Happy 6 months to Ava!

I'm a little late in getting this on the blog, but I wrote this for my baby girl to remember her at 6 months--love her!

My sweet, baby Ava,
You have been in our family for 6 months already, and still you amaze me every day. I have enjoyed each of my girls as babies, but you are my third little girl and I know in my heart how quickly these moments pass, how newborn grunts and stretches turn all too soon into baby screeches and gummy grins. And I know that you will be toddling and talking in what will seem like minutes, so I have been soaking every one of your easy and beautiful smiles, every cute laugh, and every single time you cry just because you want your mommy. We have called you sweet baby Ava from the beginning, and you have certainly lived up to this name; you are the sweetest baby, rarely crying unless you are tired or hungry (although you have just developed some separation anxiety, so you do want your mommy a lot, which is fine by me!) and smiling at everyone you meet. You have fit in with our family so well that I can barely remember a time without you here, even though it's only been 6 months since you arrived. You are babbling and screeching, though you are still our quietest baby so far, and you can already sit up for a few seconds on your own. You like to roll, but you spend very little time on the ground, so you are not on the move yet, and for that I am thankful. You are very grabby and very coordinated with your hands, which makes eating or cooking while holding you more difficult than it was with your sisters. And speaking of your sisters, they are two of your very favorite people. You love to watch them and Elle can almost always make your laugh or smile. You just started playing shy; when people talk to you, you bury your head in my shoulder or chest and then pop back up for a little smile, one of my very favorite phases of babyhood. We have frequently gotten the comment that you are the most beautiful baby people have seen, and I know I am biased, but you are beautiful! You are pretty much my constant companion, since you usually even accompany me and your daddy on date nights, and even then, you are (as we often call you), "the best baby ever". Though I know time passes too quickly, I look forward to watching you grow and seeing your personality develop, but you will always be my sweet baby Ava.
Love,
Mommy

My Disney Dancing Queen

When Elle hears music, she can't help but dance. She has always been that way and I can remember commenting when she was really little about how much she loved live music and we worried she would grow up to be a groupie. So, Disney World was, of course, perfect for her. Our last day in Florida, we went to eat at a local restaurant with my parents and sister's family, and there was live music, so Elle, my mom, and my niece, Ashlyn, danced until they called us to our table. I went to ask Elle something at one point and she replied, "Mommy, be quiet please! I'm practicing my new dance moves!" Anyway, here are a few videos of Elle dancing on our recent trip:

Trip to Florida

I'll have to write a little more about our trip when I get the chance, but we just got home last night from visiting family and going to Disney World. The girls had an absolute blast at Disney, and Lauren was already asking if we can go back on our drive home yesterday. We went to Magic Kingdom the first day and the girls got to meet Cinderella (Elle's favorite), Belle, and Aurora (Lauren's favorite), and they were in heaven. They loved every ride, and everything we did, and even after being at the park for over 10 hrs, they each only had one minor meltdown the whole day. The next day, we went to Hollywood Studios, and they were equally excited, especially with the Beauty and the Beast and the Little Mermaid shows. Elle also loved that they had dancing/singing in the streets every hour or so, and she even got out in the middle with the dancers and tried to copy every move. When we were leaving the park, Elle said, "Mommy, I LOVE this day!" That makes it all the more worth it! She also asked me if the princesses were going to have their "happy ever after", and I said that I thought they were and asked her if she was going to have her "happy ever after." She replied, "When I get married, I will!" Guess we are going to have to do some Disney detox, since she now thinks she needs to be a princess and get married to live happily ever after! Oh well, at least it's a fun dream for a little girl!

We also visited my family in Florida, and the girls loved having so much time with their cousins. Every morning, they would wake up and ask me, "Can we go see our cousins now?!?!?" Anyway, click on the link below to see more pictures in my facebook album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=591505&id=904380857&l=7edf5d0716

Some Conversations with Elle recently...

"Mommy, why do we have to get old?"

"That's just the way God made our bodies, Elle. But as you get older, you get to do a lot of fun things that you can't do as a kid."

"No, I mean why do we have to get really old? I don't want to get really old! I want to be able to play on the floor and spin fast forever!"

.....................

"Mommy, I don't want to get old and die!"

"Well, Elle when you die, you get to go to heaven to be with Jesus, and you'll be really happy!"

This went back and forth for a little while and she started to cry, "But Mommy, I don't want to go to heaven! I just want to stay here with you and daddy and Lauren and baby Ava forever! Mommy, can we go to heaven together?"

..................

"Mommy, when we go to heaven to see baby Jesus, can we bring him a present?" "Sure we can, Elle." "Can I share one of the presents I got with him?" "Of course, Elle! Jesus would love it if you shared with him." "Well, he's a baby, so can I get one of baby Ava's toys out of her bin to bring to him?" "Yes, Elle, but remember that baby Jesus isn't a baby anymore; he grew up and died on the cross to save us. We just celebrate his birthday at Christmas, just like we do with your birthday." "Oh, well Mommy, I don't want to get old and die on the cross, so I'll just stay here and send baby Jesus a gift in heaven!"

.................

"Mommy, can we get a picture with baby Jesus? He can sit in the little chair like baby Ava and we can stand behind him and smile!"

Merry Christmas!

A very Merry Christmas to anyone reading this!

At Christmas, we see Jesus as a

little babe— helpless and poor.

And He came to love and be loved.

How can we love Jesus in the world today?

By loving Him in

my husband, my wife, my children

my brothers and sisters, my parents,

my neighbours and the poor.

Let us gather around the poor crib in Bethlehem

and make a strong resolution that

we will love Jesus in all those we meet every day.

--Mother Teresa

For more Christmas Eve and Christmas Day pictures, here's a link to my facebook album:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=591505&id=904380857&l=7edf5d0716

Christmas Fun

We had a Christmas playgroup this morning, and since the girls will only have a few opportunities to wear their various Christmas outfits, they were festive this morning! When I was putting Lauren's dress on her, Elle remembered that it was her dress/shirt last year, and we started talking about how she did indeed wear that dress for the past two years. And then when I pulled Ava's dress out, I explained that it was Elle's when she was as little as Ava. And as Elle always points out to me, "That was when it was just me, you, and daddy, right? Before baby Ava and Lauren!" Elle loves her sisters, but being the firstborn and a lover of attention, I know sometimes, she wishes she could have us all to herself! And, I can't believe just how quickly time goes and that just 4 years ago, my first born was wearing this dress, and that the dress is already being used by our 3rd girl! As I tell Elle all the time, these girls need to stop growing so fast! Although it's so fun to watch them grow at the same time.

We've had snow and ice this week, so Elle didn't get to have her Christmas program at school yesterday and she was really sad about that, especially since she's been practicing her songs a lot, but I got to watch her practice on Tuesday and it was pretty cute. She sang the first song and then spent the rest of the time on stage dancing, playing with a star she was holding, spinning in circles, and doing ballet moves. She definitely likes to put on a show!

We have been a little more minimal in our Christmas decorations/activities this year, mainly because it's just been crazy and I feel like I've had so much to do, but seeing the girls in these outfits certainly made it feel like Christmas time! I especially like Ava's face in the last few. She looks like she's saying, "Save me, mommy!" Hope you enjoy! (And no, these aren't our Christmas cards--those went in the mail yesterday!) Oh and I added a video at the bottom. There's not much to see on it, but Lauren took the video on my phone without me knowing it, and her voice is just so cute!

Elle the Ballerina

Elle had her very first ballet recital today, and she did great! The pictures and video are not the best quality, since they wouldn't allow flash photography, and we actually weren't even allowed to videotape at all (but, I had Kyle sneak some iphone pictures/video because we did not want to spend $25 on the dvd they were trying to sell us!). It was a pretty short performance, but Elle did get to go on stage 3 times, and she got to lead her group out one of the times. As she told us when we got in the car after the show and asked her if she had fun, "Yes, and I even smiled!" It was adorable to see her and her friends on stage, and we're already looking forward to the big recital at the end of the year. Elle's been dancing all around the house since we got home; she really does love ballet so far. Not sure how easy it is to tell, but Elle is the 3rd one from the right in the pictures and in the video.

Some cuteness around our house these days...

Elle and Lauren are loving making silly faces for the camera these days! We've still be really busy trying to get ready for Christmas, and tomorrow, Elle is in a performance of the Nutcracker with her ballet class, so I'm sure I'll be posting some pictures soon. She's been a bit of a diva about the whole thing and keeps asking when she gets to go on the big stage again so everyone can watch her. Lauren started singing something one day, and Elle yelled at her, "Lauren! You're not allowed to sing! Only I can sing because I'm in the Nutcracker!" Wow! The fame has already gone to her head--guess we'll have to work on that! And Ava has been just as happy and sweet as ever; even though it's hard to get a great smile in a picture, she laughs and smiles all the time. I've enjoyed her so much! Hope everyone reading this is having a wonderful holiday season so far!

Random

Things have been a little crazy around here with Thanksgiving last week, the start of Advent, Christmas shopping, and add to that the fact that we found a house we really liked and put an offer on it this past Sunday (it didn't work out, since the seller didn't want to go as low as we were offering, but we had to work out mortgages and all before making the offer, so it was a time-consuming process!). But I'm just posting a few pictures of my two sweet babies. I often forget that Lauren just turned 2 a few months ago. She talks so much and so well that she seems older than she is and sometimes I expect more from her than is age appropriate. She's really gotten into singing the past few months, and she loves to sing songs from all the Disney movies. Her current favorite is Once Upon a Dream from Sleeping Beauty. It's pretty cute to watch her; she will spin in circles and sing really loudly. I'll have to post a video if I think of it. She still says, "Yeah, sure, Mommy" or "Yeah, sure, Elle" a lot when we ask her a question and also often says she's going to do something "right quick".

Some other comments from Elle recently:

My friend, Kelly, was leaving with her son, and Elle was sad because she wanted to play with him longer, so Kelly told her that next week she could come to her house to play, and Elle responded, "But I don't know how to drive!" When Kelly told her that I'm sure your mom would bring you, Elle said, "She doesn't know how to drive either!"

At school this week, one of the boys upset her, and she didn't want to play with him anymore, so he came up to her and said, "But I love you, Elle!" She turned away from him, crossed her arms emphatically, and said, "It doesn't matter!"

Advent Calendar for this Year

Elfie (the name of our Elf on the Shelf) came to visit us for the Christmas season yesterday, and the girls are already eagerly anticipating the Christmas season! For the past few years, we have done an activity-based Advent calendar (here's a link to our countdown calendar with a list from the past few years), and Elle has loved it. I'm excited about Lauren getting involved this year too! We are trying something a little different this year; instead of just doing fun activities/crafts for ourselves, we are making an effort to focus on others this year, by doing an act of kindness each day until Christmas. I was inspired by this post, and I love the idea of spending the time leading up to Christmas giving to others, rather than focusing on presents and what we will get. Here's our list so far if you want to make one for yourself (I usually organize these in the envelopes before advent begins, but since our life has been so crazy lately, I'm just putting a piece of candy in each envelope, and then I will tell them the day's activity from the list):

Kind Deed Activities

Write a letter to someone you haven’t seen or talked to in a while to brighten their day.

Make and bring someone cookies.

Clean up litter in the park.

Do a chore for someone else in the family.

Look around the house for change and put it in the salvation army bucket.

Write a special thank you note to your teachers.

Make a card and treat or present to leave in the mailbox for the mail carrier.

Go through clothes/shoes and pick some to give away.

Go through toys and pick some to give away.

Gather canned goods to give away.

Make cards/craft kits to send to kids in the hospital.

Make a meal for another family and deliver it.

Write and mail thank you letters to soldiers overseas.

Buy a present for someone on the angel tree.

Put change in a soda machine for the next person to use or tape a card and change to a vending machine for the next person to use.

Buy and candy bar/gum for the grocery store clerk and bring one to the salvation army volunteer too!

Have a smiley face play-date and encourage everyone to distribute their smiley faces and give to others.

Make a new friend or reach out to a friend you haven't talked to in a while.

Offer to babysit for a friend to give her a break and give the kids a chance to play

Play secret Santa to a neighbor.

Makes snowflakes or cards to send to a nursing home.

Write thank you cards to the pediatrician and mail or deliver.

Go to the mall or a store or the post office and hand out candy canes with notes attached and wish strangers a Merry Christmas!

Go Christmas caroling and hand out holiday treats to the houses you visit.

Read the Christmas story in the Bible, and act out the nativity.