Golden Ticket

Despite the accident, this has been Ava's lucky month. Since the 1st of August she has been showered with gifts, cards, and food from family, friends, doctors, nurses, etc. With all of the excitement, her birthday could have just been an after thought. However, we are very glad she is still with us, and wanted to give her a party with her friends this year like we did for Elizabeth's 3rd birthday. Even though, she seems like she has been three forever.Ava has always been independent, so a good question is who are her friends. First there is Analiese, her best friend from pre-school. Then there is Jena (5) and Ben (4). Elizabeth and Ben played T-ball together, but I think Ava has a bit of a crush on him. Jena and Ben have a brother Ryan (2), Ava really doesn't really like him but he got invited by default. Ava is also friends with Abby (5), Natalie (4), both from Elizabeth's gymnastics class. We have also done play dates together and all the girls have a blast. Abby and Natalie have a little sister Madeline (2) who once again was only invited by default. Since a gymnastics party was out of the question, we opted to take the kids to musical "Willy Wonka" at the San Antonio children's' theatre. It was suppose to be "Beauty and the Beast," but it got switched up last minute. Hey, who doesn't like a show about candy and chocolate. The kids all behaved beautifully during the performance. I am sure it helped that I put little bags of candy on their seats to munch on, and they all really liked the show. However, Ava was quite concerned why all the kids were disappearing when they ate too much candy. She wanted to know if they were going to come back. Luckily, they all re-appeared a the end of the show. I am sure there are good lessons to be learned. Ryan who has become quite the Betty Crocker made Ava's birthday cake. It is something he enjoys, like I enjoy making the kids' Halloween costumes. Elizabeth went for Spiderman back in February, Ava has a bit more girly taste and opted for a princess cake. Ava got the doll in the hospital from a nurse, it was the only one she owned that fit in the cake. Otherwise, we normally wouldn't have chosen a character from High School Musical 3. She enjoyed cake and chasing balloons with her friends in the theater lobby after the show. I think she would give this birthday a standing ovation. We did a family party on Sunday with Gram, Andrea, and the rest of that side of the family. Ava did some swimming, and even jumped off the side of the pool. I would say that she has recovered over the trauma of her accident. The kids decorated cupcakes, and successfully managed to make a whole weekend out of gorging themselves on sweets. Luckily, no one had to be juiced, stretched, or rescued from being turned into fudge.

One year ago!

Now!(Note the T-shirt)