WAVA

Ava is big time entertainment for us right now. She is seriously cracking us up. She is so cute and it is hilarious to hear her talk. We're loving little Wava!

* So, Brielle is totally obsessed with all things princess, fancy, girly, frilly, pink, etc. and Ava has decided to go the other way. She loves cars, trains, the color blue, balls, etc. The only thing Ava asked for at Christmas was a choo choo train. My mom got her Thomas the train and it has been her absolute favorite toy. She completely feels like it is hers and only hers. It is something she does separate from Brielle and she loves it. She sets up her track and then cheers Thomas and James on as they go around. * When we are going to church each of the girls gets to bring their own little bag of toys to play with. Brielle always brings a bag of princesses and polly pockets. Ava's bag always has the little chunky cars we gave to Zach for Christmas.

*Ava is talking like crazy and it so funny to hear what she has to say. She is correcting herself on how she used to say things and now saying them correctly. She used to say "dida" for Chupa, now it's "chupa". She always referred to herself as "Wava". Now when she says it she tries to say it right. She still calls Brielle "Di Di".

* She has learned all of her colors and how to count to 12. She is very excited to match colors together and say "Cheers!"

* Ava always refers to herself in the third person. "Wava want a treat." "Wava do it!" "Silly Wava." "Wava go big poop in the big toilet all by herself!"

* She is officially, totally and completely potty trained! Yea! It has been about two weeks now that she wears panties all the time, even when we leave the house. Those first trips out in public are always terrifying, but we have had no problems. She was actually very easy to potty train. When we went to choose her new "big girl panties", she chose Thomas the Train.
We started with a potty seat here, in the entry way. It was fast and easy for her to get to.
Then we moved her here. Ta da! Potty trained.
* Although Ava likes trains, cars and other "boy" stuff, she still really loves taking care of her babies the best. Right now she is next to me diapering a baby, feeding it a bottle, putting on it's pajamas and now it's on a pillow with a blanket over it going "night, night".* Ava's favorite hour of every week is Kindermusik. We go to a little music class every Thursday morning where Ava gets to sing, play instruments, dance and play. She absolutely LOVES, LOVES, LOVES it. She loves that she gets to go to a class just like Brie goes to her class. It makes her feel important too. She loves her teacher. And what I am happiest about is that Ava is happy and comfortable there. She is usually a nervous girl. She is nervous with new people and new places. At Kindermusic she comes out of her shell and has a ball. Here she is off to her class!
* Ava does not care at all about dressing up like Brielle does. She yells, "Wava not want be a princess!" when Brie tries to make her one. Sometimes though, Ava will consent and let Brie choose something for her to dress up in. Nothing makes Brie happier. * People always comment on Ava's long eye lashes. She really does have gorgeous dark brown eyes. They are made even more pretty by those long lashes.* Ava begs to have one on one attention and be cuddled. Lucky for her, she still takes a nap which means she gets to stay up later than Zach and Brie at night. She wants to cuddle on my lap or just follow Scott around wherever he goes. We all like this time when Ava is so cute and charming and she likes being all by herself with us. And then miraculously enough when she is tired at nap time or bed time she says, "Mommy, Wava ready for bed."

* Ava also gets herself into trouble quite often. She has colored on walls and made a lot of messes. She almost always gets a chance to clean those up herself first and actually is happy about doing it.Cleaning up where she wrote on the wall.Love you Ava!

Popcorn Snowmen

The snow has melted around here (temporarily) and I don't love playing in the snow so much anyway . . . so we made snowmen inside the other day. We popped popcorn, mixed it with melted marshmallows and had "snow" to make snowballs. They we added whatever we could from the cupboard to make eyes, nose, arms, etc. The girls liked making snowmen, but loved that I left the rest of the popcorn for them to eat as much as they wanted. Delicious snowmen.This is how Ava walks to the bathroom to wash her hands when they are dirty. Not touching ANYTHING!
This is what Zachary was doing while we built snowmen.

Monday, Monday!

On Mondays we stay home, clean the house and do the laundry. When I vacuum I move the coffee table and we usually turn the music up. It always turns into a "dance off" with the girls. They dance all over the table the entire time I am vacuuming the downstairs. Here they are shakin it today.

(P.S. They also get to choose their own outfits and not do hair on Mondays.)

Little Mr. Z

Zachary is now 4 months old. In honor of turning 4 months, he started to roll over today. Poor guy had is arm pinned underneath him though and couldn't make it all the way. I'd like to hold off on rolling or anything else for a while. I feel like he has left the newborn stage way too quickly and while I wasn't even looking. He is such a big boy already.

* Zachary is the cutest boy! Brielle tells me every day that Zach is the cutest baby boy in the whole world. I would agree. I also think he is so sweet.* He is a very smiley little guy. He will smile and laugh easily. It certainly makes me feel like a real comedian. He also smiles really big for Brie and Ava. . . . until they start smothering him. *Brielle always calls him Zachariah. Ava calls him that too now, but with an H at the beginning and it sounds more like diarrhea. * Zach is a perfect 4 month old sleeper. He soothes very easily. When he starts showing he is tired, I rock him a little in my arms, wrap him up, lie him down in his crib, put a soft blanket next to his cheek, he burrows his cheek into the blanket, sucks on his chupa and drifts off to sleep all by himself. What a good boy. His naps are still a little sporadic during the day, but he usually sleeps a good 3 hours in the afternoon. At night he still wakes up twice to eat and I still don't mind (usually). * He loves his swing and is usually quite content there. He also gets a lot of time to kick around on a blanket on the floor completely enthralled with how incredibly amazing his hands are. He gets to be on the floor until Ava comes along to terrorize him thinking she is playing with him. The other day she was sitting on him hoping he would give her a pony ride.* Zach is smelly and sweaty. This is different from the girls. I don't know if it's because he is a boy or what, but he really does sweat. And when the kid has gas . . . . watch out!* Zach loves kicking around in the bathtub with his sisters and I love how he smells and feels when I get him out and lotion him up. Mmmmmmmm!* He gets dressed up by Brielle regularly. He has been accessorized with everything. Ava applied strawberry lip gloss to his lips yesterday and then was showing him how to smack them together. Poor guy.* Zach does not like his car seat at all. He'll still sleep in it sometimes, but would much prefer to be in his bed. If he is awake in the car seat, he is usually screaming. Those of you who have talked to me on my cell as I drive around town can attest to that. There is a lot of background noise.

We absolutely love having a baby boy. And we are so glad that it is this little boy!

With Love, From Laura

I've been wanting to do this post for a while now, but had to finish up the holiday festivities first. Yes, it took me this long. I want to tell about two very special people and the incredibly generous things they have done for me recently. They are both Laura. Laura, my sister and Laura, my sister-in-law. Actually, when I started thinking about it, every Laura that I know is very kind, genuine and nice. Maybe I need to name a daughter "Laura".

First, my sister Laura. This Laura has certainly changed from the teenager Laura that I grew up with. I think she is an amazing mother. She knows just the right advice to give in any situation. She is so fun to be around. You know your name is safe with her - in that she will not talk badly about other people. She is very giving. Her family is the most important to her. She is nice to everyone. She was especially nice to me when I wanted to decorate Zach's room.

I decided I wanted to do Zach's room as a baseball/Red Sox room. There were no bumpers that were Red Sox colors, so I sent swatches of fabric to Laura and she made him an awesome blanket (Scott and I both agree it is the best she has made) and a crib bumper. I know it took a lot of time to go to stores and get the right ribbon and minkee fabric. I also know it took a lot of time to sew the two items and I soooooooooooooooooo appreciate it. We love the blanket. It's soft and just very cool looking. And we love the crib bumper and how it made the room come together. Here is Zach's room. Go Red Sox!P.S. Scott was the nice one who put up the wall paper border. And don't you love my red rocker? I bought it on Craigslist. Finally, I have a rocker!


Second is my sister-in-law, Laura. I always wish that this Laura lived closer. I think we would be great friends. I also wish her kids were closer to my kids. Laura is married to Scott's brother. She also is an amazing mother. When I say amazing, I really mean out of this world AMAZING! I see and read about the things she does with her kids and it always inspires me to try to be a better mom. I always think, "Hmm. I should do that." or "That is a good idea, I'll do that with my kids." She is a loving and supportive wife. She is someone who happily goes about doing more than I could even imagine possible in a day. She lives in tight quarters with three small kids and I never hear her complain, she just makes it work by being organized and happy with what she has. I have so much respect for her. She is also a Primary President and is wonderful. I know she has a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. She seems as though she is ready and willing to take on any challenge. And this Christmas, as a gift to us, she did.

Laura and Alan had our family for Christmas to give a gift to. She never asked what we wanted and really surprised us with what she made for us. I was actually tearing up as I pulled these out of the box this morning to take pictures of them. She put so much work into this gift. For us. Wow. I am so grateful. She sewed the costumes of the nativity for us. Every year at Christmas when I was growing up, we acted out the nativity story out of the Bible. I LOVE this tradition. I always want to do it with our kids. We've had nothing to dress them up in. We're overflowing with princess dress ups, but not so much shepherds. So now, because of Laura, we have all the costumes to act out this little play at Christmas time. They are beautiful too. The fabrics are great and they all have head pieces and accessories. Can you believe she did that for us? Thank you so much!

Wise Men
Mary, Joseph and swaddling clothes for baby Jesus.Shepherd and Angel.

Happy New Year 2010!

After Christmas we got to have my parents, Jessica, Bryce, Evan (sort of) and Krista here visiting for the week. It was good times, as usual. And included a lot of good dinners, as usual. One evening my Dad brought home king crab legs and scallops for dinner. Delish! We honestly love having family here with us. We got to spend New Years with Mom and Krista. Everyone else had ditched us by then to party with other friends. We had a pretty good party of our own though. We did cheese fondue for dinner . . . . . . and then watched the ball drop in NYC and celebrated the New Year at 10:30 pm (NY time). It was perfect. We were out banging pots and pans and even lighting fireworks at 10:30. Then off to bed for the kids and Scott and off to a movie for me, Mom and Krista. I think this is a great tradition until the kids can catch on to it. It was great!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!