Ava Turned 2!!

Ava turned 2!! She is definitely a one of a kind Ava Lynn!! She is so full of spunk and personality, and a true leader! Her older brothers always are wanting Ava to come play with them (they do still have their sibling rivalry), but you know they love her and she is a good influence on helping her brothers to try new things. She is a dare devil with no fear. She treats everyone she sees as though she has known them her whole life. She greets them with a big "HI!" and then wants to be picked up or given a high five. She calls both Ayden and Gavin "Gavy", is very good at saying sorry and always wants a hug and kiss. If they don't kiss her she will keep going up to them and say "kiss" until they do it, which then sometimes turns into a fight. She LOVES princesses. She has these 2 little tike princess dolls that she ALWAYS carries around and freaks out when she loses them along with her two princess slap bracelets that she got for her birthday that she can't live without. She does a great job with playing pretend, it amazes me, she is our only girl and I never realized how early all this girly stuff starts!! She has a princess cd that she loves and knows the words to the best of her talking ability and knows all the dance steps without looking at the show. I swear she has such a photogenic memory, she seriously could watch a show once or twice and already have all the steps down. She is so fun to watch, we really can't get enough of her. She does have a little temper and knows what she wants and knows how to throw some serious fits! We love our Ava Lynn and hope she knows how special she is!

In her pictures she was wild and did not want to sit....she posed herself for each picture

Ava doing a little dance

She had to have this ball

She held her foot up until they took a picture of it

This was her first pose. She ran in holding her princess dolls in her hand and had a seat and was ready to go!

We weren't going to open her presents until her Dad got home, so I got her some dollar store toys to celebrate with her brothers during the day, but I think this was about all she needed!

First thing in the morning trying on all her accessories

I made sure I got enough ballons for everyone to play with!

She is an obsessive little girl and had to have everything on her that she could wear and everything that she could hold she wanted, so she had a little break down, but as always came out of it and was happy as can be. That is our Ava, hot or cold, nothing in between.

For lunch we had pizza and Root Beer

We then went to this bounce house during open bounce hours, and it was great. There was hardly anyone there and my kids loved it!

There were even some flat ones Easton could play on

All of my kids loved this slide! I was shocked that my boys loved it as much as they did. They couldn't get enough and kept going on it. The walk is a pretty steep walk, now I know I am pregnant and that kind of held me back, but man, I could only do it a few times, but I was also holding Ava or Easton while making the walk up there. Ava walked up a few times on her own and she is a little fighter. You could tell it was hard for her, but she did it!

Worn out after being there a few hours

We got back and had cake and opened presents. No, I did not make her little dog cake even though I would love to say I did. I thought it was pretty cute! We got that for her and had cupcakes as well.

We got her a little baby alive and a few princess pollys and a little princess CD player and a little walking kitty. She was very spoiled, but we hope she had a good day.

Ava excited about her new toys

Daddy working hard at undoing all the packaging and figuring the toys out

Very proud, you can tell she will be an attentive mother =)

Checking out her new toys!

December!!

I have finally gotten around to finishing the year!! It has been a great one and went by so fast! This was our Christmas card for 2010!

Dear Friends and Family-

Merry Christmas! Once again another year comes to an end, and once again it flew by so fast. It is amazing all that can go on in one year. I feel like each year as we sit down to sum up our year as a way to keep in touch with our family and friends there is so much to say, even though most of our time was spent at home, or in Jordan's case, school and work. This has been a big year of change for our family once again. Jordan is officially done with school (Whoo Hoo!) and we are in the process of moving to Utah!! This is an exciting move for us. Our other bit of unexpected, but exciting news is that we are to be expecting our 5^th child in May. We are going to have a full house and hoping all of our new transitions this year will be as smooth as possible (we aren't expecting much!)

Jordan- Just finished his MBA program at the University of Michigan and will be starting up a new job the end of December at Zions Bancorporation. We are so grateful for all his hard work these last 3 years of school, work, and family time. He is always more than helpful around the house even after his very long days and we love him!

Chandra- Is busy at home still trying to manage our 4 children. Not much has changed schedule wise. We spend plenty of time at home playing (or dumping these days) with toys, watching favorite shows. We have added to our muppet-sing-along song shows, "Things on Wheels", which has become another VHS favorite. My kids seem to enjoy the older movies that I can't find on DVD, so it is a good thing VCRs are still around! Although life can be stressful, I would never want for it to be different. It is harder to keep up with my hobbies these days, but I still try to get something in every once in a while.

Ayden (3 years old) - Is a very busy little boy. He is constantly moving and wanting something to do and always wanting to eat. He loves cars and trucks and loves riding in the car to watch all the cars and trucks driving by. He has a lot to say and is our big helper. He is always willing to go and get something for me, and any of his siblings. I catch Gavin asking Ayden to do the job I asked him do. He is also going to be one Master Chef some day. He loves to watch and help me cook; he makes sure his stool is standing right in the way so he gets the best view possible. He is a great kid with a contagious laugh and smile.

Gavin (3 years old) - He is so tender hearted. He loves to cuddle and tries so hard to be helpful with entertaining Easton. He loves babies. Sometimes the toddler in him comes out and his helpful becomes not so helpful, but at least I know his intentions. He loves books, stickers, coloring, and playing with play doh. He is getting into watching the bigger kid cartoons these days. Gavin is a sweet boy always wanting to learn and grow in new ways.

Ava (23 months old) - Is a parent's worst night mare when it comes to fear. This sweet little girl is fearless, independent, and always knows what she wants. She is definitely the leader of the pack. The boys are always following her around and wanting her to come play with them. She is a feisty little girl with so much love to give. She is always smacking her lips with a big "MMM" to give us a kiss and has recently been loving her stuffed animals and giving them a hug with a tilt of her head and an "Ahhh". She definitely keeps us busy. She is constantly moving her little legs as fast as they will go jumping, singing, and dancing all day long. We are grateful for her sweet little independent spirit and all that she adds to our family.

Easton (13.5 months old) - He is such a loving little boy. Each morning when we go get Ava, who is the last to get up in the morning, as we head to her room, his legs start wiggling, he starts to squeal a little bit, and when we see her, he gives her a great big hug and kiss over and over again. He sure loves his siblings and you can tell he just can't wait to be able to keep up with them (even though he thinks he already can). He started walking just before he turned 13 months and you can just tell he is so proud of himself. He loves pushing cars and LOVES animal books. He points to each one of them and tries so hard to repeat the sounds we make for them. He has the "Ruff Ruff" down. Although he can't talk, he does a great job of communicating to us what he is wanting. He is a very smart and enthusiastic little boy just waiting to burst out of babyhood and into a toddler.

With our family growing like it is, it has been hard for us to do much out of our regular schedule. We did manage to get together with our families. I went to Idaho with my kids for a month this summer and then we went to a beach house in South Haven, MI for a week with Jordan's. We are grateful for each moment we get to visit with family members and we are grateful for all the love we feel when we are around them. We love this time of year and the feeling of joy and love that comes this Christmas season. We are grateful for our relationships with all of you and hope that you are feeling that same joy this time of year.

Love,

Jordan, Chandra, Ayden, Gavin, Ava, and Easton

I always like to look back and see all the takes (although there were many more than this) it took us to make sure we are at least all facing the camera!


Easton with his cute "Cheese" face!

Ava loving the camera as always!


Gavin with his famous head tilt when we tell him to smile at the camera


And Ayden with that awesome grin of his!

Christmas morning! We got to Utah the afternoon before Christmas and we had an empty house for a few days before our things got delivered from the moving truck. We did make sure to pack their Christmas presents so we had them with us! It was a great way to enjoy their Christmas presents in an empty house. The boys woke up so excited and we made them wait until Ava got up, which Ayden was really struggling with, but they made it!

We went over the Jordan's Aunt and Uncle's house so Jordan could talk to his brother on a mission in Chile on Skype wit his family, spend the day visiting, and have a great dinner! It was great to see them. Easton is a fighter on his naps, so he finally collapsed in Jordan's lap.

I bought them some Christmas cookies to decorate, I was trying to think of some things to do since we were limited on our things! This is one thing I know my boys love to do, but I am not sure how much I like the mess!

Ava loved it to, but we limited what she could do, she is hilarious!! We love this sweet girl!

On New Year's Eve we went to Temple Square to look at the Christmas lights which the boys really enjoyed, but on the way there it stated snowing and it was pretty cold, but they did not want to go home. Ayden kept saying he wanted to see Baby Jesus and now every picture he sees of Jesus he says "Baby Jesus"

Easton just wanted me to hold him, I was glad for my sling, it is really a life saver!! It makes it so much easier to carry him!

Our camera started being funny and truning off, so a lady hurried and took our picture and you can see the boys heads popping out at the very bottom of the picture...

This is a great picture to end the night with. Ava kept holding Easton's hand, it was so cute. As much as the kids fight, they love each other just as much!!!