Fun in the Snow?

Okay...let's just say I've never been a big fan of going out in the snow to "play!" Even as a child, I hated getting wet and being cold! So...now what's a girl to do that has children who want to go out and play? You guessed it...we went out and had a ball! It's so much more fun watching them!

As you can tell...we don't have a sled! We are one of those families who waited till they needed one and then they were all sold out! So...my amazing husband headed to the garage to see what he could find and you guessed it....the radio flyer red wagon!!! double seater at that! They loved it!! Cooper especially did not want to get out! Ava had a blast making snow angels and throwing snow balls at us all....much to my surprise, she is not like her mother at all. She didn't want to come in and get warm and dry!

The one thing I really really don't like about all this fun....is getting ready!!! So much work to get the boots and bibs and hats and gloves all on for a mere half an hour!!! One of my favorite things is always coming in for hot chocolate! Guess what the kids hated the "lukewarm" chocolate I made for them! Oh well...it really was a fun Saturday morning!

Go Bears!

What do you do on Sunday afternoons???? Just a few pictures of this last Sunday from our house:)

It's A White Winter Day!

Well, I just looked and my last post was Thanksgiving....so now I'm writing to say Merry Christmas! It really was Christmas at our house....we decided to have Santa come early to our house because we will be traveling for the next week or so. It was so so much fun this morning watching Ava and Cooper's eyes light up as they came downstairs this morning in their matching pj's! Oh to be a kid again:) We don't have our pictures loaded yet so I'll have to post them later. To top it off we looked out the window to see the ground and trees covered in snow!

A few funny moments.....after the kids came in and saw all the presents under the tree, Cooper bee lined it into the kitchen and stood at the refrigerator screaming because he wanted breakfast! We were trying to get him to open his stocking before breakfast...but boy, did he throw a fit! With him, food always seems to come first:)

Another funny thing.... we were having lunch and I asked Ava what was her favorite thing she opened and to my surprise she said, "my Dora panties!" Are you kidding me??? What about your cute dollhouse??? Oh well...so glad she enjoys the small things too:) We have had a delighful day so far and are looking forward to celebrating Ava's 3rd birthday in a few days as well as Christmas with our families!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We tried a new thing this month....below is our Give Thanks Tree:) Each night we passed out cut out leaves and wrote down what we were thankful for. It was such a fun time especially to hear from Ava. Well, as for Coop....we just guessed what he might say:) I loved seeing him each time though get so excited to get his leaf and then of course came throwing a fit when he had to put it up on the tree! It was super refreshing for me and for us as a family just to take time out to do this!

A new thing this year was us going away for Thanksgiving! We went with my parents down to Tennessee for the week. We took day trips to Nashville and to Gatlinburg. It was great to get away and enjoy being together. The funny thing is that I think the favorite thing for the kids was riding on the luggage cart:) No need for Disney World here in this family:)

The days we took trips to Nashville and Gatlinburg were long days for the kids with no naps! At one point Cooper could stand it no more...this is a picture of him laying on the floor throwing a fit after getting off of a train ride and wanting to ride again:) I am so thankful for time with family this week....even with the melt down's and temper tantrums!

October is already gone!!

Can you believe that November is here? I can't! I love the month of October because there are so many fun things to do especially if the weather cooperates! Our family headed off about a month ago to pick our pumpkins from the patch at our local Young's Dairy Farm. I really wanted to do something with Ava to them but...carving with a 2 year old??? Not me! So, we got out the glue, buttons, googly eyes, bendy stick thingys and ribbon and went to town! Ava had lots of fun and really still wants to decorate Mommy and Daddy's pumpkin too!!

Another thing I love about October....all the leaves! I know Matt may disagree when we look out our windows and all we see are leaves which requires hours and hours of raking but they are beautiful! We have loved some of the weather lately and I am trying to still get the kids out each afternoon to play because I know all too soon the gray clouds and snow will roll in! Ava has loved kicking in the leaves! I'm not sure what she'll do when Matt rakes them all away:)

Who is this princess that badly needs a haircut??? That is Snow White for those of you who aren't up on the Disney movies! We went back to Batesville over the weekend. My mom's side of the family all got together for dinner and fun. So for halloween we just took the kids to several of our relatives houses. I really didn't think Ava would get into saying 'trick or treat' at the door but she did. Last year she wouldn't even take a piece of candy from anyone...times are changing! The more you have M&M's the more you want them:)

Cooper was the cutest little monkey I've ever seen! He LOVED this costume! I thought for sure he'd throw a fit and want it off right away...but to my surprise...he strutted his stuff and cheesed it up! Well....on to November! We are excited to see what fun adventures await us this month!

What a Great Fall Day!

It is an absolute beautiful fall day here! The sun is out....finally:) We got back from Bloomington Illinois almost a week ago. We had a great visit with Matt's family! Unfortunately, I caught Ava's viral infection and laid on the couch for 2 days! The last time Matt's family other than his mom and dad were able to see Cooper was when he was 4 months old! And he wasn't at his finest then...lots and lots of crying! Matt and Ava went back last spring but I stayed back with Cooper because he was really sick. So it was a much needed visit. Here is a picture of him with Gigi and Grandpa...so cute!

Matt also had his 20th high school reunion! I think he would say he is glad he went even though it wasn't ideal. The best part was being able to catch up with a few friends that we hadn't seen in awhile. It was fun seeing Matt laugh and reminisce with them about the good ole days:)

Matt was sad that he didn't get to watch a Bears game on Sunday with his dad because they weren't playing but they still seemed to have some football fun. If you can't tell from the picture, yes, that is a Bear on Matt's head!

123 Imagine with Elmo!

Ava has loved watching Sesame Street for a while now. When I heard that Elmo was coming to Dayton, I decided to check it out. I actually took Ava about a month ago over to get the tickets at the box office and she really thought we were going to see Elmo then! So...it's been a long time waiting but Ava finally got to see him and the whole gang! She was so excited that night! She couldn't wait to get to our seats and get the show going! Unfortunately she was just coming off of being sick for several days and towards the end of the show she was not feeling good again. As we were leaving, she wanted to know if she could come back the next day to see Elmo again:) Matt seemed to enjoy the show as well...his comment was this is so much better than Barney!!! It really is such a joy to see our kids be delighted. Of course, we got sucked in and bought an elmo light up toy that is now deep in our toybox somewhere! At intermission they were selling Elmo balloons and Ava wanted one. Matt and Ava walked down to get one...I was thinking $1 maybe $2....nope $10!!! I could not believe it. So an early lesson for Ava that we can't always have what we want but she was fine with it.