Getting Ready for Christmas

I am so sad that Christmas is over....There is something so magical about it. I just don't want it to end. But, now it is a new year & I thought I'd write about our Christmas celebrations this year. It was a great Chrismas. Perfect in so many ways. I was so grateful that we were all healthy and just got to enjoy the season together. Watching the kids have so much fun & get so excited was icing on the cake.

Here are the kids all dressed up for the holidays.

Avery's spunky red polka-dot skirt and red tights stole my heart.

Avery loves to help empty the dishwasher. I just had to put this one in here. She is pulling up on everything. She bonks her head several times a day because she gets into trouble pulling up on stuff.

The famous cookie exchange. I got invited to a fun cookie exchange. Everyone had to make nine dozen cookies. But, then, this is what we came home with. Crazy, I know. But, it was lots of fun.

Avery is all bundled up to go see the lights at the Mesa, Arizona temple. We must be getting too used to the weather here. It felt very cold to us. But, the Brooks family came with us. They showed up in flip-flops!

The kids loved the temple lights. 

Hay-ride fun. Above are Daven and his buddy, Nate.

This is the first time ever the boys have wanted to ride on horses. We had to snap photos. Here are Logan and his friend Elise.

Family Pictures

So we got our family pictures taken again this week with Liz. I was so happy with how they turned out. She goes to a church close by that has a grove of trees out back. It didn't look that pretty from the outside, but once you got in there, it was gorgeous.  

Here they are, well at least some of my favorites. I will save the Christmas card photo for a surprise. The only thing was I didn't like many shots of our whole family together. My hair was doing something awful. I tried to fluff it right before, but in the pictures, it looks like I hairsprayed out the side like we used to do in the 80's. It looks so BAD. So, needless to say, I will NOT be going out on the Christmas cards. Oh-well, the kids are cuter anyways :)

10 years coming up on December 18th! I can't believe it. I was glad she had us do a few shots together at the very end. It's been a long time since we've done that.

My all-time favorite!!!!

Avery loves doing tricks with Daddy. This has been one of her favorites since she was a few months old. She laughs everytime Mike does this. As Liz was snapping this photo she started making monkey sounds. It was hillarious. Glad we captured it on film.

So That's What Bumper Pads are For

To my credit, in the Baby Your Baby classes we teach at the hospital we always talk about bumper pads. We discuss how technically they could be a suffocation hazard, although in the beginning, baby isn't going to roll around so the risk is minimal. But, we suggest removing them once baby can pull themselves up for sure. I guess some kiddos use them as a stepping stool to climb out of the crib.

So, I'm just trying to practice what I preach. Perhaps this is why she has trouble sleeping???

Happy Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween! Here is our clan.

Daven-Vater!

He drew his own face on his pumpkin. He said, "it has an infection in the eyes." 

It kind of looked like it. But it was totally random, we were wondering where that came from.

Here's the cute face behind the mask.

Fire Fighter Logan.

Busy Bee

 She doesn't even take time to stop and sleep at night. But, yes we still love her lots.

We did about half of our sub-division (about 4 streets) and the kids started to get tired. Busy bee wouldn't ride in the stroller so I carried her most of the way. I was really tired after this year's trick-or-treating. But, it was so fun to see the kids get so excited.

Bumble-LICIOUS

Okay, she really is Bumble-LICIOUS. Here are a few pictures of my sweet Avery Bug. I can't believe she is 8 months old.

I couldn't decide between the Lady-Bug or the Bumble Bee costume for Aves. But, then I decided the bee is perfect for her because she is the BUSIEST BEE in the whole wide world.

Everyone said that having a girl would be so much calmer than having boys. They are supposedly mellow, have longer attention spans, etc. Well, I don't know what happened, but that is not Avery. She was a good newborn, but now she is BUSY, BUSY, BUSY. She doesn't stop. She has to touch and explore everything, and RIGHT NOW! Here she is trying to turn around in her high chair. Yes, she can get all the way around and manages to play with the straps.

For Avery, the grass is always greener on the other side. She always wants what is OVER THERE instead of what is OVER HERE. And as soon as she has what is OVER THERE, she wants what is OVER HERE.

What am I going to do when she can crawl? I already can't leave her alone for 2 seconds.

I love how busy she is, it cracks me up. Perhaps it is in the irony of it all. 

She learned to feed herself this week. I think she is going to be a good eater. And I think I've earned a good eater after my extremely picky Daven, and Logan's Doritos and Strawberries only phase as a baby. I almost don't know what to do with myself when I put BREAD on her tray and she actually eats it. It is kind of fun. Perhaps this will make up for her business.

The moral of the story is: I think life with Avery is going to be full of SURPRISES! Can't wait for more!