Oldies but goodies

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In which Jonah meets Santa for the first time...

This guy is a crackup

Jonah laughs all the time and is just about the happiest little guy I've ever met!

The "Haircut"

Ava saunters into our room this morning and informs us that she cut her hair. "WHAT?!" She buried her head in the pillow and wouldn't show us so I ran down stairs to find a pile of her beautiful hair on the counter. I felt a little dizzy. I ran upstairs to see what her beauty styling looked like. Thank goodness the girl had enough style sense to cut it somewhat fashionably! No one inch long bangs, she cut it on both sides a little longer than her chin so with a little more help it will look like layers around her face. Yikes! All scissors are now in the highest cabinet where it will be slightly harder to get to. She is sticking with the story that she cut it because the cat meowed and told her too. Huh?

Jonah the monkey

Recently Ava and I were hanging out downstairs while Jonah was napping. We heard a "tap,tap,tap". Wondering what it was, I went in search of the sound. It was coming from Jonah's room. Sure enough, I open the door and the little monkey had climbed out of his crib and was knocking on the door! The amazing thing is, there was no thump and no tears which means that he somehow meticulously climbed over the side and carefully lowered himself down the other side. In addition to his crib antics, he enjoys climbing on bookshelves, the dining room table, top of the couch, in drawers, in baskets, on the TV, side tables, and seems to have no fear. It will be interesting see what adventures our little thrill seeker brings us!

Ava turns 4!

The family Birthday dinner
Ava and Grandma

Birthday hugs

The big 0-4!

Birthday morning cinnamon rolls (obviously enjoyed)

Our sweet girl turned 4 on the the 11th. I can't believe that 4 years have gone by so fast. I wonder if as a parent you feel that way every year. On the day of her birthday we had cinnamon rolls, went out to lunch, and painted pottery. That night we had a family party with Grandma, Hop-pa, Nana and Grandpa(my grandparents), Aunt Maril (my aunt), Uncle Michael and Uncle Nathan, and our neighbor Andy who is just like family and made Ava'a favorite dinner. Tinkerbell theme and lots of fun. That Saturday we had her friend party which was pink cowgirl theme and very fun. The morning of her birthday Ava woke up and yelled fro her room that she felt 4 now. She certainly seems more grown up to us everyday.

Decorating with underpants

Caught in the act "Isn't this funny mom?"The view from above

Our front yard decorated with underwear

Left alone for a few short minutes Jonah manages to throw an entire bag of clothes that I recently took out of their closets through my bedroom window onto our from lawn. When Ava sees it she said "What will the neighbors think?". I told her they would think we decorated with underwear. "Oh buddy, that's funny!" she told him as he laughed and clapped his hands. I haven't even cleaned it up yet. We still have underwaer outside our house. It has just has been one of those days where it has been one incident after another. Including cleaning pee off the couch which I origionally thought was from the puupy but quickly realized it came from the giggling baby who figured out how to take off his diaper. Nice. Boy oh boy!

Our new friend

Introducing Noodle!

Well I have to begin by confessing that I used to sort of despise small dogs. I just didn't really "get" them. What are they for? I have always been a big dog person and have owned a golden retriever my whole life. Then, this weekend we welcomed our little Noodle into our family. She is a Bugg. That's right, a Bugg. Which apparently is a pug/boston terrier mix. We absolutely adore her and she fits right into our loving and slightly goofy family. Ava and Noodle are now inseparable because really, what little girl can resist a small girl dog with a pink collar who wears little sweaters and cuddles with her constantly? Our 70 lb Golden Retriever, Rosco loves her too. Our cats are not so sure even though Noodle weighs only about 3 lbs and is about a 1/4 of their size. So anyway, I still don't really know what exactly you do with a small dog but we sure do love her!

Fun in the sun

Ava and Daddy building a sand sea turtle (no plain castles for us!)

Watching the polar bears

Happy boy at the beach

Touching and feeding dolphins! (I was just as, if not more excited about this than the kids were)

We went to San Diego at the end of August with my parents for my mom's birthday and had a blast. It was also our first real vacation as a family since Jonah has been born. It was so much fun for all of us. We went to the San Diego Zoo twice, Sea World twice, and sat by the pool and hung out at the beach every day, and did a lot of eating yummy food. Dan and I also celebrated our anniversary while we were there which was fun. And what is cuter than tanned little baby bums? Not much.

I've finally done it

Being the only mom in the world I think who didn't have a blog, I have finally done it. So here we go!