Merry Christmas

My festive little girls!
For Christmas, we hosted our families this year. My parents were able to come as well as Darin's parents and sister. There were sooo many presents under the tree. About half ended up being for the girls. We are going to be donating their old ones SOON. We were blessed this year, as always. Ava and Avery loved their bikes from Santa and ran right to them. Avery even tried out the table, but the bikes were the hit.

The girls enjoyed opening gifts this year, unless it was clothes. Then they would just drop it right there and move on. They loved playing with all the things they opened. Avery even took off her pajamas so she could try on her new play shoes. They became so good at walking in these plastic heels that they could run in them.

Ava loved her camera that she got from her cousin, Jonathon. (Can't remember now if it was for her, but if not, she has taken it over)

All in all, we had a great Christmas, minus lots of family! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a great New Year to come!

Descanso Gardens

Descanso Gardens is located in LaCanada, CA and I thought it would be beautiful backdrop for holiday pictures of the girls. I tried to get some good pics together, but it is difficult with two-year-olds. Here are some shots of our experience.

Holiday Cheer

The girls really are starting to learn who Santa is this year. Avery was able to recognize pictures and when you ask what Santa says, they say, "ho, ho, ho". So when at a church party, Santa was there, they could hardly contain themselves. We ended up being at the end of a long line of kids. I had to hold Avery to keep her from running up to the front of the line. When we finally got to Santa, Darin put them on his lap and they started screaming! This is the only picture I was able to get. After this experience, needless to say, I decided to scrap the idea of going to see Santa at the mall.

To get into the Christmas spirit, we were invited to make a gingerbread house with our friends Steve and Isabelle and their son, Charles. The kids had a lot of fun snacking, but once they got into it, they enjoyed putting the candy on the house instead of their mouths. I had never made a gingerbread house before, and so it was fun for me too!

Deck the Halls

The girls loved helping to decorate this year, as each new decoration taken out of the box was a new toy to play with. They especially loved the big snowman decoration. Ava talked to him and asked if he wanted to watch Strawberry Shortcake. He must have said "yes" because she then sat him down in front of the TV.

Thankful

We weren't sure if we would be able to go to St. George for Thanksgiving until the last minute, due to labor negotiations at work, but finally were able to. Darin wasn't excited about driving with the rest of the world and with a bad back, but I came up with a brilliant idea to stop half way at a hotel. Halfway was Primm, a gambling town outside of Vegas. The night before Thanksgiving was only $15!! However, on the way, Darin's back started swelling and by the next morning, he was in bad shape. We arrived shortly before dinner and after dinner, Darin took some muscle relaxers and slept 12 hours! The girls had a great time visiting with cousins and grandparents and the rest of the family (and the dogs!). We were thankful to have been able to go.

Halloween

This Halloween was so much fun because they were just starting to get excited about wearing costumes. I had Avery try the bee costume on in the store and she refused to take it off. She buzzed all over the store. Ava ended up being the bee, and Avery was the lady bug. Unfortunately, this is the year that they learned about candy. Now when I ask Avery what she wants for lunch, she says "candy" or "chocolate". We only ended up going to 3 houses. At the first house, after getting candy, they just stood there staring.

Pumpkin Patch

This year was the first time the girls attended a pumpkin patch. We invited Auntie Di to come join in the fun and to help me. Avery had a new found love of pumpkins, so to have Auntie Di and pumpkins in the same place was heaven for her! They were both in awe of the amount of pumpkins that were there (as was I). I took about 100 pics and only a handful turned out. Oh well. Thank goodness for the invention of digital cameras! After seeing all the animals available to pet, and the train ride through the sunflowers, the girls were each able to pick out one small pumpkin to take home. Avery took this responsibility seriously and changed her mind several times before settling on the perfect pumpkin. Wonder where she gets that from!

Meet Jack

This is the first year since having the girls that I have decorated for Halloween. Avery, especially, LOVED the plastic jack o' lantern. She carried it around with her everywhere. She would hug and kiss it. Of course, she doesn't hold still long enough to get the good shots. Ava, the ham, however, offered some GREAT shots!