Kate and Abby's Birthday Party

Recently we made friends with a couple who live across the street from us that have 2 kids practically the same age as our monkeys, born 23 months apart, 12 days from one another in the month of February.  Our kiddos were born 23 months/13 days apart in March.  Our older girls have had a series of playdates this winter and get along wonderfully.  They both display older sibling traits when together so it can get quite interesting at times. 

This weekend the girls, Kate and Abby celebrated their first and third birthday. We went over for some brunch and cake. They had a clown with balloon animals, facepainting and a few tricks up her sleeve. Guess who will be having this same clown at their birthday party next month?? It was a lot of fun. Ava is quite the 'indian giver' as she proceeded to open Kate's present that she gave her...ahhh, three year olds.

Ava and the birthday girl.

Fort Fork

Last week I had a great idea, so I thought, to build a fort in our dining room - really it's just a bed sheet draped over our dining room table and chairs - ta-dah.  The kids LOVED it and when I say love, I mean, spent hours playing in, laughing and just making a (huge) mess.  Needless to say, there was mucho clean up involved and when it came time to pick up, nobody wanted to help.  Guess you got stuck with said cleaning...yours truly.  So now every morning Ava wants to reconstruct the "Fork" as she calls it, I ask her if she wants to help clean it up afterwards and she, without hesitation, says nope.  So this is the first and perhaps the last "fork" in the Rodriguez household...yea right, who am I kidding.

Ice Skating at Bryant Park

This weekend we took our almost three year old to The Pond at Bryant Park for her first ice skating experience.  Upon arriving we waited in line to enter, the line wasn't long but to a little girl it felt like eternity.  After about a 15 minute wait we went inside, rented our skates and put our things in a locker - as soon as we approached the ice, all the while telling Ava what a great time she is about to have, everyone starts getting off so they could sweep the ice, another 20-minute wait.  Seriously!?!?  Thankfully, we ran into some friends from church at the rink and they were able to chat it up with Ava while she patiently anxiously waited to go skating. 

Not thrilled about waiting to go skating.

 

Her first loop around she loved it, second loop she cried but every time after that she absolutely loved.  After about 8 times around it was time for a break...holding a child up while skating is tiring.

Our little New Yorker eating a black and white cookie.

Ava's attempt at taking our picture.

Round 2

Mimi and Daddy's turn.

She couldn't wait to get on the carousel, can you see the excitement!

This carousel made me nauseous but Ava had a great time.

Mimi waiting for us.

Such a memorable day!

Homemade Superhero

Every weekend we make an honest attempt to get out of the house, whether it's visiting a museum in the city, a playdate or heading to the local (or not so local) park, but with the amount of snow we've gotten this winter it makes it pretty hard to drive anywhere.  The ice has piled up so high that parking on New York City streets is nearly impossible, thankfully we have an underground garage.  So this means we get quite creative around the house.  Case in point, Ava's Yo Gabba Gabba inspired, albeit homemade, superhero getup. 

She is becoming quite the 3-year old, independent in every way, repeating everything she hears and bossy. Her favorite saying is, "But I NEED it." -- she doesn't want everything she 'needs' it. When she says her prayers at night she runs through a list of people in her daily life and still thanks God for a birthday party that she went to over 6 months ago (apparently she had a great time) she always ends her prayers "in G-sus name, Amen!"

Aiden wanting his own superhero costume.



Ava telling her brother a story about the squirrles running around in the garden, Aiden listening intently.