Keuka Slaw

I've had this recipe for quite some time now and have made it before but never posted it for some reason.

For Avery's party, I wanted to make a "different" kind of salad so I pulled this out and made it.  It's so easy and so yummy!

Keuka Slaw
2 packages Ramen noodles, crushed (discard flavor packet)
1 bag coleslaw mix
1 bunch scallions/green onion, chopped
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup toasted almonds (I didn't toast mine-just used slivered almonds)

Dressing: 1 cup canola oil
                1/2 cup sugar
                1/3 cup white vinegar

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix up the dressing and pour over the salad.  Chill before serving.

No special notes on this one! It's just that simple!

Happy 3rd Birthday Avery!

Today is a special day.

Someone in our house turned 3 today!

It's a special day for her and of course a special day for me....her birthday, my birth day. Celebrating the day I became a Mom.  I remember it like it was yesterday-it's hard to believe 3 years have passed already. What's the saying..."days are long but years are short?" Something like that-but it's so true. It's been a wonderful ride though-challenging at times, but yet so rewarding at the same time. It's still weird for me to think of myself as a Mom...even weirder when her daycare buddies call me "Avery's Mom"!

Avery was born at 1:29am and I was actually awake to witness it this year...Cassandra woke me up at 1:20am to eat and as I was feeding her it dawned on me that it was the time Avery was born. So that was kind of cool.

All of us (Gabe, Cassandra, my Mom, and I) were up before Avery today. Her one request? Breakfast in bed. I have no idea how that got started...I know Gabe brought it up to her and for some reason it stuck that she was having breakfast in bed on her birthday. Girlfriend knows what's good!  When we heard her awake, I quickly got her breakfast put together and we all went upstairs. Before she could see us, I lit a candle and we all started to sing. She got a little shy about it (see the sleepy head?!):

But then got a big smile and had to show bear-bear!

Her breakfast was yogurt, strawberries, and cinnamon toast cut into Mickey Mouse faces.  She hopped into bed and breakfast was served.

Is she a queen or what?!

We were goofing around with Cassandra and said she was going to take a nap in Avery's dresser!

Cassandra went down for a nap and while she slept, Avery finished breakfast and opened her gifts. We got her all dressed and when Cassandra woke up, we all went to Sea Breeze for the day!  Gabe and I both took the day off to spend time with our girls and since it was nice out, we decided to hit up the amusement park.  Cassandra was ready to go!

Avery had.a.blast! She was a little taller than last year which got her to go on a few more rides. She missed another height cut off by less than half an inch...which was a bummer, but I guess she'll just go on them next summer (unless we go towards the end of the season and maybe she'll grow some more!).

Avery went on the train with my Mom:

And got her Dora popsicle (she wanted one last year and they were sold out of them...needless to say that's all she talks about when you mention Sea Breeze!)

Even little Cassandra went on her first ride-the carousel!

My Father-in-Law, Sister-in-Law and her kids all joined us as well so the kids had so much fun riding the rides together. Here are Avery and Bianca on the planes (one of the "new" rides for Avery this year):

And Avery and Bianca on the turtles:

Another new ride?! The swings!

We stayed for a late lunch/early dinner and our reason for leaving was to get Cassandra to bed. Before we left, we did a family ride on the carousel....

It was such a fun day! The weather was gorgeous and we all had so much fun!

Happy 3rd Birthday sweet Avery! You bring so much joy to our days and you'll always be our baby no matter how big/old you are!!

Avery's Birthday Party!

Saturday we celebrated Avery's birthday....with a party of course!

We were busy bees in the morning getting stuff ready-cleaning the house, making food, and I had to decorate her cake! 

We also had to set up her surprise.....

A bounce house/water slide!!

Now I know you're probablyl thinking we're nuts for getting one right?!  Well, what happened is that my Mom gave us some money and wanted us to buy "something for the girls for outside."  A swingset, etc.  So we asked Avery what she wanted and she said a bounce house.  So that made our decision!  We bought it a few weeks ago, but decided to bring it out and surprise her with it on her party day.

Of course as soon as it got set up, she had to try it out!

Before the festivities started, we got a quick family photo.  She wanted a Minnie Mouse type of party so notice that Avery is wearing the newer style of Minnie and Cassandra is wearing "old school" Minnie colors!

Showing off the dress my Mom got her for the occasion...love it!

All of our guests arrived and the kids had fun in the bounce house-it was the perfect day for a party...not too hot and wall to wall sunshine! Gorgeous! 

We had a cookout and enjoyed the weather, then came in for her to open gifts:

So excited about her bag of M&M's!

Pretty skirt

Slip-n-slide!

New crocs!

Then it was time for cake!  I didn't go crazy on her cake this year mainly because I knew with having 2 kids that my decorating time was going to be limited.  However, I think it came out super cute!

Image ordered here

Avery was very excited about cake!

And clapped along while we sang to her!

Yay!!

We had such a great time at her party! We have so many thoughtful and generous family members and friends! We appreciate everyone coming out and sharing our little big girl's special day!

Five Months Old!

Today Cassandra is five months old! Only one more month until her half birthday-crazy!

She finally bumped up to size 2 diapers for the day and size 3 for overnight.  She's still wearing mostly 3 month clothes.

She nurses every 2.5-3 hours during the day. She's still an early bird for bed-she's ready to go down around 7! She sleeps about 12 hours overnight waking up usually twice to eat. She's getting on a better nap schedule now. She does a morning nap about 2 hours after waking up in the morning. Then she'll do an afternoon nap 2 hours after waking from the morning nap. Some days she'll take a third nap around 5pm that's really short-a half hour or so, just to get her through until bedtime.

She's had a busy month. She has rolled both ways. She went belly to back first (Avery was the opposite) and does that more frequently. She went back to belly only once so far!  She also has started reaching for and grabbing onto things.  She also found her thumb! A big milestone was that we unswaddled her for sleeping. And Cassandra adjusted just fine. I did a few nights with one arm out, 2 nights with both arms out, then moved her to a sleep sack with no issues. Thank God!  She also made her first visit to the Strong Museum!

Here are her pics for the month:

My favorites:

And for fun, here are Avery's five month pics!

Dentist

Today Avery had her first trip to the dentist!

Actually, let me clarify....she has been to every dentist appointment with me since she was born, but this was HER first appointment.

I wasn't sure what to expect from her. At my last cleaning in December, we tried getting her to just sit in the chair and she wanted nothing to do with it. Not even on my lap or anything! So I had no idea what to expect today.

They did my cleaning first. Avery sat towards my feet playing with some toys that had at a table. She could see everything they were doing from where she was. When they started polishing my teeth, she was very interested and asked to sit in my lap to watch.  After they finished me, it was her turn.  I was surprised that she got right in the chair. I could tell she was a little nervous, and she said, "Mommy is this going to hurt?"  I told her no and she seemed ok.

you can tell by her face that she's a little unsure of things

She wasn't a fan of the bright light, so the hygenist brought out some cool shades for her to wear.

First, her teeth got counted....

And she even let her do some picking which shocked me! Then she got polished and flossed!

After, she got a prize for doing so well for the hygenist and she basically took Avery trick-or-treating around the office for a bag full of stuff to bring home-toothbrushes, floss, toothpaste, etc. Then we both had the dentist check our teeth (no cavities for either of us-yay!) and Avery picked out another prize!

Overall, it was pretty good-I could tell at times she wanted to be done with it all, but she stuck with it and did really, really well. I was definitely one proud Mama!

Patio

Mark another thing "complete" on our list of things to do with the new house....a patio!

We decided to go with a stamped concrete patio.  They started late last week and finished it this morning....and it can be walked on today which is awesome-it'll be ready to use for Avery's party this weekend which is so, so nice!

Monday they started pouring the concrete:

Avery was fascinated!

This was the step on Monday after it was poured and stamped:

And part of the patio on Monday:

This is the final product: Stamped, grout done, sealed, etc:

A close up of the pattern:

Let's just say we are in LOVE!