Ava's Birthday Bedroom Makeover!

When we did Mayah's bedroom for her Birthday we debated on switching the girls bedrooms to make it feel completly new. We ended up not doing it because I was worried that Ava would have a hard time with the change. I thought this because when we moved into this house Ava was feeling really insecure and struggling with the changes. When we were all done with Mayah's room, though, Ava walked in and said with such pleasure and excitement, "This my room Daddy, you make this bed for me daddy...?" It broke my heart to explain to her that it was for Mayah. So we decided that we would take the stuff from Mayah's old room that was still good and use it to redecorate Ava's room like a "big girl's" room for her birthday too. The bedspread that Mayah had was a country flower design, so I thought it would be really cute to have her bed frame made out of a picket fence and continue the garden theme throughout her room. I am lucky that my husband is pretty handy, because all the picket fence bed frames I looked at online were running anywhere from $700 to $1200. We had been planning to do it, but didn't actually get around to putting the fence together and painting it until about midnight the night before her birthday. As you would know if you've ever done construction, there are always problems! We finally got done with everything around 4:00 am, the morning of Ava's birthday. Despite the hurdles (not enough paint, screws were too long, mis-sized wood) I think the room turned out great and Clint did an awesome job on the picket fence! I know that he wasn't too excited about staying up all night to do Ava's room when we had to be up the next day by 7:30, but he did it willingly because he knew it was really important to me and would make Ava happy. Thanks Babe.

Here are some pictures of Ava's new big girl room, and some of Ava when she woke up to find her entirely new bedroom.

Tuck Lovebug Ramos Carlos aka the tiniest turtle

So the other day, Mayah went to her friend Ashley Johnson's house to play. Her mom had found a tiny little painted turtle out by Lake Zorinsky on the outskirts of Omaha and brought it home to show her kids and maybe keep it as a pet. It was literally the size of a quarter. We can tell she really got into it, because she was telling us all about the type of habitat it needs, the appropriate water level, how to avoid chlorinated H2O in the tank, what it feeds on and how to tell it is a boy (because the underbelly is concave). The Johnsons make an annual trek to Utah each summer to see family and they stay for nearly a month. They are leaving soon and didn't know what to do with the turtle.

After Mayah went to their house, she kept hounding Amie to go to the pet store and find a small turtle she could bring home. In "typical Carlos fashion", we were tough and held out. Then, the tides turned with a single phone call from Ashley's mom, Pat. She called us tonight to say they had reached a crossroad and needed to decide what to do with the turtle. They would either let it go in the wild, or turn it over to Mayah for ownership, since they couldn't take care of it while they were on their trip and couldn't commit to ownership after they returned. Mayah was ecstatic. In "typical Carlos fashion", we were soft and caved in to Mayah's request. So we now have a tiny pet turtle. He kicks some serious butt. We fed him a worm today and although it was about 6 times as long as he is, he absolutely devoured that thing. There were worm gut floaties drifting around in the water afterward. Now he's safe at his new home in a plastic bowl with some rocks, some turtle vitamins and a piece of lettuce. After a dismal search for an aquarium at Wal-Mart (it was the only place open when we got home), we'll resume a search for the proper habitat tomorrow. Petsmart here we come.

We had to go through quite the debate as we chose a name. Mayah had already settled on Mr. Lovebug (with Grandma Brenda's help), before we really started the conversation about a name. Ava happens to love watching WonderPets! so of course we wanted to name him Tuck (it's the funniest thing, if you ask Ava what works, she always says TEAMWORK in a loud energetic voice)... After a 3-1 vote, Mayah lost, but continued to pout. So we gave in. I told her Lovebug could be the last name if Tuck could be the first name. Then she said, well its last name is Ramos (which is Mayah's father's last name). So again we compromised and settled on Tuck Lovebug Ramos Carlos...the tiniest turtle in the world. He's pretty cool looking and Mayah's stoked to have a pet.

Mayah's swim/sleep over 8th b-day party

This year Mayah decided that she wanted to have a slumber party for her birthday. Clint and I thought it would be fun to take the girls to LifeTime Fitness to swim for a few hours before heading back to our house for the craziness. I think the party turned out great and I am pretty sure all of the girls had a really great time. Mayah said this was her best birthday party to date!

We had all the parents drop the girls off at our house around 4:30. The girls decorated flip flops as they waited for everyone to show up. As you can see from the pictures, the girls had fun giggling as they showed their artistic side through their decorating.


Next we loaded up in two cars and drove to the pool around 5:30, where we played in the water (the girls mostly tortured Clint in the water), went down the slides and played what the girls called "toilet tag" in the grass. Once you get tagged you have to sit with your hand out like a little lever or something and wait for another person to come and "flush you." Once you have been flushed, you can continue to play. At the pool, we ate sandwiches from Mr. Goodcents and just had a good time.





We headed home around 8:00 for Birthday cake (which we hired my friend Jessica to make). It was delicious and adorable... Thanks Jessica!!) While we were eating, Mayah opened all of her presents. After that we did a chocolate fountain and had sparkling cider in fancy little plastic champagne glasses. This was the highlight of the party. When we asked them, each of the girls said the chocolate fountain was their favorite part of the night. Originally, when we had checked the forecast for the day of the party it was predicting thunderstorms and Clint informed me that under no circumstances would we do the chocolate fountain indoors, because when we did this at Christmas time in Cancun with cousin Mia it was a complete mess. I told Clint these were all very mature 8 year old girls and would be able to do this in a clean manor! Luckily for us the weather turned out great and we were able to do the chocolate fountain out on the deck. Clint was right, though, because that chocolate was everywhere! We had to check each of the girls thoroughly for chocolate splatter before entering the house!!!





When we went in the house, we played a game where the girls had to go around the house and find little glow in the dark critters. Whoever collected the most bugs got a little prize. It was fun to watch the girls hunt for bugs around the house in the dark with their flashlights which I had put in party bags for each of them. They would scream with excitement each time they found one. They never did find them all, because we are still finding random critters around the house. Mayah's friend Josie won that game with 31 bugs. Then we had a potato sack race (in sleeping bags) which was pretty entertaining to watch. It was too close to call in the end, with the last two girls racing so close that we had to settle the winner by doing a long jump contest. In the end it was Kyleigh who won that game. Next the girls went down to play a few games of Twister (another present from Gma Brenda).




Finally around 12:00 it was time to wind down with a movie. Mayah, Josie and Kara all fell asleep around 12:40, but there were two girls Halle and Kyleigh who stayed awake until nearly 2:00 am! I was so tired and sooo ready for those girls to pass out. In the morning the girls didn't even let me sleep in on the one night without Ava. On my one chance to sleep in, the girls woke up at 6:00 am!!! We had breakfast at 9:00--pancakes with strawberry's and bananas, eggs, sausage and bacon. Finally the party came to an end at 10:30. It was fun and I know Mayah loved it, but I was so glad it was over! I fell asleep the next night at 7:45 and slept until 9:30 the following morning. I just can't handle late nights like that, like I used to!