Christmas Day

After Ava opened up her presents from Santa Claus on Christmas morning, we headed over to the Walkers to spend the day.
Here is Ava all ready to open up presents. Her favorites here were furniture for her dollhouse (we have every room furnished now...admittedly, Mommy is possibly more excited than Ava about this...every girl likes a dollhouse!), a My Little Pony carnival set, complete with Ava's favorite...a ferris wheel!...a Dora vanity and beads for making jewelry.


Reading with Grandpa Mark


Working on a necklace with Great-Grandpa Bud


Drawing with Grandma Cheryl (note the lovely necklace Grandma is graciously sporting)


The big kids played too...Rock Band!

Christmas Eve

As we do every year, we spent Christmas Eve with Oma, Opa and the Reiter family and Christmas Day with Grandma, Grandpa and the Walker family.
On Christmas Eve, we opened presents at Oma and Opa's house. Ava's favorites were probably her doll clothes, a new game (we've played at least 20 times so far) and a Princess music/jewelry box.
Then we met the extended family at Great-Grandma Reiter's house, where there was quite a crowd...adding it up in my head, I think there were about 30 people. Ava had a blast and was super outgoing with many people she's only met a few times in her life. Her favorite part was helping Great-Grandma Reiter open up all of her presents!

Here are a few pictures:

Ava and Oma


Ava and Saibyn - Saibyn is the sixth of Grandma Reiter's seven great-grandchildren (and there are two more on the way!)

Grandma Reiter's little helper

Visit with Santa

We waited til the last minute, but on the evening of the 23rd, we finally made a trip to see Santa. This particular Santa is at a landscaping center in Cottage Grove between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and is an authentic, bearded Santa Claus. As "authentic" as he was, Ava's first comment as we left was something to the effect that he "looked different," meaning he wasn't wearing his red hat or coat. We explained to her that it was too warm inside for those, and they were hanging up on a coat rack next to him. She still seemed a little unimpressed with the presentation.
Anyway, the visit was definitely an improvement over last year. She went right onto his lap and even smiled for a minute. When asked what she wanted this year, she was even brave enough to offer a response: "clothes for my baby and a scarf." I know, the scarf is kind of a strange request, and maybe not something she should have to ask for for Christmas, but that is what popped into her head. :)
After a couple of minutes, she was ready to be done, but we did get a few nice pictures (to replace the one from last year with a very sincere frown).
For the record, Ava did get a multitude of outfits for her baby dolls and a lovely purple scarf that she refuses to wear! (Surprise, surprise - for those of you who don't know, Ava is rather...particular about her clothes and does not like anything restrictive or bulky...oh well).

Playschool Christmas Program

Ava's playschool had a little Christmas program at the end of the day today. It was maybe eight Christmas songs, and I was seriously grinning like an idiot the whole time, because it was so darn cute. I was also trying to take a decent picture, but I didn't have a very good seat (probably should have gone in right away instead of reading Newsweek in the car for ten minutes, because I thought I was too early!) :) Anyway, you never know what a three-year-old will do in a situation like this, but Ava was totally into it, singing loud and doing the motions, too - it was great!

December Playdate

We had a few friends over this morning for a play date...no sledding today...too cold! So we kept busy with some indoor fun...

Gavin playing Playdoh - Ava and I made the Playdoh yesterday, and it turned out pretty well!


Noah at the train table

Ava "practicing" with Baby Kai. :)

Sledding

I think today was our fourth day in a row of sledding, even though it was the first day we really had any signifcant amount of snow. Our next door neighbors have the perfect sledding hill, and it is busy with kids all winter long. This year is going to be great, because Ava's big enough to keep up with the other kids, and doesn't require my accompaniment on the slopes (a good thing, as I'm pretty sure sledding is not advised for me this winter).

Anyway, here is a picture of her going down with our neighbor, Grace:


Climbing back up afterward (this is the part Mommy likes best, because it burns up energy really effectively!)


Of course, hot chocolate is a must afterward! Here's Ava's quote regarding hot chocolate: "It makes me warm, and it tastes like brownies!"

Big-girl Bed!

She's had it for at least a few weeks, but I'm finally getting around to posting a picture, after much prodding from Opa! Because of the layout of her room, we had to put it alongside the window, which seemed a little strange to me. But the blackout shades keep out the drafts and she's warm and snuggly in her flannel sheets and down comforter. She transitioned to it really well...although, she had been sleeping in a toddler bed for a while now, which really wasn't much different than this. Funny...she's never even gotten out of it on her own at night or in the morning when she wakes up...she still calls me to come and get her, as if she were in a crib...it's a good thing, though. :)

Christmas Tree

It snowed just a little bit, and I had to snap a picture of Ava all bundled up. This was at least a week ago...I've been so lazy about posting!


On Saturday we went to the Willow River Tree Farm in Hudson, WI to cut down a Christmas tree. The weather was nice, around 40 degrees, and Ava enjoyed the hay ride and running around among the trees.


When we got home, Ava helped me unwrap the ornaments, with many instructions from me along the lines of: "Be careful!" "It's fragile!" "Be gentle!" But, really, she did a great job and loved seeing all of the little treasures wrapped up like presents. Joe and Ava did have to make a last-minute run to Target, as every third bulb in our string of Christmas lights was not working, so we desperately needed new ones.


As it was getting late, we had to save some decorating for the next morning...

...this was a great opportunity for some pictures in front of the tree.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Eau Claire, starting at Mark & Cheryl's for a mid-day meal, to Great-Grandma Reiter's for dinner, and finally to Oma and Opa's to sleep!
Here are some pictures from Grandma and Grandpa's:

Blocks with Grandpa - a replica of Minneapolis, "where Daddy works!"


Helping Grandma and Great-Grandma prepare the meal...or stealing bites...one of the two...

Baby Julia

We were lucky enough to be Julia's first visitors at home! We went over for a little while around dinner time last night and got to catch up with Mike & Juliet and "ooh and aah" over Julia. She is as cute as can be, and she was awake and alert the whole time we were there. Ava even got to hold her for a little bit...


My turn!

Our other babies

Hard to tear myself away from writing about Ava, but I feel our other two babies have been neglected. (Joe would probably be very irritated that I'm referring to them as our "babies," but I don't see him doing any posting). :)
Anyway, here they are sunning themselves this morning...


Lambeau


Millie

As this is pretty much all they do, you probably won't see them featured again for a while... :)

Halloween

It was a beautiful day...sunny and 60s, but by the time trick-or-treating rolled around, it was just right for Ava's warm, furry costume. Here she is posing with our jack-o-lanterns...

"Mommy Kitty" holding her baby (somewhat willingly held with a little help from me). :)

I think it's time we raked!

Ava and Joe heading out...

One last picture...

Home and happy!

Ava had a blast handing out the candy after she got home, too. She took the job very seriously...handed out one piece to each trick-or-treater (even the big kids in scary costumes), smiled and said "you're welcome." You could tell she felt very big and important in this role! :)

Carving pumpkins

On Thursday, we took advantage of the warm weather and Joe taking the afternoon off and headed to the apple orchard for some pumpkins (finally!). Ava had fun on the hay ride, playing on the playground and petting the animals. Sadly, I forgot the camera, so no pictures! But, she also had fun scooping out the pumpkins that evening...


Starting small with Ava's little pumpkin. (Note Millie checking things out).


Ewwww...this is kind of gross!


Now she's really getting into it! Stay tuned for pictures of the final product tomorrow...

Early Trick-or-Treating

Our grocery store, Kowalski's, has an annual trick-or-treating event the week of Halloween. The employees dress up in costume, and there are about 15 different stops within the store, with treats like juice boxes, chips, and even baby carrots! It's pretty crazy, but they manage it well, and everyone kind of walks in one big line through the store.
Anyway, we joined my friend Hilde and her girls, Emily & Sarah. The girls were so cute together...


Ava, Emily & Sarah



Feline love!


Stopping for a photo-op.


Ava had a great time and got lots of practice saying "Trick-or-Treat" for Friday!

Highlights from the week

I haven't had a chance to post this week, but I thought I'd just put a few pictures up from the highlights of our week...


Hanging out with Grandma at Great-Grandma & Grandpa Walkers' 60th Anniversary dinner.


Catching up with Kristin, while we visited Juliet, Mike and Baby Julia at Children's Hospital.


Getting dressed up for Baby Sophie's birthday party (Sophie is Ava's favorite doll). Check out my bling! :)

Halloween Carnival

Our neighborhood had a Halloween Carnival this weekend. The kids dressed up and each family brought a game and prizes. We had a great turnout and a gorgeous day! It was too warm for Ava's real Halloween costume...stay tuned for pictures of that in a couple of weeks...so she wore a Cinderella dress-up outfit she got for her birthday...as you can see, she fit right in...

Lindsay, Lauren and Ava


Bobbing for apples


Face painting


The whole gang...Ava's front and center, looking a little disgruntled (I think it might just be the sun in her eyes, though... :) )