What a wonderful Christmas!

Oh goodness we had such a great week! My parents drove from Oklahoma up to our house, leaving Saturday morning and arriving here Sunday evening. Ava was just about beside herself, she was so excited to see them. She ran laps around the house, smiling and singing. Their drive was a bummer, not only bc of distance, but awful amounts of blowing snow. According to the news, there was a 15 car pile up just North of us on the same highway they drove to get here. So glad they made it safe and sound! Here's the snow piled at our house!On Monday morning we (and by "we" I mean mostly Ava and Grandma) built a gingerbread house. They got it all decorated before Ava realized that the decorations were also edible and yummy. She enjoyed some icing before it was all whisked out of reach.On Tuesday Steve had to work but the rest of us packed up for Bayshore mall to see Santa and have lunch. There was no line, thankfully, and we got some fun pictures of them with Santa and then of all of us in front of the Christmas tree. Owen took it like a champ. I placed him in Santa's arms, and Owen just looked at us, wondering what all the fuss was about. He was content and happy as a lark. Ava was not so sure. She was very excited to see him, but kind of froze up with all the pressure of smiling for the camera and telling him what she wanted for Christmas. Much like Ralphie on A Christmas Story. All that aside, she pulled through, told Santa that she wanted a train set, and got her first candy cane. Wow, did she like that candy cane! You can see her chomping on it during the photos afterwards.We then headed off to lunch, which was super yummy, and the fam took some pics of the huge snow piles on the tables outside.That evening, Steve and I had a date night while the grandparents and aunt Laura watched the kiddos! We went to the Pasta Shop in Port Washington for dinner and then took in a movie! It was wonderful! We came back home feeling very refreshed and just in time for me to feed Owen again.
Christmas Eve was another wonderful day! We went to church in the afternoon and managed to get some family photos when we got home. Then we had a yummy dinner (thanks, mom!) and Ava opened one present--wait--I think it turned into 2 presents. She opened some new PJ's from us and some super cute fluffy pink slippers from grandma and grandpa. On Christmas morning, I picked up Ava and we looked over the banister down to the tree and presents. My dad had built the train set and left it out by the tree. Ava peered down at all those presents, asked if Santa were still here, and said, "I want to play with that choo-choo!" And so the morning began, and went on, and on, and on. We are used to rushing through presents on Christmas morning so we can shower, pack up, and head over to our grandma's house for Christmas dinner (which is at 1:00). This year we had nowhere to go, and so we let Ava hang out with each gift as she opened it. It was a slow process. We took a break for breakfast. Then we took a break for lunch. Then we took a break for Ava's afternoon nap. She was wiped out. I believe that the last gift was opened around 7 pm. Wow. It was a really fun day. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. (They were out of a can--didn't hold a candle to Robyn's homemade cinnamon rolls!) Ava did a lot of dancing with the toys that played music. We got some on video--I'll try to load some up. It was just an all-around relaxing and fun day. Owen also seemed to enjoy his first Christmas. He took turns being held by each of us and admiring his new ornament from Aunt Robyn and Uncle Cory.
On Friday I was a bit sad, bc it was the fam's last full day here! It was a warmer day (high 20's to low 30's), so we played in the snow and got to use the beautiful new sled Papa Cooper sent Ava. Coming inside to a warm house after sledding is such a good feeling. : )
On Saturday morning mom, dad, and Laura packed up the car and started to forever-long drive back to Oklahoma. They spend the night in MO, then stopped off in Tulsa on Sunday to visit family. We were sad to see them go!

snow blower

When Coop got home from his day job he set to work digging us out from the 12 inches we got today. Welcome home, honey! The drifts/piles from city plows were 3-4 feet at the end of the driveway. In this video he's clearing off the back patio.

snow angels

Snow Days

It's super duper snowy these days. We got 10-12 inches last night/early this morning, and it's still going. We're supposed to get a few snow showers on Saturday, and another 3-5 inches on Sunday. Glad the big one already came through, bc my family is driving up from Oklahoma this weekend. Roads are supposed to be fine by the time they arrive on Sunday! Let's hope so! We've been keeping busy as usual. On Saturday Steve took Ava to Tumble Buddies, and Ava loved it. It was her second time to go to gymnastics, and she's a pro at the pike and the straddle. :) After lunch there was sledding, building a snowman, and making snow angels. It was a real heavy, wet snow. Perfect for play. That evening Ava and I went to watch The Nutcracker. She's been watching a recording of it over the past week or so, and she was excited to go watch "real ballerinas" on a real stage. We had a fun mommy-daughter date night. Ava did a great job sitting through the performance. She was proud of the fact that she could sit in her own big seat, but ended up sitting on my lap most of the time for a better view. I could tell she was impressed by the whole experience--she was very attentive and would occasionally turn her face up to look at me and whisper, "I like you, mommy." cute. Steve took our picture before we left the house.

devil tree, round 2

It's baaaack.....
Steve had to move the tree over to hang blinds on the window. Bad decision. Touchy tree no likey moving. Cooper spent forEVER under the tree tonight trying to shim it up. Attempts to buy new tree stand have been a bust--all sold out of the good ones at the depot.

30 seconds of super cuteness

Book Club

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note to your wall.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

"At the same time Kanner was documenting his discoveries, another psychiatrist, Hans Asperger, was treating and writing about patients who had nearly the same symptoms, except the children spoke."

Ok, this was actually from page 57. Page 56 only had 4 sentences and a list of citations.

duh, duh, DUHHH...It's FREEZING up here!

Brrr!! It's COLD! And lots of snow! and it doesn't melt between snowfalls! Our mailbox is almost buried after only 3 snow "events!" That's what the dept. of transportation calls snow storms, "snow events." While watching the news tonight, I learned that a small snow storm (less than 4 inches) cost on average $150,000 to "clean up"--salt trucks, etc. If it snows more than 4 inches, the city busts out the plows, and then the average cost for a "snow event" of 4-6 inches is $500,000. If it snows more than 6 inches, it typically costs $650,000 to $750,000. Sheesh! A white Christmas is expensive up here! They said the most expensive snow event last winter was upward of 2 million dollars.
Well, before it got too cold, we went out the day after Thanksgiving to cut down a Christmas tree. Ava helped pick it out, alternating between walking in her snow boots and riding on Steve's shoulders. Owen adorned a big snow suit and was then wedged into the baby carrier so I could haul him around. He slept the whole time, snug as a bug.The place we went didn't have the type of tree I was looking for with soft, long needles. So instead, we got a devil tree with sharp little spikes that slice your hand open when you put up an ornament. Getting it upright in the tree stand was an ordeal to say the least. Turns out the little bracket in the middle of the stand came loose, causing the tree to slip and slide every which way. With Steve on the floor and myself trying to hold up the top without incurring a severe bodily injury, we wrestled the tree for what felt like 17 hours. The tree won, for a while at least. Steve was finally able to work some fix-it-man magic and rig it up somehow. It's almost upright--enough to look good from most of the angles anyway. Putting up the lights was like round 2 of the fiasco--but by this point we were prepared with thick coats and work gloves to protect ourselves. The end result turned out just fine--we are really liking it as it adds such lovely Christmas cheer to our house. But I think the tree is secretly smug inside about laying the smack down on us.

random happenings

On the 18th we took the wee ones to a paint-your-own pottery place to make Christmas ornaments. It's a small little shop filled from floor to ceiling with breakable ceramics, so we thought it would be a good place for a bulky car seat and a feisty two year old. All went well. Ava was thrilled with the whole process and keeps asking for a return visit. Owen looks a bit disgruntled in the pic, but he was actually happy and mellow the whole time. After you paint your pieces the shop fires them for you. I think our ornaments are ready to be picked up, but I haven't made it down that way yet.
On the 20th Ava and I made some Christmas cookies while Owen was snoozing. By "make" I mean that we opened a package of cookie dough, sliced them, and stuck them on a cookie sheet. ha. Ava was in charge of the sprinkles. Not made from scratch, but about as home-made as you're gonna find in our house these days. Ava wasn't eating cookies last Christmas, so here's a pic of her first Christmas cookie. yummy!She also had her first PB&J last week while the Hartke's were visiting. She was an instant fan.On the 24th Ava was sporting one of Steve's long sleeves while helping fold laundry. Actually, it's one of my old rowing long sleeves from the Head of the Charles Regatta and it has the University of Tulsa blade on it! Go TU! Ava's a little coxswain in training! Then for lunch, we decided to picnic on the floor in Ava's tent just to mix it up a little bit--lots of snow outside means I was staying put inside.