolate ganache for dessert.  So good! 

Doug and I were originally going to go to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house on Tuesday, but decided to go on Monday.  The weather ended up very nice on Monday when we visited.  I will be sure to post a blog entry on that trip alone, as there are so many pictures I’d like to include.  Our decision to go on Monday instead of Tuesday was a good one; the weather was very cold and I believe it snowed on Tuesday!  Fallingwater is less than 2 hours away from the Schulers’ house, but with us taking the 2-hour extended tour plus travel time and lunch, we were away from the kidlings for about 6 hours.  The Schulers watched the kids while we were gone.  They all faired well.  The Careys were there to help for the first part of the morning, then Mike visited and helped with the kids.  Jim and Mary had to return back to Michigan, so they said their goodbyes to everyone and started their five-hour car ride home.

Tuesday we drove downtown to do some sight-seeing with Uncle Bill and Aunt Jackie.  I thought Liam would really appreciate the Railway Incline, so we went up to the top of the hill and rode the car down the hill, then up again.  Aunt Jackie, Uncle Bill and the kids rode free (senior citizens and children’s discount).  Liam was especially geeked about riding in the railcar.  I got a really sweet picture of Liam and Uncle Bill both smiling at each other with wide grins while riding in the railway car.  It wasn’t until we walked away from the incline that I had the thought that they could’ve all ridden in the car all day for free, if they wanted to do so! 

After the railway fun, we made our way over to the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum. It was a VERY nice museum!  We saw Mr. Roger’s shoes, were able to make his trolley car move (a favorite of the kids), let the kids climb in this strange maze that was the entire length/width of a wall, get in a Smart car, play with car tracks, climb a net and slide down, put a ball up through a basket that exited onto wires (like the Mouse Trap game), get in a wind tunnel, go in a tilted room.  There were so many other things to do there!  We then met Mike for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant.  The kids had fun throwing a few coins in the fountain there.  Once done with dinner, we gave Mike a hug goodbye and went back to the Schulers’ house.  We packed and made the trip home the next day.

It was a nice, enjoyable trip!  We enjoyed seeing everyone and meeting Braden!

Thank you, Aunt Jackie, Uncle Bill and Mike, for your hospitality!

Peace, love and adding PA to Ava & Liam’s “states visited” list,

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Ava's Fifth Birthday: An Heirloom Bracelet?

I was notorious for losing gifts of jewelry given to me while growing up.  I actually lost a tennis bracelet (that was a gift from my Mom), on the way to play tennis at Marmon Park.  I think it slipped off / unlatched as I got out of the car.

I'm hoping Ava doesn't follow in her Mom's footsteps... We bought this bracelet for her for her birthday, in hopes that one day she can pass it on.  It has her initials engraved in a heart.  I have a similar bracelet that I love to wear all the time, also engraved with my initials, but mine is oval-shaped.  I figure we'll let Ava wear this to church and promptly remove it when she gets home, in hopes that it doesn't disappear too quickly!

  

Peace, love and heirlooms?

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Prayers: My Stars!

Ava has been fascinated with planets lately.


A recent prayer of Ava's:


"Dear Heavenly Father,


Thank you for everything that you've given to us.  Thank you for Mommy and Daddy and Liam.  Thank you for the planets, thank you for Jupiter, even though it doesn't have any air on it, thank you for it. 


In Jesus Name, Amen."


Peace, love and astronomical prayers,
Shelly, Doug, Ava the astrologist, Liam

Ava's 5th Birthday Party

Ava's birthday party was a blast! 

The birthday girl turns FIVE!

When I asked her where she wanted to have it this year, she kept saying "at home, in our back yard".  Last year, it was SO CHILLY outside on her birthday.  It also seems we spend just as much money on a non-home birthday party.  We went through the list... Monkey Joe's?  Jeronimo's?  Chuck E. Cheese?  She was happy with Monkey Joe's.  I had forgotten about her day care going to the skating rink, but when I remembered, I asked her if she wanted to have her party there.  She was super happy about having the party at the roller rink.  We struggled with the "how many people do we invite?" question... To include school friends, or not to include school friends.  The school's policy asks that if one classmate is invited that all be invited. 


At first I'm sure people thought we were crazy...A skating rink party for a 5 year-old?  How many five year-olds have been skating?  (Ava's been twice before this party).  It couldn't have worked out more perfect, actually!  Sparkles Roller Rink in Kennesaw has a soft play area perfect for little ones.  The skating rink is concrete, so they allow most skates (including the over-the-shoe Fisher Price type).  Ava brought her adjustable skates.  I bought a pair for Liam, too, so he wouldn't be left out.  See pictures below for his first run with the skates... ;-)


When we arrived, Ava, Liam and Doug all did a few loops around the rink.  It was cute to watch them all skate together.  They got to skate to the Black-Eyed Peas "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night," one of Ava and Liam's favorites.  After 10 minutes or so, Ava and Liam played in the soft play area (3 levels or so?) for most of the time.  The kids had a blast.  On Monday at school, I told Veer's Mom thank you for letting him come to the party.  She said Veer had so much fun.  When she asked him how fun it was, on a scale of 1 to 1000, he said "6,000."  Cute.  :)


For quite a few of the kids, it was their first time on skates.  Matthew, Olivia, Veer, Avery, Alana, Mekhi and Liam had their first skating rink experience.  This was Ava's third time skating.  I don't think she fell once?


Party attendees included:
Veer (from school)
Sara (from school)
Avery (from school)
Lily
Mekhi
Ryan-Ashton
Kylyn
Alana
Parker
Caleb
Zoey (neighbor)
Lucy (neighbor)
Olivia (neighbor)
Nicholas (neighbor)
Matthew (neighbor)
Liam


It was a good thing we had the party indoors.  It rained the entire day and hasn't seemed to stop since!  Ava wanted a princess cupcake / cake combo with whipped icing from Sam's Club.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the cake.  It was yummy!  Ava helped with the labels for the goodie bags, printing her friend's name on each one, drawing a happy face on it, as well. 


I made different colored chocolate roller skate suckers, too.  It was an afterthought, but I was able to order the molds from a place in New Jersey in time.  They arrived on Friday night, so I was able to QUICKLY make the suckers for the party the next morning.  The kids seemed to enjoy them.  Ava took the left-overs to school on Monday.  Because these suckers were an afterthought, I wasn't too stressed about them getting here on time.  Between not stressing about sucker molds and not needing the house to be spic-and-span for a birthday party, it was nice.  The only requirement:  Cake and showing up at the roller rink with goodie bags.  Bonus!


After the party seemed to be well-controlled, I decided to go for a few laps around the rink myself.  So I put on the rental skates and did my thang.  I ended-up ALMOST falling when I switched from skating backward to forward.  Lucky me, Doug got it on tape. :)  It is pretty different skating on concrete than on wooden floors.  I felt like I was going to fall at any minute, the wheels were so fast on the concrete!   Other parents (Christy Craig, Melissa Baillairge and Amy Hoffman) seemed to have fun on skates, as well.  It seemed like everyone was able to enjoy themselves.  Even our neighbor friend Zoey was able to enjoy the play area with some help from her mama (Kristi). 


After the party, we opened gifts at home while Liam was sleeping.  We didn't want him to be TOO upset about Ava's gifts.  Poor thing, he doesn't understand why he isn't getting the same number of gifts. :( 


Peace, love and FIVE birthday candles!
Shelly, Doug, the birthday girl and Liam

Trying out his skates pre-party, minus pajama pants?

Bedhead Liam missing his pajama pants

Party favors

Ava helped with the invitations and inserts.  She signed each of them "Love, Ava". 
This was her first attempt at a comma. ;-)
She also wrote out each of the labels for her friends' goodie bags.
After opening her gifts, she also wrote out the thank you cards. 
Tough work for a just-turned-five year-old!

The invitations

Ava with her first project at her "activity center"

Liam has a side he can use, too! 

This gift was PERFECT for Ava this year, given her love of crafts.

One happy girl!