Packing for Minnesota

Sam is sooooo excited to fly on a plane to Minnesota. Yesterday for Christmas he got a little suitcase to bring along- he loved it and right away set to packing the most important thing..... Monster Trucks!!

Santa visits daycare

 

 

Sam told me he was brave and Ava told me Santa was scary!

Sick Day!

Ava is not sick (hopefully stays that way)....

 but wants to be like Sam!

Love their books!

Sunday School

 

Winter Garden Aglow

 

 

 

 

The kids loved the lights at the botanical gardens. They also loved the train, the treehouse and, of course, the cookies. Fun family night out topped with comfy Jammies and popcorn!  (Sam was in charge of the popcorn and got VERY upset if anyone took more than ONE at a time!!!!)

Brave Ava!!!!

Starting to look a lot like Christmas!

 

 

 

Yo Gabba Gabba

 

Ava has become quite the Yo Gabba fan lately and the trio of 5 characters have become her Lovies of choice these days!

This morning we had to round up all 5 Yo Gabba characters before she would sit for breakfast. We were missing one and she insisted on "Where Muno?" (the one-eyed red one!). Once we found all 5, Plex got the seat of Honor (and syrup stickiness) while she ate and the others looked on.

  

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Handprint Turkeys made with Mema

Build-your-own-pizza night!!

 

I'm sad I missed getting a pictrure of Ava's full handprint in Sam's pizza Sauce!

 

Cheese....somewhat on the pizza.

  

And Olives - the finishing touch!

 

Sam loved his pizza and said it tasted great!

Cuteness!

 

If only they both smiled in the SAME picture!

Pancakes!!!!

 

Sam and Ava definitely look forward to pancakes and usually can't wait so they run upstairs to wake up daddy so he can make them for them!

The hockey Hooligans

 

Dinnertime with Snickers the dog in the middle of all the action!

Mema's in town!!!

The kids are having so much fun with Mema this week! Frozen Yogurt was a special treat from Mema and it was a BIG hit!!

First snowman of the season!

 

 

 

Brave dads!

The dads took the 4 kids to Big Al's on Friday for bowling, dinner and games! Sam said that everyone had a really good time!

Reading the Sunday paper with dad

Weekend Madness

Mom, Sam and Ava were on their own this weekend so we decided to go on an exciting adventure Saturday morning....if you call the local mall exciting!  

 

First Stop... transportation at the mall.  

This went over well and kept them contained, which is critical....we definitely were not keeping a low profile driving this thing around.

I was actually thinking it's a good thing I don't worry about being cool anymore (...or really trying to shop b/c this does NOT turn on a dime!)

 Second stop...quarter rides on another fire truck.  This is their favorite one at the mall.

Third stop... we actually cruised by center court as it was Day 1 of Santa in the mall.  I questioned who would be doing that on the first half of November... but let me tell you... LOTS of people!  Sam and Ava were excited to see all the decorations and snowmen and even Santa from a distance.

Fourth stop.. the playground in the mall.  They had fun playing on the slides and plastic creatures.  Ava loved the canoe and for over half the time, just sat in the back of it... chillin... 

 

Fifth and final stop.. McDonalds (Gross!). I think they were most excited for the juice.

All in all, pretty fun adventure in their minds.  After lunch, we parked the ginormous fire truck and headed home for naps! 

 

After naps, the kids had so much fun playing with play doh.  This was after moms failed attempt at making "cloud dough" from Pinterest... ran out of conditioner to mix with the corn starch so started adding shampoo... lets just say... not good!

  

Cute picture of Ava.

Ava has been talking a lot more.

Her three very favorite and often repeated phrases:

1. No Mommy!

2. No Daddy!

3. Go Away! 

She is a girl who knows what she wants.  it cracks me up lately because every morning when i get her out of her crib - literally lifting her out (and she's a happy camper in the morning), she always immediately has a demand... "Bo on the Go" or "Yo Gabba" or "Applesauce" or "Chocolate" (That was right after halloween)... but it is something every morning.  Pretty funny... I can barely get in a "Good Morning"