A Wonderful Christmas Day

Building with Ashlyn's new blocks

Santa brought a furnished dollhouse complete with twin baby's. Ava loves playing with it too.

Yes. It was a white Christmas. And yes, that is Alyssa and Ashlyn in their new dress up shoes with skirts on out in the snow. They didn't stay out long.

Ava's helping Grammy with her presents.

Take a look at Grandma's new braces. I think they make her look young!

Do you think Beau likes basketball? And maybe the Lakers?

Berne's family got Ava a dog for Christmas. I think it's the perfect breed, stuffed.

Here's Ashlyn and Alyssa opening their new Polly Pocket's and pajamas.

Ava with all her new goods in her grocery cart.

Working together. Ashlyn supervised the whole unwrapping of presents.

Children make Christmas so much more fun!

That's my munchkin.

This is serious business for Alyssa.

Ava is trying to say, "Hey, back off, I can do it myself." But Ashlyn and Alyssa didn't understand.

Ava's sleepy face.

Opening stockings was always my favorite thing to do on Christmas.

Ava with one of her new puppies.

Christmas Eve at Mema's

I think Ava has the wrong coat on, but she likes flapping the sleeves around. She screamed when we took it off.
Jonathan's third manly gift of the gift exchange, Betty Boop nightgown and slippers.

Some of Mema's great granddaughters.

This is a first. Ashlyn hugging Brad. She usually asks if Brad is going to be there before she decides if she wants to go. Alyssa and she made plans about what to do if Brad tickled them before we went to Mema's.

There's that cute smile again.

Adelie the photographer. Alyssa also was a photographer most of the night. She took some pretty good pictures. She would get real close to you and say smile. So sweet.

Adelie Ann, my cousin Ambra's little girl.

My brother Micah. We all enjoyed getting to spend time with him.

Dad (taken by Alyssa Maye)

My sister Holly and my cousin Melissa (again taken by Alyssa)

Ava loves animals. She couldn't stay away from Danny Boy, Mema's bird.

My Funny Girls

Alyssa and Ashlyn dressed up and pretended to go trick or treating. I love Ashlyn's smile.

Ava started walking the Monday after Thanksgiving. We went to the Discovery Center a couple of weeks later, and it was like a totally new experience for her. She could hardly breathe she was so excited to "run" around for the first time by herself. I couldn't stop smiling. She was such a joy to watch.



Ashlyn and Alyssa play dress-up most of the day, everyday. This is Alyssa doing her favorite dance move.

Ava acted so funny with these two teddy bear Christmas ornaments. She would get down on the floor, growl at them, and scoot backwards over and over again. I can't figure out why, but it sure was funny.

It's Been A While, So What's Been Going On...

Ashlyn and Alyssa had their first dance show last week. They did a "Hawaiian Dolls" tap dance, and they were snow drops for their ballet. They did much better than I anticipated. They had rehearsals Monday night for 3 hours, Wednesday night dress rehearsal for 4 1/2 hours, and the show Thursday night. I was a backstage mom on Wednesday. We had the largest 3-5 year old class and they remembered their dance better than most of the classes. They wanted to do it all again, so I guess we will.
Ava finally started walking on her own Dec. 1st. She's known how to walk for a while, but she waited until she was really good at it before she put it in use. She's so proud of herself, walking all over the house and around the table, following after me and her sisters. She also can undecorate the tree in record time. She's happy to have a new mode of transportation.

Snow jumping. I didn't think it sounded fun, but Ashlyn and Alyssa sure loved it. This was Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving. It snowed huge flake most of the day, but it was only about 33 degrees with no wind, so it wasn't too bitter outside.

Blaine surprised us on Nov. 21st by coming home from Walmart with this, a new trampoline. So of course we had to set it up that day. Is it a early Christmas present? I don't know.

Ava loves playing with baby dolls. It must be because she sees her sisters playing with them all the time. But she hasn't quite figured out where to feed the baby. Hopefully she doesn't try this on a real baby.

We Love Family Portaits

I had to put in these pictures of Ashlyn and Alyssa when they were two. Alyssa kept crying whenever we started trying to take her picture. They've grown up so much since then.

What a sweet little girl

Alyssa was being a pill, but what a cute pill she is.

Ava Climbing Again

My One year old

I thought our family picture turned out pretty good considering we were all coming down with cold and ... well, we're just not very photogenic.

Carving Pumpkins

Ashlyn and Alyssa helped carve pumpkins this year. I was impressed with how well they did getting the seeds out. Then they helped decide what kind of faces they wanted me to carve. I used washable markers to draw on the faces. It worked really good because the lines wiped right off after I finished.

The Wicked Witch, The Good Witch and The Ladybug

Ashlyn and Alyssa with Adelie and Coralynn their cousins

Ava doing her thing.

Isn't she a cute ladybug. So soft and squishy.

The Good Witch

Ashlyn was so excited about Halloween. She told everyone she talked to that she was going to be the wicked witch and Alyssa was the beautiful good witch (sometimes princess) and Ava was a ladybug. We had a wonderful time trick-or-treating with their cousins and going to the trunk or treat at church. Ashlyn and Alyssa both were scared to death of "crandpa" who was dressed up as a scary skeleton monster. He stood out in the front yard scaring "parents". The only thing Ava was scared of was a man dressed as Winnie-the-Pooh.