Bad blogger...bad, bad blogger

I have been a bad blogger! Many things have been going on and my poor little fingers have been lazy. So here is a random, and somewhat in order, recap of what has been happening around the Velez house:

Father's Day:
So Father's Day fell on the same Sunday that I had to go to the airport to catch my flight to Vegas! :( I decided to celebrate on the Friday and Saturday before. First, Ava and I booked a 2-hour massage for Mike at our local massage place. He said it was great. We normally only get an hour at a time. If I stayed for two hours I might look like a jello mold afterwards!

Then we gave him a new watch! Mike is not much of a watch wearer, but he saw one in the paper that he liked. He has actually been wearing this new one! YAY. He wears it with his wedding band. Oh, yeah, that he found a month ago after 6mths missing. Good thing!

Ava has been on a jewelry kick. She likes to look at my jewlery and wear it. She really likes my solitare necklace that Mike gave me. She told me she wanted one and I told her that she has to ask her Papa. Right after he opened his gift she looked at him and said, "Papa, Ava wants a diamond necklace." I started laughing. I was waiting for him to say, "Yeah, when you are 16." Instead he said, "Let Papa see what he can do for your birthday." Let's clarify this statement...not her 16th birthday, her 3rd birthday! Jeez.

A Saturday at the park:
Ava loves to go to the park with Mike. They normally go Saturday mornings and stop to get a donut and juice. She also brings along her soccer ball. One afternoon we went to our local neighborhood park together so I wanted to take some pictures of her with her ball.





Then Mike rolled down the hill and then he taught her how to do it. Really cute shot:



Then he gave the tired little girl a lift home. I love how she holds on.


P.S. All of those bandaids are not due to injury. She LOVES to wear them..and make us wear them. In the shot where Mike is rolling down the hill you can see the ones on his leg that she gave him. I had at least one on my knee. Think it was Spiderman!

My birthday:

On July 4th I got older! Yippee...well 28 isn't that old but there wasn't a major milestone achieved. Like:
16 - you get to drive
18 - you can get into a club or see a rated R movie (or is that 17??)
19 - you are considered an adult
20 - well you are out of the 10's
21 - you can drink; boys get a break on their car insurance rates
25 - you can rent a car (is that really something I just typed)
28 - you look for gray hair and wait for the onset of wrinkles

The Saturday before our parents came over to eat. I made a feast... Here is the menu:
- grilled chicken
- grilled sausage
- roasted potatoes
- pasta salad
- grilled corn on the cob
- roasted ricotta roma tomatoes
- stuffed japeleno peppers
- baked beans
- watermelon/canteloupe
- rice
- veggie tray
- cookies
- cupcakes

I think my hips just got bigger! Here are a few shots from the day. I forgot to take pictures...

The cupcakes I made


The family celebrating my birthday


We had a great time with everyone. The next day Ava and Mike came home with a tiny cake and candles because they didn't sing the day before. Afer they sang Ava took one of the candles out to lick the frosting off of it. Then she realized that if she dipped it back in the cake she would get more frosting! Score. Someone should have told her that you aren't suppose to eat the candle. It does not taste like cake or frosting. I educated her while I wiped the wax pieces off of, and out of, her mouth! She said,"Momma that is nasty." Yes Ava, it is.