"A smile from a child is packaged sunshine and rainbows"

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Post Christmas

Well, we had a wonderful Christmas and we hope you did too. We are so thankful for all the gifts everyone gave to the girls. They loved them.

Here are some photos of the girls on Christmas morning (and Christmas evening and even the next day) opening gifts. Lily opened about 4 gifts on Christmas morning and was a bit overwhelmed so we saved some of the gifts for Christmas evening and the next day. Enjoy! =)

Ted reading the Christmas Story from Lily's Bible before opening gifts.



Highlights of Ava's Christmas...

Playing with toys:



Ava's Hat.



Too much Christmas for Ava...



And some highlights of Lily's Christmas:









And Ava had to check out all of Lily's gifts...

Merry Christmas!

I attempted a Christmas photo shoot with the girls. In my head I imagined getting a picture of the girls sitting in front of the Christmas tree.  But that would've been staged (and impossible), and I'm not a huge fan of staged photos. So instead, this is what I got...



...love that smile =)

And here are some more photos. Thanks Nana for the outfits! Merry Christmas everyone!

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Ava

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026, originally uploaded by jhautau2.

...and a little bit of Ava. Here is a video of Ava demonstrating some of her newest tricks while my mom was in town. Her newest thing is "dancing." She twists her head and arms side to side and rocks back and forth. She usually does it when music comes on, although she did not have any music in this video. It must've been in her head. =)

Click on "026"

"Brrr...cold!"

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012, originally uploaded by jhautau2.

Lily saying "Brr....cold!" after we got inside from dinner. It was really cold outside that night.

(Click on "012")

Lily Dancing

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013, originally uploaded by jhautau2.

Lily dancing and singing. Enjoy =)

(Click on "013")

Reading Fun

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The difference between Ava and Lily

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Just to see you smile, I'd do anything.

[caption id="attachment_741" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Ava's got big cheeks and big smiles. Here are her new top teeth and tonsils =)"][/caption]

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a great Thanksgiving with family. We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for. Here are some photos from the weekend.

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Smile

"Your smile, reflecting my own, my heart stands so amazed..."

Cincinnati

We took a trip to Cincinnati last weekend. Here are some pictures.

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Kentucky!

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010, originally uploaded by jhautau2.

Lily says "Kentucky!" and Ava holds on for dear life. =)

Click on "010"

Ava learning to ice skate

Hats!

Lily has a new found love for hats. She puts one on and comes into the room and waits for someone to acknowledge her hat and how cute she looks. Then she will turn it around and put it on all different ways and wait for another response. Then she goes and finds another hat, and starts the process over again.

Just another night...

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009, originally uploaded by jhautau2.

I found this video when I was looking for some photos. I can't remember when it is from, but it has to be recent.
As you can see, Ava is starting to be able to hold her own against Lily. Ted says Ava is going to beat Lily up soon =)
Click on "009"

Same laughter, different day

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001, originally uploaded by jhautau2.

Dropping a book has not gotten old to Lily or Ava this week. And it is still funny to me to hear them giggle. So...here is one more video of the book dropping. And yes, Lily pants are falling off. =)
Click on "001"

Crib Fun

As I said, I think the girls are on the mend. Here are a few pictures from the other morning in the crib.

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Sick

As some of you know, we have had quite a time with illness in our family lately. Last week, on Halloween night, Ava got really sick and we had to take her to the emergency room.  She had to get her lungs suctioned out through her nose. It was as aweful as it sounded. Not fun for me and even less fun for her...



The picture is a little blurry, but you can tell how sick Ava was. I don't generally take pictures of my children in the emergency room, but I took this with my phone to send to Ted.

Thankfully, Ava is feeling better and I think our house is on the mend.

Where's Ava?

Lily likes to snuggle (or crush) Ava.

Window Watching

The girls love looking out the front and back screen doors.

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Second video

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002, originally uploaded by jhautau2.

...ran out of memory on the first video. Enjoy the rest =) ("002")

Morning Fun

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001, originally uploaded by jhautau2.

Here is a video of the girls. I took two and I forgot that you cannot turn the videos on the computer. I remembered halfway through the second video. So, you'll have to turn your head I guess =) ENJOY! (click on "001"- by the way- you need sound)

Look -a- Like?

Ava and Lily at 8 months old.

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Teeth!

The park

Here are a few photos from the park the other day.  Ava loves the swings.

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Potty Training?

Well, we are definitely not potty training Lily yet. But she has a potty (that goes on top of the normal toilet) and we have sat her on it a couple times when she said she needed to go (she had no clue what she was talking about, apparently).

Today she got really interested in her potty. As you can see, she has found several other uses for it.

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I like to call this phase of potty training, "Getting Familiar with the Potty." I haven't ready any potty training books, but I would guess this is not an actual step of potty training. Oh well. =)

(click on photos to enlarge)

Go Kentucky!

Here are a few photos from the game this weekend. Lily learned to say "Kentucky!"

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(Click on photos to enlarge)

With Arms Wide Open

"With arms wide open, now everything has changed. I'll show you love, I'll show you everything..."

Not so "look-a-like" anymore

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Bananas!

Yay! Daddy is home.

Questapalooza

Today we went to Questapalooza, which is an outdoor concert/fair at a local church. Lily enjoyed playing in the kids area. She made a friend and got her face painted. She was very proud of her butterfly.

Ava's into everything!

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Smiles!

"Just to see you smile, I'd do anything..."

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Ava's Growing Up

Ava's last two weeks have been very busy.  She has grown up so much. Our first week away she learned to sit up.



Within a couple days, she had learned to crawl (see video below).

Since learning to crawl, she has been trying to pull up on chairs, bags, my legs, etc.

Towards the end of the trip, she got her first tooth.

She is growing up too fast!

Ava Crawling

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060, originally uploaded by jhautau2.

Ava learned to crawl at the beach. Here is a video. (Click on "060")

Beach Trips 2010

Well, we just got back from 2 weeks at the beach. Ted missed the first week with his family, but got there in time to spend one day with them, and a week with my Dad.

I have too many pictures to post on here, so I will post a link to our Flickr page when I get them up.  Here are a few from each trip.

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Girls

[caption id="attachment_468" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Ava drools...A LOT!!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_469" align="alignright" width="225" caption="...And Lily loves her anyway. =)"][/caption]

Ava Rocking

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003, originally uploaded by jhautau2.

Ava has gotten some more practice and has perfected her rocking skills. Everywhere we go people comment on how amazing it is that she can rock herself. What can I say? Between Lily's turning around skills and Ava's rocking skills, I think our kids are pretty talented. Now, will they be able to read?

Click on "003"

Ava "Crawling"

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003, originally uploaded by jhautau2.

Ava's on the move! ...And you can see one of her bug bites.

Too sweet

Ava has been getting bites all over her. Today she got a very small one on her face. She has had 4 on her legs that swell and start pussing. The doctors thought she had MRSA, but she tested negative. The doctor seems to think she is getting spider bites on her legs and that she is allergic to the bite.  We have vacuumed the entire house and her bed and have not seen any spiders in her room or around the house.

I guess she is just sweeter than everyone else.

Beyonce

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031, originally uploaded by jhautau2.

For some odd reason, Lily loves the Beyonce song "Single Ladies." When it comes on the radio in the car, she starts dancing in her car seat, and then starts crying when it goes off. She loves it! Here is a video of her excitement about the song. As you can tell from the end, she's even learned the chorus "uh uh oh."

And, it is only this song she gets excited about. Ted tried playing some Michael Jackson after this and she was not impressed.
I guess she knows a good beat when she hears one. =)

Click on "031"

Solid Food

Ava had her first attempt at solid food! It went a lot better than Lily's first attempt at solid food. It took Lily a few weeks to figure out how to swallow the food. Ava definitely spit some of it out but she also swallowed some in her first attempt.  She was more interested in eating her bib than eating any food though. She was bummed when I took the bib off.

[caption id="attachment_431" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Lily's First Food"][/caption]

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[caption id="attachment_433" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Hmmm....."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_435" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="I don't think I like this"][/caption]