Christmas Mass

Here is everybody dressed in their Sunday best for Christmas Mass.

Christmas morning

Here are the girls on Christmas morning. We got up at 6am thanks to a faulty security system beeping in the house. But it worked out since we had plenty of time to open presents. Ava was very excited and was very proficient with ripping off the wrapping paper (Mom and Dad remember when she used to be quite timid about it all). Ava also had to do double duty as she helped open all of Sarah's presents. The girls received wonderful gifts from her grandparents and Santa.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Sarah is tucked asleep in her bed. Ava has the cookies and milk all ready for Santa. Dad has read the real "Twas the Night Before Christmas" book. We checked the internet one last time and Santa is in South America right now. He will be here shortly so I have to get to bed now. But before I do here is a Christmas song just for you...

Sarah standing

Look at this strong little baby! Sarah is very good at holding her head up, she does tons of talking, and she can stand on her feet. Sometimes she even squats down and up while you hold her hands. We think that she is going to be one strong kid.

Hello Kitty face

Ava has been very busy indoors despite all of the rain outside. She entertained all of us on Sunday by doing some face painting. This was her version of a "Hello Kitty" face. We like the whiskers and nose, but aren't too sure where the blue forehead came from?

Christmas cookies

This past weekend Mom and Ava made Christmas cookies. One batch was made with special ingredients for Mom and Ava (no gluten, etc.). The cookies were called "Christmas Surprise Present" cookies and had a chocolate hidden in the middle. Mom went to a Christmas cookie exchange party on Sunday night and brought home a whole bunch of different kinds of cookies. Dad is eating them up!

Hiding sheep

Friday at school was Ava's Christmas pageant where she was a "Hiding Sheep". She was one of the barn animals on stage and did a great job singing and "hiding" behind the rocks while the shepherds looked for the sheep.

Christmas barrettes

Ava wanted to give gifts to some of her friends at school. She made a big project out of picking out the gifts and wrapping and putting them in paper bags with tissue paper. One of the items in each gift bag was a Christmas barrette that Mom made. The barrettes had shiny cloth ribbon and jingle bells glued on. Mom is really good at making fancy barrettes!

Keeping warm

Last Saturday Ava was cold in the morning so she wore her hat! Little did we know that she was sick and later that day had a fever that reached 104. She got to sit on the couch all day and watch TV with Dad who was sick too. We watched every Christmas cartoon and show that Dad had taped. Sunday Ava was mostly better. Mom kept her home on Monday and took her to the doctor to make sure that she didn't have any earaches. On Tuesday she was back to school!

Getting ready for Birthday Party!

Ava is getting ready for her 5th Birthday party! Mom and Ava have already picked out and reserved the location. They also designed and sent out the email invitation. Now Ava is working hard on getting the gift bags ready! It is a lot of work but Ava says that it has to be done in December, otherwise in January we will be "in hot water".

Posing

After several difficult posing sessions Mom finally got the pictures that she wanted for the family Christmas card. This is NOT one of the pictures! After much patience and perseverance Mom got some good shots and the cards are now in the mail!

Cat stretch

Ava loves to try and pick up Simon. Sometimes there is a lengthy chase involved, though she can't actually catch him. But sometimes he is lounging on the couch and doesn't run away. One of Ava's books has a story about a Siamese cat that is a "hind leg walker". This is Ava's version of the story. No Simon can't walk on his hind legs, but funny enough he looks almost as tall as Ava!

Curlers

Ava decided that she wanted to try curlers in her hair. Mom found these curlers that are kind of like velcro and simply roll up in your hair. Ava let Mom put in a bunch of them and then she wore them to bed. Dad told her how Auntie Tara used to wear pink rollers to bed. She looked cute in her curlers, but the next morning her hair was more of a mess of static and more wavy than curly. Dad thinks that the pink rollers would work better.

Washing dishes

Ava has been helping out around the house lately. She will set the table for dinner most nights. After dinner the other night she wanted to wash the dishes so Mom saved a few dishes that Ava could wash. She got them real clean... lots of soap and lots of water. We don't know if she was trying to help or just wanted to play in the water!

Crafts with Mom

Ava and Mom sat at the craft table and made Christmas ornaments for Ava's teachers. They used photos of Ava with the teachers and also a picture of the whole class. Ava is going to give the ornaments to them in their Christmas bag. Ava loves to do all kinds of crafts, anything with drawing, writing, scissors, tape, glue, paint, etc.

Little reindeer

Here is our little reindeer! She is a happy baby and is very alert and aware of her surroundings. Her favorite things are the first diaper change of the day and bath time. Both get big big smiles. She also loves to stare at the Christmas lights.

Box of Fun!

Look what came in the delivery today... A box full of fun! Sure is true, this kid is MORE than a handful... she is a box full!

Breakfast with Santa

Saturday morning was breakfast with Santa. Here are Mom, Dad, Ava, and Sarah doing some crafts. Then we had a really nice breakfast. Ava and Sarah got to sit on Santa's lap. The breakfast finished with Santa reading a book to the children.

Ava on the playground

Sunday was a rainy day but Dad and Ava managed to get to the park for about an hour between the rain showers. Ava did a couple of things that she has been working on but never did before... She got to the second rung on the monkey bars by herself and dropped down to the ground and landed. Then she slid down the pole by herself. She looked at Dad and smiled and said "I feel so proud".

Uno

Ava's new favorite game is Uno. She has been playing it from time to time for since she was three, but Mom and Dad took all of the "special" cards out of the deck. Ava now understands all of the rules and is able to play with all of the cards. Does this mean that we can say that "Ava is playing with a full deck"?

Sarah on her tummy

Sarah has been spending a little more time on her tummy. She doesn't usually like laying flat on her stomach, but does like laying on a pillow. She has a pretty strong neck and likes to turn her head and look around. She also likes being held in the sitting up position so that she can look around.

Christmas wreath

Ava helped Dad make a wreath from the tree branches that we had to cut off the bottom. The wreath is a little straggly and thin looking, but it has a really nice bow!

Sarah naps...sometimes

Here is a picture of our little angel sleeping. Mom and Dad started putting Sarah in her crib for naps and bedtime rather than the swing. It has now been almost 2 weeks and Sarah is doing better sleeping on her own. She wakes up every 4 hours because she is hungry, but can sleep pretty much all night with a couple of feedings. She can nap for a couple of hours at a time during the day.

Cookie decorating

We had dinner at a friends house on Saturday with a boy and a girl that Ava goes to school with. For part of the desert Mom and Ava baked cookies. Ava got to decorate the cookies. You can see that she likes the frosting, some went on the cookies and some went in her mouth. It turned her tongue and lips as blue as her eyes!

Ava dresses Sarah in pajamas

Here is an example of what a kind, sweet, and helpful big sister Ava is. She has a genuine interest in Sarah and wants to help with almost anything except diapers. She loves picking out clothes for Sarah and also helping get her dressed.

Isabelle the tree

Ava named our tree Isabelle. Dad and Mom don't recall ever giving our tree a name, but Ava was sure that it was a girl and needed a name. It is the best tree we have had so far in California. Ava helped with all of the decorations including the popcorn sting, which Dad and Mom are still working on finishing.