First solid food

We gave Nora her first taste of solids about 2 weeks before she turned 6 months. Which is much earlier than Ava or Dresden. For some reason we thought it might help her sleep...we were wrong. But she loved it anyway so we kept it up. We gave her oatmeal first and she did pretty well. It took a couple spoonfuls but she figured it out.

Girls trip

We had a little girls trip to Omaha for a night and it was so much fun! I hated missing a little of Dresden's birthday but he was so sweet about it.
We went up Friday afternoon and ate at Cheesecake Factory then went to our hotel and sat in the hot tub for awhile. It was my first time staying at an Embassy Suits Hotel and I don't want to stay anywhere else now! The breakfast is seriously the best! After the hot tub we had planned to do an favorite things party. We all wrote a list of our top ten favorites and then brought one thing for everyone. It was so fun and I loved hearing about what everyone else is currently loving. The next morning we had breakfast and headed out for shopping and then lunch. As it got later Stacy and I met up with our families and went to Red Robin for Dresden's birthday. I didn't have my iphone at the time and my big camera didn't go very many places. I don't even have a group shot, I need to get it from some one. I feel so luck to have found such a fun group of friends!
We had connecting suites but there were three of us who brought our babies so we stayed in our own little room. I did manage to get a few pictures of our cute babies in the morning!

 Eden, Nora, and Lanaya

Dresden turns 4!

Holy cow my kids seem so old now. My little Dresden is the sweetest boy ever! :) He really has the best heart and is such a good boy. He try's so hard to listen and do the right thing and it make me so happy. He is such a rule follower and loves to let me know when Ava is not following the rules! Haha!He has his moments though when he really wants something, you'll know. 

He is the best little and big brother ever. He loves Nora and is always making her smile. 

He is very observant and if he thinks you need something he will get it for you or try and fix the problem. He loves doing everything Ava does. Sometimes we purposefully ask him a question first and he says "I want whatever Ava said"! He loves play dates, especially his friend Talmage.

He is so smart, a little too smart for his own good! He LOVES math and when we are in the car he wants to play the "math game", which is just me asking addition questions. Sometimes he even beats Ava to the answer. 

He liked pre-school, but was never sad about skipping out to have a play date or go to the park. He is a funny silly kid and I love listening to him tell stories and say prayers and just talk in general!

We love you Dresden and we are so lucky you are in our family!

I'm kinda the meanest mom and actually was out of town for the first half of his birthday. I felt SO bad but daddy took good care of him and they went to chuck-e-cheese the night before with friends and then he made him breakfast in the morning. In the afternoon he and Josh took the kids to the Omaha zoo where they later met up with us. We headed to Red Robin for diner and were able to celebrate our big boy turning 4!

Obviously without me there there were not a lot of pictures being taken, Eric does not feel good about taking pictures EVER!! We're working on it, and with a few reminders we got a couple! :)

 Dresden and his friend William.

 The zoo!

 Enjoying is birthday dessert!

We also planned for him to go to a movie with Talmage. We saw Escape from Planet Earth! They loved it and loved the popcorn, treats, and root beer even more!

Ava turns 6!

So crazy that my baby is 6 years old! We had a lot of things going on and with a new baby planning two parties just was just too hard. So we decided that we would try every other year friend parties. Friend parties are great but sometimes it seems like a ton of work and money all for other kids. So we will have a friend part next year.
I loved making the day all about Ava and spending the money on things that were her idea. Being just with our family was so much fun. Ava was a sweetheart and so grateful for everything. She was happy and thrilled with making the plan all by herself.

She woke up to these balloons! She insisted on keeping them up for almost a week later!

 Too excited to wait, we opened presents first. She got some clothes for her "American girl" doll and some games from Grandma.

 I just love how she crosses her legs all the time! :)

 We got her a new bike! Yay! She was so big on her old bike that was 3 years old! She loves this one and it fits her perfect.

 On to her requested mickey mouse pancakes!

 We surprised them both at build-a-bear! Dresden's birthday is only a week after hers so we let him in on this one! They asked so many questions trying to figure out where we were going but were so ecstatic when they saw it. It's just a fun place and they loved every second!

 Nora and daddy waiting in line!

 We had the Nehrings over for donuts and ice cream. We kept with the donut cake like last year! She loved it.

A few days later we finished up her last present. Pedicures with her friends Lilli and Izzy!

 feeling like such a big girl!!

 Cute girls!

Ava is still our wild child but we love her so much. She loved Kindergarten and learned so much. (yeah it's May now:) ) She is reading and nothing makes me happier than to listen to her reading. I have been so impressed and she just soaks it all in and loves reading everything she sees!
She is a wonderful big sister. She helps out with Nora and for the most part gets along with Dresden. I love hearing all three of them playing together. Nora loves it in their room and she loves Ava! Not so much when she holds her but just playing with her and doing silly things always gets Nora giggling!
She loves playing with her friends and having play dates. She is loving swim lessons and we can't wait for the flash flood and tornado warning to be over so we can swim outside!