Our family christmas

Christmas Eve we headed home to get ready for Christmas with our little family. The girls climbed into their Christmas pajamas . . .and this is as good as the photo got. : )

I mentioned Ava heads right into dress up when she gets up in the morning? Christmas was no exception. She had gotten a matching Cinderella dress for her baby doll too, that she was quite excited about.

Merry Christmas!

and this picture just makes me laugh.

ahh, real life.

Some Olivia cheese

Princess Ava

Excited to open up camping supplies for her dollhouse!

Kate opening up a new coloring book

Ava with the pajamas she bought me. I have to laugh at the story that goes with the gift. Later that morning I tried them on to see if they fit and asked Ava if she liked them. "Actually," was her immediate reply, "I think they're kind of tight." And they were. : ) Ryan took one look at my surprised face and asked, "Are you ready for this?" I'm not sure I am. Although I'll totally fess up that I already always ask Ava's opinion when I shop with her and she usually is right.

Daddy with Ava's present: a new season of King of Queens!

Ava's new coloring book and sweatshirt

Kate trying on Daddy's new fleece

Olivia thought Kate needed another present

Ava's new doghouse for her dollhouse

We bought dress up shoe for all 3 girls and Kate and Olivia were thrilled (as Ava pretty much took over all dress-up items until now since we didn't have that many choices before)

Can you tell Kate's excited! She wears them often. I told Ryan I may yet go crazy from the sound of dress up heels clomping around our floors all day. : )

We surprised the each of the girls with a princess doll we'd brought home from Disney. Ava got Cinderella. The other fun story here? Remember the gift Ava brought home from her preschool party and refused to open? When she opened it Christmas morning, she discovered a Ballerina Barbie . . .which she's been asking for ALL fall. Maybe that Santa thing really is real?! ; ) It was pretty fun to see her surprise (and mine too).

Kate and her Tinkerbell

Disclaimer: I apologize for more pix than you may want at times, but since this is as close as I get to scrap booking/baby booking . . . I do it for me. : )

while the cat's away

. . .the mice will play. Or whenever Ava's at preschool. I wondered if Kate and Olivia would miss her on the days she's gone? Lets just say I think everyone enjoys the change of pace two day a week. : )

1st Christmas

Our first Christmas celebration was with Ryan's family. We went up to Grandpa and Grandma's and spent the night and lots of fun just relaxing and being together. Well, I tried to relax. Ava, Kate and Olivia were having so much fun they thought staying up to midnight would be a great idea. I thought for sure they'd sleep in - wrong! I think they get too excited being with so many fun people. I didn't take many photos but here's some we had.

Kate and Olivia jumping on Aunt Callie's present. They've been a hit!

Olivia helping Daddy open a present

Kate thought Aunt Tara needed some help


All 3 girls got lots of princess gear. And since Ava wakes up in the morning and puts on a princess dress (every day), she had to get in full gear.

Ava and Daddy got the first ten seasons of Adventures in Odyssey.

Going to quiet time has seemed a lot more fun lately! : )

Olivia trying on her princess dress

Kate trying out her new princess sleeping bag (detect a theme yet? : ) )

Merry Christmas!

It’s the “MOST wonderful time of the year” (or so the song goes). But it is a time of year that just makes me sit back and smile. Christmas has already been lots of fun at our house. The girls are at the ages that the holiday starts to sparkle with its story coming back to life, the lights, music and building excitement of giggly little girls.

Our family? While you’ll find us more rested than last year, I’m not sure I can say the pace has slowed any! If I had a penny for every time I walked into a store with the girls and heard, “Well don’t you have your hands full!” I’d be quite rich. But I mean every word as I always reply, “but in such a good way.” Simply? The girls keep us hopping.

Ava is 3 going on 10. A first born in every sense of the word, she’s always ready and willing to let me know what I’ve forgotten, missed or should still be doing (or any one else who will listen). She delights in organization and her naturally disorganized mother stands back in amazement as she’ll get excited to pick up just for fun? My mom is just excited to see the fruits of her labor finally showing up in her grandchild.

Ava started both preschool and Sunday school this year and truly loves both. Going is always hard for my little girl but I’ve learned to enjoy the ritual of kisses, hugs, prayer and more hugs. She is a snuggler and there’s nothing I love more than her hugs and whispered “I love you’s” that I get to hear throughout every day.

Kate and Olivia (21 months) live life at one speed: fast forward. They are climbers, explorers and creators at heart (I hear “colored-on” blinds are all the rage?!). I’ve stopped trying to think ahead of them – life is lived mostly in the defensive these days. J

We hear new words about every week and I love hearing their language come to life. Well – let’s be honest, most of the time I love it. “No,” “mine,” “HEY!”, “stop,” and did I mention “NO?” are heard often around here (by me AND them). Both girls have lots of spunk and their daddy’s sense of humor. Watching the two of them giggle and snuggle and have fun with each other are easily some of my favorite moments of any day.

Ryan and I have found the past year both refreshing and incredibly stretching. Refreshing in the sense there’s been no “real” big changes. We’ve appreciated the routine, the sleep J, and the time to dig in and grow as individuals and together.

Yet amidst the routine, God has given us more than a few situations that have forced us to follow hard after Him and trust Him when we didn’t see the how or what. Through every prayer we’ve prayed this past year that God would show Himself, I can truthfully say that we stand in awe how every time we asked to see Him, He was there to offer us His best: Himself.

I think that’s the gift I’m standing in amazement at this Christmas. So many years ago, God sent His best, Jesus, to be born in a tiny manger. Not many years later, God once more gave His best, Jesus, to die on a cross that we could be in Heaven with Him.

Even today, He still offers His best, Himself, to every one who asks to know Him. Regardless of the unknown, the hard, and the uncomfortable, we can still seek His best and wait expectantly. That gives us all reason to rejoice this Christmas!

God bless,
R, A, A, K & O

first snow!

We were pretty thrilled to see the first good snowfall around here and Ava couldn't wait to get out and play in it. The twins had to wait a little, as the time that worked best was naptime, but Ava was ready to go!

Ava and Daddy

Getting pulled in the sled


Even more fun was that Uncle David and Aunt Tara came played in the snow too. Ava lasted a little longer than she would have without the extra company.

Warming back up inside with hot chocolate!

Christmas Program/s

Have I mentioned Ava's been excited about Christmas this year? She has. : )

But almost as exciting as Christmas itself was Ava's Christmas dress. She picked it out this year and kept waiting and waiting to FINALLY be able to wear it.

Ava had a Christmas party at preschool on the last day of the semester and she heard the two words together (Christmas and party) and insisted she needed to wear her Christmas dress. So I let her.

They were having a little gift exchange and Ava was quite excited to take her present (a princess one even) in to school.
When Ava came home later that morning, she promptly took the gift that she had been given, still unwrapped, and put it under our tree. When both Ryan and I tried to tell her that she could open it now, she emphatically insisted she had to wait until Christmas. It's still there waiting for her. Let's just say she doesn't get that from me. : )

Then Ava's first Christmas program at church came. It seems unreal she's that old but I'll spare you that whole saga. : )

We spent lots of time practicing and talking about it and Ava knew her songs and was so excited she was going to have TWO grandma's and grandpa's there.

Posing with a present from Grandma Sunday morning

me and my little girl


Ava wanted a "just girls" picture. : )

Overall, Ava did great. I had been worried because she's definitely shy in setting like that. So we had talked through it all, that mommy would wave and that we would pray that Jesus would help her be brave. Well the day came and I went to go sit down and I couldn't find a seat that would put me in her sight. I panicked and had a slight mommy meltdown for her but then like many other times yet to come, had to trust that she'd be ok.

When she went up I could see her looking very hesitantly around and was worried she'd come crying off the steps as her teacher had to "help" her up the stairs. But she stayed up and while she didn't sing, hung in there until the end (a sweater sleeve that totally ripped didn't help her concentration). : ) For the last song that the whole Sunday school sang together, she got to see Daddy and my mom and I could see her visibly relax and she sang along.

We told Ava how proud we were of her that even though she was scared and couldn't see mommy, that she still stayed and stood nicely. Although after we had talked through everything and about how she couldn't see me, she soberly asked, "Mommy, next time, will you sit so I can see you?"

So if I shove you aside while trying to get inside of church for the next program, don't take it personally. Just trying to keep a promise to my little girl. : )

But the most special part to the whole story? That night as I was putting Ava to bed and saying her prayers with her, I heard her quietly tell Jesus, "and thank you that I could have two grandma's at my program. . ."

oh I love my little girl.

decorating galore

Now that we had our tree we could really start getting ready for Christmas!

Ava proudly puts the first ornament on the tree

Don't you wish you had HER help at your house?! : )

Kate was excited too


Daddy and his girls

Ava was really fun to decorate the tree with. We put the twins to bed and let her stay up late helping. I realized pretty quickly I had a choice to make: care about where the ornaments went or just enjoy the time. Let's just say the front 1/3 of our tree is about a full foot lower than the rest from Ava's grouped decoration. But it manages to make me smile every time I see it.

Decorating for Christmas this year was pretty sentimental. I kept pulling out pieces that my Grandma Maibach had given me specifically (like a Hummel angel I have) or the many ornaments we were given by Grandpa and Grandma each year. They remain to this day my favorite present every year. They felt extra special this year as I put them up and thanked God for the special Grandma I was able to enjoy so many precious memories with. This year, she truly knows the meaning of Christmas as she celebrates with the Savior Himself.

Ava loves all the ornaments herself and kept exclaiming how pretty they were.

Then on to the baking. Ava loved helping me with these turtle candies. They're the perfect kid friendly holiday treat.

My parents dropped in for 24 hours for the Christmas program. My mom brought along her gingerbread houses and the girls were all thrilled.

Let's just say there was A LOT of this.

Which brought about even more of these. : )

Ava and Grandma hard at work

Olivia was all smiles until I told her to show me her finished house. It was fun to see how hard both Kate and Olivia worked on their houses. They're growing up fast!

Ava's finished house