It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

(Thanks to Dr and Mrs Nicol)

our newest ornament (bought in Hefei 2007)

Our oldest ornament --  39 years old!

Who says hippos can't be Christmas-y?

Dad and Daughter Christmas Shopping Trip

Family Tradition: A Christmas Tree and Steak-n-Shake milkshakes

 (Avery snuck in the front seat for the photo only)

One Word Wednesday

S'mores!

Two Wheelin'!

Buh Bye.

Ready... Set...

GO AVERY GO!!

Avery shouts, "I'm doing it!! I'm doing it!!"

Proud Coach 

Avery gives Mom the play-by-play

A very proud moment for our girl!

Way to go, Avery! We knew you could do it!

four words and a photo

we are all perfect

I know I am way overdue for a new post, but things have been wonderfully crazy here and I haven't had much computer time. I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! 

Can We Talk?

When it comes to talking, Louisa can be a chat-ty! However, so many of her words are in Louisa-speak and can be difficult to interpret. She's working hard at it though, and has taken us by surprise lately with words like elbow and SpongeBob.  Here's a recent conversation:

(you may want to scroll down and pause the music before playing the video)

Can you tell by her little spout-out of "Mamas" at the end that she's getting tired of these "Say _____" sessions?

jump ropes, hula hoops & sidewalk chalk

The weather has been so beautiful lately, the girls have been outside every chance they get. I really hope it lasts for a while! 

Let me fix your drawing, Sissy.

(those are Louisa's Halloween cat ears on her head)

Here' s Avery teaching her sister how to ride a bike. They had no idea Charlie and I were watching. I just love "catching" them in moments like this. 

"Keep your feet on the pedals."

Avery talked Charlie into being one of her twirlers. The mailbox didn't put up a fight.

Halloween 2

Here are some pics from the big night. We went to a neighbor's house for dinner first and then everyone started trick-or-treating when the sun went down. Louisa got the hang of it pretty quickly and both girls had a blast. We quickly found out that trick-or-treaters don't tell Halloween jokes here. We'll have to work on that!

Drop in dinner guests

spooky salad, anyone?

Our own haunted cemetery

Remote controlled "Ratchard" 

The sugar warriors return

The LOOT! They even got bags of Doritos, which were a HUGE hit.

Witchy-Witch and her black can't wait to do it all over again. Avery wants to have room-to-room Thanksgiving Trick-or-Treating at our house when her cousins are here to visit. Why not? 

Mouse in the House

Avery's class had a day to celebrate reading and their favorite books. They had to dress as a character from a book and then share the story with their classmates. It wasn't a big surprise that Avery  chose Angelina Ballerina, since she loves ballet and animals.