Christmas Part Two

Since Ava was a little worn out from all the Christmas activity, we saved some of the presents (and the fun) for the next day. She managed to eventually get through all the presents, and quickly found ways to play with all of them.
Here’s Ava trying to get Dad to take the baby doll’s pacifier.

Playing with the ornaments.
And the puppets (which Chase was very interested in).
Chillin’ with Pops.
Playing with hats on her new chair.
By the end of the day, Chase and Lulu were best of friends.
Now for some video fun.
First up, Ava on her new ATV, while watching some airplanes in the sky. Incidentally, about this time the neighbors drove by and said this was the smallest ATV they had ever seen in their life. Click the video below.

Video From AvaSheaAmeduri

Next, playing with the lights in front of the house. Click the video below.

Video From AvaSheaAmeduri

More fun with the lights. Click the video below.

Video From AvaSheaAmeduri

Hugging Chase and Lulu. Click the video below.

Video From AvaSheaAmeduri

And more driving the ATV. Click the video below.

Video From AvaSheaAmeduri

Ava definitely had a fun Christmas. She will be sorely disappointed when the lights and the tree come down. But on the plus side she has a lot of new toys to play with – thanks to Santa and all the family!

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?