Christmas 2007-Arizona

This year we had the pleasure of spending Christmas in Arizona with the Cummings family. We spent Christmas Eve at Uncle Kevin's house. It was great to spend time with our cousins Olivia and Bill. Santa came and brought us presents. On Christmas Day, the Schmidts arrived and we got to have Christmas dinner with them. It was so much fun spending time with all of our cousins. We are blessed to have such a wonderful family!

Christmas 2007-Colorado

We are having two Christmas's this year. The first one, we celebrated last night and today. We did our "Christmas Eve" celebration at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Then while we were sleeping, Santa came and put presents under our tree! It was a lot of fun! Ava really got it this year but, got tired and bored of opening presents! Molly, could of cared less if she got to open any presents. It was fun for her to play with the boxes and ornaments off the tree. She got to the stockings first, and was content sucking on a candy cane all morning long. Santa is going to come to us in Arizona on Christmas Eve too! We can't wait!

Holiday Tea

Today Ava and Mom went to a Tea Party at the Rec. Center. We met our friends Carol and Celeste there. We had tea, snacks, and even entertainment. Ava wasn't sure about the tea but she sure enjoyed the cookies and the sweets! It was fun to get dressed up and have a little girl time.

Molly's Words

Everyday Molly amazes us with her speech. Her words are coming so fast it's sometimes scary. And she loves the camera on her. What a ham!!!

New Obsession

Molly's latest obsession is putting everything- and I do mean EVERYTHING on her head. She is so proud of herself when she has the items on her head.

Ava's First Concert

Ava's class is going to put on a little Holiday Concert on Thursday. Since we will be on a plane heading for Arizona, they did a little practice run for us. Those poor teachers. And what patience they have. As you can see they need a lot of practice! But it was so cute!

Holiday fun with Friends

Last night, we had the pleasure of having the Hulquests over to celebrate Christmas. It was great to see them and we had a great time. The kids play so well together. The adults even had a chance to spend time together and chat. It was great as always to see the Hulquests!! Thanks Kevin, Marie, Jakob, John, and Claire!!

Christmas Cookies

This year we decided to begin a new family tradition of baking Christmas cookies. Great Grandma Ordway was famous for her cutout Christmas cookies. So, we kept the tradition going by using her recipe. It was a lot of fun but, more work than any of us expected! It was an all day affair. Ava enjoyed decorating only one cookie and ate it right away. Molly did a few sprinkles too. But, she enjoyed the eating part best!

My Little Elves

This is so funny!!


http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1135195590
Cut and paste this link!

Thanks for the cute idea Marie!

Hometown Holiday Celebration

Every year, Highlands Ranch starts off the Christmas season with a big celebration in the Town Center. This year we decided to check it out. It was freezing! Molly didn't think that she could move her body when she was bundled up. It was fun sipping hot chocolate, eating cookies,petting the reindeer, riding the train and sitting on Santa's lap. At least sitting on Santa's lap was fun for Ava!

Black Friday

Happy 60th Birthday Dad and Grandpa! WE LOVE YOU!!

Painting

Instead of beginning our Christmas shopping this weekend, we decided to paint our kitchen and powder room. It's been 4 years since it has been painted so we decided we needed a change. Last time we painted, it was so much fun. Just the two of us, we could take our time, listen to music and have a conversation! This time, we had to plan time to paint when the girls would be out of the way! Ava stuck her hands in the paint can several times. Mom's job was to keep the girls out of the kitchen. That meant out of the house entirely. Here are some before, during and after pictures. And for those of you who haven't seen it, check out our new wood floor. We love it!

More Cousin Fun

We are getting into the holiday spirit with the help of Emily. She decided to make a Gingerbread House with Ava. Ava had so much fun. The best part was eating the icing and the candies! Molly wouldn't eat any of the candy but liked to hold the gumdrops.

Ava's First Snowman

Ava and Emily had a very busy day on Wednesday. It has been a while since Emily has seen snow and even longer since she has played in it! Ava was so excited to help build a snowman. And Emily loved to make the snow angel.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving! We had a great day and wonderful food! We spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was fun spending time with Aunt Ann, Emily, Uncle Ryan and Aunt Jaclyn. We stuffed ourselves with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and of course pumpkin pie. Ava's favorite was the pie and Molly couldn't eat enough rolls! Here is a picture of Ava and Molly stuffing their faces!

Leaves, leaves leaves

This past weekend, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to help with the leaves. The girls had a great time playing! Ava loved jumping in the huge piles, throwing them everyone, and collecting the "special" ones. Molly on the other hand just liked to eat the leaves! It was a warm day and it really didn't seem like work even though we collected 4 bags full. About an hour after we were finished, more leaves fell and it looked as if we could get a least 4 more bags full!