Crazy Love Gamble-Style

I really tried to convince Ava that we should just have a small gathering at our house, decorate cookies with a few friends, but she insisted on going to Papa's Pizza, again.  Which really, I shouldn't be complaining.  I always dread it and then it happily surprises me.   The whole thing was super mellow (for a kids birthday party), relatively inexpensive, and no clean up.  We had a good turn out for a last minute gathering, and although we were missing a few core-key people, keeping it small does help make it feel more mellow for sure.  (We also took her out to dinner the night before, just the 4 of us, Red Robin of course)  We of course started off her birthday with special pancakes, lots of whipped cream, for those of the bunch without extreme food-pickiness issues.  Ready for the party. When the kids went off to play I figured I'd grab my camera and take a snap of each one.  I got the next 4 photos on the first...

We had a great weekend.  Bayli came for a visit, I just adore having her here.  We went to the library, got some great books and fed lots of ducks. This is a shirt I tried on at Ross, made me laugh, all I can think is "Wait? Why are you staring at my chest??!"  too funny, if it were just a little less metallic I could of loved it....   We did some back to school shopping, swimming, game playing a lot of talking & catching up, it was perfect.   John has been working like crazy lately, he barely had any time to enjoy his weekend but we did have a lovely dinner with Dad, Angi & Jessica on Sunday.  We had Thai food & organic white peach margaritas, it was really fun and delicious!! This is our last official week before Ava starts school, time to live it up!! I'm a little sad, my baby is growing up too fast, sniff, sniff.... We've had such a great Summer, and it's not over yet, time to enjoy the week!!

In retrospect I should of posted this YESTERDAY. Oh well, I was stuck on the order of things and  didn't think that through. Anyhow, on Sunday we celebrated Dad's birthday, we had brunch out at Skamania Lodge .  I had never been there before so I was super excited at the  choice of location.  The place is just beautiful.  Right when we walked in Ava saw this couch and ran towards it, jumping on, expecting it to  be soft, it's wicker!  Ha!  She was shocked. Auntie Love & my adorable husband.  The girls loved the wooden rocking chairs by the fire.    We made our way into the party & got to see the birthday boy.  It was great how many of Dad's  friends were able to make it out to celebrate him. I was expecting a small family gathering but this was so much better!  Love Grandpa!  & Grandma : )  Great food, Ava was thrilled. ...