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.

Cutting down the tree

Ava helped Dad pick out and cut down the tree. Dad told Ava that the ceiling was 8 feet tall and so Ava decided that we must get an 8 foot tall tree, 7 feet just wouldn't do. Then after we got it in the house and had to cut some off the top to fit the Angel Ava decided that next year we should only get 7 feet instead.

Meeting Santa at the tree farm

Saturday the whole family went to a Christmas tree farm in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mts. It was a beautiful tree farm in the middle of the redwood forest. They had lots of nice trees and hot apple cider. Evan Santa was at the tree farm handing out candy canes.

Seconds!!!

We no more than got home on Thanksgiving night than Ava decided that she was hungry and wanted more. Really she wanted more stuffing, cranberry sauce (which she eats like a desert all by itself), pecan pie, and ice cream. But we also got her to eat some more turkey with it.

Happy Thanksgiving from Ava!

Ava wishes everybody a Happy Thanksgiving! She has been learning a lot about Thanksgiving at school. Wednesday there was a Thanksgiving party at school and Mom went and spent some time with Ava. The children made Indian vests, sang songs, and had a Thanksgiving feast "snack".

Ava and Simon

Ava is learning to be more gentle with the cats. Even Simon is starting to warm up to her a little more now. In the morning she sometimes finds Simon sleeping on the couch and she comes up and pets him very gently and talks to him.

Sarah's smile

Sarah is a happy baby and smiles quite easily. Sometimes they are just little smiles, but here you can see a really big smile. Occasionally the big smiles even come with a little sound like a talk or laugh. She will smile at Mom, Dad, and Ava making faces or talking to her. In the bath she will smile when she kicks her feet and makes splashes.

Chalk

Last week when Dad came home he found Sarah asleep in the swing and Mom and Ava were out drawing with chalk. Ava is very good at drawing now that she practices all the time at school with her friends. But that is just on paper, this was with chalk! Ava loves to draw people and usually draws herself and Sarah, sometimes also Mom and Dad, and of course the cats. Here Ava has drawn a picture of herself with yellow hair and wearing a dress.

Sarah finds her hand

Sarah will not take a pacifier yet, and she doesn't really like bottles all that much either. The only way that she can soothe is to rock in the swing. But now she is starting to find her own hand once in a while. Mom and Dad are really hoping that she can start finding it all of the time since it is such a big help to Sarah!

Bath time for sisters!

Sarah isn't quite big enough to take a bath in the big tub and probably won't be for a while. But Mom gave Ava a little feeling of what it is like to take a bath with her sister. Ava was a little nervous because she had heard a story about how Sarah had a potty accident in the bath a few weeks ago and Ava did not want that to happen in her bath!

Washing the cars

Sunday was car washing day with Dad. Ava helped wash Mom's car. She did a great job on the tires and wheels, squirting with the hose, and helped again with the drying. It went pretty fast and Dad only got squirted once.

Ava gets a cavity filled

Tuesday was a big day at the dentist for Ava. She had a cavity filled many months ago and had quite a rough time. Tuesday was the appointment to fill the second cavity. Dad and Mom both went with her. Mom stayed out front with Sarah and Dad went back with Ava. At first she was a little afraid, but the dentist and assistant were great. Dad talked about how it is okay to be "afraid", but being "brave" is doing what you must even though you are afraid. Don't know if that helped, or if it was the Cinderella video and "magic air"... But whatever it was Ava was a very brave girl. She didn't flinch one bit and let them do the whole procedure. Now she has a nice white filling and no more black cavity. Dad and Mom were super proud of Ava!

Super Ava!!!

The picture says it all... Ava has been talking about superheroes lately, Mom and Dad are not really sure why. But on Sunday she got the idea to tie a blanket around her neck as a cape and run around the yard jumping and yelling "It's Super Ava!" We think she is the first superhero to wear crocs and flower-print pants.

Mom and Ava's big day

Mom and Ava all ready for their big day out together on Oct 30. They went to a play, then to ice cream at Baskin Robins, then for hot chocolate at Starbuck's. Both Mom and Ava took the opportunity to dress up! Dad stayed home with Sarah and watched football and drank bottles and beers.

Sarah's first bottle

Dad and Ava gave Sarah her first bottle. She didn't really know what to do at first, but she figured it out and drank a little. Then the other weekend Mom and Ava went to a play as a "mother and daughter" event and Dad stayed home with Sarah. Dad gave her two bottles and she drank them both right down!

Bath time for Sarah

One of Sarah's favorite things is a bath. It is one of the only things that will calm her down if she is fussy with an upset tummy. She has been getting lots of baths lately, about 1 per day! Ava is a great helper at bath time. Here she is doing most of the work giving Sarah a bath. She knows how warm the water should be, how full it should be, and how to rinse her with the wash cloth. Sarah will sit happily in the bath and kick and splash for as long as you let her. Then when she is taken out of the bath she usually complains and fusses a bit because the bath is over!

Matching outfits!

Ava loves to pick out clothes for Sarah and herself. She usually tries to color coordinate them in some way. But her favorite is when the outfits are matching!

All Saints Day

Monday was the All Saints Day Mass at Ava's school. This year she was St. Ava. Mom made a beautiful Nun costume for Ava, she did look very "saintly". After the Mass each class put on a little performance. Ava's class did sang a song about God and did hand gestures. Ava was very good at the singing and acting. After the presentations we gathered in small groups and each child said something about their Saint. Ava said "I am St. Ava. My blindness was cured and I became a Nun".

Halloween injury!

But Halloween night wasn't without incident. Ont he way over to start trick-or-treating Ava was happily running along. The sidewalk was uneven and it reached up and tripped her. Fortunately she was not seriously hurt. She cried for about 5 minutes until we arrived at her friends house and then she quickly went into trick-or-treat mode. Mom and Dad were thankful that her teeth were okay, but she did get a bump and scrape on her forehead and chin, and she got cut and swollen upper and lower lips. We felt really bad for her, but were happy that she wasn't seriously hurt. In the end it didn't even put a damper on the evening at all!

Happy Halloween!

Sunday night was Halloween night! We went trick-or-treating with Sarah and Olivia from Ava's school. Ava was super excited all night long. She was the first one up to the door every time and was very eager to yell trick-or-treat and get some candy. Then she was off in a flash t0 the next house. It was hard to slow her down. She now has more candy than Mom and Dad thinks she should eat! But Mom and Dad are trying to spread it out into a treat after lunch or dinner and hoping that in a week she will forget all about it. Or it will be another trip to the dentist. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, Mimi and Papa, and Auntie Tara for the lovely Halloween cards for Sarah and Ava!