Ava's 2!

My last baby turned two! She sure is growing up fast. Nate and I still have a hard time believing she couldn't even walk seven months ago. I guess she just takes her own sweet time. She is a spunky little girl now. Moving right into the sweetness and will power of the year of two. Her personality is very girly...playing with hair accessories daily, cuddling any baby, stuffed animal, or food - not just animal shaped, likes to see her hair and outfit in the mirror every morning, loves, loves, loves shoes, and dress up is a delight of her day! Right now she is playing in her bed. Should have been napping two hours ago, but my girls just don't like naps. Oh well, could be worse. She loves spontaneous hugging. Which is just so great! Sometimes it comes with a big sloppy kiss too! Oh, and loves shopping, as Grandma Julane discovered.



To celebrate with Ava we spread it out. We went to family movie night at a local church that used to be a theater. Grandma Patty and Grandpa Jim got to come with us for that. As an extra bonus some of our friends were there too! Ava went on her first birthday shopping trip with Grandma Julane and had a really good time picking out kitty sheets and eating spaghetti. Grandpa Bob and Grandma Charolette sent a great surprise for her. A giant indoor/outdoor tent that we can all fit in. All the girls are loving that!

Merry Christmas Friends!

Merry Christmas Friends! Our Christmas has been full of fun Christmas activities. We hope yours has too! One of our favorite movies to watch this time of year is The Nativity. I love how it makes Christ coming to Earth so real for me and my girls. What a blessed gift God gave!
We have been busily baking for our friends and families. The girls always love to help bake and measure ingredients. Hopefully they are on their way to being great bakers!
We visited Santa at the Wichita Eagle open house. This was our second year going to this. The tour of the newspaper plant is really cool.
I decided to undertake the task of a gingerbread house not from a kit. Now I am glad to say I have done one and have some experience to build on for future years. My dear sister sent me a pattern. Whoa!
It was the biggest house ever! She didn't remember sending me a huge house pattern, but she did. So, I made only one third of it. Here is a picture of the house pattern she sent me. Totally made me laugh that she thought I should do that huge one for my first house! The girls had a blast making it. We had saved almost all our halloween candy to put on the house. That was great! Had a ton of candy to put on it, even threw some away afterward. Some of the highlights in the decor are: Naomi's ducks, Stella's soft couch on the front lawn (who doesn't need that!), light posts that taste like root beer according to Stella, the gingerbread girl, a few mailboxes, and last but not least people faces in the windows.
Our Christmas tree this year has stayed decorated all month. Ava likes to keep things were they belong, unlike when we had baby Stella, who thought all ornaments belonged in her bed! Together we all made a pipe cleaner candy cane garland for the tree. The crafty children decorated kind of tree is really growing on me! May your Christmas and New Year be blessed by the King!

Life update

Well I haven't blogged in a while, so I thought I would just update what is happening in our lives through pictures and a few sentences to go with them!

First up! I guess I never posted Halloween pics. Probably because this is the best one of all the girls. No one wanted a picture. Ha, isn't that just how kids are! This is my cowgirl, cat, and ladybug at our friend's Halloween birthday party. We had a great time trick-o-treating with old and new friends!









Ok. Here is one of me for all you long distance people :) I am about twenty pounds lighter and feeling like a new woman! This is thanks to my new lifestyle or diet whatever you want to call it. I think I might call it eating only a few foods God made and a NO man made foods. That sounds simple, huh? It has been a huge change! Mainly because I LOVE FOOD! But alas, my body does not love it. I think I am allergic to about every other thing, which in turn makes my body ache from inflammation from the ribs down. So, I will learn to make life about more important things or people! than food.

Here is my little baby Ava, looking not so little. Her hair is in a ponytail! I may need to freeze her in time:)

This is the first snow of the season! It was wet and I couldn't catch the flurries on the camera. But Stel in her flip flops trying to catch a flake is priceless!!






















We were so glad to get to start our holiday fun times while it was still sixty degrees! Riding on the carriages at Bradly Fair is always one of our favorite events. The girls love the horses. Then we went to my current favorite store Barnes and Noble. EEEEHHH:))









































Ava enjoying her milk. With her foot up. "My milk" are a few of the words she can sign AND say. It is a hoot to hear. She concentrates so hard, to make sure I know what she is saying.




















Here is only half the dolls we own having a party. Curtesy of Stella. Ava soon came over and emptied all their cups for them. On the floor, of course!

The rest of summer vacation

Here are a few more pictures of our days at the beach this summer. The sun came out a little and we played on the close to empty beaches as much as we could!

The girls thought that they were "surfing" when the first surf came in and covered their feet. It was so sweet.


We spent tons of time collecting shells...


...and building castles.


Ava liked the soft sand. Look you can see her chubby ankles..awww! The seaweed was all over because of the hurricane.


This was the last photo our camera took before it succumbed to the humidity and sand:( We were running around looking for bathrooms and had to see the shark!

Stella's Birthday

This is Stella decorating her cake the night before her party. Look close. Sorry, to those who ate the cake :) The girls had the best time making the MOST AWESOME cake with a jellybean rainbow and marshmallow clouds!

It was so fun to have a house full of little girls! We played pin the tiara on the pony and had rainbow cake and sherbet. Stella and Naomi made flower magic wands to give to all the guests. Stella loves to say "poof" and make you change into something different.

Happy Birthday Beauty!

MMMMMM!!! Lots of frosting and jellybeans!

Here is the cake. Six layers. It was fun to make.

The Eastwood's came down after the party to celebrate too!

Pear Picking

We got a HUGE load of pears off our tree this year! We finally figured out how to ripen them so we can eat them too! The girls had a great time picking and eating them. We planted the tree the first year we lived here, when Naomi was a baby. She loves having "her" tree. Maybe we will get two more fruit trees for our other girls soon :)

Henna in my hair

Its been a long time it seems since I played with my hair color. But that is what sisters are for, right? Resa did the research into dying hair with henna and I told her I would be in too. I wasn't sure after she did hers first and was telling me how bright it was and everyone asking her about it. When I saw it though, I liked it a lot. Of course, I checked with Nate first. He said "It is only hair."

Here it is before.

Henna is ground up leaves with lemon juice and cranberry tea spread like a mud into your hair. It stinks! I had to leave this on for two hours. My head was killing me from the weight of the enormous amount of mud it took to cover my hair.

Here is it after five days. It should stay this color. Takes about this long to fully develop. I like it. But I only look at it for about five minutes a day, so hopefully YOU like it :)