Ava Sampling

Here's a sampling of what Ava's been up to:

• She looked at my hair the other morning and said "frizzy."  She was right.  :/
• For my birthday - yes way back in the beginning of December - she began to spell her name.  It's only three letters, but still.
• After breakfast every morning she asks for her "probiotic."
• Jeff and I spell things we don't want her to hear (oldest parenting trick in the book, right?) Well the other day I spelled G-R-A-P-E before dinner so she wouldn't want any and spoil her dinner, and her eyes lit up and she said "grapies?!?"
• She counts to 20, but never says "one."  Flat out refuses.  If you ask her how old she is, she says "four."
• She can say (in a mumble) John 3:16, and asks us to say it before every meal.
• The other day she was upset about something and I could see her winding up to hit me. I said, "Ava, do not hit mommy."  She paused, thought about it, and then kicked me and walked away.  Seriously.

I've compiled this list over the last couple weeks when she did/said funny things, and now going back and looking at it I'm cracking up.  She's a funny, energetic, smart girl.  She's challenging lately - refer to the last bullet if you're questioning me - but she's amazing more.  We are blessed by her.

Princesses

We're a litte into princesses around here.

(You can see that Bell is a hit in the pictures, but Ariel is Ava's true love.  Which is awesome *sarcasm* if you remember my referenced article here.)

But anyways, we play with them at home:

We take friends to see them whenever possible:

And we get a little bashful about seeing them up close and personal:

(Unstaged "before" shots of the girls just prior to doing "the walk."  Seriously.  Even one year olds get a little star struck by royalty.)

Snacky Monster

Ahoy.

This is Hugh, Mollie's brother, and this is the first ever Erickson's Info guest post. Historic, no?

Here's a storyboard peek into our outing to the park this past weekend. Please enjoy.

"Arrggh om nom nom nom nom argggghhhhnom nomn nom."

"...nom. Gulp. ...Ah man. Why did I just do that?"

"Gosh. I know I'm gonna regret this later, but.... Oh whatever, just give me some more."

"AAARRGHHGHGNOMNOMNONMMNOMNOMN NOM NOM NOM NOM..."

"o. m. g. these snacks. 

are. 

so. 

good."

"I can't even lift my arms anymore... Hey. Hey! Will somebody just pour these things in my mouth, ple- Hey! Whatever, just do it, ok? Nom nom nom nom."

"Wha... What just happened?"

Family Pictures 2010

Hugh took our Christmas card pictures this year (oh yeah, and every year before this).  We took them at the Mission in San Juan Capistrano, which has amazing grounds.  Here're a few from the, oh, 700 or so he snapped.  I think they speak for themselves.

The end.  :)

*If you want to see how much we've changed  - and by "we" I hope to mean Ava, not Jeff or me - and how much Hugh's progressed in a year, take a look at last year's pictures.

It's a Good Thing I Have a Girl...

Reason #1: Our rainy day sewing project.

Reason #2: When it comes to hair accessories, more is more.

Have a great week!  :)

Twenty Ten in Review

The last year has been an amazing year for our family. I hope to never forget the little things that made life during it so special, or take for granted the many blessings we received.  We're thankful for each and every person and moment captured in this video... and so many more.



And now for a little peak into ushering in 2011...

There was a full-blow dance party going on in our living room.  Jeff was a little worried about some of Ava's moves, and Carey was having flashbacks to college.


Bottoms up!

IT'S WATER, PEOPLE!  We don't drink juice around here; it'll rot your teeth!  :)

Christmas

Christmas this year was amazing.  We were well prepared:

From tree hunting;














To cookies;














(Oh the cookies!)














To gingerbread men (who actually seemed a lot like a big cookie).














Once Christmas Eve rolled around, Ava was ready to par-tay.




(All that sugar in the cookies might have helped.)















Good 'ol Titi Who.































And then there was Christmas morning.  It was so much fun to set up and prepare everything for Ava to wake up to.














Well that's what we told ourselves anyhow, when we were setting up her kitchen at 1am.

But just five short hours later we were rewarded with this.

Don't worry, the Puggles got a little love, too.

From the kitchen; to the extra special baby that Jeff picked out on his own for her (yep, that's right, my manly husband loves this little GIRLY girl); to the trike from Grandma and Grandpa; to the train and countless (no exaggeration) babies from Lola and G-pa; Ava got spoiled.  And then she made off with MY new iPod.

Unbelievable.  I would have shunned the idea of getting her her own iPod just days ago, but now I want mine back.  There's something wrong with the picture of pushing a jogger with no tunes while your 19 month old kicks back and enjoys some music. Wrong.  Just wrong.

At least I have a birthday gift idea for her...

But I digress.  It was special to have Lola Ann with us this Christmas.

Ava is blessed to be surrounded by so many loving family members.

All in all, this is pretty much how Ava feels about Christmas: