Princesses & Popsicles

This week, I planned a fun week filled with everything Princess! I figured I wouldn't fight the battle of three girls begging to play with their new princess things that they got for gifts over Christmas and just make a week of it! To kick off our week, we pampered ourselves with Princess Pedicures and Manicures! We played dress up, princess castle, princess dolls, princess tent... and on... and on... and on... (every time we go to the store and see toys Avery says "the Murray's have that" and they do! We also practiced our very best princess manners all week!

The next day, I planned a surprise Tea Party and a Royal Ball for the girls. I had them watch one episode of Sofia the First as I secretly set up a Princess Castle upstairs. I had a royal closet with dresses, jewelry and accessories for them to choose, a hair and make-up station where they each had a turn for me to make them fancy with real make-up and a fancy hair do!

 (waiting to come up stairs to the "Princess Castle")

 (choosing fancy outfits)

After everyone, including myself, was all dolled-up, we had cookies and tea! I brought a few different kinds of tea for them to try, they all agreed that the Raspberry Herbal tea was their favorite! I brought my ceramic tea set that I played with when I was a little girl for us to use! Everyone loved pouring the tea into their own tiny teacup. It was so special for them to play with the "real glass" tea set!

                                  

After our High Tea, we cleaned up our crumbs and moved the table aside so we could dance! We turned the music loud and twirled away! We did lots of "wedding dancing" as they like to call it! We also practiced our curtsy and princess wave!

 Avery COULD NOT curtsy without showing her undies! haha 

SO lady like - "this is how the princess do it right Mom?"

Not quite kiddo, not quite! 

As we were cleaning up, Avery asked to try on my big girl princess dress... so, of course I let her! 

She was grinning from ear to ear and felt SO special. What a doll!

On Wednesday, just as we were getting started with our Princess and the Pea day, Avery got a sudden fever and we went home early. She ended up being fairly sick with a virus and a fever of 103.4 for 3 full days! We spent all of Wednesday and Thursday snuggling, reading, and watching movies (Brandon brought the TV upstairs for us). Avery had no appetite, but ate her popsicles like a champ and did really good drinking her "Peeda light" and "Alagatoraide"!

I had to start getting creative to get Avery to get her fluids in, by Friday she was hardly drinking anything. She was refusing popsicles, freezies,  juice, gatorade etc. so I thought it might be fun for her to choose what color she wanted her water to be... we mixed a small batch of one color and when it was gone she could choose another! She LOVED the idea!! whew!  

On Friday morning, I took her in the clinic after noticing her swollen and white tonsils, they tested her for a few things but everything came back normal and we were sent home with peace of mind, and told to keep doing what we were doing... fever management and keep up on the fluids! On Saturday, 3am, her fever broke,she had a low grade fever all day, not going over 100.0 and began to eat a little food. On Sunday, she was still pretty tired and weak, but ate three small meals and even played a little!
We spent the weekend at home snuggling and hanging out as a family!

                                  

Cullen, Kinsley & Emma sent "get better, we miss you" messages to Avery and this is the video she sent back to them! Shanon always does such a good job of having the kiddos make sure Avery knows they are thinking about her when we are gone! 

The next Monday, we finished up where we left off and continued on with our Princess and the Pea day! They girls made a giant Princess and the Pea Bed, and loved taking turns hiding the pea (a small foam ball) under the blankets to each other to feel around and find! We read a few different versions of the book and watched a few short Princess and the Pea movies. We talked about the similarities and differences in each. To finish up, the little girls made Princess and the Pea pictures and Kinsley made a whole Princess and the Pea book!

"I found the Pea!"

Avery put down 10 mattresses, but the Princess could still feel the pea!

jump, jump, jump...

Avery just LOVES the trampoline at Gymnastics right now! She is finally beginning to feel in control of her movements when she is jumping down the tumble track! Here is a quick video I was able to take while she was hopping along!

Meeting Michael

Heidi and Joey had their baby yesterday! He is an ADORABLE 7 lbs 2 oz!!! Avery and I couldn't wait to go and meet him! I asked Avery what kind of present we should get for Baby Michael and she said "Shampoo and a shirt.... because he will like to take baff, and he needs a shirt so he can not be cold.... and he needs a camo wash cloth". Well, we got the shampoo and a cute shirt for Michael, but we looked all over and just couldn't find a camo wash cloth. Maybe we will have to order one!

We   I LOVED holding and smooching Michael, Avery was not really fond of me holding him, in fact she asked me to please give Heidi's other friends a turn. This was so surprising to me, she has never had a problem with me holding or being around other kids or babies... which I obviously do every day, and I have also recently held other little babies too without problem - but not Michael, nope, no way Mom... we can leave him here and I only want to hold him for a second and then we can leave! Luckily, she held him long enough for me to snap a few photos!

After our visit at the hospital, we went out for a Mommy-Daughter dinner date to WhichWich (Yummo, its our fav!!) Avery had a grilled cheese and I had my usual turkey bacon!

Welcome to the world Michael, we sure love you!

Banana Bread!

We have had a TON of bananas in the freezer for a long time hat needed to be made into bread, and this was the weekend to do it! Grandma also had some bananas that she was going to make bread with this weekend, so Avery asked if she could bring her bananas and apron over to make "nana bread" with Grandma. Of course, Grandma said yes! So, I packed up our brown bananas, some loaf pans, and the ingredients, along with Avery and her apron and hauled her and all of our stuff over to Grandma's house! I stayed long enough to watch them get the first batch out of the oven and then I left to run some errands. They made a total of 6 batches of bread (48 + muffins and 12 mini loaves)! Avery made sure to put chocolate chips in ALL of it for Daddy... always thinking of her Daddy! :)

Avery is so proud of her bread, and makes sure that every time we eat a piece we make sure to thank her for it!  "Mommy, Daddy, are you going to say "Thank you Avery for my yummy bread?""

I think we have enough banana bread to last a while, but honestly, Brandon is eating it like it is the only thing we have in the house to eat, so what was once in the freezer saved for later is probably gone by now and I just don't know it! What a fun day for the two of them. I am so glad Avery is able to have these experiences with her Grandma and is able to learn to bake from the best (this might be her only hope, as far as that goes)!

Happy Birthday Ashley!

I took Ashley out for her birthday to dinner and ice cream. I made sure to surprise her with our other friends being there too - she had no idea anyone else was joining us! She was a happy girl just to get out of the house and have some "mommy time"! We had a great night celebrating Ashley and just hanging out like the good ol' days!