Christmas Day!

Ava was up bright and early (a full 90 minutes before the crack of dawn) ready for presents. Which was a good thing with how many Santa and everyone else had for her.

Ava, with her pink Santa hat, is ready to start opening presents.

And take the ornaments off the tree.

Eagerly awaiting the presents…

Rocking in the new chair from Pops and Neenee. (Note our “fireplace” in the background.)

Playing with her Fridge Gears from Papa and Lola.

Pushing her new doll around in the stroller. The only problem is that Ava seems to think that she can fit in the doll’s stroller….which is a tight fit.

Taking a break mid-opening.

Ava as a present herself.

Later in the afternoon we had a full house, with a bunch of friends over. Max and Mason had fun with the trains.

Ava and Sofie had fun posing for the camera.

And playing with boxes.

Ava could barely stay awake after all that activity, and didn’t finish her presents on Christmas. More for the next day!

Pre-Christmas and Christmas Eve

Ava is definitely discovering Christmas more this year. She loves the lights (every morning and night she squeals with delight when she sees them) and the lights on the tree. Of course here favorite is the little doggie…here she is petting him.

The weekend before Christmas one of the shopping centers did some artificial snow. Ava couldn’t stop laughing and chasing the snow around.

Christmas eve was a good chance for Ava to show off her Christmas dress. Here we are on the long walk into Christmas Eve mass.

Pausing for a family photo.

Working on holding hands while walking.

With Uncle John and Aunt Marcy.

After church we had the “feast of the seven fishes” at the house. Ava was definitely interested in the food.

Until there were some presents…

Which apparently are as much fun to climb as to open.

Ava went down early in anticipation of Santa Claus the next morning…

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year…

Ava is definitely getting into the Christmas spirit now. She has managed to point out every tree, light, or decoration in the house, on the street, or in any place we walk into. Even Costco is now an adventure of Ava admiring every tree and decoration. She was starting to see some of it before Thanksgiving, but really started to get into it once we had our lights up.

So let’s flash back to Thanksgiving weekend. We spent the day with our friends Mike, Sarah and Sofie. Ava had fun playing in the walker out on their patio.

Ava also managed to stay still enough (briefly) to grab a quick family photo.

Ava has also discovered a new talent of finding a plane anywhere in the sky. (She often points up and we have to search to see that she has, in fact, spotted yet another plane way up in the sky). She’s happy to show here talent anytime she is outdoors…

Thanksgiving weekend is the weekend that we use to start putting up the Christmas decorations. Ava is quick to help “untangle” all of the lights. Here she is dragging them around the house.

And starting to unwind the lights.

Ava has also begun to show an interest in tennis (which makes Dad happy) and in watching the Rockette’s Christmas spectacular (which makes Mom happy). She likes to carry the tennis racquets around the house.

Back to the lights. Every morning when Ava gets up, she has a cup of milk in bed with us. One of the first things she does is point out all of the lights on the back patio. After she finishes her milk, she has to run to the family room to admire the Christmas tree. Here she is on one morning.

And another morning we caught her red-handed trying to pull off the Christmas decorations. Note the wall of wrapped boxes that were our attempt to keep her away from pulling all the ornaments down.

Yesterday was the community’s winter carnival, where the brought in some “snow” for the day. Ava wasn’t too sure what to make of it, but seemed to have fun with it anyhow.

Of course she did manage to find a plane in the sky as well.

Whew. Sounds busy keeping up with our little toddler. And it is busy. In fact, we need to go catch her now….

Fun with Baking

Every once in a while, Mo(m) gets inspired to do a little baking. Ava is always fascinated by all things kitchen related, but baking adds a new element for her to learn from. Now Ava has now discovered the benefit of baking, especially that of eating the dough right off of the beaters…

We also took advantage of the cooler weather to get out and play at the park. Sand and an old tractor are perfect to keep our little Ava occupied for a while….

Walking into the park (she knows the trail)

And she’s happy to point out the way….

Having fun with the tractor in the sand…

Afterwards, a little swing time is perfect. Here she is making sure that she gets the bow out of her hair….

And happily posing for the camera.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Ava is looking forward to a feast…how about all of you?

Open Pantry + Ava = More Food for Chase

One of the challenges of our little mobile toddler is that she can open doors. So when we forget to fully shut the pantry door, she can get her little fingers in there to open it. Of course there is lots of fun stuff in the pantry – everything from her snacks to Chase’s dog food. Always on the lookout for her “big brother”, Ava loves to get into the pantry to hand feed Chase some of his food.
Under Chase’s watch….


Hand feeding Chase…

And teasing Chase by pretending to eat his food…

When she’s not busy in the pantry, Ava is playing with her toys. Here’s a video of her taking her newest toy for a “spin”…Click the video below.

Video From AvaHighlights

Every day brings a new adventure….stay tuned to see what the weekend brings!

Happy Halloween

After much anticipation, Ava (finally) got to put on her Halloween costume a few times. Our little ‘peanut’ was, naturally, a peanut for Halloween.

Ava started off the weekend with a party at our gym. She had fun watching the bigger kids do face painting, jump in the bouncy house, and generally have fun.

Ava also had fun with the play house outside….here she is trying to close the shutters…

And doing her infamous “pointing” at something interesting….

As an early adoption day (Ava’s adoption was finalized on 11/4/09) present, Ava got a zebra push/ride/scooter combo. Here she is pushing it around the house…

And playing with all of the musical buttons.

Saturday was a birthday party for one of Ava’s friends, followed by a Halloween party up at the park. Here she is staying ‘cool’ on the swings.

And a little snack with Mom.

On Sunday we (finally) got to do a little trick-or-treating. Although Ava didn’t really seem to get the concept just yet, she was happy to go around the neighborhood.

Mom and Ava with the annual pose.

Pumpkin and Peanut (aka Sophie and Ava) in the wagon ready for the big night.

After a trip around the block the kids were worn out and ready for bed….Next year Ava will probably want more of her candy…

Time to go catch Ava before she tries to ride her toy over Chase….