The Holidays

We were able to spend Thanksgiving at Rob's parents house.  It was a special treat because we got to meet our new nephew Samuel for the first time.  What a little cutie pie.  Ava was in heaven and was constantly asking Aunt Lauri if she could hold him.  The girls got in a lot of play time with their other Tag & Lucy too which they always love.

Christmas was spent in Texas this year though we were able to make a quick pre-Christmas trip to Oklahoma to celebrate there.  This was the first year that Charlotte really understood the concept of ripping paper and having a surprise inside.  She was apparently satisfied after two presents because we couldn't even get her to open her third one because she was too busy playing with the first two.  The girls loved all their gifts and, per Roberts family tradition, we had tacos for Christmas dinner.  A couple weeks before Christmas I told Ava that when I was growing up, a couple times on Christmas morning (maybe always, I'm not sure) my dad made us fresh squeezed orange juice before we opened presents.  So a couple days before Christmas, Ava spotted a little manual juicer in the produce section of the grocery store and begged to get it "so you can make juice like Poppy did mom."  And she loved it.

Ava with her gingerbread house

Maya - our elf with the ornament she colored and the ones she left for the girls

Maya

Ava singing at her Christmas concert (middle in green)

Cousins Tag & Lucy with Charlie and Ava singing to Grandma Vincent

Papa (Raymond), Rob, Charlotte & Ava with Grandma Vincent

And the stockings were laying on the fireplace with care (because I don't have hangers)

The tents I made for the girls on Christmas Eve.

Charlotte holding up one of her gifts

Ava very excited about her M&M's

Ava likes the tent

Charlotte with the froggy Grandma Kathee sent.

Rob and I had to laugh this year because his gift from me was a new quilt and my gift from him was a miter saw.  We were both thrilled.  I have long lists in my head of all the projects I can do now that I have my saw and Rob no longer has to snuggle up with a girly blanket every night just because its the softest, warmest one in the house. :)  By far my favorite gift this year was from my parents.  In lieu of gifts for my brothers and sisters and I, they donated enough money to Smile Train to give 6 children operations.  They sent a sweet letter explaining their decision which mostly had to do with the fact that we are so blessed and none of us are really in need of anything.  It was nice to open the letter on Christmas day and have it bring back what the season is really all about.

What we've been up to..............

Having daddy pull us in the wagon

Deciding we're big enough to pull the wagon ourselves

Catching little sister on the slide

Making funny faces

Striking funny poses

Feigning terror

Swinging in the baby swing when we aren't a baby

Hitching a ride to bed

Creating masterpieces

and messes

And masterpieces

Taking a picture with the gourd that Ava's music teacher Ms. Alice gave her (before it completely rotted).

Gettin in on the gourd photo shoot.

Trip to the ER

So today while I was in another room, I heard a door slam and Charlotte scream. Then Ava came running in to me saying "mom! Charlotte and I have red all over us!" Red? Yeah, she meant blood. Charlie must have gotten her finger slammed in the hinge side of the door because she ended up with a big gash in the tip of her pinky and we were off to the ER.

X-rays showed that she cracked the tip of the bone but the Dr. said that would heal itself. 4 stitches (and a whole lot of tears) later, we were on our way to get ice cream. Frozen dairy makes everything better.

Charlotte was a trooper and is so sweet. She even said thank you and waved bye bye to the guy who held her arm down and wrapped her finger in gauze while she loudly protested. A little motrin for the pain and she's back to her sweet, silly self.

Family Pictures

In the 6 years we've been married, and the 4 years we've had children, Rob and I have yet to take an actual family picture.  By actual I mean one that is cute enough to display in our home and taken by someone who takes the lens cap off before snapping the picture.  So we finally did it and thanks to my friend LE, we got some pretty great shots of the girls and at least one of all of us I deemed worthy to hang above the fireplace.  (translation: the mom didn't have any glaring pimples, her hair was in place and no double chin was apparent) Success! 

So classic Ava when the camera comes out. 

Almost

The one we liked though Ava is a little squinty but you gotta work with what you got.

Sweet sisters

Um yeah so Charlotte may have just gotten up from a nap and her hair was matted with sweat to her head.  I did the best I could in my rush to beat the setting sun so I present to you "out of control comb-over with giant flower".  You know you love it. 

Yay we're done!  

FHE History

Conducting: Mom
Prayer: Ava 
Song: Dad - he let Ava choose.  She chose a song she made up on the spot called "spin like a fan" which consisted of spinning around in a circle with your hands out like airplane wings while singing "I'm spinning spinning spinning like a fan spinning spinning spinning like a fan, spinning spinning spinning like a fan I spin just like a fan.
Lesson: Mom - we talked about Thanksgiving coming up and all the things we should be grateful for and why we should show gratitude to Heavenly Father for all we've been given.  Then mom taught the story of the first Thanksgiving using the following poem and helping us make bracelets (which counted as the activity by Charlotte):

Thanksgiving Story Bracelet

With this bracelet you will know (Start with a pipe cleaner.)
The first Thanksgiving that was long, long ago.
The Pilgrims set sail from far away
On the Mayflower with tall white sails. (Insert a white bead.)
They sailed many days across the ocean blue. (Add a blue bead.)
The seas were rough, but the ship came through.
At last they spotted land so green. (String on a green bead.)
They were so happy they cheered and screamed.
The first year was so hard and black. (Now a black bead.)
Many died and wished that they could go back.
But the Native Americans gave them a hand
And helped them survive in the strange new land.
They decided to celebrate in a special way
And that became the first Thanksgiving day.
They prepared a feast with turkeys brown (Add a brown bead.)
And red cranberries that they had found. (Time for a red bead.)
Yellow corn that they had learned to grow (Insert a yellow bead.)
And orange pumpkin pies, don’t you know! (Last an orange bead.)
But before they ate the turkey and dressing,
They all held hands for a thankful blessing.
         (Twist the ends of the pipe cleaner to make a bracelet.)

Treats: Dad had treats and he chose to let everyone have a piece of cinnamon roll cake that mom made last night.  Charlotte chose to have gogurt which made Ava choose to have gogurt after she had finished her cake.

Say a little prayer for you

Things have been unbelievably crazy this week at our house. A friend of mine and I are putting on the annual craft night for our ward (church) tomorrow night so I have been up to my eyeballs in that. Today I was driving with the girls running some last minute errands, Charlotte was crying in the backseat and I was lost because my phone gave me wonky directions to where I was going. Ava pipes up from the backseat and says "Mom I'm having kind of a rough day." I told her me too. A few seconds later, very quietly from the backseat I hear ...."and we are both having rough days Heavenly Father so please bless that our days won't be rough anymore. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen. "

And you know what? Things immediately felt a little smoother.

Obviously.....

the "we don't color on our bodies" rule is a work in progress.

The one about makeup

Ava is at that age where she loves to draw and paint and sometimes she just can't resist making her body the canvas. The other day as she was twirling about in the living room, I glanced A-N-D-E written on her leg just above her knee where it would be mostly hidden by her skirt. Ande is the name of her best girlfriend. When I asked why she had written Ande's name on her leg, she replied in a singsong voice "because I love her so much." We've told her several times that we don't want her drawing on her body, mostly because I don't want to be on our way to church or family pictures and look back to realize Avas arm is covered in pink polka dots. So tonight she was in for a surprise when she walked into my bathroom as I was getting ready. "Mom!" she screamed. "Why are you drawing on yourself?! On your eyes? With that pencil?!!!" After Rob and I did our best to suppress our laughter, I explained to her about eyeliner.

Spooky Eats

I decided the girls were old enough this year to have fun with them for Halloween dinner.  So this was our spread:  mummy pizzas, carrot fingers with dip, and jack-o-lantern oranges.  Yum yum!

Darling I recall Central Park in fall

We took our annual trip to New York City at the beginning of August.  As usual we had a blast and got to see some of our good friends.  The girls loved it, especially Ava now that she can remember being there before and get excited to see things again.  

We met our sweet friends the Jones' for dinner.  They are serving a mission in NYC.

View from our hotel.  We stayed in Jersey this year because I waited too long to book our hotel.

Spent some time at the Central Park Zoo 

Spent lots of time with our favorite NYC girls

My girls commanded our friend Matt around the playground as if he was their own dad. 

Racing sailboats in central park

We had just read Ava the story of the Ugly Duckling so she was excited about this statue.

Rob rowing our boat across the lake in Central Park

Visiting the alma mater

Mom is there too.

We always have so much fun when we go to NYC and this year was no different.  We love getting to see our friends that are still there and I never get tired of that place.  We try to do different things every year and this year we braved our way out to Queens for the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival.  It was a crazy adventure.

On or In

A few weeks ago we were at a baptism for our little friend Sam.  The opening song was about Jesus being baptized and has a line in it that says "When Jesus Christ was baptized, down in the river Jordan...."  Even though she's sung that song before, Ava turns to me with a look of confusion on her face and says "Mom, how could Jesus go IN the river if he could walk ON water?"  Too cute.

Spooky little models

I made the girls some Halloween shirts and then attempted to get a picture of them both smiling while wearing them which is kinda like trying to snuggle a porcupine and not get poked.  Good thing they're so cute even when they are being their crazy, wiggly selves.