More pictures from California

Trick-or-treating in California with the cousins! We had a Ballerina, Golden Princess, Bumblebee, and a Purrty Kitty. We weren't sure what Ava was going to wear for her costume when we arrived in California so Taylor created ballots and we all voted. (The other two options were Zebra and Bumblee.)

Ava's Peapod Travel bed was a hit with all the kids and even though Ava never actually slept in it, the tent got a lot of use during playtime.

California with our Anema cousins

The second half of our California trip was spent with Jeff's sister Amy, her husband Paul, and their three kids: Taylor, Samantha, & Jackson. Ava had a blast with her California cousins and didn't know what to do with herself when she came home and they weren't here to entertain her. We got home late Sunday night and all day Monday she seemed lost and out of sorts. After six days with those three to play with, I can understand how quiet and boring our house seemed!

Mud puddles! Fun for everyone!!

Ava, Jack, and the Cozy Coupe. Ava LOVED this car and if anyone came near when she was in it she said, "No, no, no, no!" Lucky for her, Jack didn't mind sharing as bad as she did and we caught the two of them going for a ride in the coupe.

Taylor is full of ideas and plans and activities. While we were there she created a slide show and then voting ballots for Ava's Halloween costume and gave dance lessons. Here are the three girls taking Taylor's dance lessons, something right up Ava's alley as you saw in the video from a few days ago. :) Bring on the tutus, Taylor! Ava's looking forward to more lessons in December!!

We have so many pictures of Ava and her cousins that I think I'll have to post more another day. Thank you, Anemas, for all the fun we had at your home in California! We look forward to more fun this Christmas when you come to Iowa!

Just making a quick call, Mom.

Chatty Cathy was on her phone again today and this time I was successful in catching her in video. I think she might be singing to whoever is on the other end of the line (not a surprise, she sings all the time). She's very willing to share the phone and let others talk as you will can see at the end of the video when she tries to pass the phone to me. (I didn't think you would enjoy my chatting on the phone as much as Ava's so I didn't bore you with that.)

California with Uncle Roy and Auntie Erica

As promised, here are some pictures of our recent trip to California. The first part of our trip was spent with Uncle Roy (my brother) and his wife, Erica. They live in Fresno and though Levi was able to get the time off to show us around, Erica is on the cusp of opening what we call "her museum", the Fresno Met, and so she was very busy. She managed to get Sunday off while we were there and we were thrilled to have that time to spend with her touring the zoo and the Met.



Ava "packing" before we left home. Uncle Roy & Ava on a walk.

Feeding the giraffes at the Fresno Zoo! This was so much fun! Ava loved it!!

Playing at a park near Levi's house.

Feeding the birds after our Zoo trip. Ava loved chucking pieces of bread at the birds but after being nipped at by one goose and hissed at by another, Auntie Erica was sure there was something better to do. :) Thank you, Levi and Erica, for showing us all around and letting us stay! It was great to see you and we look forward to seeing you at Chrimastime!

Belly Pics

I've had a request from my best friend, Meghan, out in Colorado for belly pictures so I thought I'd just share them with everyone here on the blog. These were taken when I was 21 weeks pregnant, we're almost 24 weeks along now. Ava thinks the belly is funny and if you ask her where the baby is she'll tap my tummy. Or she'll tap her own belly when we ask so (shrug) maybe she doesn't quite understand. :) She's also very willing to "give the baby a kiss" on my tummy which is totally adorable. Hopefully when the baby actually arrives she'll still be this sweet to her or him. :)

Ava trying to get Jack to dance

Ava and I just got back on Sunday from 10 days in California. Whew! We had a great time and got to see my brother Levi and his wife Erica and Jeff's sister Amy and her family. They only live about an hour and a half from each other so it works out very well when we go to visit both families. I'll post more pictures of our trip but I had to get this video up because it is so cute! Ava spent most of her time either beating Jack up or trying to get him to dance with her. There wasn't really a happy medium there. They are still a little young to really play together and more just played side-by-side. One day Jack was standing in front of the tv watching a cartoon and Ava thought it had good music so she tried to get him to dance with her. She stood right next to him, both facing the tv, and grabbed his hand. He dropped her hand immediately, totally uninterested. She grabs his hand again and starts swinging her hips to the music but again, he drops her hand without even looking at her. Apparently she was determined that the music would move him as it was moving her because she gave up trying to hold his hand and grabbed his shoulder and started swaying side-to-side with her hand on his shoulder.

SOLD!!!

We put our house on the market, you heard this, right? But did you hear that it sold? Yes!! Yay!! Our home sold on October 22nd, Jeff's 30th birthday! Not a bad present, would you say? :) We are thrilled and getting ready for the next phase of our life. We are going to restore an old farmhouse down south of Sioux Falls, it is halfway between Beresford and Hawarden (but still in South Dakota!). See the picture below and don't worry, the interior looks much more promising than your view from the outside. While working on this enormous project, we'll be living with Jeff's parents on their farm outside Hawarden, IA. Our closing date is November 24th and we are moving out the weekend of the 15th to give ourselves plenty of time to finish some loose ends up here. What does this mean? We move in 9 days!! We wanted the house to sell fast and it did! Now we have to move our butts and get out, fast! :)