Family Christmas Pictures 2010

Easter

I think I have officially given up any hope for the perfect family picture, you know the ones where everyone in the picture is smiling sweetly, the setting is ideal, and every other aspect is what you're envisioning... Oh well.

At least I have cute kids:

Ava doing her latest pose:

Ava: P.I.

These were all taken by Ava. She pretty much captured what happens on a daily basis in this series of pictures:

1: Gabe crawls into our kitchen, with intense determination to do something he knows darn well he's not supposed to do

2: "Whaddya lookin at?" (Little did he know this would later be used as evidence against him...)

3: Checking to make sure the coast is clear (translation: make sure Momma isn't looking)

4: *angels singing*

5: He doesn't know what he's diggin around in there for, but whatever it is, it's good.

6: Momma comes before he can get anything into his mouth. DANGIT!!!

Iditarod 2010

Last Saturday a friend and I rounded up our kids and headed to downtown Anchorage to watch the ceremonial start of the Iditarod.

Ava still talks about all of the dogs, and her favorite was a big frog that was riding in one of the sleds (a man dressed in costume)!

It became more of a reality that I live in Alaska while I was down there, SO many different cultures, and lots of people wearing fur (and not just coats, but hats with the animal head still on, or tail attached!!), and when we weren't protected by a building, it was FREEZING cold!!

I am definitely excited to experience these amazing summers I keep hearing about! We'll see!

Cabin Fever

It gets a lot more wild here than the pictures let on...!

Some of our Summer

I've totally been slacking. Sorry. You know how when you're consistently doing something, it's easy to continue, but once you stop for a little bit, it's so hard to get back into the routine...
A lot has happened since my last post. We've moved to a new place, which I absolutely love. There is such a peace when you know you're where God wants you to be.

Here are a few pictures from June and July. More posts to follow. ...I hope ;)

Ava's turned into a little fish! She is always begging to go swimming, and she can do it all by herself (with the help of her lifejacket, of course ;)

4th of July at Nana and Papa's

Gabe's first solid food. Ava loves to help feed him.

This is a trail right by our new place that goes down to the river. It's so beautiful, it reminds me of when Mo and I would hike down to Snoqualmie Falls.

Little Man sleeping while we picnic halfway down the trail.

Ava found a bright pink lipgloss in the cabinet, so we had a little fun!

Ava has officially inherited the "camera psycho" gene! Passed on from Grandpa Gib to my mom, to me, and now to Ava... This is her first shot.

I found this dress in my parents storage room that was mine in the 2nd grade. I love that Ava can play dress up in it. Will you look at those sleeves though??? I don't think they get much puffier than that!

It's a bit of a brag-and-gag post (sorry, Lori!!!), but, that's pretty much what my blog is all about! Love you all!

Ava's relationship with Jesus is growing.

As Mo was putting Ava to bed last night, he asked her who her favorite person in the whole world is.

Ava: Jesus

Mo: Why is Jesus your favorite?

Ava: Because He talks to God and He gives me safe...

Ava's Answered Prayer: On our way to Seattle, we stopped off for a break, and as I was strapping Gabe back in his seat, he started really crying. I was looking everywhere for his binky, but with no luck. I gave up and went to the other side of the car to strap in Ava. In her childlike faith, she tells me "Mommy, all you have to say is: Lord, please help me find his binky. Amen"

--I instantly found it!!

Gee, who woulda thunk?!

Hilarious-ness

Ava: That's alarious!

Mo and I cracking up because she's never said hilarious before

Ava: That's another larious!!

Our trip to Olympia

Last Friday after work, we packed up and left for Olympia to see Mo's side of the fam, since his Dad was up from Florida visiting. We left at about 6:15p for our 6+ hour long road trip... Thankfully I went to the store and bought Ava a few things (books, color wonder markers and paper -which by the way are sooo cool!) for the ride, but she ended up sleeping almost the entire time -Thank you Jesus!!!!

We pulled up at Antonio & Melissa's just after 12:30a. The plan was for Mo, Gabe and I to sleep in the spare room, while Ava would sleep on the couch by herself, since she's such a light sleeper (& so social...) she needs to sleep alone. Well, Antonio had something else planned...! He thought it would be great to watch Finding Nemo with her, thinking that maybe it would help her drift off to sleep. But, since watching TV or movies is not something she gets to do very often, her eyes popped open and was wide awake, ready and waiting for the movie to start. What can ya do? I decided to go to bed and let whatever happen happen. Maybe she would crash after 30min of fish... Who knows.

The next morning Antonio tells us Ava stayed up til 3:30 in the morning just talking and talking. He told us that he would say "Ava, it's time to sleep " and she would just start whispering, but still talking a mile a minute. Then he would say "Ava you need to go to sleep now" and she would whisper "Imam sleeping!"

The next day there were a few inevitable tantrums, but for the most part, all went fairly well. We enjoyed spending some time with Mo's dad George, Melissa, and Antonio and we also got to see Mo's mom Sheley, all of them meeting Gabriel for the first time.

George started reading this book to her in Spanish, and Ava kinda just had this look on her face like, " what the heck are you saying..."

-wow, Ava and Gabe look so much alike in this picture!-

Grandma Anna (George's wife, who wasn't able to make it) sent the yellow dress up with George for Ava. Her eyes lit up when she saw it and put it on right away! Yes, she is definitely my girly girl I always wanted!

Right before we left to go back home, the guys were out front playing basketball and I guess Ava wanted in on the action too. Antonio lifted her up so she could touch the rim, but she jerked forward and bumped her mouth against it.

Two front teeth. Both chipped. Yikes.

I don't know who I felt worse for: Ava or Antonio. Ava cried for a good 5 minutes, but I know how bad Antonio felt. He kept saying "I was being so careful!" I'm just glad that it's her baby teeth. --And there is a positive to this: I'm motivated to take her to the dentist now. Yep. She's never been. Think what you want, I'll leave it at that.

I don't know how well you can see it, but her left tooth has about a third missing!

Our trip home was great, Ava slept within a minute of us leaving, waking only when we stopped at Starbucks so I could nurse Gabe.

I had to take these pictures of Mo and Ava. Her head always slumps over when she sleeps, and Mo is always trying to come up wth a solution for this problem. Well he found it. I guess my Moby Wrap has multiple uses!

He liked the idea so much he did it for himself, too.

Too funny.