New Years Eve

Wow this year has gone fast. Last year at this time we were a family of 3 and now we are a family of 4! We've had an amazing year and look forward to another great year.

Tonight we got the kids dressed up and went to dinner at Oswego Grill. Andrew is constantly asking us if we can go to dinner at "oswego gill" since we hadn't been in awhile. So we thought we'd go and order something different than usual. It was a nice evening out and the kids did great. We spent a relaxing day at home and now that the kids are in bed asleep Nate & I plan to watch a little t.v. and hang out until 12:01am when we'll probably head to bed :)

The kids enjoying bath time today. Andrew always wants to make sure that Ava is going to take a bath with him.

At dinner with the kids!


12.21.2010

7 months

Ava is now 7 months and I realize that I haven't done an update on her in a few months. She is getting so big, but still the tiniest little thing. She loves to laugh and is very ticklish. She thinks Andrew and Sophie are so funny. Her favorite toy is her exersaucer. She LOVES to eat solids. As soon as she sees you getting it ready she starts screaming for you to hurry up and feed her. She pretty much likes all food but avocados and green beans which I usually mix with fruit so she'll eat them. She reaches for everything in sight and usually puts it in her mouth. She now reaches for me if she wants me to hold her. She gives kisses, but not often and doesn't like to cuddle, especially when she's tired. She doesn't like to rock much either, she just wants to be put in bed with a blanket so she can sleep. She sleeps great through the night, but seems to prefer her stomach over her back. We put her to sleep on her back and within minutes she is rolling to her stomach. She's a light sleeper and wakes up as soon as she hears you walk in the room. She sleeps about 12 hours at night. She loves to kick like crazy, loves baths and still loves being held. She still has no teeth and has no interest in crawling or being mobile. She will roll from her back to her stomach or vice versa, but not as a mode of getting around, just to watch the tv, see who's talking or grab a toy. She is our little princess!

Favorites

The kids have been having tons of fun playing with all of their new gifts from Christmas this week.

12.27.10- Ava loves her 1st doll from Mommy & Daddy.

Both of the kids like playing with Ava's new kangaroo toy.

12.28.10- One of Andrew's favorite gifts is the game Hungry Hungry Hippos. He could play for hours, all by himself. Ava even likes watching.

A thing of the past

For about a month or so Andrew has been fighting naps. He has always been a great sleeper, napping 2-3 hours in the afternoon. Around 3 we started shortening his naps because he was having a hard time going to bed at night. We'd put him to bed at 8 and he'd stay awake until 10 or 11 at night. When he doesn't get sleep he has a lot of night terrors and sleeps horrible at night. So it's been a huge battle in our house for several months. About twice a week he would take a nap and the rest of the time he would come downstairs every 15 minutes during nap time. On the days he didn't nap he would fall asleep on our way to dinner or anytime we'd get in the car at night. Just a short nap at that time of night and he'd stay awake until 10 or 11 at night. Since Christmas break he has not taken 1 nap. I am not ready for the nap to go away, but it looks like it's happening. He now has "rest" time but still fights it and comes out of his room frequently. He still seems really tired and could use a nap, but he continues to not take one. He's been sleeping until 8:30/9 every morning so we'll see if once school starts he'll start taking a nap again. Here's to hoping!

12.30.2010- Andrew relaxing in his chair that Papa & Pama Bailey got him.

Christmas with the Mings

Christmas day we spent with my family. My sister & Cory came up from Springfield and we spent the afternoon & evening opening gifts, eating, and hanging out. The dogs managed to get along despite them trying to eat each other's food. Andrew, believe it or not, was a little done with the whole Christmas present thing. I think he was exhausted from all of the festivities so he wasn't too exited about opening presents. We had such a wonderful Christmas and I feel so blessed to have a healthy and happy family.

Andrew and Ava playing with the kitchen set Pama & Papa Ming got Ava. Andrew thinks that every new toy for Ava is also a toy for him.

This picture of them cracks me up. I don't know what they are looking at, but I think it's just the cutest.

Since Andrew is starting to understand the meaning of Christmas this year, we decided to start a new tradition-a birthday cake for Jesus. Andrew really liked singing Happy Birthday to Jesus and we are excited to continue this new tradition for many years to come.

Andrew loved his new golf clubs that he got from Papa & Pama and I think Daddy is just as excited too!

Andrew was tired and not interested in taking a family picture.

Christmas morning

Christmas morning we spent at our house opening gifts, eating Cinnabon and playing with new toys. Andrew slept late that morning so when we went to get him out of bed at 9am we told him it was Christmas and he said that he wanted to sleep some more. We were a little shocked that he wasn't more excited, but he isn't much of a morning person so we gave him space and told him to come downstairs when he was ready. He came down shortly after and we opened our stockings, ate, and then got into the presents. Andrew was pretty excited about his gifts from Santa- a monkey pillow pet & the car he wanted from ridemakerz. Ava got a tea set and some princess books from Santa. Andrew wanted to help Ava open most of her gifts, but Ava didn't mind. Both of the kids loved all of the gifts they got and Andrew played with his new tool bench and Handy Manny house for over an hour. Ava didn't even get around to opening all of her gifts that morning. It was such a fun Christmas morning watching the joy on our kids faces. Nathan spoiled me this year as well, like he always does. Not sure he was too excited about what he got, but he is a hard man to shop for! It was such a wonderful Christmas morning and I'm glad that we have established our own family Christmas just the 4 of us on Christmas morning....it's such a special time for us.

Opening stockings

The kids with all of their gifts!


Christmas 2010- Andrew 3, Ava 7 months

Christmas Eve

After our fun Christmas with the Baileys we headed to Christmas Eve service at our church and then to pizza with my in laws and my parents. Andrew was in heaven at pizza. He loved having so much of the family together and talked a lot. It was too cute!

After pizza we headed home for our own family traditions- opening 1 present (always pajamas), reading the "Night Before Christmas" and the story of Jesus' birth. I got the kids matching gingerbread boy/girl pjs and they were adorable! Andrew wanted to keep opening presents but we told him he could only open one and then he had to go to bed. The kids looked so cute in their matching pjs :)

Christmas with the Baileys

This year we spent Christmas Eve day with the Baileys. It was a fun day filled with lots of food, amazing gifts and great family time. I feel very blessed to have married into such a wonderful family. Andrew had tons of fun opening all of his gifts and several of Ava's gifts.

Ava sitting in the chair Papa & Pama got for Andrew.

Chewing on her new doll.

Andrew loved taking a bath at Papa & Pama's house!

And he also liked his new bike.....but was a little scared of it too :)


12.24.2010- Andrew 3yr, Ava 7 months

Santa

12.17.2010- Even though we saw Santa a few times at Disneyland, I still wanted to go to Bridgeport to see him. Bridgeport Santa is really the best Santa. Andrew was very excited to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas and of course he said a car (the car from ridemakerz at Disneyland, to be exact). Both of the kids did great with Santa this year and we were lucky to not have any crying pictures.

Christmas Sunday

This year Andrew was in Tiny Tunes, the preschool choir at our church. On Christmas Sunday they sang during church and it was adorable! Andrew did much better than his school program and actually sang bits and pieces of the song and did a few hand motions. We were so proud of him. They sang "Away in a Manger" & "Gloria" and Andrew always wanted to practice the songs in the car and still does. By practice, he means listen to the songs. I've never heard him actually sing the songs!

I love these kids!

12.19.2010- Andrew 3yrs, Ava 7 months

Birthday party

A few days before my birthday, Nate threw me a wonderful birthday party. He made reservations at Jory at the Allison Inn in Newberg with 3 of our couple friends. It was probably one of the best restaurants I've ever been to. I told Nate that the only thing I really wanted to do for my birthday was get dressed up and he knows how much I like fine dinning so he decided on Jory. We had a private room for the 8 of us, ate amazing food-my short ribs were to die for, and had tons of laughs. It was truly one of the best birthdays.

My crazy friends! What a fun night!

12.14.2010

The big 3-0!

This year I turned 30...kind of hard to believe! Like I mentioned in my last post I spent the morning at Andrew's school Christmas party. After the party we went to my parents house so I could pick up Ava. We had lunch there and watched the kids play. Andrew really likes their piano and wanted to show Ava how to play. So the 2 of them sat at the piano and both of them were hitting the keys. Ava loved it and was very interested in playing.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing the regular "mom" activities at home: naptime, laundry, dishes, diaper changes, etc. That night we got all dressed up and went to Portland City Grill with my parents & my in laws. I was a little worried about taking the kids to such a nice place, especially Ava since she can be a handful, but they both did great! Ava didn't fuss much and Andrew enjoyed watching some cartoons on Daddy's phone. When we were walking into the restaurant Andrew said, "our we going to Mommy's party?" It was so cute! He realized that it was a different restaurant than usual so I think he was kind of excited. After dinner we came back to our house for cake and ice cream. It was such a fun birthday spending the day with my family.

The kids really didn't want their picture taken so this is the best family picture I got from the day.

I love this sweet girl!

Andrew loves birthdays!

My cute parents.

I adore him. Thanks babe for a wonderful birthday.

School party

Andrew had a Christmas party/mini program this year at school. They frosted sugar cookies, decorated ornaments, colored bookmarks, and sang several songs for all of the parents. The party just happened to be on my birthday so it was a fun way to spend my birthday morning.

When it came time for the kids to sing their songs we went to the choir room. His class also sang with the kindergarten class and you could tell that all of the preschoolers were pretty freaked out when they saw all of the parents sitting there waiting to hear them sing. Andrew had been singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas at home for weeks and practicing all of his hand motions so I knew that he knew the songs. However, when it came time for him to sing, he just stood there with a shy look on his face. It was pretty funny. Most of the preschoolers stood there freaked out while the kindergardeners did most of the singing. At one point Andrew came and stood by us until his teacher was able to convince him to go back and singing. He was adorable and the whole morning was a lot of fun!

He really wanted me to take a picture of him with his bookmark that he wrote his name on :)

Andrew with his friend Noah.

Not sure what is on his head, but all of the boys were wearing them.

The kids during their program.

12.16.2010- Andrew 3 years old