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... :)