family times

Avery likes to read to Aspen

Breakfast and a movie

Congratulating baby

Busy Baby

Aspen has just graduated to the second level down on her crib because she can now

*pull herself up*

I think she's really enjoying her new found skill and sure keeps herself busy...

Imagination

Avery is so stinkin' cute. I like how she can use her imagination to play pretend.

• She rolled up a shirt of mine then held it like a baby.
• As she puts away the silverware, she takes two forks, rubs them together crosswise and says "I play the violin!"
• Any block or toy can become a "cookie" or "birthday cake".
• Sometimes we just use the air and our motions to imagine things.
• She lined up her chairs in front of the washer, put her stuffed animals in them neatly and says "We're watching the witch on the TV!" (as seen below)

Other tid-bits:

• We're at lunch group with our friends and half the ladies have babies on their laps, trying to eat. So what does Avery do? Grab a baby doll to put on her lap while she eats.
• She can say some difficult words more clearly now, like: "immortality" (we're memorizing a scripture)
• Here is a cutie-bootie picture for you (don't you LOVE the sunglasses?! hehe):

Family Photo

We were a bit nippy taking these photos on Sunday, but it had to be done before we were out there in all our snow gear! We're rather novice photo-takers, but you can at least see our happy family!

I may be a novice photographer, but at least I've got photoshop skills to make up for it B-) Oh, and this is our "christmas" photo, so if we actually get out cards this year- you get to see this pic again! lucky you! ;-)

This was the "before" pic. It takes a little time to highlight only us in the foreground.

Yep, I'm a happy mama.

Aspen 10 months

My, that girl LOVES to squeal... and really loud! And she's not afraid to in church, either. She's a crack up really! Every smile I got out of her for the photo shoot was accompanied by a squeal. :) She's getting more regular at waking up only once at night about 3am (excluding 11pm). She likes to eat off our plates as much as possible with no teeth. She still eats her baby food too.

Look at Aspen's new Yoga maneuver here! haha. She army-crawls around in her own way and occasionally practices with her knees, but she only rocks back and forth on them. She still loves to put anything off the floor in her mouth and explores new things.

These sisters are already the best!

Halloweekend

Grandma Olsen came to visit us over this weekend and we sure loved to have her! I hope we didn't halloween her out ;-) I love this sweet picture of them reading together!

Our town has some fun halloween traditions. I like the scare crow contest on main street a lot! Friday there is always a trick-or-treat on main street and at the hospital. Last year we did main street and it was SUPER crowded, so we opted for the hospital instead, which was slightly less crowded, much shorter and completely indoors.

At the hospital with our friends (the Khans)

Saturday was our church trunk-or-treat and then we walked to the "pumpkin glow" at Fuller Lodge.

Our Bumblebee family :)

trunk-or-treating

got tired of waiting in line,

so she sat down to scratch her head,

then wanted up.

I'm in love with this snapshot.

Can't resist how much she loves dumdums. :)

Avery started crying on the way home from over-tiredness. Through sobs, she asked dad if she could go to sleep. (like she had to ask). We "gave her permission" and she zonked immediately!

Monday was ACTUALLY halloween (though decorations were already taken down in town by monday, haha!). Trick-or-treating in the neighborhood is my favorite part!! This year we actually had our very own and real neighborhood for the first time; it was a sweet occasion.

We went with our neighbor friends again (that's Avery, Riley, Aiden & Ethan)! It was TOO much fun watching Avery have fun, shout 'trick or treat' & 'thank you', patiently wait her turn, say 'i got treats mom!', run with her friends, say 'come-on guys!' and such. It was funny being the parent this time, deciding whether to escort them to the door or wait on the curb and watch them do their thing. I was delighted.

As you see, she was a care bear tonight. We were out for 1 hour and 15 mintues. Perhaps that was 15 minutes too long because of the melt-downs at the end, but all-in-all, they did great!

Holy chocolate! Gee, she sure got the GOOD stuff. I don't remember my halloween pillow sack looking like this! :)