Valentine Gingerbread Houses

Ava helped make gingerbread houses by ... sleeping. Now doesn't she look happy.

Ashlyn, Kate, and Alyssa dressed in my old t-shirts to eat icing and candies and yes, decorate gingerbread houses. I've never used a gingerbread house kit before, but now I highly recommend it. Also, I applied the icing and they applied the candies. I guess I'm a little controlling?

Kate doing some serious work.

Ashlyn spent most of her energy on decorating the yard.

Alyssa worked on making her half of the roof beautiful. After that, she pretty much just downed sugar.

Everyday Life

Ava is cute as can be, busy as can be, and many times stubborn as can be. Saturday night every time I tried to put her to bed she threw a huge fit. I finally got her to sleep at 11:00 PM. That makes me want to throw a fit, so I worked on a little scrap booking and she "painted" with water. She loves to do this and it kept her occupied for about 45 minutes. I think that's a pretty good attention span for 15 months old.
The other day Ashlyn dressed as a ladybug (Ava's Halloween costume) and Alyssa dressed as a princess. Ashlyn pretended to be Alyssa pet ladybug for almost 2 hours. They play dress up almost everyday. I think it's cute and creative, but sometimes the mess drives me a little crazy!

Ava weighed 23.4 pounds and has 31 1/2 inches tall at her 15 month appointment. That's just a little above average. We still call her our "fat" baby though because she has the cutest little belly and leg rolls. Here she is busy pushing her baby in the stroller just like her big sisters. Ava doesn't talk much yet, but she's communicates want she wants quite well. She says Dada and Mama but only when she's mad, and she says "heyo" when she pretends to talk on the phone. She did manage to dial 911 on Friday, so we got a friendly policeman visit. Mostly she looks at what she wants, holds her hands out palms up, and says "uh". Lately she's added hitting herself on the chest after the "uh" and says "me".

The Day After Christmas

We went to the church to try out Blaine's and Jonathan's new flying machines and Ashlyn and Alyssa's hopper balls.
Everyone hopping around Grandmama's

Ava wanted a hopper ball too.

We spent the day after Christmas at grandmama's. We had a wonderful time playing with new toys and Uncles and Aunts.

A Wonderful Christmas Day

Building with Ashlyn's new blocks

Santa brought a furnished dollhouse complete with twin baby's. Ava loves playing with it too.

Yes. It was a white Christmas. And yes, that is Alyssa and Ashlyn in their new dress up shoes with skirts on out in the snow. They didn't stay out long.

Ava's helping Grammy with her presents.

Take a look at Grandma's new braces. I think they make her look young!

Do you think Beau likes basketball? And maybe the Lakers?

Berne's family got Ava a dog for Christmas. I think it's the perfect breed, stuffed.

Here's Ashlyn and Alyssa opening their new Polly Pocket's and pajamas.

Ava with all her new goods in her grocery cart.

Working together. Ashlyn supervised the whole unwrapping of presents.

Children make Christmas so much more fun!

That's my munchkin.

This is serious business for Alyssa.

Ava is trying to say, "Hey, back off, I can do it myself." But Ashlyn and Alyssa didn't understand.

Ava's sleepy face.

Opening stockings was always my favorite thing to do on Christmas.

Ava with one of her new puppies.

Christmas Eve at Mema's

I think Ava has the wrong coat on, but she likes flapping the sleeves around. She screamed when we took it off.
Jonathan's third manly gift of the gift exchange, Betty Boop nightgown and slippers.

Some of Mema's great granddaughters.

This is a first. Ashlyn hugging Brad. She usually asks if Brad is going to be there before she decides if she wants to go. Alyssa and she made plans about what to do if Brad tickled them before we went to Mema's.

There's that cute smile again.

Adelie the photographer. Alyssa also was a photographer most of the night. She took some pretty good pictures. She would get real close to you and say smile. So sweet.

Adelie Ann, my cousin Ambra's little girl.

My brother Micah. We all enjoyed getting to spend time with him.

Dad (taken by Alyssa Maye)

My sister Holly and my cousin Melissa (again taken by Alyssa)

Ava loves animals. She couldn't stay away from Danny Boy, Mema's bird.

My Funny Girls

Alyssa and Ashlyn dressed up and pretended to go trick or treating. I love Ashlyn's smile.

Ava started walking the Monday after Thanksgiving. We went to the Discovery Center a couple of weeks later, and it was like a totally new experience for her. She could hardly breathe she was so excited to "run" around for the first time by herself. I couldn't stop smiling. She was such a joy to watch.



Ashlyn and Alyssa play dress-up most of the day, everyday. This is Alyssa doing her favorite dance move.

Ava acted so funny with these two teddy bear Christmas ornaments. She would get down on the floor, growl at them, and scoot backwards over and over again. I can't figure out why, but it sure was funny.

It's Been A While, So What's Been Going On...

Ashlyn and Alyssa had their first dance show last week. They did a "Hawaiian Dolls" tap dance, and they were snow drops for their ballet. They did much better than I anticipated. They had rehearsals Monday night for 3 hours, Wednesday night dress rehearsal for 4 1/2 hours, and the show Thursday night. I was a backstage mom on Wednesday. We had the largest 3-5 year old class and they remembered their dance better than most of the classes. They wanted to do it all again, so I guess we will.
Ava finally started walking on her own Dec. 1st. She's known how to walk for a while, but she waited until she was really good at it before she put it in use. She's so proud of herself, walking all over the house and around the table, following after me and her sisters. She also can undecorate the tree in record time. She's happy to have a new mode of transportation.

Snow jumping. I didn't think it sounded fun, but Ashlyn and Alyssa sure loved it. This was Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving. It snowed huge flake most of the day, but it was only about 33 degrees with no wind, so it wasn't too bitter outside.

Blaine surprised us on Nov. 21st by coming home from Walmart with this, a new trampoline. So of course we had to set it up that day. Is it a early Christmas present? I don't know.

Ava loves playing with baby dolls. It must be because she sees her sisters playing with them all the time. But she hasn't quite figured out where to feed the baby. Hopefully she doesn't try this on a real baby.