Happy Thanksgiving!

Goodness, there's so much to catch up on that I don't know where to start! Maybe I'll start with today and go backwards. For Thanksgiving this year we stayed up in Wisconsin and spent the day with just the four of us. Since it was the first of a 4-day weekend for Steve, we also started the potty training process with Ava today. So we had a very laid-back day of hanging out at home, Ava sitting on her potty chair in the kitchen drinking lots of diluted pear juice and watching the wiggles. We had some success with the process. She was excited about it and she did manage to use the potty for its intended purpose, but also had some accidents along the way. As much as she's liked sitting on the potty chair occasionally over the last 6 months, she's never actually gone there. So I was worried that it would take some time to make that jump, but she actually did pretty well. She also got to have a starburst jelly bean for staying dry and clean (thank you Carrie), and this really got her excited. She's never really had candy before, so there you go. I snapped a pic of her celebrating after her first use of the potty--she was so excited!
We're also trying to help Owen out with his sleep patterns today and tonight, and that's been going better than we expected, but the night is young. We'll see how things progress.
We had all the Thanksgiving must-haves for dinner this evening. It was a very low-key affair. I roasted my first turkey and it turned out pretty tasty, but all the other dishes were super duper easy. Potatoes out of a box, cranberry sauce out of a can, green beans out of the freezer, stuffing straight from the bag, and a store-bought pumpkin pie. and it was wonderful. everything tasted so yummy, and to top it all off, both children were sleeping when Steve and I sat down to eat, so it was perhaps the most relaxing meal we've had in a long, long time. By 6:30 Ava was still sleeping, so we got her up and she also enjoyed turkey and cranberry sauce while Steve started the dishes. She tried some stuffing--she put it in her mouth and spit it right back out. She did, however, enjoy some cherry pie with vanilla bean ice cream on top. Wow. Big day for this girl. She's so much fun. Steve and I are always amazed by her--the things she'll say, ideas she'll share.
Last night Steve put her to bed and I went in to say goodnight. She said, "You lay with me a little bit? I like you, Mommy." I asked her if she had a good day, expecting her to recap the big playground we went to or some fun activity we did, instead she said, "I hold the snow. I want to hold the snow again on Sunday." I was surprised and touched by her answer. She was referring to the brief moment when we got home that afternoon and she walked to the edge of the driveway and felt the snow. She giggled and walked on it, stumbling around with her arms out for balance. Last winter she did not like the snow. She did not want to touch it, walk on it, sled on it, etc. So it caught my attention when she had announced in the car that afternoon, "I want to touch the snow. (repeat 10 times with increasing inflection...) Sure enough, she headed straight for it once I got her out of her car seat. So when I was tucking her in for the night, it became clear that her snow experience was very important to her. It's so neat to see her grow and explore and investigate things, and even more amazing to be reminded that she is her own little person. Her favorite part of the day was not some big activity we planned for her, it was touching the snow on the way into the house.

In other news, the Hartke's came to visit us this week. It was so great to see them and catch up and chat face to face with friends from St.Louis. They braved the drive with 3 kids, ages 4 and under, and one on the way. The drove in late Monday night and left early this morning in order to make their family dinner back in St.Louis this afternoon. That gave us all day Tuesday and Wednesday to catch up. I was a little worried about how Ava would do with the 3 boys staying with us--she's not really mastered the concept of sharing. ha. understatement. But she did ok. She's still not the best at sharing, but we got to practice the concept a lot, with a lot of adult help and coaching. The Hartke boys did a great job putting up with her. They even shared their iron man action figures and tractors. Steve had to go in to work on the days they were here, but managed to get home at a good hour each day and join the party. They kiddos liked playing in the unfinished basement--the dads would take them down there for tricycle riding, pogo stick bouncing, whiffle ball batting and general mayhem. And Jamie and I would sit upstairs and chat, with clacking and hollering drifting up through the floor. : ) Yeah for daddy duty! Dan was able to demonstrate for Ava what a piano and a guitar are actually supposed to sound like. : ) We're so grateful that we got to see them this week!
There's much more I wish I could add, but at this moment, both children are sleeping, and I'm thinking I should make good on that deal and go to bed myself. Maybe more tomorrow! and ooh! We're getting our Christmas tree tomorrow!

My little sister got to come up and visit us the weekend before last. Her timing was great because Steve was out of town for Robyn's wedding. Congrats Robyn & Corey!!! Speaking of which, I heard from Steve that the wedding was absolutely beautiful and perfect (except maybe when the father of the bride slapped the groom at the alter...ha). Beautiful place, beautiful accommodations, and a very beautiful bride!! We love you, Robyn!!
Well, while that was going on in Mexico, Laura was a huge help and sanity keeper for me in Wisconsin, and Ava is totally in love with her. They had a great time reading and singing and playing with a really cool puppet. : )
It was very brave of her to come up this weekend since Owen was at the peak of a night-crying pattern. I think we all pulled through ok, though. We even made it out the door to go to church on Sunday morning despite much crying and hoopla. Way to go, super-aunt Laura!
When it was time for Laura to head back to the airport, Ava gave her a big hug and repeated, "Don't go, Laura! Don't go! Stay with me! Stay with me!" It was such a pitiful scene!
Ava didn't want to lose her dear friend!

3 guesses

Can anyone tell me what famous historical figure my son resembles in this photo? The founder of a major world religion perhaps? any takers?

Cuteness

Last Friday when I went to get Ava out of bed, she had adorned some groovy footwear. She must have had a good time digging in her closet.

Owen keeps growing and growing. At the doc's last week he weighed 10 pounds, 8 ounces already. I think about half that weight is in his cheeks. He sleeps for much longer stretches at night than Ava did at this age, which I'm attributing to his nice weight.


Ava also keeps getting bigger, but likes to climb onto Owen's play mat and bouncy seat and declare that this is where she'll play "when she gets little."
Ava has also made some new games out of playing with the dogs. She likes to chase Lucy around and around in circles, which Lucy actually gets into and proceeds to bark her head off. Callie, on the other hand, is not really into Ava's game of sitting on top of her as a favorite reading spot, but tolerates this as the good bird dog that she is. Poor Callie.

Ava & Owen

Ava gets so excited to hold her little brother. I didn't realize how much it meant to her until I actually let her do it (with a good amount of help). She started to grin ear to ear and giggle with glee. It was very sweet."I like him! I holding him!"

catching up

Sorry for the long delay in new pics Mom, and Happy Anniversary!
So on the 3rd, we borrowed this soothing infant seat from a mommy neighbor friend for Owen. We thought it may help him out in a crying spell and still allow our arms to be free for others tasks at hand. It's success is somewhat hit or miss--but in this instance it worked like a charm. He kind-of looks like an elf between the leaf accessory and the baby-hawk he's got going on with his hair.

On election day it was beautiful and 70 degrees outside, so we packed up for our first visit to the Milwaukee Zoo. It was actually pretty nice. We saw a lot of animals (as opposed to a lot of empty cages) and Owen woke up for lunch. Ava's favorites were the flamingos and the rhino. She's been impersonating both now for a week. While I fed Owen, Ava kept herself busy running up and down a ramp and then running in circles around this gazebo. Where do kids get all that energy?
So we had a very nice day at the zoo. It was so warm all week we also had some long walks to the parks near our neighborhood each morning.

The last pic shows Owen taking in the first presidential election coverage of his lifetime--and what an election it turned out to be.

Lovely Weekend

The Wisconsin Coopers had a very nice weekend! On Friday night Ava once again adorned her Bumblebee costume, Owen dressed up like a pumpkin, and we headed to downtown Cedarburg for trick or treating. This was similar to Kirkwood's Halloween walk, but without the extra activities like the costume contest. Everyone was encouraged to bring their jack-o-lanterns to line the sidewalks--it was very cute. Ava was all business making her way into the different shops.

On Saturday, Steve went to pick up a snow blower that he bought on Craig's list. The owner lived about an hour away on the southwest side of Milwaukee. Then he ran a couple of errands on the way back--so it was just me and the kids almost all morning and part of the afternoon. This is no different than a typical week day, but the fact that it was the weekend bummed me out. Solo duty again! But Coop got home with the snow blower AND a double stroller! So once Ava was up from her nap and the stroller was assembled, we took a nice, long walk through the neighborhood. It's much easier than walking through Kirkwood bc of the nice sidewalks and lack of traffic, but there's nowhere really to walk to--no destinations to speak of. In Kirkwood you could actually get somewhere--like the library or a custard stand or a farmer's market. In our current neck of the woods, you just walk until you're tired of walking and head home. But it really was a nice walk. Plus, Steve and I realized that it was a chance to actually converse without kids interrupting! We got to have a nice little exchange!

On Sunday we tried another church, and we really liked it! The worship was great, the teaching was great, the nursery was great, the cry room was great, and the people were SO nice (and seemingly normal...ha). We saw a family that I already knew from CBS class--it's fun to run into familiar faces. We also saw another Sigma employee there and got to meet him and his wife. In that one morning we were also invited to a couple of different small groups by individual members, AND...duh duh duh!...they have a senior high program that meets Wednesday nights. We got to check out the youth area and hope to visit during senior high over the next couple of weeks. A funny thing about this church is also that the sanctuary looks VERY similar to the activity center at first efree, but with a balcony added. Same wood beams, wood ceiling, etc, so we almost felt like we were at home. Yeah! Much promise!

This pic is Owen showing off his Sunday best.





On Sunday evening we enjoyed another really long walk--it was delightful! Here's Ava in her fleeciness and sporting a bag of veggie booty (mmm...yummy) to take on the walk.
















This afternoon Ava was cheering on her little bro during his tummy time routine. It was a beautiful, 75 degree day (In WI in November!) and we got to spend most of it outside. In fact, we went to a big park in Port Washington with 4 other moms from our block and their kids! It was great fun!Also caught Owen smiling in a picture!

Kiln Park

Last Friday the kiddos and I lunched at a nearby park. It was nice and sunny and warm, and the park has this beautiful creek going down through it. We threw rocks in the water, climbed a tree, jumped in a pile of leaves. It was so nice out. Owen even woke up for part of it--long enough to eat. We were there a couple of hours, and it was very relaxing. Much more enjoyable that sitting around the house.