One, two, tie my shoe?

One day Ava came home from school and said, "Mommy! I have to show you something". This isn't unlike most days, as she usually ALWAYS has something to show me. But this time, it was something really big!

She tied her shoes! We have been working with her on this at home, and apparently one day at school her shoes came untied, and she just "figured it out". When I asked her what she did she said, "I don't know, I just tried it and I did it".

Talk about driven!

What Ava is thankful for...

One day at school, Ava's teacher gave her class a writing prompt in response to a book she read to them in class. The kids were to list the things they were thankful for. Ava's top 3:

1) God
2)XBox 360
3) Me

I'm glad she has her priorities in order! I think that stick figure with the spiked hair must be God :)

I am thankful for...

...lots of things! To start with, I am thankful that I have a roof over my head, good health, food in my belly, and clothes to cover my belly (and everything else). But most of all, I am thankful for my family and friends and getting to spend time with them. What's better than eating yummy food, with a roof over your head, wearing clothes :), and being with your family and friends and to enjoy it all?

We all know it's a challenge to get family together around the holidays. That's why I feel particularly blessed that both my parents and Sean's parents all agree that it doesn't matter what day we get together, just as long as we can get together sometime around the holidays.

Last weekend, we headed up to my parents' house to celebrate with them. It was nice and very laid back - just how I like my Thanksgivings! My mom of course made way too much (delicious) food, and I brought my apple pie and some dressing.
Then on Thanksgiving day, we went to Sean's parents to celebrate with them. Sean's older brother Rhett and his family trekked from NYC, so we were able to get some quality time in with them.

There's trouble. Ava and her little cousin Lily (who will do just about anything Ava asks/tells her to):
And Lily's little brother Quentin. The last time we saw him in person, he was just a little bitty thing. He's fully mobile now and likes to explore. We tried to warn Rhett and Amy about what happens once a boy is mobile:
Daddy's girl. I feel bad that I have no pics of Aidan - he was either sleeping, eating, or playing a video game and wasn't much in the mood for pictures:

Hope everyone had a very nice, very restful Thanksgiving!

Halloween 2011

This past Halloween, we did the usual: eat dinner with David, Jenny, and family, go trick-or-treating in their neighborhood (since our neighborhood his pretty lame when it comes to Halloween), then hang out around the fire pit with some hot toddies.

Here is part of the group before starting out:

Aidan wanted to be a ghost so he could scare the scary monsters away. This was so cute and ironic, because when Ava was his age, she wanted to be the same type of thing for the same reason! And we finally got Ava to be Dorothy! As soon as she saw the "Wizard of Oz" last year in November, she decided that's who she wanted to be. And we think she pulled off the perfect Dorothy:

Cute kiddos (if you look closely, you can see Ava's ruby red slippers):

There was a family who created a haunted house. Aidan was so cute - he booed at all the guys in scary costumes as he made it up the driveway, got his candy, and booed them on the way back. Although, in this picture, he looks a little apprehensive like, "What the h-e-doubles did I just do?"

This is what Ava did. Along with a couple other members of our group, she sobbed and was pretty scared for about 10 minutes afterward. Poor thing! She was 'ok' until the dang fog machine shot her in the legs:

This picture cracks me up! The kids stopped and took a little breather on someones sidewalk - trick or treating is hard work:

Aidan did such a great job this year! He was all about screaming "TRICK OR TREAT!!!" and then he would very quietly and sweetly say "thank you".

Obligatory pic of Ava and her man Ian:

Carvin' Punkins

Yes, I do realize this post is about one week late. However, with Halloween being on a Monday, the kids having swimming lessons on Tuesday nights AND Sean left for his quarterly Atlanta trip on Wednesday - I had literally no time to squeeze it in :)

Last Saturday we carved our beautiful pumpkins we picked from the patch. This year, we opted for a "Nightmare Before Christmas" theme, as it's one of the kids' current faves.

Each year, it goes the same: the kids and I clean the guts, I look up the designs and sketch them out, and then Sean uses his big muscles to do the carving:

The finished products! We have a Jack Skellington, Sally, Oogie Boogie and the hill that Jack stands on several times during the movie (and, of course the really ugly and bumpy gourds we always get for Cooper and Gobi):

All lit up and looking pretty! Although, do you notice something? The hill pumpkin - Aidan's pumpkin is missing. That would be because on Saturday night someone stole it! On Sunday morning I had a strange feeling I should check the pumpkins. When I did, it was gone. We spent a good 2 hours driving around town trying to find another pumpkin...but to no avail. Aidan asked us to find who stole it and put them in time out:

Jack:

Sally:

Oogie Boogie: