Christmas Time

We finally got our tree up. Yes finally, the 4th of December feels like we

waited way too long. I was worried with all of the construction going on in

our house it wouldn't happen until later in the month.

The boys were in charge of checking all of the strings of lights. Here's a question for you...

How many lights do you use on your tree? Ryan thinks I use way too many. I typically

use 700 lights. This year I only used 630 - I couldn't use one strand because of missing bulbs. Do you agree with Ryan and think it's a fire hazard? ;)

Ethan - "You know what I love about Christmas besides the presents?"

Me - "Singing?"

Ethan - "Nope."

Me - "Goodies"

Ethan - "Nope. I love that it's Jesus's birthday and we get to celebrate it. And it's good Christmas is on a Sunday this year. That way we can go celebrate it at his house."

Avella just thinks she can climb up on anything. Well I suppose

she technically can...

The boys kept making comments about how beautiful our tree was. I agree 100%.

Wouldn't it look better if it had those extra 70 lights? ;)

Meet our little elf Pascal Zachy. I'm sure he's the only elf at the North Pole

with this name. Ethan chose Pascal because the chameleon on Tangled has that name,

and he is very sneaky just like our little elf. Trevan chose Zachy within

nanoseconds of me telling them he needed a name. I have no idea where it

came from, and he wouldn't even consider not using that name.

He's been in some funny places in our house already. The boys have already told it

exactly what they want for Christmas, and it's so cute watching them interact with it.

The funniest thing by far was watching Trevan try to sneak up on it and

catch it moving. He tried jumping around the corner to catch it five times, yes in a

row. It was all I could do to not laugh out loud.

And I must say it has definitely helped their behavior improve.

Do you have an elf at your house yet?

Merry Christmas!

Ten months old, a little more fashion, and her blessing

To those of you who aren't grandparents living a state away this might be an overload of pictures for you. And to Dad and Mom... enjoy.

My number one favorite color to dress her in is cream. Most of her outfits

have a lot of cream (sometimes white) in them. I think it lets the observer notice her

beauty instead of the bright colors or patterns. Obviously I'm not shy of using colors or

patterns, it's just that I prefer to see lots of cream to tone things down.

dress and silver shoes - Baby Gap, headband - my creation

dress - Dwell Studio for Target (It was less than $5! And don't you love the bow at the neck?),

socks - Trumpette

top - Baby Gap, jeggings - Crazy 8, socks - Trumpette,

hat - from the hospital donated by a volunteer

I know this isn't a great picture at all, but as Trevan was taking it he said,

"Eew! She spit up!" Then we realized he caught it on film.

The boys thought it was so cool. So gross.

Thank you Trevan for a cute picture.

My (second) little thumb sucker.

top - Baby Gap, jeggings - Children's Place, headband - my creation, socks - Trumpette

(can you tell they come in a pack? I wish they sold more pairs individually, but fortunately I've been

able to use all of the colors that came in my pack. I love that the bows on them keep her entertained.)

Isn't it crazy how the flower on the headband matches her eyes?

top - Crazy 8, jeggings - Children's Place, headband - my creation

hat, top,ruffle shorts, sparkle tights, and shoes - Baby Gap, bracelet to keep her entertained - Mom's

top and leggings -Dwell Sudio for Target (another clearance find under $5!), socks - Trumpette

(didn't I luck out that two of the pairs of socks went perfectly with both of the

Dwell Studio outfits? I love when that happens with no planning.)

This girl will climb anything! And no, you are not imagining things,

that is a stack of baseboards she is climbing on.

top - Crazy 8, headband - my creation

The blessing dress!

To those of you who have been waiting patiently for a picture of this dress...

thank you, and here it finally is (and of course the beautiful girl wearing the dress). :)

It is so hard to try and take a picture of a 9 month old while trying to get her to hold still!

She loves to play with/eat the beads on the bottom of her dress.

Notice her holding it in the picture? Ninety five percent of the pictures are like that,

the other five percent she is fussing. Trevan once again was kind enough

to entertain her while I tried to get some pictures.

blessing dress - I made it using the Oliver and S bubble dress pattern.

I tweaked some things on the pattern, and embellished others. It has three layers -

the lining, cream Dupioni silk, and the tulle/lace overlay (all from Joann Fabrics).

The beading on the sleeves came from the trim section at Joann Fabrics.

Fun side note - My sister used some of this same tulle/lace fabric in her wedding gown,

which is the prettiest gown I have seen in my life!

Another fun side note - My little niece will be wearing a blessing dress made using

the silk from my wedding dress (which has been cut up and used in three different dresses now). It's fun

having a little connection. Maybe I miss my family so much I'll take any I can get. :)

headband - my creation

I used the left over fabric from her skirt and cut out some of the flower designs.

I layered them to achieve the look I wanted. Then I hand sewed more clusters of pearls on it.

Note - For her headbands I almost always use swimsuit elastic. It is cream instead

of bright white and doesn't seem so harsh against her perfect skin.

Ryan kept telling me throughout the dressmaking process that "It isn't supposed to be a wedding dress."

Apparently he thought it might be a little too fancy. What do you think?

Her blessing was beautiful. The thing I remember standing out to me was that she will

keep her happy disposition throughout her life (Don't quote me on the exact

wording. Don't worry I have it written down for her.)

Trevan - "Mom, her eyes are getting pretty because of her eyelashes.

They're growing and making her eyes pretty!"

Trevan I agree. :) That is his blonde little head in the corner of

the picture. He can always make her happy.

9 Months

Ethan and Trevan are always making Lego creations that they

want to submit to the Lego magazine. I would say they build Legos

about half of their playtime each day.

Chocolate cookie batter. Need I say more...

Another Lego creation. Trevan's entire Christmas wish list was Legos,

until I made him add something that wasn't. He chose a

Bionicle, which is still made by Lego.

She stands herself up every chance she can get.

I was trying to set up the bed frame in my brother's room in the basement.

Their first sleepover in the basement. They stayed up so late.

They were tired boys the next morning.

I finally pulled out all of the baby toys for her last night. I feel bad I hadn't

done it sooner. She has been entertained all morning.

9 Month Stats:

weight - 14lbs 4 oz (0.6 percentile)

length - 25" (.91 percentile)

head - 16.5" (4.15 percentile)

She now has two teeth!

She is very vocal about what she wants, or doesn't want.

She loves to blow bubbles in her cup while drinking.

She is still a happy happy baby.

We are almost done with the basement! I promise I will post pictures (Mom). It is already so nice to have so much extra space. My brother moved down there over the weekend, so now I can get Avella in her room and out of mine! I think the room I am most excited about is my workroom. I am dying to get my sewing machine set up in its permanent home. I promise to post after Thanksgiving.

Fish Lake

I just found this saved post. For some reason I forgot to actually post it...

We went to Fish Lake this summer with Ryan's family.

It was fun and Avella actually did really well.

Proud boy. :)

Can you spot the deer in the background?

Ethan and Trevan with their cousin. He is doing his 'cool guy' face. Hilarious!

We had to wash the boys feet every night before bed. So gross!

Lots of fun places to climb on our hike. Ethan had no fear.

He wanted to go higher each time.

Happenings

Stats:

10/23 - Avella sat herself up. She could sit up before this, but only if we sat her up.

11/2 - I noticed Avella had a tooth. Seriously?! Who knows when it really came in.

About this time she started standing herself up by holding on to furniture.

She also gets in the crawling position, pushes her bum up in the air,

puts her feet flat on the floor, and tries to stand up that way. She is determined

to walk like the rest of us.

11/5 - Avella turned nine months old. I know, I can't believe it either.

11/6 - Avella (finally) got blessed. I will post pictures of that separately.

Her doctor appointment is tomorrow. I am so curious to know how much she weighs... She is in 3-6 month clothing right now. It is so funny to see this itty bitty thing crawling, sitting, and standing up. She looks too tiny to be able too. I'm sure once she starts walking it will look even funnier.

When Ethan was walking and talking in complete sentences people would always be amazed and ask me how old he was. He looked too little. He was small for his age, and the average baby his age was still using only a few words together. It's interesting to see what each child excels at. They are all so different!

I walked in the living room to check on her, and she had sat herself up.

As you can see she is pretty pleased with herself.

Ethan at his Halloween program at school. He was singing the

songs at home for weeks beforehand. I think he was more excited to do this

program than he was to do the Christmas one last year.

In case you can't tell... Ethan is Obi Wan Kenobi (my Mom whipped up his awesome outfit when she came to help after Avella was born), Trevan is a skeleton pirate,

and Avella is a ladybug. It was such nice weather this year they got to trick or treat

without wearing all of their winter gear. I think that is why they got so much

candy this year - they were able to go to so many more houses.

Trevan and Avella love playing together. When I tell her it is time to go

pick up Trevan from school she gets excited and looks around for him.

I thought as she got older she would get bugged sometimes that he is constantly

in her face and giving her loves, but she eats it up.

Today they got to dress up as their favorite hero. Trevan knew right away

he wanted to be an 'army guy'. Ethan wasn't going to dress up until he found out

Trevan got to wear uncle Andrew's real army hat, he quickly changed his mind after that.

Catching up with the boys...

Hopefully this post will make up for most of the other posts being mostly about Avella. :)

I think if we had something like this out back my boys would be in heaven. Being able to build with huge objects... what boy wouldn't love it?

Ethan's first day of school.

He was excited, he just likes to be very early to things and he didn't want my taking pictures to interfere with that.

Trevan could barely stand starting school a week later than Ethan. On Ethan's first day of school he made me take a picture of him with his backpack on too. He was so excited when it was finally his turn.

Trevan helped me make freezer meals. He wants to be a chef when he grows up, so I try to include him when I cook. He loves it.

Ethan is having a Man vs. Wild moment here. He has asked me for months if he can try and make a fire in the backyard. I always tell him yes, but he has to start it using only sticks. (What? That's the way Bear Grylls does it.)

So all summer he has tried. Finally he asked Ryan if he could do it using the Bear Grylls knife we got him for Father's Day. We gave in and let him make a (very small) fire. He is quite the expert teepee maker (you know how you put the wood in a teepee to let the air feed the fire? I am not a Boy Scout and had never learned to make a fire that way.).

Ethan also got a pocket knife this summer at Woodbadge. He is very good with the safety rules, and he has carved quite a few sticks into points. He cannot wait to go into Scouts.

Ethan loves to ride his scooter to school. He had a whole list of reasons of why he needed a scooter to ride to school instead of his bike. One being that it would help him balance better. He was very convincing. :)

Ethan and Trevan got to play (red light green light) one last time with their cousins before they moved far away. Seriously Staci, Oklahoma? Whatever. ;)