Friday Night Photo Dump | January-February 2016

The first couple months of 2016 were crazy busy at work, but we managed to squeeze in quite a bit of fun as well. 

New Year's brunch date at Henry's Majestic. Those chicken and waffles!

These photos are blurry and out of frame because I had to slyly capture the kids quietly entertaining themselves. Light at the end of the tunnel, people.

"Look, mama, it has pom poms!"

Girls' night at Rapscallion filled with lots of wine and fried chicken.

Chalk time in January. Gotta love Texas.

I finally got around to turning in Ava's Camp Mystic application, and receiving this letter in the mail made my heart so happy. Second Term 2020 here we come! 

Date night with my handsome husband to see the Dallas Stars.

Our brave four-year-old after her shots.

Workin' on the bike.

And speaking of, don't mess with this chick.

My Mom babysat after Ava's birthday party so Josh and I could enjoy an early Valentine's date at Midnight Rambler and Americano in the Joule hotel. So good.

Ava enjoying some of her birthday gifts...

This year's Valentines brought to you by Pinterest + Amazon Prime. 

Ava wrote all of her friends' names and was so proud of herself.

Valentine's swag.

Ry got this dinosaur from Bunny and Nello for Valentine's, and it was love at first sight. He now carries it around everywhere saying "di-saur rawr."

Josh and Ava before the Daddy-Daughter Valentine's Dance. Be still my heart.

This sandwich from Ida Claire tasted liked heaven. I've been dreaming about it ever since.

Ava literally fell asleep mid-sticker.

Our winter weather in Dallas has been amazing! (But I fear what this summer has in store.)

And beautiful weather means spending as much time outside as possible, including lots of meals on patios.

This boy even looks cute while covered in queso.

Zoo Day

The last weekend in February we had no plans and a beautiful day ahead, so we decided a trip to the Dallas Zoo was in order. 

This was Rylan's first visit to the zoo since he was a little baby, and he was in awe! He would ride in the stroller between exhibits, but throw his hands up immediately upon stopping so he could get out and investigate.

"Say cheese!"

Despite this picture, I promise Ava was excited to ride the merry-go-round.

And so was Ry. 

Until next time, Mr. Giraffe.

Ava's Fourth Birthday

Our baby girl turned FOUR on February 3, and she enjoyed a whole week of celebrating (as one should) starting with a surprise gift awaiting her on Sunday morning because the weather was too perfect to wait another week.

On the big day, Ava loaded up on sugar with a birthday donut for breakfast and Frozen-themed cupcakes for her class celebration.

Then it was time for the big party at the Perot Museum.

This was my first attempt at making an invitation, and it wasn't half bad (but I'm not quitting my day job). The Perot provides some free invitation designs, but I knew the red color just wouldn't do for my birthday girl. So I just cropped out the cake image, changed the color to pink, and incorporated it into an invitation that fit into a sprinkles/classic birthday party theme.

Birthday parties at the Perot are reasonably priced (at least in comparison to other indoor options in Dallas), the process was super easy, and the staff members were incredibly helpful. 

Our party room was right next to the children's museum area, which was perfect. However, we only had 30 minutes before the party started to set up decorations, so it was a race to get everything ready.

All the decorations were from Shop Sweet LuLu's "It's a Party" line.

And the cupcakes were from Sprinkles (clearly).

The Perot offers catering options, but we opted to just bring a few snacks.

And I love how the DIY rock candy party favors turned out! Hopefully the edible experiment actually worked for everyone.

{Mason Jars. Lids. Sticks.}

Ava had so much fun playing in the Children's Museum with all her friends and family.

Then it was time for cupcakes and snacks.

It was such a fun party.

Happy fourth birthday, sweet girl!