Little Lins!

Who’s that cry baby on the stage? Not my Ava. She was a super star!!

I am thankful for lots of things in my life but I am the most thankful for these two sweet girls.

Mila is thankful for her favorite book in the whole wide world.

And for dirty YMCA shower curtains too.

Ava is thankful for pine cone turkeys.

And apparently, food too! LOL.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hola. My young lady is now 198 weeks old…and yes, this is going to be a loooooong post. Grab a drink and a snack. Trust me.

(more…)

Then.

Now.

Happy Pumpkin Eating!!!!

Love,
Ava and Mila

Love, Mila…

and Ava.

Hi. My little mermaid Ava is now 154 weeks old!

This is my excited little lady waiting for us to get our acts together and see what Santa brought. Yes, that is a purse in her hand. She slept with it. No joke.

And within seconds of seeing her stocking, she transformed herself into a beautiful gypsy mermaid.

Some of the big hits of the morning included this personalized snow globe…

… and an umbrella.

Oh and her first bottle of nail polish.

And let’s not forget what else she asked for from Santa. Hand sanitizer! Santa forgot to put it in her stocking the night before. But he made a second trip that afternoon to sneak it into her empty stocking.

Later that day, Deets and Carrie came over and she got to meet her new pet duck who was one hungry fellow.

With each and every present, Dan and I wait for a reaction from Ava. She didn’t scream ‘yeah‘. She didn’t smile. She didn’t do a silly dance. She just sucked in her cheeks and pursed her lips. If you see Ava doing that, you know you did good.

For dinner, it was time to spend time with her buddy.

And guess who showed up? SANTA! Ava stood there and stared and stared and stared.

And thanked him for the Ariel dress.

The next few days we spent time eating Christmas chocolate.

Making sundaes…

… as a family.

Hugging her new duck “Dutka”. (Inside joke. Ava likes to merge the words Patka (Croatian for duck) and Duck together for laughs.)

She also got to play with a new friend. Dress up, of course, in her Dora tent.

It was then time to celebrate Bobby’s birthday. And every time I tell her we are going to a party, she immediately thinks it is a dance party.

She’s got some serious moves these days.

But since there was no real dance floor, the kids went nuts in other ways.

But Nona did pretend that there was a dance floor with the kids for a few moments to keep them from climbing up the walls. Literally.

Then it was time to blow out candles. Over and over again.

Hey. You still here? Good! Long post. Intermission time………………….. okay. Back to the story.

One morning, Ava woke up to this. Dida working on replacing the windows in Deets’ room. She didn’t know what to think of the whole thing. And then she busted out something funny. She said “Deets is going to be mad. Dida made a mess in his room”. Hehe. Little does she know that Deet’s room is always messy! And Dida is always the mad one. LOL.

To get her mind off of the messy window situation, we took a walk. She insisted on bringing her umbrella. She knows that umbrellas are for sunny days too. She sees plenty of old ladies doing the same thing.

We also did some painting with her new paint brushes… but it somehow turned into this…while wearing a brand new white t-shirt. Ahh.

Ava got a tool set for Christmas and calls herself  a Tool Princess. She was so excited to go into the room with them…

… and surprise Dida with her skills.

We also made a trek up to the cabin again. And watched Dada shovel the snow… again. But this time it was a lot tougher because the soft snow turned into a foot of ice.

And the next morning, Ava watched her first snow fall.

Nona and Dida showed up a day later… with soup.

And guess who actually tried a bit of liverwurst this week. Yup. She didn’t ask why we were eating cat food this time.

Then it was time to put on her new snow coat…

… and go sledding at the dry lake. But it wasn’t dry anymore. It was actually a lake again. Oh no. No sledding here.

Dida found her a new spot.  (I love this picture. I wish I had a picture like this with my Dida Slavo.)

Go Dida! Go Ava!!

But as you can see in this close up, the sledding was a bit scary. Poor Ava. (Yes, I’m laughing like a jerk right now. How can you not?!?!)

WAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dida was in the dog house for a bit after that. But they made up quickly once he helped Ava reach the sky.

And Ava made Nona reluctantly say yes to this twirly slide.

But she ended up having the time of her life. (Awesome picture, huh?!?!)

Then before we knew it, it was New Year’s Eve.

But we were all in bed by 10:30pm. Because we are old. And that’s okay. Bye!

Hi there. Our little Mila is now 17 weeks old!

The week started off bright and early. It was Christmas morning after all. Ava told Santa that Mila really wanted a Flounder toy… to match her Ariel request. But guess what? Santa could not find Flounder anywhere… because the movie is a million years old. So Santa thought Nemo would be a good idea. And Mila agreed. (And Ava didn’t say anything about the “mix-up”… until weeks later.)

And what did Mila do during her first Christmas morning? Watch her big sister tear open presents like a pro.

And she waited so patiently too.

Hey! Look at this!! Someone’s first present.

A teething giraffe named Sophie!

Thanks guys!

Then it was off to Barba Frank’s house for Christmas dinner… with baby’s first Christmas bib to catch all of her drool (and red shoes for all 3 of us).

My arms got a break and she got to visit with everyone. Teta Mary is always excited to hold her.

And here is Mila showing off her standing skills with her proud Dida.

After the excitement of Christmas was over, it was time to enjoy the gifts. Reading time with Nona and Ava. Hey, where’s my robe?

Enjoying her rattles.

Especially when Ava shakes them for her. This is the life!

Thanks Ariel!

Oh and look at this milestone. Mila is starting to bend.

My mom mentioned to me that one of the difference between the girls is that the sides of Mila’s lips go down.

Nice Nona. It’s not my fault. My cheeks are HEAVY!

Stop looking. You are making me eat my bottom lip.

Mila got to make play-doh ice cream sundaes with Ava this week.

And had a play date too.

And of course, more pictures with the Christmas tree. Check out that smile!

Yes, she is standing all by herself. I photoshopped arms in the background so other babies wouldn’t feel bad about this super early milestone.

Oh yeah!

Any guesses where Mila went this week?

She went back to the mountains to sit in her favorite chair…

…and make crazy fart sounds. Her new pastime. Yup, another new milestone.

Her neck folds are still red this week. I try my best to keep ithem dry but look at this drool!

And a walk in the snow = a nap in the carrier.

Hey I want to go outside too! Ummm, you just were outside Miss Sleepyhead!

And before we knew it, it was New Year’s Eve. And I think this face says it all. Hehe. Bye!