Happy New Year and a new piece of art....

Happy New Year!
Actually this is going to be a bit out of order as I still want to post some photos from Christmas but for now I am going to share my new favorite drawing. Alexandra made the below yesterday. It is a car in a rainstorm with raindrops and lightning. Those little squiggles coming out of the right side of the car are "the smoke that comes out of the car" - gee, I hope there is no smoke coming out of my car but I think she meant exhaust. Anyway, inside the car is me, Matthew and Alexandra. I am driving because she said I drive much slower - we call daddy "speedy pants". Avery is not with us as she wanted to stay home with our babysitter....which is somewhat suspect as Avery wouldn't let the babysitter put her to bed the other night and our night out was cut short. Regardless, I love this picture and her details. It didn't scan as well as I hoped but you get the idea.

Christmas Eve Videos

Here are several little videos from Christmas Eve. A few are opening presents and the last one is Alexandra applying make-up to her grandpa. She received several little make-up kits and on Christmas Eve basically gave everyone a makeover. He was a really good sport and she was just a little business woman even declaring at one point that she "only accepts cash".

Christmas Prep

Last weekend we prepared for the Christmas season! We decorated the tree, baked and decorated sugar cookies and assembled our gingerbread house! It was a lot of fun doing all of these things together and the girls really loved it and helped out so much. Love you little ladies!

Pre-School Christmas Show

Last week Alexandra's pre-school class put on a Christmas song show for the parents. It was GREAT! Normally Alexandra is really shy about these types of things - she looks at the ground and barely mouths the words. This time though she was enthusiastic and sang well, looked around, etc. What a difference a couple of months have made.

After the program her class went caroling to a few local businesses.

Below is a video of her singing one of the songs. There are a few long pauses with instrumental music but she is wildly cute singing and doing the motions! Also, I have no idea how to get video to post in high quality (Molloys...help?)

House Update

The house remodel continues. There are still loads of little things to do like replace all of the molding/trim, a few new doors, new front window, etc....but we are making progress.

Here is the built in bench seat (unfinished) that Matt and his step-father built.

Our new furniture!

Another look at the wall and raised flooring.

Here iw the new carpeting and paint....

...and a look in the other direction. Again, lots to do yet and there is nothing on the wall and loads of things on the floor but again...progress!

Ski Skirt!

After dinner on Monday, Alexandra wanted to put all of her ski clothes on to "practice" for skiing. She came out of her room with her hat on, ski googles, scarf, fleece sweater, gloves, warm socks and her panties with some weird looking fleece band around her waist all wadded up around her panties and nothing on her legs. I looked at her for a minute as I couldn't figure out what it was. I asked her what it was and she said "it's my ski skirt!"....turns out, it was a neck gater! I had all to do not to laugh as she is very sensitive about people laughing at her clothing choices but I did have to explain that it goes around our neck and that we must wear fleece pants to stay warm. She was so cute and enthusiastic...makes me wonder why there is no "ski skirt!".

So after this, she put on the proper pants, put on her skis and practiced walking around the house. She did great and we hope to get up the mountain this weekend!

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Winter at the Beach

Our new carpeting was put in last Friday so the girls decided to get their swimsuits on, spread out their beach towels and have a beach party with all of the space in the living room (before we moved the furniture back in that is).

Daddy and Grandma Georgene even got in on the action.

Avery's Favorite Pose

Lately, Avery spends a lot of time like this....head resting on her hands. She loves to watch TV this way and also look at books and check out some of our Christmas items. It's so cute and a little bit like a big girl.

Avery's BIG Birthday Post

Today my gorgeous girl turns 2! She is such a funny bunny and makes us laugh and smile everyday! I love her hugs, her sweet little voice and her devotion to her "big blankie".

Here are a few of my favorite photos from her first few months of life.

Her first few hours of life..

Super cutie sleeping in the car seat.

Her RSV hospital stay.

Such lively eyes!

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And here we are today - her birthday. Actually, we celebrated yesterday with our family/friends during our Thanksgiving feast.
She really wanted a cookie monster cake and I couldn't find one in the cake books at the store so I made one myself (that 4-H cake decorating class I took 25 years ago really came in handy today - I am so pleased that it at least resembles cookie monster!).

Avery LOVED her cake and couldn't stop swiping her fingers through the frosting. Once we cut the cake and gave her a piece she was so upset to have a small piece. So we just gave her the entire cookie monster back and she worked on the frosting for at least a half hour.

Presents! She received a new baby doll - here Alexandra is pointing out the finer features of the doll set like the enclosed binkie, blankie and mini pillow.

We all had to work on her new puzzle - it's a tricky one - but she quickly got the hang of it!

Here she is modeling the Mr. Potato Head glasses.

This is her this morning opening presents - she loved her cookie monster gifts. When she opened the cookie monster doll she hugged it and said "I like this!".

Below she is watching her favorite show - she calls it the "bus show" - with her daddy.

Video of all of us singing Happy Birthday to Avery.

Playing with Daddy

Daddy spent a lot of time playing with the girls this weekend - they were all so CUTE together. Here is one of their 100 games of ring-around-the-rosy!

We all FALL DOWN!

They also really like to swing together in their hanging swing from Ikea. Daddy gives them a push and then he pretends that the swing knocks him over - they laugh hysterically each and every time!