merry kisskiss!

It's styro-snowing!

Santa

Ava hopped right on Santa's lap and told him exactly what she wants: A ballerina doll that she saw in a toy magazine.

Zoe wasn't interested in going near him, so we sat her on his lap. No tears, but she wouldn't even look at him.

She gradually slides off.

All she wanted was her coloring book and she was ready to go. Ava was cozy and could have hung out on Santa's lap all day.

We have seen large, heavy, white-bearded old men all over town this month...out to dinner, at Target...they're wearing regular clothes, but Ava's theory is that maybe it really is Santa and he's just checking up on kids to see if they should be on the naughty or nice list. I think she's right.

Gingerbread House

We built a gingerbread house this year.

Ava enjoyed decorating it.

Zoe enjoyed sampling it.

Icicles hanging off the roof or finger trails?

By the end of the day, this is what the house looked like.
I think we can confirm that they were finger trails in the previous picture.

October & November

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The girls have been dancing daily, geared up in tutus. We experimented with a hairdo for Zoe's Halloween costume, with her short hair it was just right for a Muppet (she was Zoe from Sesame Street). The girls loved the snow in October! Frosty also returned briefly, he stayed for a day or two. Ava has really enjoyed cutting at school, as demonstrated by the 3 ziploc bags of "work" she brought home. If anyone needs confetti, I'm sure she would be thrilled to share her talent…she can cut them very, VERY tiny too. :) We celebrated Grama Joleen's 50th birthday in October and visited Grampa Jeff and Grama Donna for Halloween in Sioux Falls. Hits of the weekend were the pumpkins, Grampa Jeff's manicure with princess fingernails, trick-or-treating at the mall, and testing out cousin Gavin's 4-wheeler. We went bowling and Zoe enjoyed the shoes more than anything. Ava got her much requested "rotten eggs" (deviled eggs) for Thanksgiving.

Summer 2009

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We had a busy summer filled with dancing, fishing, camping, sparkler, splashpad fun, water hose fights, a wet parade, chalk drawings, bikerides, sandbox play (and some in the kitchen...Zoeee!), a birthday party (Ava is 4!), Ava and Daddy's trip to Grampa Jeff's, the houseboat vacation, and Ava started preschool.

Memorial Weekend

Last weekend the girls and I went up to Wilderness Park to go camping with Grama Joleen and Grampa John. We slept in a tent in sleeping bags and at one point in the night it was sleeping BAG, we were all in my sleeping bag! We had fun swimming, three-wheeling, sitting by the burn-fire (Ava's term for bonfire), walking, and going to the pig races.

Zoe snuck a morning snooze in Mommy's favorite place. I love holding a sleeping baby and Zoe doesn't usually settle in enough to do this, so it was a nice treat for both of us!

Zoe wasn't too interested in swimming without Mommy, and Mommy didn't want to freeze her butt off, so Zoe mostly just hung out on the side of the pool with us.

This would be Ava's version of hanging out on the side of the pool. Ava never left the pool. I swear if she hadn't shown me her feet, I'd have thought she really was a mermaid.

Ava got a good view of the pig races in Leader. At the bar in town, they have pig races every weekend. They have a track around the outside that little piglets (with numbers on their backs) run through and they race around it to see who wins. I think they draw names and those people get to pick a pig or something? Not sure exactly what the drill is, but it was fun to watch. In between the pig races they have fun games for the kids (and adults) like racing on bouncers, hula hoop contest, or Ava's favorite: the dollar dive! The audience threw dollar bills out to be burried in the saw dust and then the kids get to dig for them. She came out with $2!

On Sunday afternoon we went to the splash pad at Lake George for some more wet fun in the sun. We packed a picnic dinner and played in the water. Ava is actually interested in getting her hair and face wet this year, which was quite the surprise because she still resists getting her face wet in the bathtub. Zoe wasn't quite sure what to think; she mostly just followed Ava around. At one point she was crouched down getting an up-close look at some sprayers on the ground that weren't on at the time. I was just waiting (camera in hand) for it to go off and surprise her, but they didn't...I'm evil, aren't I?

Surprise!

Ava has been working really hard this month to get dressed in the morning (without whining and complaining and stopping to do 20 other things in the process of getting dressed). The last 2 mornings she surprised me by getting completely dressed before she even stepped foot out of her room! Getting dressed is often a 20-minute ordeal in the morning. We now have a tray on her dresser and every night after bath we choose an outfit and hair accessory and place it on her tray along with her toothbrush & paste. And there is no switching outfits in the morning! We call it her get-up-and-go tray. So far, so good! I hope our mornings keep going this smooth!

(I didn't get to her hair yet...was too excited!)

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Zoe found the pink cowgirl boots and won't take them off! She is also being a little daredevil and standing up on things she's not supposed to stand on.

The walk

We finally got out again for our usual walking route. First we walk from our house to Caribou (gotta get a cooler!), then we head over to the library or Lake George, and then back home. On the way to Caribou, we saw lots of dandelions and Ava was so excited to see "the white ones." Both girls tried blowing the fluff and thought it was SO COOL!

(They like to hold hands...so cute!)

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As we were walking, Ava commented that she wishes our stroller had room for Ava, Zoe and Mommy. "You do?" I questioned, "If I were riding with you, who would push us?" Her reply: "Ummm, maybe Grampa?" What do you think dad? Do you want to push a stroller with your two granddaughters and your adult daughter all around town? LOL! :)

Today we were going to stop at Grama Sally and Grampa Jerry's before the park, but they were heading out for lunch, so we just went right to Lake George and walked around the lake before heading over to the park. We saw several baby ducklings, a huge orange coy fish swimming, and what mom thought was another orange coy close up by the shore, but when we got close, realized it was a traffic cone. Oops!

Zoe is pointing to the duckies

Ava likes to Rock out with The Plain White Tees (a band),

here's her rendition of 1,2,3,4 I love you

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After walking around the lake, we headed over to the park and sat down for our picnic lunch

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Then it was time to PLAY!!!

Zoe wonders where the water is at the splash pad.

It was all dry, not open for the season yet...

Or so we thought! The water did indeed come on and everyone at the park was surprised!

We love to swing!

Zoe even tried out the tire swing. I didn't know if she'd hold on the whole time, but she did and she loved it!

Who wants pancakes?

I'm not sure if Zoe is just exploring, trying to start mischeif, or just plain hungry for pancakes. Last month, she got into the cupboards and...

Now just yesterday, Ava and I were sitting on the bed reading Because a little bug went Ka-choo! (Zoe never stays to hear the ending, she just likes the first two pages of that one:). Well, as we were reading, I heard a commotion in the kitchen so I called for Zoe to come show Mommy what she had (thinking she was digging in the snack drawer for the millionth time). She did not have the "snack" that I had in mind...

It's a princess life

With two girls in the house, we often times live as though we are princesses (or so we think). We have tea parties, we play dress-up, and Ava begs countlessly to "Come kiss me when I close my eyes on the bench" so she can pretend to be Sleeping Beauty and when she awakens, it is always the same, Mommy or Daddy asks her "Princess, will you marry me?" Ava always says yes, and then we dance around the living room and...live happily ever after! Ava's favorite princess changes daily, but most often it is Ariel (the little mermaid). Her favorite song from the movie is Part of your World and you can see her singing it below...yes, in her mermaid costume.

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She also wanted to share the video from when she was "reading" Sleeping Beauty. Can you tell we've read it a few times? I think it is so funny when she gets into character and uses her voice to emphasize the emotion...yeah, just like Mommy and Daddy. (Daddy has the best sound effects, and according to Grama Carla, he always has.) I also think it's funny when she uses the words right from the text like "bestow"...who ever says that? This clip is from February, but she thought we should put it up so she could read to her Gramas and Grampas.

Long ago there was a newborn baby. Them named her Aurora. Them named her after the dommed (the dawn). I'm gonna go to the next page. The three good fairies, Flora, Merryweather, Fauna, Merryweather. Them could give a single gift to 'stow (bestow) on the child. Merryweather started to give her gift, but a flash of thunder filled the great hall…It's Maleficent! "On her sixteen birthday, she shall prick her finger spinning spinning wheel and die!" Cry rose from every heart. And Merryweather waved her magic wand. The three good fairies thinked of a better plan. Them keeped her in a cottage for a long week. And a king mistefan (King Stefan) missed a daughter and he came up really set (became really upset). She wept. You can't meet your father so glum. That means she's sad. Then a sad voice callin' to a sad princess. Aurora. Aurora. Aurora. Aurora. Aurora. Aurora. Aurora. The three good fairies find Maleficent! "Touch it I say! Touch it I say!" Sleeping Beauty put back her long arm and touched it. Then the three good fairies found Maleficent. "Oh, you simple fools! Think you can feed (fool) me?! Mistress of all! Here's your precious princess." It was too late. The princess was dead. She was really in a deep sleep. Then, Ah…Maleficent found Prince Philip getting his true love. And Maleficent maked her into a fiery dragon. Then Prince Philip killed the dragon even though it was Maleficent. Then them lived…Then Prince Philip kissed Aurora. She opened her eyes and smiled. Then them lived happily ever…Then the whole castle was awake. Then them lived happily ever after. Then them lived happily ever after…Can I see the movie?!



Zoe is getting in on the princess action too. When we were trying to nap yesterday, she was crawling all over the bed and found a magic wand. She just laid there with it touching it and playing with the little ribbons so I figured, hey she's lying still and not wiggling anymore, maybe she'll finally relax enough to sleep. Then she starts cooing, "boooo" "booooo" "boo" "dippy...dippy...dippy...boo" (bippity, boppity boo). It's the life of a princess...you pick up those magic words pretty early.

Now I remember why we do not get the paper.

Stickers, Paint, and Flowers

When we went to Home Depot to pick up some paint for the garage, the lady at the paint counter gave the girls each a sticker. Zoe put hers on her shirt and then proceeded to tear little pieces of it off (the adhesive was pretty strong). Ava put hers on her tummy. She claims it was an accident and she was pretty upset when she did it because, like I said, the adhesive was pretty strong. She was so worried that it would hurt when it came of and she made me promise not to touch it. Once I convinced her that it would not hurt her tummy to take a bath, we doused it in baby oil. that loosened it up and then she peeled as I poured more baby oil. Off like magic!

Uh-oh!

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We spent all day Sunday scraping and painting the garage so we can finally close on refinancing our mortgage. Our garage is pretty shabby, so when I found out we had to do that, I thought we'd be better off with demo and a new garage! But, with time against us, we did scrape and paint it and surprisingly it does actually look pretty nice. I wouldn't go so far as to say it looks "new" but it definitely looks clean (on the outside...the inside...that's another story and has been added to the to-do list!). Ava wanted to get in on the action and help paint too; she is so ambitious! A BIG THANK YOU to Mom, Dad, Justin, Grampa Joe, Grama Jan, Sue, Erica, Joe, and Randy! There is no way I could have got it done without you!

Van Goh started somewhere, right?

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On Tuesday, I was bringing the garbage and recycleables down to the curb (BTW, I miss you babe!--wink, wink ;) while the girls were "just checking" the tulips in the front yard. Ava decided they looked prime for picking and decided to surprise me by picking them all. The stems are a wee-bit short, but beautiful nonetheless.

Oh, and the extra hair clips she's wearing are her doings. She likes to put them in by herself now and the placement is always very "unique" :) Just like her one pink and one blue flip-flop that she wears everywhere. Some of my co-workers commented that they liked her different shoes and I said that it was her own style, so now whenever someone comments on them (which is every day, everywhere we go) she just says, "That's my own style."

my little "bud"

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Nice "shot"

Nice "shot" #1: Uh-oh! Zoe figured out how to get her diaper off!

Nice "shot" #2: At dance last Wednesday, we had pictures taken. They take posed pictures in costume, individual and group, so they don't have all the chaos on the day of the recital. Ava was trilled to finally wear her costume and enjoyed putting it to the test while we waited for the other classes having their pictures taken. Then, when it came time to get her pictures taken...MELTDOWN!!! Not a few tears, we're talking under the table (both of us) bawling about not wanting to go in to get her picture taken. I didn't know where it was coming from. She's never reacted this extremely about posing for pictures. Finally, one girl's grandma bribed her with a sucker to get her picture taken. I've been trying to get away from the whole bribery for pictures deal, but she did oblige. By the time they did her group photo, she was laughing and saying "pickle face" like nothing had ever happened! When we got out to the car, I asked her why she was so scared to get her picture taken. "That lady said she was gonna do a shot." I had to explain to her that when someone with a camera says "shot" it means "take a picture." I would have been scared too, if I thought this whole getting-to-wear-my-beloved-dance-costume was a ploy to give me a "shot" too. Sorry, no photos of the costume yet, Ava wants it to be a surprise. She really is adamant about it. She was rather upset that Auntie Heather already saw it, but I reassured her that I'm positive that Heather already forgot about it...right Heather? ;) She likes surprises. Every morning at daycare, she tells Kelly, "Don't look at my shirt! Don't look yet!" while she takes her coat off. Yeah, Kelly knows the drill...No eye contact with Ava until she gets up the stairs, and Ava announces the unveiling of her magnificent outfit!

Montana: From Jamie

Jamie e-mailed some pictures from Montana.

One of the trout is a rainbow, the other one is a cutthroat.

Ryan Dam: its over 100' high!!

Yeah, some "work" he's been doing out there, huh?! ;)

Now THIS is Minnesota Nice

These days of temperatures in the 60s, 70s and even 80s are AWESOME!!! Gotta love the weather! We are taking full advantage of it! Welcome Spring! This is the true meaning of "Minnesota Nice" Jamie is in a Montana-not-so-nice BLIZZARD!!! Yes, 8+ inches of snow!!!

Zoe, the girl who fought putting her coat on every time all winter long, now brings me her coat saying, "coat, coat, coat" with her arm ready to slide in. Brings me her shoes, "dues, dues, dues" and doesn't ever want to come in the house...not even for a bath (which she loves)!

We have been going for walks after dinner. We are visiting the park again. We are playing on the swing set. We cleaned off the deck and patio table. We eat dinner outside. We blow bubbles and catch them. We draw on the cement with chalk. We get an up-close look at ants crawling out of their anthills (Zoe in particular--crouches right down with her face just about in the dirt!). We are wearing sandals and capris. We play ring-around-the-rosie barefoot in the grass. We love the sun and the warm days. Keep 'em comin'!

Ava loves to climb trees...Look Daddy, she can do it all by herself!

Zoe tried too. I think she might need to re-think her selection...

We bought a lilac bush on Earth Day and planted it in the backyard wanna-be-garden. Ava really put some muscle into helping dig the hole. She was most interested in the worms that we found in the dirt. Zoe didn't care so much and was more interested in swinging.

Zoe remembered her swing, and took off! "Eeee!" (Whee!)

By the time we finally got it planted, she was so tired out,

I couldn't even squeeze a smile out of her for the picture. :(