Surprise for Grandma Sacey

We threw a surprise party for Grandma Sacey a month ago. All of my siblings were there and Mom was VERY surprised! It was so much fun! We threw the surprise at noon after church on a Sunday so she wasn't really expecting it at all. She walked into Tod and Jen's house and could not believe the number of people there for her party! I caught her surprise on video and I'll try to upload that as well because its pretty fun. Here are a few pictures of my siblings and I all together for the party. We love you, Grandma Sacey!

Ava is "joking"

If you know Ava, you know she has PeRsOnAlItY. Last night she grabbed my bottle of water and had the cap off quicker than I could get there to take it away (we're trying not to share our H1N1 germs) and had it at her mouth for a sip. I told her no and went towards her to take it away, explaining that I was sick and she couldn't share my water. She looked at me and said, "But I choking. I choking." Okay, no worries, she was NOT actually choking. She just knows that if she was choking, she could have the water. Jeff, Grandpa, and I all busted out laughing. With the utmost seriousness she told us again that she was choking (which actually sounds like "joking" in AvaSpeak) and tried to really impress us with her acting abilities by making herself sound hoarse. HILARIOUS! Wish I had it on video...

Let's Dance

Grandma Theresa got to go see "Wicked" the Musical when she was in San Francisco with Amy, Paul, and Taylor. (I will admit being as green as Elphaba because I wasn't able to join them.) I decided we needed to listen to the music of "Wicked" so put in the disc and Ava LOVED it! She thinks it is the best music to dance to! It also seems that she knows the perfect outfits to dance in as well because everytime she puts on a nice swirly skirt she requests to "dance". The problem this morning was that "dance" from her toddler lispy lips sounds more like "teeth" (brushing her teeth being probably her favorite activity of the moment) so I was confused. She got a little frustrated with her brainless mom but I figured out what she wanted in the end and we danced. Here's a video from last week when she was dancing to the music from "Wicked".

Giggles

Ava making Michaela laugh. So sweet.

Not a Football Fan

We were watching the Vikings play Pittsburgh today but I guess Ava didn't want to watch. "No! Not kickety kick ball!! No kicky ball!" See, her favorite show is "Wow Wow Wubzy" and that's what they call "kickball" and to Ava, everything with a ball is "kickety kick ball". Jeff is trying to teach her to say "football" but I keep sabotaging it because "kickety kick ball" is so darn cute!!

Brush My Teeth!!

Ava has the cleanest teeth this side of the Big Sioux River. :) "Brush my teeth? Brush teeth. Brush teeth!!!" She actually does a pretty good job but I guess she should seeing as how she practices brushing about 5 times a day.

She grabs her tiny step stool and climbs up in front of one of the sinks, wets her toothbrush, brushes, spits, brushes, spits, and then shows us how "pretty" her teeth look when she's done. Next it is time for chapstick (because that's what mom does everytime she's done brushing HER teeth) and then we can leave the bathroom. Sometimes we get as far as the kitchen and she stops, thinking her teeth have gotten dirty enough in yhose 5 steps that she reckons they should be brushed again.

Ava singing her ABC's

Here's a little of Ava singing her ABC's. She's gonna miss her stage when we move out...

Ava-isms

I'm sewing a bag. It is almost done but not quite. I can't figure out what it needs to finish it off. Deciding I needed a second opinion, I asked Ava. "What do you think?" And I held the bag up for her perusal. She had been heading in the opposite direction so she stopped, turned to look at it, gave it a moment and then said, "A purse." Guess I'm doing something right, she could at least recognize what it was meant to be even if it wasn't the most helpful advice. :)

Last night Grandpa asked Ava for a kiss goodnight. "NO." with her arms crossed firmly across her chest and hands tucked under her armpits. "NO." I looked at Grandpa and couldn't do anything but smile. Looking back at Ava I told her that she really is our princess. "No, I'm Ava" was her only response. (She did bend enough to smile and run a loop past Grandpa, he could get a kiss if he could catch her!)

I'm not a baby but...

I sure do love my baby sister's toys! Why would I let her play alone when she can have double the fun with me around? Am I right, people, or what?!? I don't usually curl up around Michaela's feet. Usually I grab the edge of her tray and shake the exersaucer like crazy (with the baby in it, of course). Sometimes I like to grab the toys on it and push them into her face--just making sure she sees them!! And if she's not in the exersaucer, it is fair game. I can be in that thing before you say, "Ave Reese Kingma, you are too big for that toy!!"

Dressing herself. And moving furniture, too.

This girl of ours... I shake my head and laugh at her a zillion times a day. (The other zillion times a day that I'm shaking my head it isn't followed with a laugh...) She is so full of energy and soooo full of opinions. In these two pictures you get a glimpse of two incidents in a morning full of Ava expressing her opinion. First, she had to let me know that she was adamently opposed to wearing shorts. Or a skirt. Or pants. Just "melmo swimsuit" over her diaper. "Melmo swimsuit" is actually her Elmo underwear. Does she realize that they are underwear? No. Because she's 2 1/2 and not yet potty trained. She just loves Elmo and sees no reason why he needs to be covered up by shorts. And she has no problem wearing him right over her diaper, defeating the purpose of underwear.

The second thing was she had to haul four of her chairs up from the basement. I could hear her grunt her way up the stairs carrying them one at a time through the house and into the living room. After chair number 4 was in place, she came to me and tugged on my hand until I'd go with her downstairs. She needed some help moving the table. :) I obliged her, how could I resist? She grabbed a bathtowel and spread it over the table herself to finish the job.

Double stroller?

We do have a double stroller. This is not it. But Michaela likes being in the front so she can see and apparently Ava likes the basket underneath. You don't think I'd get any odd looks pushing them around this way, do you? It sure is smaller and easier to get around than our double stroller... Might have to try it. ;)

My early morning scare

No, it was not seeing my daughter covered in black eye makeup that gave me a fright. I couldn't find her! I thought that she was asleep in her bed upstairs. First thing in the morning she usually comes and climbs in bed with me. Somedays she does go downstairs first but I hear the door slam at the bottom of the stairs if that happens. I guess I didn't hear it today. It was 8:15 and I thought it was odd that she was still sleeping so I went to check on her. Not in her bed. Not in the guest bed. Not in my room. Panicking a little, I ran downstairs. Not in the living room. Or Kitchen. Not in Grandma's room. Bathroom? With my heart in my throat now I ran and opened the bathroom door. "Hi Mom!" There is my girl. Safe. And sound? Uh, sort of. She had all of grandma's makeup out and on the floor. Foundation lid off and foundation on her forehead cheeks. Mascara on her eyelashes and cheeks. What a mess!!

Our First Family Vacation

In June we took our first family vacation. We went out to the Black Hills for my cousin Lindsay's wedding and camped at Sylvan Lake Campground near Custer, SD. Sorry that I'm so late in posting these but better late than never, right? :) Here's Michaela and her daddy by Sylvan Lake.

We passed a buffalo while driving through Custer State Park. It was so close we could have reached out and touched the gigantic beast! We settled for just smelling it. Phewee!!


We had a party on Friday night out at the cabin, sort of a pre-wedding bash for all
the guests. Malory, Ethan, & Ava hiked up to check out the waterfall on Uncle Danny's land. The last picture here is us on the side of the road. A picture taken to commemorate our first family vacation. We pulled our little camper out with our Subaru and had a great trip!

Naptime Fun A.K.A. Ava Destroys the Nursery

Time for a nap so up to the nursery we go. Sit down on the bed with mommy, baby, and Ava and read a few stories. The stories are done and its time to settle down. Night night, Ava Reese! 10 minutes later, what's that thumping noise? Up the stairs to check on Ava and find her bouncing on her bed. Settle down, Ava. It's time for your nap. 20 minutes later, what's that noise? She's still not sleeping?? Up the stairs to find our toddler dismantling picture frames in her room. Out go the picture frames (apparently she's opposed to home decor, we're still missing a very large section of wallpaper from a previous nap in that room...). Go to sleep, Ava. 10 minutes later and she's still thumping around in there. I decide it's time to give up on the nap and get her out before she destroys the room entirely. Up the stairs I go and open the door. I'm too late. The room is demolished. Everything that was on the dresser and bookcases is now on the floor. Everything, that is, except for the toddler. She's sitting naked on top of the bookcase. I don't have a picture to prove it but you all know this girl, I'm sure you can envision the scene yourself.

"Uh-oh, Mommy."

Michaela was hanging out in her exersaucer this morning, something she really loves! She thinks the toys are fantastic and there are enough toys on the tray to keep her busy for a while. Some of them she can even pull into her mouth and chew on so that's super fantastic! I was in the laundry room sorting through the mountain of laundry I need to wash today when Ava came and took my hand. She pulled me into the living room where baby was playing, walked around behind Michaela and pointed at baby's shirt. "Uh-oh, mommy," says Ava Reese. I walked over to see what she was pointing at, already sure that I knew what I'd find and sure enough there was a decidedly nasty looking brown spot on the back of Michaela's shirt, just above her diaper line. Uh-oh is right, Ava!! Time to bathe baby! We took Michaela into the bathroom to get her cleaned up and while I was focusing on Michaela, Ava was stripping down to her t-shirt and getting ready to climb in the tub as well. Apparently it was bathtime for BOTH little Kingma girls. :)

Missing the Anemas already

I was wondering how Ava would react when she realized that her cousins had left and gone back home. For 10 days we had lots of fun with Auntie Amy, Uncle Paul, Taylor, Samantha, and Jackson but they couldn't stay forever. They flew home on Saturday and Ava didn't really seem to notice that they weren't around yesterday. But this morning I brought her downstairs and set her in the living room. I went into the bathroom to start getting ready for the day and a moment later she opened the door. Looking at me with a confused face she asked, "Where Mamie? Where Jack?" ("Mamie" is Amy in Ava speak.) I told her that they went home. "Okay" was her response. Just okay? On past occasions when they left she had some VERY ornery days to follow here at home so I guess we wait and see what the next few days bring. I know that we're all missing you guys out there in California and look forward to the next visit!!

Swimming at Austin's House

There is something very special about having my kids so close in age to my cousin Emily's two children. Em and I have grown up together and have been friends always. Now we get to watch our kids make friends with one another and play and grow together. We have Ava and Austin and now Gavin and Michaela. We spent the day with Emily and her boys a few weeks ago and here are some pictures. The swimming was awesome! The toddlers played and played and played in that little plastic pool in the backyard. The stopped for a supper break and then were back at it again within minutes. They also took some timeouts from the swimming in order to water the plants, talk to the babies, play in the sandbox, and swing. At one point the Double A's were running back and forth from fence to fence in the yard chanting something. Neither Em nor I knew what they were saying but they definitely knew and were chanting the exact same phrase as they ran. :) After the pool both had to take a bath and clean up. While in the tub I overheard Austin as he was trying to stop Ava from wrecking his bath art on the tub wall, "Oh, honey, no. No, honey, don't do that." So darn cute. I guess that's what his mommy calls him so its become his term of endearment to use on others.

In Disguise

Ava got some sunglasses but why not let the baby try them on?

Ava couldn't just wear the glasses, she had to add a scarf to make this a true "ensemble". Now, where does she get the idea for all these accessories?

Michaela's turn to talk

I was able to post a video of Ava talking to Michaela and now it's Michaela's turn to talk. She's getting very vocal and likes to have "conversations" with us. We get lots of cooing out of her and I was even able to make her laugh outloud one day! She loves it when Ava comes over and talks to her but at times like that Ava usually does all the talking. Here I was able to catch Michaela talking (probably because Ava was napping or occupied elsewhere).

Happy Birthday, Samantha!!

Happy Birthday wishes to our niece, Samantha!

You are a very special girl and we love you so much!!

We wish we could be there to celebrate with you!

love,

Auntie Kari, Uncle Jeff, Ava, & Michaela

Junk in the Trunk

Everyday Ava Reese gets a pack of "bite". (That is toddlerspeak for "vitamins".) She eats the vitamins and what she used to do when done with them is throw the packaging in the garbage. But for some reason she changed her mind about just discarding them. Now what she does is she stores the empty packages in the trunk of the Barbie car. I saw her do this with one pack and didn't think much of it. Then I realized a few days later that there were three empty packages in the trunk of the Corvette. Once again, I am baffled and intrigued by this little girl we have. I guess that Grandma tried to clean up the Corvette but Ava had very strong words about anyone moving her empty vitamin packages!! Where does she come up with this stuff? :)

Ava talking to her sister

If I remember correctly, what we have in this video is a little conversation between Ava and her sister. I think it goes "Hi Michaela" (twice) and then you can hear me talking and Ava repeating what I say. Michaela thinks Ava is so funny and always gives her big smiles.

cereal with a spoon

Want to see a big girl eat her cereal?

Big girls use spoons and hardly spill a bit!

Big girls also have to drink the milk out of the
bowl when they are all done with the cereal. I
learned this from mommy and daddy, I think.

Who me?

Hey! Ooops, ummm, hi. Who me?? Did I wake the baby? Oh, no, that wasn't me. Somebody else came in here and poked her. I just came in to make sure she was okay. I'm sure it was Grandpa. Yep, definitely Grandpa. Oh, you're not falling for that one? Well, how about Grandma? Would you believe Grandma woke the baby and made her cry? Still not believing me... Okay. Fine. You caught me. Drat. Can't a two year old get away with anything these days??

Pete's 6th Birthday Party

Happy Birthday, Peter! We had a fun time this weekend celebrating Pete's 6th birthday out in Hartford. Almost my whole family was there plus our extended Nester family. Jesse created a Treasure Hunt for the kids, there were bubbles galore, chocolate cupcakes, party hats for everyone (including Michaela), games on the Wii and presents for Peter, Sherry & Sunny (happy birthday, you two!!).

Pictures that just HAD to be shared

I still had some pictures on my camera from when Amy and her family came to visit at Christmas and I thought they needed to be shared. Grandma had taken Taylor and Sam to the thrift store for dress up clothes so the bigger girls spent much of their time here wearing dresses and shoes that were much too big for them. But they looked fabulous, darling! (In the first pic the girls were in their "fort" hiding out and eating crackers and Jackson would just stare at them all under there as if to say "crazy women".) Us big kids also played dress up for an 80's themed prom on New Years Eve at Tod and Jen's house, don't we look fantastic? (Unlike the little girls, I had a VERY difficult time finding a dress that was too big and thus would go over my very pregnant belly.)

Taking out the Trash

Ava thinks its great to take out the dirty diapers and hey, if she wants to help out, super! This morning she put Grandma's snowboots on and was ready to go out. She had a little trouble walking in the boots but got the job done. :) (Apparently she didn't want her picture taken, how embarassing to be caught taking out the trash!)

Big Sister

Ava loves to help with the baby and the pacifier is pretty much an obsession with Ava. The baby ALWAYS needs her pacifier, according to Ava. Here she was holding Michaela and had to make sure that baby had the pacifier in her mouth. If Michaela is crying Ava will find the pacifier and try to pop it in her mouth. She's usually pretty gentle but we still have to watch her closely.

Our girls are loved

Jeff and I feel so blessed in our girls. Both are lovely, healthy little miracles and we couldn't ask for more. But we are also blessed in the family that we have that love our girls, too! Here are some pictures of Grandpa Kingma with his girls, Auntie Ellen with Ayden and Michaela, Auntie Jeni with Michaela, and Grandparents Lacey with Michaela.

What is wrong with this picture?

Ava got to go play outside in the snow yesterday. Here are some pictures. Now, you tell me, what's wrong with these pictures? Notice anything? Nothing? Hmm... Perhaps I could give you a little hint: It is April 5th. Does that help? No? I'll just give it to you straight then, folks.

THE SNOW IS WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE PICTURE!!! SNOW, AND LOTS OF IT, IN APRIL!!!! IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE SPRING AND WINTER IS TRYING TO REAR ITS UGLY HEAD AGAIN!! OUTRAGEOUS!!!

Ayden and Michaela

Wendy and I had a fun time being pregnant together and I thought you might like to see our prego pics and then the results of our 9 months of waiting. :) I'm not sure that it was "fun" to be pregnant this time around but it was really nice having someone to commiserate with during those long months!
Here they are the day after Ayden was born (03/06/09). We went to the hospital to meet him and had to take some pictures. Michaela is 10 days old here but when she was born she was 6 lbs 8 oz. Ayden is 8 lbs 11 oz. Our Aunt Bev has said "its Bobby and Kari all over again" because we were born about the same days apart and he always looked so much bigger than me. We'll see what happens as these two grow, won't we?