Gettin crafty wit it...and pumpkin time.

na na na na na na na.

na na na na na na.

Gettin crafty wit it.

Sometimes I can be creative.  Not too often, but sometimes.

The only downfall of me getting my craft on is that I get so impatient with the process & assume the

I. WANT. IT. DONE. NOW. attitude.

Which led me to stay up until 2:30 am to finish this little ditty:

& led me to forego the opportunity to nap TWICE today to finish this:

(you read that right, TWICE! Linc napped the whole time A was at preschool this am, & then he napped the whole time she was at a friend's house this afternoon.  I actually sat down on the couch for 2 uninterupted hours of silence, scissoring, silence, glue-gunning, silence, & pumpkin pie. 

IT WAS AWESOME.)

But I digress.

What are these masterpieces of mine,  you ask?

I was in desperate need for a place to display Avy's creations.

She comes home from school with all sorts of exquisite art she wants to showcase, but my fridge is only so big & Buddy's paws are oh so sticky & fast. 

Needless to say, I find myself picking her artistic pieces up & putting them back on the fridge all...day...long.

So I decided twas time to make her a bulletin board of her own for her bedroom.

If you have one of these:

some cork board tiles like these:

& some fabric scraps screaming to be utilized:

Hold the phone, NO, this is not my collection.

My scraps are crawling out & under Avy's closet doors.

I borrowed this from the ol world wide web rather than bore you with my baskets of scrap crap.

Then you can make one of these:

Anywho, I was very pleased with how my project turned out.

I must give props to bra Austy for helping me decide how to place all the tiles.

Turned out fab.

And on to the next item of craftlisciousness:

This pennant/flag banner to hang on Avy's weird, lowered ceiling portion. 

I had my mom hem Avy's curtains last year & I saved the scraps.

So now her room is all dolled up.  The banner gives her room the royal princess feel which no doubt brings a smile to her lips & dimples to her cheeks.

In fact, when she arrived home from her playdate her exact words were,

"Oh, it's totally cute, Mom!"

In other good news, I finally organized the big black bookcase in my living room that undoubtedly offended everyone that ever entered my home.

No pics. Just take my word for it.

And in totally unrelated, but veyr important news,

we made our annual trek to Half Moon Bay for pumpkin picking.

I love HMB.

I love these little orange-headed pumpkins & the Jolly Green Giant

pushing the wheelbarrow.

& I love Buddy the Halloween Vamp.

If you wake up with 2 bite marks in your neck, you'll know who to blame:

We then sauntered on over to Lemos Farm for some good ol farmy fun.

Next up was lunch at this delicious joint:

Girlfriend ordered the small pizza.

She ate 7 out of the 8 pieces.

Yowza! 

 Boyfriend spent his fine dining experience turned around backwards in his chair waving & yelling at all the other diners.

And he swiped half my lasagna.

& Gall Bladder Tatty, under my strict suggestion, ordered himself a healthy salad.

What a great day!

AAA

I'm not talking about the American Automobile Association

 (although I do love them...they get us great discounts).

This post is:

All

About

Avy

...& you finally turning 3!

How does one even begin to describe such a child?

Here are a few awesome facts about You, Miss Avy:

(ANOTHER GRANDPARENT ALERT...LOTS OF INTRICATE DETAILS ABOUT AVEROOS)

-Kitty, also referred to now as Kit-Kit or Big Kitty, is your most prized posession.

-You still call for us to come in & get you out of bed in the mornings

-You always wake up so happy

(this morning you were yelling from your bedroom at 6:30am,

"do we get to go trick-or-treating yet?"

I said not yet.  Then you said,

"how about go get our pumpkins today?"

-Your dream meal consists of orange juice, cottage cheese, Mickey nuggets, zucchini, & all the desserts you can handle

-Your buddy Aaron moved away last month & you still ask me about him all the time :(

-But you do love to play with your other friends as well.

-You've been telling me you want to have a "real live tea-party" with your girlfriends soon.

-You LOVE Dora & know all your verbs & 1-10 numbers in Espanol.

-You love "I Am a Child of God" & believe there is only 1 verse.  You get a little frustrated when people "make up other words that aren't part of the song" meaning the other verses that you don't know yet :)

-You still nap about 4-5 times a week.

-On the off-nap days, you'll lay in your bed, fake snore REAL loud for a few minutes, then hollar at me that

"I'm awake from my little nap!"

-You love to decorate for holidays, parties, or just because it's Monday, Tuesday, Wed....

-You love your Pre-school teacher & tell me all the time that you're "calling" or "texting" Mrs. Vargas.

-But you for some reason don't pronounce your "V's" super well so you call her "Mrs. Bargas."

-You change your clothes about 4 times a day on average.

-Statistically speaking, about 75% of those outfit changes are not, in fact, real clothes, but dress up attire or costumes of some kind.

-Ever since you heard the airplane toilet flush on the way to Maui, you've been extremely sensitive to flushing toilets & always ask me when presented with a new toilet,

"It's not gonna be too loud of a flush, right Mom?"

-You love to perform on your "stage" fireplace.  You've got moves & lyrics that the world has never seen.

-You love to read books.

-Lately you are addicted to Fancy Nancy & the Delectable Cupcakes & you know all the words.

-You really, really love your Uncle Austy.

-Whenever something is not right, you're really good about not freaking out or getting impatient.  Instead you say,

"We have a real problem.  How are we going to solve this problem?"

or, "We have a mystery.  How are we gonna solve this mystery?"

-You're still on the case of the sparkly dress from church & remind me about it every Sunday in Sacrament mtg.

(We sat down in a bench several weeks ago that had glitter all over it.  Avy deducted that a girl with a sparkly dress must have sat there.  Since then she's been on the lookout for the girl with the sparkly dress.)

-You love animals.

-Often when I come in to get you in the morning you'll say to me with your peppy morning voice & bright blue eyes,

"How was your sleep, Mom?"

-Speaking of funny Avy phrases, you don't just ask for a drink, you always ask for a "fresh, cold drink of water"...or apple juice, or whatev you're after.

-You love little Buddy & are actually pretty good at sharing with him.

-You've learned to tell people "thank you" when they compliment your gorgeous red hair, & you're even pretty patient when they touch it.

-You have a sensitive gag reflex.

-Your favorite pastime is to fill up big bags with all your kitchen food, or trinketty toys & schlepp them around the house, transferring them from bag to bag to bag.

-You ALWAYS, without fail, find "special treasures" (formerly known as "feshal treasures") when we go on walks.

-You LOVE to get mail & will often ask when it comes, "did anything come in the mail for me today?"

-You love to work in the garden with your daddy, or do any other fun project with him.

-This past week you've been into parades & have had us all take turns marching around the house throwing out random things to the person who cheers loudest.

(by random I mean things like toys, or Buddy's old baby food jars, or hair bows, or socks...or....you name it)

-You think Elder Uchtdorf is handsome & once told me you'd rather look at him than the other guy.

& although I could go on & on & on about how hilarious, beautiful, smart, entertaining...you are, I'll pause here.

-But last but not least, nothing makes my day brighter than a big hug from YOU! 

You give some smashing hugs that melt my heart.

Life is so much better with you!

We love you!!!

On the real day of your 3rd Birthday, this is what we did:

You immediately put on Blues Clues costume upon waking up & then we opened presents.

You're a no messing around kind of gal.

Went to preschool.

I got to help in your class that day so we brought these awesome cupcakes that you picked out.

You really wanted Mrs. Fields yellow smiley face cookies, but that would have set Dad back $2.39 x 15 students...no way.
(blasted "no homemade policy")

So you were totally fine choosing these from the Safeway bakery instead.

You & Mrs. Vargas

You had your 3 year old check-up with Dr. Kandel.

This was the nicest you've ever been to her!

You love her at home when we talk about her, but never like her in the office.

Today was different. Obviously you're becoming more mature. 

Then we went to Baskin Robbins for some tasty treats.

We brought some home for Kaari who came over to play.

Whit-Whit came over & gave you some awesome gifts!

Daddy came home then Austy came home.

We ate dinner.

We had cake & ice-cream.

It was definitely a thumbs-up kind of day for a 2 thumbs-up kind of girl. 
Happy 3rd Birthday, Avycakes!