Weekend Review

I know I already posted about our Saturday morning and the March of Dimes in this post, but we had some other cute things happen that I wanted to be able to remember.

On Saturday, I went to Sonic Happy Hour to get us some 1/2 price sodas. My intention was to surprise J with a nice big 44oz Coke for all his hard work at the walk. I got home, brought B his slushie then went back to the car to get our drinks. . . I noticed one of them looked "emptyish" from the lid. . .originally I thought maybe they just didn't fill it all the way to the top. I went to grab the other one and noticed it had soda on the bottom. Then I discovered the "emptyish" look was in fact, a nearly empty 44oz cup! Apparently, in the cup holder was B's March of Dimes ribbon that he had given me.  The pin poked a hole in the cup. Luckily, the soda stayed in the two cup holders and didn't get anywhere else in the car. I went to wake J up and tell him about my "surprise" for him.  He asked if I had cleaned it up yet, and I said no, not yet. He said "well did you get a few napkins?". . .I said, no I dont think you quite understand. More than 1/2 of a 44oz Coke leaked into the cup holder. . . I think we are going to need a lil something more than napkins! =) Being the fabulous husband he is, he sprung into action and got some towels and cleaned the whole mess.

Meanwhile, one of B's school friends had called him on my phone and left a message asking if he could come over for a playdate. As soon I told B, he was SO excited! I had him call his friend back on his own. He had never talked to one of his friends on the phone before, so it was so funny to watch him. He was SOOOO giddy, he could barely carry on a conversation. He talks on the phone all the time to family and has NEVER acted like that. J and I were cracking up. I finally had to take over, just so I could get his friend's address. =) Afterwards, we all packed into the car and headed to drop B off. J and I then headed home to watch a movie we had rented.

After the movie, we went to pick B up and visited with the family for a lil bit. Then we headed over to Raising Cane's for dinner. As we were eating, about 4 high school couples walked in with their prom attire on. It was funny to watch B mesmerized by the girls sparkly, long dresses and the guys in their tuxes. I noticed there was only one other family in there along with the teenagers and us. I made the comment, "look there is a family just like us: a mom, dad, and son."  B instantly corrected me, "no, they aren't like us, we have 4 in our family, we also have a girl, Ava." =) I love that he corrected me and included our princess in our family dinner.

On Sunday, we tried something new. Since we all woke up early, we decided to go to the early church service. Afterwards we went to see Ava and brought her a new pinwheel. . .

We had a special moment with this pinwheel. . .the whole time we were visiting, the pinwheel never moved (even though all the other pinwheels were spinning strongly). Then the moment after we said our "goodbyes" her pinwheel started spinning. . .spinning strongly like all the other pinwheels. J and I both looked at each other with the same thought, it was as though our perfect lil princess was waving goodbye back to us. =)

Then we headed to Red Lobster for lunch. This was a difficult lunch for us because it was our first time to eat at Red Lobster since our celebration dinner of finding out we were having a baby girl. Although it was a lil over 6 months ago when we were so anxious to find out the gender, it felt like it was just yesterday.
Here is a super cute video from back then of J sharing our gender news with his parents. . .


As we finished lunch, we looked across the street at Buy Buy Baby and remembered how 6 months ago, we were SO excited to be having a girl we rushed in there after our dinner just to browse through all of the cute girly things.  Now, I have a couple of Buy Buy Baby giftcards that I didn't even get a chance to use on Ava. =(

After all of that reminiscing, we decided we are done with Red Lobster for awhile, well, at least that particular location.

We then headed home and all took naps before we headed to the park for B to practice his soccer skills.

The boys did a variety of soccer drills as I walked around the field multiple times in an attempt to start exercising. =) Afterwards to continue our new Sunday tradition of having chips and queso. . .we headed to Taco Cabana for dinner. Randomly, we bumped into our good friends there so we got to eat dinner with them.  It was such a nice surprise!

March of Dimes Walk

This morning J participated in the March of Dimes walk. March of Dimes is an organization that raises money to help improve research for premature babies, birth defects and other infant/pregnancy issues. Before he began, he needed to be "Ava-fied" . . . I jazzed up a name badge/necklace for him to wear. . .

 and got him some pink shoes laces that say, "hope, faith, and strength."

 

 

 Then he was officially ready to walk the 5 miles for Ava. . .

J headed off to White Rock Lake while B and I headed to his soccer game. While I was at the soccer game, J texted me this picture just to give me a heads up of how many people that were there. . .

 

Earlier in the morning, we had the tv on as we were getting ready and the local news had a segment promoting the March of Dimes Walk in Fort Worth.  They mentioned they were estimating about 12,000 participants. . .so I knew there was going to be A LOT of people!

 

After his soccer game, B and I also headed to the walk. J had also warned us how bad the parking was but I didn't quite understand until we got there. Parking was HORRIBLE! B and I probably walked a good mile+ just to get to the event. Once we got there, we walked right up to the start/finish line. I called J to see where he was. . . he was only 1/2 way through, so B and I decided to walk towards him so we could finish with him. As we were walking, I started to get emotional. There were several signs along the walk that were "In Honor of" and "In Memory of" various babies. It was hard for me to read the signs and see all the successful premature babies that beat their odds and to know, our perfect lil princess, who was born healthy, is no longer with us.  Luckily, B and I were able to come to a waiting area along the walk where I could collect my thoughts/emotions and we could wait for J.  It was right by the lake, so I had to take a quick pic of B waiting.

 

 

Here are a few pics that J took along his walk. . .

 

We finally met up with J to finish up the last 1/2 mile or so with him. We came across some bluebonnets and took a quick pic of B in them.

 

Then, it was time to walk on and finish the walk.  It was a great feeling to finish as a family in honor of our princess. =) 

 

Afterwards, J took us over to "A Place to Remember" tent to show us what he had done for Ava.

He wrote her name on a pink flower and then it was added to an angel tree.

Here are all the names of the lil angels

He also got to write a personal message to her from us.

 

Then we headed over to J's corporate tent to have a yummy lunch before we hiked the mile+ back to our cars. After we ate, his company had a few drawings for prizes. Unfortuntately we didn't win, but we did come close! We thought for sure we were going to win the grand prize. . . it was set up so perfectly for us! They had a few of the kids draw the ticket numbers.  On the Grand Prize, the dj asked the lil girl what her name was before he announced. Take 1 guess what her name was. . .yep, it was Ava. All 3 of us looked at each other with the biggest grins, thinking "we got this!" All of our numbers matchd up in exception to the last 2. We didn't win. =( We knew it would have been TOO perfect, if we had.

 

We headed back to our cars and decided to make an impromtu visit to Ava to tell her all about the walk. After visiting with her, I looked down and noticed something on the ground. I bent down to pick it up, it was a one dollar bill! We thought it was funny, it was kind of like a lil consolation  prize from Ava for us not winning the grand prize. =)

 

By the time we got home, we were completely EXHAUSTED and ready for a nap. . .

(Well B, didn't even make it home before he started his nap).

Lilly and B photo bombing J while he took a nap. =)

 

Today was SUCH a beautiful day! Although it was last minute, I am so glad we got to participate in this wonderful event! Today, J dedicated his walk to Ava. As a family, we plan on making the March of Dimes Walk an annual event for us, not only to bring awareness to their cause but to honor our lil princess, Ava.

 

A few things for next year:

* we hope to either be pushing Ava's baby brother or sister in their stroller as we walk OR me being a cheerleader at the finish line because I'll be too pregnant to walk that far. =)

* we want to purchase an "In Memory Sign" for Ava to be placed along the course

* we want to get a big group of family/friends to walk with us. . . wearing bright pink shirts with Ava's name.

* we want to get more information on the shuttle buses that we saw dropping people off at the event so we won't have to walk so far to/from our cars. =)

 

I am SO proud of J for taking the initiative to particiapte in this special event for our sweet lil princess, Ava. By the end of the walk, J's feet hurt, his hamstrings cramped up, his knee felt funny, he was exhausted, and did I mention his feet hurt?   Even though he has his aches, it was all worth it, because I know Ava is SO proud of her daddy too!

 

Thanks for following along with us, 

Weekend Review

Saturday morning, B had a soccer game, bright and early at 8am.  This was my first game of the season, so I was excited to go watch him play. As we watched B play, the field behind him was a game being played by girls just a lil younger than B.  As the girls caught my attention, while B was over on the sideline. . . doing who knows what =)

 If you look closely, you can see a huge smile on his face. =)

That's him under the blanket. . .in his defense, it was chilly out there! =)

 

The thoughts crossed my mind that the last time I had gone to a game, J and I were discussing in four years or so we would also be going to watch Ava play.  We would be the parents that were having to shuffle between watching two kids. I also thought about how excited B was for Ava to come watch him play. Right before she was born, he was already asking me if Ava and I would be able to go to his game that coming Saturday. I told him I wasn't quite sure if she would be ready to be outside, it would all depend on the weather and how I would be feeling. . . .little did I know, that Saturday, instead of Ava going to watch her proud big brother at his soccer game, he would be having to say goodbye to his lil sister as we burried her.

Here are a couple of my favorite pics from his game. . .

 

Again, no idea what he was doing. . . but I promise he really did play. =)

One of the nights when B couldn't go to sleep he had mentioned that he was so upset that Ava never got to see him play soccer or even see him in his soccer uniform. So after his game and breakfast, we went to see our lil princess.

Afterwards, we went to check out an indoor swimming pool where B was wanting to have his birthday party. We had only been there once before when B was much younger, so before I booked it, I wanted to make sure he would like it.  Luckily, he liked it a lot and they still had a few openings so we were able to book it for the Saturday after his birthday.  Now, I get to plan an indoor pool party. =)

Once we got home, we visited with the neighbors a lil bit as B played outside. Then J's cousins were in the Dallas area to see Thomas the Train so they stopped by our house afterwards. It was so great to see them and watch TJ get the hang of driving his new jeep that B passed down to him. Luckily for us, TJ has many years ahead to master his driving skills. =)

He is such a lil a cutie!

 

Afterwards, I was worn out from our busy day!. . .This was way more activity than I have been use to in the last several months, so J took B to the park to play and kick around his soccer ball while I took a nap. Love that they give me quiet time and let me get my rest when needed. =)

On Sunday we visited a new (to us) church and really enjoyed it. They had just started a new series "Making Sense out of the NonSense of Life" the week before and it was so fitting to our life right now. It was so touching, a few times I teared up and B immediately wrote me a note to me "are you ok mommy?" (If his handwriting hadn't been so atrocious, I would show it off.) =) As we walked to our car, both J and I felt as though the pastor was talking directly to us and were really moved by it.  We are excited to go back next week as they continue the series!

Afterwards I went to lunch with one of my best friends and two of her best friends. It was so great to get out of the house and have a "girly" lunch.  The boys went to lunch and then to Dave and Busters or "David's Buster" as B calls it. They had a great time! I laughed when B walked in with a big pink ball. I thought maybe he chose that on purpose for Ava, but then he told me the real story. Right before they left, B wanted to do the "claw machine" (something I would never let him do). =) I guess there was a similar orange/blue ball that he was trying to get, but instead the pink ball dropped down. When he told me his animated version of the story, a huge smile came to my face. I told him, I guess that was Ava's doing, letting you guys know that she was there with ya. :)

Shortly after they got back, our doorbell rang. It was B's neighbor friend and her friend asking if he could play. He was SO excited. . .the weather was beautiful so they played outside as J and I took advantage of a quiet house and took a nap. After B and his friends played for awhile, B came inside asking if J could take them to the park to play. Being the trooper he is, J walked the kids to the park and watched them play while I got to catch up on the DVR.

When they got back, we went to go visit Ava, B took his pink ball and shared his story with Ava. Afterwards, we went out to dinner to have chips and queso and taco salads. . .our new Sunday routine. . .visiting Ava and having chips and queso for dinner. =)

 

We had a pretty busy, fun filled weekend. =)

 

Thanks for following along with us,