Gelter Family

and you shall be my squishy

2012-02-12T12:33:00.010-07:00

new old news:
the computer is still broken. and you know, it's not the end of the world like I expected it to be. we still have Tim's MacBook from work and that works for both of us in the evenings - when we have a few minutes to get on. honestly, it's been niiiiceeee being a little disconnected.

but let's discuss the downside: not commenting on other's blogs, which then correlates directly to a lack of comments on our blog. while I've often said (and I still stand by this) I don't blog for comments, it certainly doesn't hurt.

and so I apologize for my disappearance off the inter-web-verse for the last while. it won't be ending anytime soon, either. I'll gain motivation someday soon to buy the very expensive parts necessary to fix our computer, but for now I'm content doing everything from my beloved iPhone.

more new old news:
we've been pretty busy and I'm exhausted. for the last 2 weeks I've been in my pajamas or sweatpants every chance I get.

Super Bowl weekend was spent in st.george attending the wedding of one of Tim's childhood best friends. it was nice to go someplace warm, visit Tim's awesome grandparents, and see Todd & his family again. the girls were rockstars in the car. Tim and I always marvel how blessed we've been with good little car travelers. no nook or phone was needed. they just quietly played with a few toys and required only a few potty breaks :)

we've also been super busy with school, dance, and friends. you know, the usual. I like keeping busy, but I'd like a break every now & again, too. :)

more to the point:

I wanted to write posts about the girls, and here is the first.

ava has been rightly nicknamed "squish" for a long time now. everything about her makes me want to squish her cheeks. it's nearly impossible not to do it all.day.long.

the other day I was talking to a friend and we realized that ava would be joining nursery in just 2 months from now. say it with me, "whhhhaaaat?!?"

so I needed to do a post all about my squishy little miss.

ava is...
funny.

oh.my.word. we are in trouble with this little gal. she makes us laugh all the time. she has terrific comedic timing and we are constantly kept laughing. if any of us are having a bad day or moment, she will make funny faces at us until we crack. and it usually doesn't take very long.

ava is...
the best little eater.

i suppose there has to be a reason for those squishable little cheeks. we always said we deserved a good eater after emerie, and we were indeed blessed. the girl likes everything. and eats it in bulk. I'm still surprised by her small size.

ava is...
talkative.

lately it's been a constant stream of words and sentences. she was so quiet for a long time - as if she took a hiatus from speaking. we were even thinking it was because of emerie - because emerie talks non-stop. but while emerie is at school, ava would suddenly get so talkative. and heck, maybe that's still a reason - I really don't know. but she took a hiatus from speaking, except for the basics. well, that has officially ended and our little squish is talking non-stop. I guess emerie has some competition now ;) she says the cutest little things, but some of our current favorites include:
"lo' you" (love you)
"mama, dada" (tim & I)
"emmmmm" (emerie)
"ma-ya" (maya)
"tanks" (thanks)
"cheeeeese" (whenever a camera is around)
"pease" (please)
"yeah, yesh" (yes)
"m-innie" (her minnie mouse)
"ta da" (whenever she's done something good)

{her favorite thing to do is stick her minnie in the trunk of her car and then hop on & take her for a drive, all while saying "vroom!!!"}

ava is...
small.

yep, she's a small one. we get comments every single time we go to the grocery store or on a family outing. people will ask us when she'll be one and when we reply she's actually 15 months, they gasp. yes, she is small. she was born small and she's always eaten well, so she's never dropped off track...her track just started small to begin with. we're not worried, because let's face it, tim and I were never meant to have giant children. we're both short & small, so we can't expect anything else with our children. I do love the comments about how watching ava walk is like watching the tiniest midget walk. it's absolutely true and it makes me giggle.

ava is...
a dancer.

I guess with my ghetto-loving genes, it's inevitable our girls will be born dancers. ava's very favorite thing is twirling and it's pretty darn adorable. she will twirl until she's dizzy and then she will fall down giggling. so dance parties are still a constant occurrence around our house. always and forever. ;)

ava is...
a lover of music.

if she's not trying to sing along to everything, or dance to everything, she is desperately trying to play any instrument she comes in contact with. the girl has got the beat and she loves music in any form.

ava is...
happy.

sure, she has her moments. and she's pretty terrible at teething. but overall, I've never met a happier baby. she is constantly letting us know that she is happier to be here, on this mortal journey. and we are blessed to be apart of it with her.

ava is...
cuddly.

emerie is super sweet & cuddly. but ava totally outdoes herself when it comes to cuddling. several times a day she will beg to be held and then just cuddle with us on the couch. it's like playing with toys or dancing - she considers it a fun activity to do with us and we can't argue. it's simply the best.

ava is...
emerie's shadow.

she wants to be her own person, but ava wants to do everything that emerie does - all the time. she's always letting us know who she is as an individual, but she really wants to do the same things. we started a chore chart system with emerie a few months ago. one night, we were telling emerie it was time to clean up her toys for a cleaning sticker. emerie was busy doing...who knows what...and ava cleaned up all the toys by herself. and then ava walked into the kitchen, where the fridge is, and demanded a sticker. so, we started her own chore chart and she gladly particpates right alongside emerie. their chores are different, obviously, but they both complete them for stickers. she did want to be left out of this sticker business.

we simply love our little squish!

loves to you all,
megan
(written on my iPhone)

that darn amygdala

2012-02-03T09:05:00.001-07:00

fact: the amygdala is the part of the brain, located in what is known as the limbic system. the amygdala produces adrenaline and also creates the commonly referred to "fight or flight" reaction to various situations and stimuli. it typically takes 20 minutes for the adrenaline to wear down and logic & reason to begin.

fact: the amygdala will kick in whenever there are threatening occurrences - whether they are of a physical nature or even an emotional nature.

fact: two very well-known and well-researched ways to override the amygdala's "fight or flight" reaction are: love & the power of appreciation. focusing on one's loved ones will overcome the adrenaline and create a calming effect. writing a simple list of things we are most grateful for will also create a calming effect.

fact: as a psychology junkie, I find this extremely fascinating. and extremely useful.

fact: I am going to make a list of things I am grateful for today, and then post some pictures that make me happy and/or giggle.

1. my husband - he is so good to me and loves me so much. he lives by the principle of loving your spouse more than yourself and he exemplifies it every day. I am truly blessed to have him.
2. emerie - our spunky, talkative, sweetheart. she is so smart and so good. she is the best older sister and loves out family so much. she always has kind things to say and everyone is her best friend. I am so blessed to be her mother.
3. avalynn - our little angel. there has never been a sweeter baby. she can bring a smile to my face faster than anyone else. she's funny and truly delightful. I call her my little squish because I could literally squish her cheeks all day long. I am so blessed to have this baby (gulp...toddler) in my life.
4. the gospel of Jesus Christ - what would I be without this in my life?! I love the continuing message of peace, love, and self-improvement the gospel brings into our lives. how truly grateful I am for the atonement.
5. our house - sure, it needs a lot of tlc on the outside and even some areas of the inside. but man, I'm grateful for the monthly payment and hearing emerie squeal every night she goes to bed in her "cool room"!
6. tim's employment - what a giant blessing tim's job has been. we have been blessed, and are grateful for, the fact that we listened to the answer to our prayers many years ago and followed the path we needed to take. it certainly led us to where we are today and we couldn't be happier with his job.
7. health insurances - this could be lumped in with tim's employment, but I felt it deserved it's own. after years and years with the worst insurance imaginable, I still marvel at our insurance now. and it's not just health! there's dental...and vision...and pet.. and the list goes on! very grateful.
8. my new panini maker - oh, such love I have for this little appliance. and the deliciousness it provides for our tummies :)
9. maya - I didnt mean for her to be so far down on my list. truth be told, most days I'm not very grateful for her. but then there are those shining moments where she plays so well with the girls...when she snuggles on my lap, and only my lap, when I'm sick...when strangers tell us we have the cutest dog ever, etc...
10. my hair - call me vain, but it needs to be included on my list. I can usually complain for days about how difficult my hair is. curly/wavy and takes 3-8 hours to dry naturally & an hour by blow dryer. and let's not even go into flat ironing. but...at the end of the day, I love my hair. and I love that it will literally do whatever I want it to. like my recent return to the pixie. watching "once upon a time" made me so envious of snow white's hair and Tim & I both discussed how much we missed my pixie. so back it came and while I know I'll need a cut every 3 weeks, it'll be worth it :)

fact: I am also very grateful for the lovely comments and support I received from so many of you regarding the copyrighted print incident. while I would love to do a post all about the injustice of it all, complaining about people who steal other's creative works, I won't. besides, while my computer is broken, I can't access my print file anyways. but thank you all again for reading and listening to my rants last week. sometimes it helps just to complain, even if I hate doing it. I have amazing friends.

loves to you all,
megan
(written in my iPhone)

blah

2012-01-27T12:22:00.015-07:00

this past week can be summed up with one word: blah.

you see, we've all been sick. mostly me, which is typically the worst when you have two very active toddlers just running circles around you and you can barely breathe out of your nostrils for 2 seconds.

yep. it's been "one of those weeks". and I've had so much to blog about...and I just haven't. and then I got this really great idea yesterday that I needed to do blog posts featuring the girls - an all about them since it's been awhile since I've done that. but this is not it.

oh, and our computer broke. just...broke. no worries, everything on the computer was safe - it didn't affect the hard drives. it was the motherboard and/or the processor and it's going to be really expensive to replace them. so I haven't been on the computer in a week (maybe more? time has stood still since then) and that means no commenting on blogs and no reading private blogs...I realize that I could probably do it from my phone, or from tim's laptop in the evening, but I haven't had the energy with all the sickness.

we had to speak in church 2 weeks ago. we had 30 minutes to talk on 2 words: "be resilient". it was...interesting. luckily, we got some help from Tim's youngest sister & brother. they were willing to take the trip down south to visit us & watch the girls while we spoke. we don't know anyone in our new ward well enough to just pass off the kiddos just yet. at least, not well enough that we could be assured that if the girls were crazy, these people would still like us afterwards.

{playing a mean game of jenga saturday night}

{emerie trying to pout until we let her play with us}

I closed my etsy shoppe...for the time being. I was on pinterest this last week & saw a "free printable" going around that was nearly an exact duplicate of a print I had in my shoppe - copyrighted print. I was even more shocked to find out that it came from an LDS-oriented blog. they were passing off the design as their own and giving it away for free - making my print completely unsellable!!! now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for free stuff - especially the free printables that plague the web these days. it's great that people can get cute stuff for free. but to those of us that have worked hard coming up with designs, and then have to watch as they are blatantly copied and distributed for FREE...it's despicable. I was upset & left a comment on the printable, explaining that it was a duplicate of a copyrighted work, with a link to my etsy listing and copyright information. my comment was deleted 10 minutes later. I went to comment again and was informed that I had been blocked from the site. Tim then did the same thing & was blocked as well. a couple of friends did the same thing...and you get the idea. it's been extremely hurtful, not knowing what I can do, and being helpless. it's one thing to have purchased a commercial license and the turn around to sell things as your own - that's the biz. but this is just plain stealing. so I closed the shoppe until I can figure out what to do.

yes, this blog post is full of complaints. just "keepin' it real", which seems so popular these days. really, I hate complaining. but this has been my life this last while. that, and I don't handle sickness well. the first few days, fine. after that I get cranky. so I apologize.

in better news, the girls are as darling as ever.

emerie started dance again. this time, we tried a different dance studio and it is wonderful. we have both loved it. it's strictly ballet, but I believe a good foundation in ballet will prepare emerie for anything else she'd like to explore. the only downside has been the fact that it's right after school on Tuesday's. Tuesday's have suddenly become so busy I barely have time to breathe. it's nice...except when I'm feeling under the weather. :) emerie loves her dance class and has been really great...until this last week when she could not control her talking. in dance, they teach the girls to "be still" - something that emerie could use, honestly. emerie came out of dance class and told me that her teacher told her "this is not talking time, this is listening time." the girl never stops talking - from the time she wakes up until the time she finally falls asleep at night.

{posing}

{the girls must wear buns to dance...and this is my first attempt}

avalynn is our little ham. not after the food, but because of her funny personality. she will just break out these funny faces to make us laugh. she understands when one of us is feeling down, and she does something funny to make us laugh. it's hilarious & oh-so-wonderful. what a sweet little squish.

{silly faces}

{reading books - our girls love to read!}

oh, and these little darlings of ours love each other very much. that makes life easier, knowing how much they love playing together. Tim and I are already planning on a shared room for when ava graduates from her crib and I wish that day would hurry up - I can't even imagine the cuteness that will ensue.

{cuddling on the couch...this is right after emerie told ava how much she loved her}

{and this is just because I took 15 pictures of the moment}

I guess that's it...except these randoms from instagram that need to be on the blog:

{happy to see grampa}

{when daddy is in charge of bathtime!}

{some darling new clothes that make me squeal with their cuteness}

loves to you all,
megan
{written on my iPhone}

nom nom

2012-01-14T17:35:00.001-07:00

no. we did not make new year resolutions. guilty as charged.

we're not really resolution people. we're constantly working on personal things, trying to better ourselves, our life, and our home. but nothing written down or really official.

with that said, one thing we've been working on for a few months now is planning a menu AND (drum roll, please)... eating the leftovers! we are terrible at eating leftovers, so my menus in the past have always ended too soon and food has been wasted. so we've done a much better job of planning ahead and eating all the food! I never realized how great it would feel to be less wasteful!

thanks to pinterest and a lot of my own concoctions, we've had yummy meals all the time. I've already posted pictures of some of my favorites in prior posts and I posted more below.

every dinner gets 2-3 days eating time. and we're not worried about getting sick of eating the same thing 2-3 nights in a row. instead, we switch it up with breakfast and lunch each day. that kind of food just lasts better, (in general) anyways.

Tim always makes menu planning easy for Friday nights. as long as I can remember, Friday is reserved for pizza night. it can be ordered, frozen, or homemade. but Friday night deserves "coke, pizza, & a movie" - Tim quote. (in case you ever had a burning desire to know what we do nearly every friday without fail...wink).

I try to be fancier with Sunday meals since it was always that way growing up. Sunday meals were elaborate feasts and while I'm not quite to the feast stage of my life, I definitely take more time.

the rest of the week is constantly a work in process (as with any goal), but we've done so well so far! (yayyy)

do we ever cheat? heck yes. we love our food (as evidenced by this dedicated food post) and that includes eating out. a recent favorite was a trip to smashburger. yum. (thanks holli!) and now there's a culvers right down the road from us, which spells trouble with their yummy cheese curds. but we've kept eating out to a minimum & that feels good!

loves to you all,
megan xo

the simple things

2012-01-14T16:07:00.001-07:00

a matching game...

- visiting the "up" house in herriman after watching the movie as a family. I'm a little bummed I didn't know it was still an open house and we went just after it closed. still incredible and I'm wondering if I can have the "up" house built for me on the beach in SoCal? heaven.

- emerie's spotlight at school. her birthday was during christmas break, but they didn't forget about her! she was so darling and smiley and it is a memory I won't be forgetting anytime soon. I have a child old enough to be in preschool? it's still weird to think about.

- every morning, when I make our bed, ava attacks the pillows with her cuteness. it's such a fun little game and we all giggle - a lot.

- daddy & emerie cuddles are the best. well, so are daddy & ava cuddles. so, pretty much, any time I see the girls with their dad, I have the urge to snap a pic.

- the girls cuddling with us = heaven. I love our cuddly girls.

- I'm in primary! and I couldn't be happier. I'm the new sunbeams teacher and while there have been a few ups & downs already, I love teaching those 3 year olds every week. primary is just the best place to be and I'm thrilled. and tim has a new calling with genealogy and indexing. it's been very exciting.

- emerie playing with her toys has hit a new level of enjoyment for us as her parents. I'm looking forward to imaginary friends and it's been so fun to watch her dress up her toys and "mother" them all day. she especially liked wearing glasses & letting her tita try them on.

- watching "tangled" and emerie insisting on riding her Maximus stuffed animal.

- a big package of goodies from Sarah Jane. her illustrations makes me happy :)

- our fhe activity quickly turned into a "horsie riding" experience - with ava riding emerie! they were both giggling so hard, their laughter was contagious.

loves to you,
megan

a very merry 3rd birthday!

2012-01-08T15:55:00.036-07:00

emerie had her 3rd birthday party on saturday.
she requested a tea party with her friends.
and so I took that and added a little "alice in wonderland" to it,
since it's a favorite around our house.

{our little emerie in wonderland}

{cute little miss ava, always on the move now}

{sisters}

{and emerie curtsying...the best picture of the day}

emerie invited all of her little friends to her tea party,
as well as gramma & grampa.
this was her first "friend" party and I was extremely nervous.
since emerie specifically requested a friend party this year,
we jumped in with both feet.
decorations were mostly thrifted or handmade...or very creatively put together.
;)

{the entire room-at-a-glance}

{some of my very favorite pieces}

friends were asked not to bring presents,
that their presence was simply requested.
especially since some of the invites were being passed out
to kids in our new ward and her nursery class.
(and so many of them showed up! how nice!)
they were also asked to dress as their favorite princess or super hero.
parents were invited to stay, but they were welcome to leave
& return later.

we had yummy food -
all of which were emerie's favorites.
(except for the sandwiches...that was just because I figured others
would want something more substantial than what emerie usually likes to eat).

{ham + cheese and pb&j}

{the table}

{goldfish! whole wheat cheese + chocolate are emerie's favorites}

{grapes! we go through so many grapes in our house}

{lunch!}

after lunch, we pulled out the crafts.
we made mini mad hatter hats &
while I was busy hot gluing everything the kids had picked,
they were busy coloring "alice" coloring pages.

{craft table}

{making hats}

{setting things up}

{coloring pages}

{finished product & a great party favor}

after crafts, we opened gifts.
people didn't listen, but I'm not complaining.
it was extremely sweet of them to bring something for our little queen.
emerie received clothes, dress up stuff, activity books,
a tea set, a magnadoodle, and treats.
she loved it all and has been playing non-stop!

after gifts, we did the requested mini- donuts
& a beautiful ruffle cake (thanks alicia!)
and they were both a hit!
such yummy treats.

{beautiful & delicious ruffle cake}

{sooooo many mini donuts}

{decorated}

the party lasted almost two hours and we all had a lot of fun.
afterwards, the girls enjoyed all the balloons &
then got so tired, they just passed out on the floor.

emerie is the oldest in her nursery class,
(I know they have to have a cutoff date, but it's still odd)
and so she's looking forward a lot of her friends having parties soon!

I think we're still adjusting to the fact that we have a 3 year old.
I have baby pictures of emerie hanging in my office
and it just doesn't even seem like the same little girl anymore.
so grown up
we're getting so old.
;)
happy birthday, emerie!
we love you!

♥

three

2012-01-03T10:56:00.001-07:00

I'm still in shock. our little queen turned three yesterday. three. three years old.

she's having her little friend tea party on saturday, but we still wanted to make her birthday special. birthdays are always a big deal around our house and I hope our eldest felt important.

she woke up and we told her she could wear whatever she wanted, all day long. she chose her Alice in wonderland dress up first.

then it was gift time. she finally got her rapunzel doll - and let me tell you, that was NOT the easiest gift to get. she was thrilled and immediately wanted to brush her hair.

we made mini donuts for breakfast with my new mini donut maker - a christmas gift from my secret santa (thanks meghann). emerie also requested bacon, a new favorite food. we take what we can get with her!

there was a change of clothes - "play clothes" as emerie called them. with her fancy pink ballet flats. naturally.

the dinner & cake request was pizza (with breadsticks) and more mini donuts. this meant another hour spent in the kitchen baking, glazing, and decorating. if I never see another mini donut again, I'll be happy. too bad she requested them at her party, too.

we received a surprise visit from my aunt, uncle, and gram. they came bearing gifts because they're not able to come to her party on Saturday. she loves her new jewelry box filled with new goodies to wear for dress up.

after they left, it was gift #2 time. another doll from the disney store. emerie and I just fell in love with these dolls when we saw them, so I'm slowly getting them for the girls.

emerie got to stay up a little later than usual, eat more mini donuts, and play with her new toys some more. she's so excited for her party on Saturday. months & months ago she requested a "tea party with my little friends". hopefully it lives up to her expectations :).

we love our little queen! here's to many more fabulous birthdays!

I'm blogging from my phone again & I don't know how to move the pictures around (is it even possible?). for now, enjoy these pictures!

a december recap

2011-12-31T11:38:00.001-07:00

clever title, right?!

we're also counting this as weeks 50-52 on my 52 weeks of pictures.
soooo glad that is over with!

wasn't december just fun?
I personally enjoyed every second of it.
it was really nice to unplug for the month.
it's also going to be near impossible to get back into the swing of things like:

reading emails.
responding to emails.
emerie's birthday.
emerie's birthday party.
preschool.
dance.
tim going back to work.
housework.
an appropriate bedtime.
making the bed.
grocery shopping with the girls by myself.
limiting the girls to only one movie a day.
my google reader.
playdates.

*sigh*

for now I'm going to reminisce about the
wonderfulness
that was december...

{why hello, iphone 4s! I was long overdue for a phone upgrade and after much deliberation, decided to get this little beauty. it's been a champ so far and I've been enjoying it. my last blog post, about christmas, was actually written entirely from my phone! and I've been loving the ability to pin things from my phone to pinterest. yep, I'm nerdy like that.}

{yup, ava's hair fits in pigtails. this girl has so much hair I literally don't know what to do with it. she actually needs a trim badly and that's brand new territory, considering emerie was 2 years old before her first trim}

{I fixed the girls' hair curly one day and to our utter surprise, ava's hair had the hardest time curling...which is to say, it really didn't. what?! this girl was born with tight black curls all over her head! now it's straighter than a nail. emerie's hair, on the other hand, curled so easily and her hair bounced when she walked. it was darling.}

{more pigtails}

{glazed pork loin recipe from pinterest. I would link to it if I wasn't so lazy. one of my favorite things about this month was all the yummy food I made and how we finished ALL the leftovers. amazing, I tell ya.}

{the tree. tim and I sat by it every single evening and basked in it's loveliness. seriously, though.}

{one thing I'm especially enjoying is a little app called instagram. I've been having so much fun with all the different camera effects - y'all know how much I enjoy those (my holga & diana are proof of that) and it's been a lot of fun!}

{one of the best christmas gifts EVER. thanks to my lovely hubs that finally got me the shirt I've been wanting for the longest time.}

{monkey got sent to timeout by emerie. she's such a little mommy.}

{emerie with her pretty picture}

{why yes, that is the laziest dog ever. cute little maya. so sorry she rarely makes appearances on the blog.}

{emerie wanted a picture with mommy, and daddy needed a picture with ava. we were more than happy to oblige}

{legwarmers for the christmas gift win!}

{this picture makes me giggle every time I see it.}

{shamu the whale took all of emerie's favorite toys for a ride one afternoon. this was monkey's turn}

{tim got food poisoning the night before his winter break. so the first day of winter break was spent fairly sick. this was the girls' attempt at making him feel better. I'm sure it worked.}

{so walmart sells fresh flowers for rather cheap...so I've been enjoying fresh flowers on my table every day. these little beauties have been alive for over 2 weeks now}

{the daddy + ava pic}

{cuddles from a croupy baby. the day after christmas, ava had a nasty cough. so the next day we took her into the doctor and found out she had croup & an ear infection. poor baby. we wouldn't have known she was sick except for that pesky cough.}

{we left oreos for santa this year because I was too tired to do anything else. but emerie didn't mind in the slightest. she especially liked all the leftovers.}

{diet coke = happiness}

{a little sneak peek into emerie's 3rd birthday party}

{part of our christmas card wall. the wall was really packed 2 days after christmas ;)}

{we have two cabinets with chalkboard paint on it. and I love it. I get to do fun things on my kitchen cabinets! clever, clever.}

{sweet angel ava. she really is such an angel.}

other updates from december?
since this is a recap and all...

- emerie doesn't nap anymore. kill.me.now. no, it's not that bad. instead, I've forced her to have "quiet time" every day for at least one hour of ava's nap. she'll usually choose to read books or play on the nook for that hour. and I still get stuff done the same as I would otherwise.

- ava literally started walking overnight. she had been taking steps for about 2 months now, the most being 10 steps consecutively. then suddenly, about 3 weeks ago, she started walking across the room. and across two rooms. until, before christmas, she was just walking. everywhere. she's even running. that part has been a little scary because she's not stable yet, but she runs and then falls - and falls into stuff like our tv stand. or the wall. I was grateful for the time it took her to walk. it really is different for every child - emerie was walking at 9 months. and I wanted to die. ava took longer and now our home is far more chaotic. it's so fun watching these little ones grow at their own pace.

- tim has had a glorious "winter break". it started the 22nd and goes until the 3rd. he's not used to not keeping super busy, so every day has been filled with around-the-house projects. it's been nice having him home and the girls have been in heaven. both parents doting on them all.day.long. it's always nice to have more time with him because we all love him so much. we are continually grateful for his job. no more around-the-clock traveling has been such a blessing.

happy new year's eve, everyone!
looking forward to the new year!

♥

merry & bright...christmas 2011

2011-12-29T18:29:00.008-07:00

christmas eve was spent at my aunt & uncle's house. every year they have this tradition of making monkey bread (aka cinnamon pull aparts) the night before so all you need to do christmas morning is turn on your oven. it was so much fun and I'm waiting on pictures from my uncle who caught all the action with his camera. emerie had so much fun helping in the kitchen. ava loved showing off her new walking skills and we all enjoyed each other's company.

christmas eve night was spent playing santa's elves and I think that was the highlight of mine & tim's christmas. this time of year truly is better with the little ones around.

christmas morning was spent with happy, giggling children and I still can't help but smile when I think about it. we always keep christmas low-key as far as presents are concerned.

christmas afternoon was spent at church and I was extremely proud we made it on time. but the christmas program was beautiful and it was a nice way to remind our children of the reason for the season.

after church we headed north for christmas dinner celebrations with tim's family. time with them never disappoints. dinner was yummy. tim's parents always outdo themselves with gifts and we were all pleased with our spoils. we had planned ahead of time to spend them night so we didn't have to make the trip home so late and it was great just waking up and continuing our celebration with them the next day. to say the girls love their grandparents is an understatement and so extra time with them was appreciated. :)

now for some cheery pictures :)

loves,
megan

christmas advent days 18-24

2011-12-28T13:13:00.014-07:00

day eighteen

{read about Jesus}

day nineteen
{make treats for neighbors}

day twenty
{take treats to neighbors}

day twenty-one
{drive around to see the christmas lights}

day twenty-two
{supposed to be build a snowman - moved from earlier...but now snow...so emerie saw this little movie gem and had to have it}

day twenty-three
{watch 'white christmas' & share a treat}

day twenty-four
{open up christmas eve pj's & read 'the night before christmas'}

I think it's safe to say we kept busy this holiday season & as a result, the month flew by.
before we knew it, christmas was here in all it's glory & we loved every minute of it.

I will have a separate post for christmas eve + christmas day festivities with our families.
in fact, I have a lot of catching up to do and hopefully I will get it done before the new year!

we hope you all had a lovely holiday season!

♥

christmas advent days 11-17

2011-12-19T09:47:00.011-07:00

day eleven
{christmas nursery lesson}

day twelve
{make a christmas craft}

day thirteen
{watch a christmas movie}
(yes, we have done this - but we have so many movies to watch, that I had to put a few of these on the calendar)

day fourteen
{take daddy to lunch}

day fifteen
{take your teachers a christmas gift}

day sixteen
{go see the holiday lights at thanksgiving point electric park}

day seventeen
{temple square}

♥

christmas advent days 5-10

2011-12-11T15:15:00.001-07:00

day five
{watch a christmas movie + eat a treat}

day six
{buy a new christmas album & listen to it}

day seven
{make a treat & take to a friend}

day eight
{build a snowman}
we had no snow, so we made due
day nine
{read the polar express}
day ten
{go sledding}
again, no snow (gee thanks utah weather)
& emerie and I were both sick anyways
so we spent the day cleaning & decorating the house...
more.

♥

weeks 46-49

2011-12-08T12:37:00.023-07:00

I don't even have to say that I'm a slacker anymore.
Everyone knows it.
But I'm going to say it anyways,
because it makes me feel a tiny bit better.
Tiny bit.
{#46: a girl + her dog}

{#47: the program from emerie's "christmas sing" concert - she knew all of those songs!}

{#48: a really good white board drawing}

{#49: ava checking out all the peoples}

***
ok, ok...so I didn't technically take a new picture each of these weeks.
I'm totally cheating.
All of these pictures are from today,
of Emerie's "christmas sing" concert at school.
The last 3 were all taken before we needed to start recording the cutest video ever
-of the actual performance-

And the first picture was taken when we got home.
Apparently Emerie was worn out from all that singing & excitement,
and crashed on the couch with her puppy maya by her side
-this entire afternoon-

Emerie has been enjoying preschool SO much,
and we recently received her quarterly "progress chart"
-she's doing so well!-

And here's the video from her Christmas program
-meant only for grandparents-
I won't judge if you skip it
:)

♥

christmas advent days 1-4

2011-12-05T11:22:00.016-07:00

day one
{make christmas cookies & hot chocolate}

day two
{color a christmas picture}

day three
{visit santa claus}

day four
{read luke 2 & play with nativity set}

we are loving our christmas activity advent calendar!

♥

the tree

2011-12-05T11:21:00.008-07:00

the tree.
finished & decorated.

and brown paper packages, tied up with string!
these are a few of my favorite things.

♥

november recap

2011-12-02T08:56:00.028-07:00

Why, hello there.
Yes, I am the world's worst blogger.
November flew by and while I think I had plenty of excuses,
I really didn't.
When we're busy, I should be documenting more.
Oh well.
Here's the recap,
very scattered & poorly written:

- I've had quite a bit of pain for awhile now and Tim finally forced me to go see my doctor. My symptoms were a bit unusual, but intense.
After a urine sample & blood work, nothing told my doctor what was wrong. So she did a pelvic exam and while doing so, my doctor felt a lump on one of my ovaries. She was concerned because I have a vast history of breast cancer in my family and breast cancer closely links to ovarian cancer. She also said that it could be ovarian cysts and since the pain was so great, I would likely need surgery. So she scheduled another round of blood work (for thyroid testing) and a pelvic/upper abdomen ultrasound.
To say I worried Tim would be an understatement. That night we did our research and found that ovarian cancer can often be overlooked, so that worried Tim even more. But we put it out of our minds and moved on.

- We've decided against going to San Diego. While we were visiting San Diego to look for homes, Tim told me that he wants more children. That's something that we wouldn't feel great about in SoCal because it's so expensive. AND we would need to stay in Utah for more kids because my doctor knows my "fertility & child-birthing history" and has told us that since last year when we were told that I couldn't have more children, she can help us through it & has done her research. I still wasn't exactly set on that idea. I had recently had a miscarriage, but it wasn't something we were terribly upset about. We weren't trying to have kids, and it was completely unexpected. So I thought we had kinda dismissed it and moved on.
Upon arriving back in Utah, and after the weekend, Adobe announced that it is moving the San Diego office and within 5 years (possibly sooner), that office will be closed and those people will either have to transfer to Orem (where Tim is now) or San Jose. Tim had been told that he could either do SoCal, San Jose, or stay where he is for this promotion. We entertained the idea of Northern California, but it was even more expensive than the areas in Southern California that we were looking into, so we passed.
It took me a long time to accept the fact that I won't be living in nice weather. That I won't be able to visit the beach whenever I want to. That we can have a discounted annual Disneyland pass. And while Tim could still go to San Diego, we would have to come back soon. And honestly, I don't think I could come back to Utah after living in Southern California. Too bad Tim loves his job, right? ;)

- We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with great family. I made a peach cobbler pie and it was my first solo-attempt at a pie, ever. I don't think it was even touched, but hey. It certainly wasn't a pretty pie, but Tim said it tasted good.
I love Thanksgiving, but even more than that, I love Black Friday shopping. A lot of people were talking about how it's encroaching on Thanksgiving more and more - like with the places opening at midnight. But honestly, I enjoyed it. I can stay up later much easier than wake up super early. Bring on the midnight madness shopping. We scored some good deals at Best Buy & Carters. Yes, I went to Carters. And it was a blast!

{Ava on Thanksgiving. She's wearing the same dress that Emerie wore for her first thanksgiving...even though this is Ava's 2nd}
{my attempt at pies}

- To make a very long story short, we moved. It was sudden and very unexpected. A bit of a challenge, but overall a good thing.
While we were looking for new places, I told Tim I required an old house that was either renovated already or something we could do ourselves - especially since I didn't get the beach. Lucky for him, we found a darling little cottage in an old part of town. It still needs some work & tlc, but I love it. Tim loves it, too. Who knew he was so into old houses?! We had always talked about how fun it would be, but I didn't actually know how much he would love an old house. We've had newer houses for awhile now and Tim doesn't enjoy them much. But an old house?! I think it's safe to say that we love it's personality. And the girls even get cool rooms that we feel kinda like giants in, with slanted ceilings. We're having a blast. Still unpacking & settling in (will it ever end?), but it's still fun. And we have a huge yard with large trees. Anyways...we're excited.
Right now we're leasing it - it's a lease to own option. The girl who owns it just went through a divorce and she just wanted out without the hassle. So that's why she put it up as lease-to-own. Hey, I'm game. It's cheap & good-sized & we couldn't pass it up!

{it looks little but it's got 4 bedrooms! it's so cute}

- In the middle of the move, I had my ultrasound. I got the results back and the radiologist reported that I had at least 2 ovarian cysts that recently burst. I shouldn't be in any pain anymore, the bloating should stop (I gained 10 pounds in bloat over a 3 week time period...NOT good for my self-esteem), I should get back to my normal eating habits (you gain weight but don't feel like eating EVER...how does that work?!), etc...
Well, none of those things had/have stopped. In fact, two days this week have been the worst pain of this experience so far. So I talked to my doctor some more about it and she said that if things aren't better by this weekend, we'll have to run more tests. I don't know what tests, but more tests.

- Even though I can't find all my dishes, we have nothing hanging on the walls, and boxes fill my house still, I had to put up Christmas stuff. So one night we completely devoted ourselves to it. We had to have our advent calendar up, ready for us to start our "activities". But that deserves a separate post entirely.

{mr.advent santa}

{the stockings were hung on the wall with care}

{the tree...lit, but not yet decorated}

- I have missed the internet. More than I should, for sure. But today, since Ava is napping early & my other child is quietly reading books, I took advantage. Oh how I've missed my blog, my google reader (though, again, not going to catch up anytime soon), and pinterest!

Hope everyone is having a fun holiday season!

♥

gratitude

2011-11-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

so grateful today for my little family

these girls make everything better
and so does my wonderful husband
we are so blessed.

happy thanksgiving.

♥

randomly being random

2011-11-17T09:21:00.049-07:00

time has just flown by.
I couldn't even believe it had been so long in between posts.

...
remember those 189 blog posts I needed to catch up on?
the number jumped to 376.
and I stopped reading.
starting today, I vow to be better.
those 376 are gone and I'm starting fresh.

...
tv is pretty important to tim and I.
maybe I shouldn't be admitting that, but too bad.
judge away.
but a sweet spot of every day is after the girls have gone to bed,
and before we go to bed.
we just get to cuddle and veg out on our comfy couch, in our comfy pjs,
and laugh, cry (ok, so I may be the only person crying),
or yell in excitement: "ohhhhh! no they didn't!"
so we are currently watching: the new girl, raising hope, the office, the big bang theory, revenge, modern family, the vampire diaries, and felicity on netflix.
we dumped glee.
you may think that's a lot (and that's fine), but without commercials, most of those shows are like 20 minutes long.
anyways, they are all super enjoyable and now the "mid-season finales" have come and I'm kinda sad.
thank you netflix for saving the in-between time.

...
ava has been teething lately.
she has 4 teeth coming in on the top.
yowza's.
to say she's been uncomfortable and fussy is an understatement.
I want my happy baby back!
monday we had to visit 3 grocery stores in 1 trip and it was m.i.s.e.r.a.b.l.e.
usually it's great, and the girls sitting next to each in the cart is adorable.
but this week - with miss unhappy - we barely made it home alive.

{we had to break out the baby bjorn, even though ava is technically too big for it now. she wouldn't let us do much of anything without holding her and it was impossible to do anything. thank heavens for the baby bjorn}

...
I tried my first red velvet donut this week.
it was heavenly.
{thanks holli}.
and then we tried pumpkin spice donuts, too.
the girls loved the donut run.
:)

...
christmas time is so different with kids.
I still don't condone christmas movies or music until after thanksgiving,
but it has been tons of fun planning gifts for the girls.
and secretly hiding them around the house in spots I hope they don't find.
we've also been wrapping gifts so that it's not trouble if the girls happen to find them.
and I've been busy planning our advent calendar,
with a little help from pinterest.
I'm excited for the reveal in a short while.

{first wrapped present of the season!}

...
bedtime is my favorite part of the day.
no, it's not because the girls are going to bed.
because, truth be known, I miss them whenever we're apart.
sad, maybe, but true.
they're my best little girl friends.
{tangent ended}
I love bedtime because I think there is nothing better than bath time.
the girls laughing and playing happily.
and then getting them snuggled in warm jammies.
emerie saying family prayers.
and reading a little book together.
best.time.ever.

...
I had my first peppermint hot chocolate of the season
and it was perfection.
{thanks timmy}.
and then we've had several since.
:)

...
tim & I gave each other early christmas gifts already.
I got some amazing boots -
had to have them early so I could wear them throughout the winter!
tim got a nook simple touch e-reader.
the girls & I owed him since the girls unofficially took over his nook color tablet
after our trip to st. george in july...
and since the disneyland trip...
let's just say it's definitely theirs.
tim could no longer claim it was his with disney princess movies
and kids games + books cluttering it.
and he got it early because I got my boots early.
fair trade.
:)

{tim's new nook}

{the girls' nook + tablet}

{the new boots! please don't laugh too hard at the candid, weird picture. sadly, this was better than the non-candids}

...
christmas cards arrived!
and thus the process of
folding, stuffing, addressing, stamping, and sending
begins.
please email me {megan@gelter.com} your address if you want a card!

...
I got yet another haircut to even up my hair.
the reason I started growing out my hair in the first place
was because my hair grows an inch to two inches every 4 weeks.
seriously.
I just couldn't keep it short anymore.
I was getting a haircut every 3 -4 weeks maximum to keep my pixie.
well now my hair is struggling because the back of my hair grows like crazy.
and the front grows at a nice, average pace.
so I get a she-mullet.
hopefully this nice a-line will take care of it,
and I can stop chopping off all my hair every month.
{sorry no picture}.

...
I made some felt bows for the girls' hair + gift wrapping this year.
they were super easy + super fun!

...
so glad thanksgiving is almost here.
we have so much to be thankful for.
{happy turkey + giving thanks day}.

♥

the missed stuff (& weeks 44-45)

2011-11-09T13:11:00.001-07:00

some missed pictures:

{#44: I got out my camera and emerie yelled, "take a picture of me, mom!" - and since that rarely happens, I took advantage.}

{#45: these were found on pinterest and were a huge hit around our house! peanut butter cheerio treats is what I'm calling them}

and some missed news:

- we finally got ava's stats from the doctor:

height: 27 inches
(3rd percentile)
weight: 17.7 pounds
(5th percentile)
head: 17.7 inches
(46th percentile)

so she's on the small side. I was drilled by her doctor & a med student about the nutrition she receives, but once I told them that she eats all.day.long & she eats everything we give her, they relaxed. her doctor remembered that she was born small and she believes that's just how it will be. it's not like tim & I are giants by any means, so we have small & short children. and that's ok. ava is healthy & happy and that's enough to celebrate.

- ava took her first steps a week or two ago. I actually can't remember exactly thanks to our mini-trip to san diego. I'm not really ready for two toddlers and I've loved how ava has been so relaxed and has taken everything slow. emerie was the exact opposite, with her first steps at 9 months. it was insane and I'm really happy not to be repeating that. I still think ava could hold off a little longer and I'd be happy. her doctor pointed out to me that it was hilarious to see how small ava was - and she was just standing and walking around.

- the girls have caught every single illness that has been thrown their way. I feel so bad, because it's partially my fault. dumb genes. both girls have year-round allergies just like their mama, and that means we catch everything because our sinuses are nearly always clogged. we've been stuck inside far too often already, and we're not even in the thick of winter yet. so a lot of our "free time" has been spent NOT going to playgroup, playdates, or out for fun. we've been cuddled under blankets, in lots of layers, eating lots of goldfish + pizza, watching movies, and reading books.

- tim finished his scheduled school classes early...so he's actually going to accelerate. he was able to just test out of two of his classes and that freed up a lot of time. the semester isn't over until december, so he can fit in another class or two. I'm really proud of him - he's able to work full time, do online classes full time, and he still spends so much time with us girls. we're lucky to have him.

- it's christmas card time! send me an email or facebook message and I can show you all the templates I have available this year. I don't like to charge friends for the design fee, so you only have to pay for printing. once I receive mine in the mail (any day now!) I'll post pictures so you can see your options.

- ava woke up this morning and when she didn't see emerie right away she started asking, "emmm?" until she saw emerie - then she started squealing and yelling, "emmm!". it pretty much made my day - what a great way to start your morning!

hope you enjoyed the randomness that is our life
:)

♥

preceded by chaos

2011-11-07T11:35:00.005-07:00

{found this lovely on pinterest}

that pretty much sums up our life at the moment.
currently I have 14 windows open on my browser of homes in socal.
on top of scouring pages and pages of home information -
rentals, sales, prices, beds, baths, square footage,neighborhoods, pets ok -
I have been doing 5 loads of laundry,
taking care of 2 beautiful girls,
making beds,
cleaning bathrooms,
and trying to find time to breathe.

also trying to find the time to:
read countless (189 to be exact) blog posts on my google reader,
and maybe a little catch up on pinterest.
no, those last two are not necessary, but oh so fun.
and maybe a little necessary for my sanity today.

our mini trip to san diego was semi-successful.
realtors can be the worst people on the planet.
depending on who you talk to, 3 months is the longest time ever,
or the shortest time of your life.
spending time away from my girls was painful.
family willing to watch whiney + sick babies is wonderful.
having time alone with my hubby was a little bit of heaven.
and soaking in a hot tub for the first time in 3 years was ah-mazing.

more to come!

♥

this is halloween

2011-10-31T10:15:00.000-06:00

...{this is halloween. pumpkins scream in the dead of night}...
that little tune is currently my ringtone and I love it.

I love this holiday. More than any other. Before you start thinking that I'm some weirdo, let me explain and defend myself -
I do love Christmas.
It is a really, really, really close second.
But Halloween is the favorite.
I love fall.
I love October.
I love dressing up.
I love dressing my kids up.
I love all the trick or treating.
All the parties.
All the candy.
It's my favorite time of year.
Maybe after we move to southern california, I'll start to like Christmas time more. But I really, really, really hate snow.
And that is the deal breaker my friends.

I felt like I needed that little introduction to this post, because we have been crazy busy with Halloween goodness.
Because of my love for the holiday + season, I have kept us pretty busy with halloween + fall fun.

cornbelly's corn maze:
did you know that my husband had never been to a corn maze before? EVER? I didn't know that either until the beginning of this month and so it was imperative we go to one. And who knew all the fun stuff they had over at Thanksgiving Point?! Too bad we picked the coldest day (it was 40 degrees when we went...with terrible wind). We kind of rushed through everything to save our poor freezing children (and ourselves). After the corn maze we stopped at a local favorite, JCW's, and pigged out on the goodness.

{there was a princess area - of course emerie loved it}

{before entering his first corn maze!}

{they had fun little attractions everywhere}

{bundled}

adobe halloween hoorah:
Tim's work does an awesome halloween party every year. It's a really big deal and the entire office transforms into several different themes and it's a trick or treating haven. I didn't get any pictures of the building inside because we were having too much fun. The girls got to dress up for the first time and I even had to dress up. I was so busy concerning myself with what the girls costumes were going to be and look like that I didn't even think about Tim & I. For his work party, he & his floor were dressed up like 'Men In Black' agents - so that took some of the stress off of me. I just grabbed my old high school powder puff jersey and threw it on. I felt pretty silly all day, but it was still a lot of fun.

{they hired people to come entertain the line...we were at the very front of the line, but some people stood in line to enter the building for over 2 hours!!!}

{ava's little lady bug for her wrist}

{emerie's flower}

{tim wanted a picture of us at the front of the line...ava is a bit upset with him at the moment because he tried to get a cliff hanger from her nose}

{us}

boo at the zoo:
boo at the zoo is a family tradition of ours. We started going when Emerie was just 10 months old and we've been going every year since. This year was year 3. It rained the first year we went and it's been bitter cold the last 2, but it's worth it. Emerie loves it and I think Ava even appreciated it this year (I think she especially appreciated her hour nap while we were there). My bff Holli + her family joined us, as well as Tim's dad, sister, and brother. Considering this was our last year attending, it was important to our little family that we go and continue this tradition.

{the tigers were extremely active}

{emerie wanted her picture by the scarecrow, but she didn't want to get too close}

{we made sure ava was all bundled}

{the carousel - both girls adored it}

{"wow...giraffes are so tall. they're so big. they're so silly!"}

{emerie + grampa}

{devanee + micah and the creepy mime that was scaring all the children}

{the giraffes were out as well}

{the 3 amigos}

{emerie was so excited to see the baby elephant}

{devanee with her mini-me emerie}

{holli + sweet ben...the cutest little chick!}

{buzz, spiderman, and snow white}

ward halloween party:
I forgot my camera for the ward halloween party. But there was a chili cook-off and a dessert bake-off. And then a carnival for the kids. Most of the carnival games weren't suited for the little kids, so after 2 we had to go home, but it was still a lot of fun.

There were 4 other snow white's there - by far the most popular princess we've seen this halloween other than rapunzel. You'd think that this would make Emerie upset (like it did with most of the other little snow white's we saw), but it didn't. She would get so excited to see someone else wearing "a snow white dress, like me! is she snow white like me?" It was pretty cute.

halloween trick or treat:
so, if it isn't obvious by now, Emerie wanted to be snow white - she started asking for it around July. That's a long 4 months to wait to wear her costume. We bought her costume while we were at Disneyland just because she couldn't contain her excitement when she saw the snow white dress + accessories.

Ava was an owl - and the cutest owl I ever did see. Actually, Ava's "animal" became the owl because of this costume. I saw it last year while we were purchasing Emerie's bee costume and I told Tim, "I need that costume for this baby girl inside me." We agreed that it could wait until this Halloween - not last year when she was too little to really wear anything.

Tonight we'll be going around our neighborhood and leaving a bowl of candy on our porch. Neither of us wanted to miss the trick or treating, so we figured when the candy is gone, it's gone. And if it's all gone, that's way better for our figures anyways. :)

{the only semi-decent shot of them together}

tomorrow is emerie's dress up day at school.

I'm volunteering in the classroom
and I'm so excited for the costume parade!
hope everyone has a spooky day!

happy halloween!!!

♥

first year done, ava turned one!

2011-10-25T12:41:00.001-06:00

I still can't believe my baby girl turned ONE.
I know, I know - it's so cliche to say that.
But this year went by so fast!
It's been an absolute whirlwind of joy.

So I wanted Ava's first birthday party to be extra special.
Because she is extra special.
And I just love planning parties.

If anyone follows my pinterest account,
you'd know that I had planned an owl party for Ava from the get-go.
But other than the thought of, "I want owls", I vacillated terribly.

Until one day, I was snuggling my baby girl in the owl rag quilt I made her.
And I decided that was the theme.
A rag quilt.
I based everything around her rag quilt.
And I think it turned out pretty cute.

Of course, I couldn't have done it myself.
I love planning parties, but I'm not wonder woman.
I had some amazing help from some amazing friends.
Thanks to Alicia for the super duper cute cake pops.
And thanks to Holli & her mom for the perfect wood owl cutouts.

We celebrated over 3 different days and we were so happy so many people wanted to celebrate with our sweet little Ava.

Now, how about some party pics?! :)

october 15th:

{we were celebrating my gram's birthday and they surprised ava with a few early birthday gifts. she really loved them}

{her first cell phone at 1 year old. heaven help us.}

october 17th:

{emerie gifted ava with this princess ride-on toy, but I think emerie was more excited about the possibility of ava sharing it with her}

{cake from tucanos...yes, I was a lazy mama the day of ava's birthday. we ate dinner at tucanos and I refused to make a cake. I was doing so much for her actual party that I wanted a nice, relaxed birthday day.}

{daddy & daughters outside tucanos}

october 22nd:

{silverware + veggie cups}

{grilled cheese + tomato soup}

{gift table}

{the "kids" table}

{red velvet + yellow cake pops and pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting...yummy!}

{the cake pops from alicia - they were d.a.r.l.i.n.g}

{first cupcake}

{can you see those wood owl cutouts? aren't they so perfect?}

{ava loved her grilled cheese + soup}

{emerie drank soooo much lemonade}

{emerie's bff mateo}

{handsome hubs}

{tim stole my camera and then stalked me for awhile...if you can believe it, this is the only semi-decent one. yikes}

{the only picture of me with my best friend holli...what the?! we need to remedy this. too bad we both despise pictures}

{sweet baby boy ben}

{ava had tried sweets before, unlike emerie, so cake time was awesome. she just shoveled it in}

{messy baby}

{all the kids excited for gift time}

{gramma + ava}

{parents + birthday girl}

{gifts! emerie was just as excited as ava was...oh the sibling sharing}

{the three amigos. one day they'll have to let ava + ben join in on their fun}

{ava hugged & hugged this little birthday bear she got...so cute}

I'm so grateful for our friends + family that made Ava's birthday so special!

♥

weeks 40-43

2011-10-23T20:58:00.001-06:00

*sigh*

well, another 3 weeks have gone by and I've forgotten all about that little goal I made at the beginning of 2011.
you know, the one I made about taking a good picture at least once a week with a theme & a purpose?
yep, that one.
I have failed miserably at this project and I think it's safe to say that I'm not.great. when it comes to weekly blog posts.
life happens.
and when life is happening, it means I'm not blogging.
oh well.
I guess it just means that I get to spend the time after life happens blogging about it.

this time, since I have a lot of pictures to catch up on,
and a lot of news in general that I need to catch up on,
I'm going to post those pictures.
and that news.
and make it count.
deal?!
deal.

things come in 3's:

{stitched up emerie}

{tim's cut up burger - how he has to eat meals while dealing with his temporary crown}

so our household as been complete chaos for a few weeks.
I may have mentioned that above. ;)
this last week was no exception.

tim was on call for work.
and while sometimes that means that life is easy going,
and he rarely gets a call,
it can also mean chaos and we can't leave the house without his phone ringing off the hook.
this week was a chaos week.
nearly no sleep.
it was difficult getting anything done.
thursday morning, tim wakes up, brushes his teeth...
and his front tooth crown breaks in half.
he looked like (and I'm using his own words) the kid on the cover of mad magazine.
it was pretty bad and considered a dental emergency.
our dentist doesn't work on thursdays.
so we had to spend half the morning finding one in our area that did.
and then tim had to juggle on call duties with coworkers so he could take an hour off for his dental emergency.

later that evening, I'm cleaning out some potted plants from our backyard.
they were dead and needed tossed in the garbage.
while throwing away one of the potted plants, I was bit by a black widow spider.
it had built a nest under the lip of a pot and when a small part of my thumb brushed the nest, I got bit.
it hurt.
real bad.
real real real bad.
in fact, the bite was the worst part.
it only got one fang into my thumb thanks to the angle.
and I only experienced mild symptoms - no need for an er trip.
nausea, dizziness, dry mouth, and stiff neck.
and my thumb/hand was numb for about 24 hours.
we caught the culprit and suffocated it.

well, we love irony around this house.
tim and I always laugh about "things come in 3's".
whether or not we believe in superstition, it's just a funny way to look at things sometimes.
this was one of those times.
and yes, we received our #3.
the next night, while we were tucking the girls into bed,
emerie was jumping in her bed.
literally.
and when she came down from a jump,
she hit her head on the corner of her toddler bed.
it cut a nice gash near her eye and we took her to the instacare.
she received the glue stitches and was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. during that experience.
not a single tear.
so brave.
and she even told us: "I got an ow-ie from jumpin' on my bed. Like the monkeys."
no more monkeys jumping on her bed for awhile.

big changes:

{sour cream chicken enchiladas - my OWN recipe...yummy & I'm oh so proud}

{she's a beauty}

{excited for a fall walk}

{ava and I (and monkey} made emerie some cookies for after school one day}

{I took off the bird from the necklace tim gave me for ava's birth and I like the simplicity and how it still represents my little birds}

{I just liked her face in this one}

{oh her jessie pj's...she refuses to take them off when she wears them...so she looks homeless the next day....homeless but happy!}

ok, so none of those pictures had anything to do with "big changes" - but they needed a place on this blog so I just threw them in there.
instead, the "big changes" are in regard to something that tim and I recently informed family about, and felt it was safe enough to do on the blog as well.
in a week and a half, tim and I will be headed to san diego.
half of his team at work is in a san diego office, while the other half is here in utah.
he'll be attending a team building work week and I am tagging along on the company dime.
the only thing we have to pay for is my food and a rental car.
sa-weet.
while I would love to say that this trip is just a nice mini-vacation, that's not the real purpose behind it.
instead, tim is up for a promotion.
one that would involve him moving.
to that aforementioned san diego office.
and so tim & his boss agreed that I should attend this little team building work week so that I could do some house-hunting.
to give us a little perspective for when the time comes that we have to move.
and while things are not 110% certain,
which is why I hate to bring it up,
we figured there may be questions regarding our trip and our sudden interest in the SoCal area.
so, yes.
there you have it.
big changes.
possible big changes.
as soon as february.
yikes.

next up...ava's 1st birthday party!

♥

one year

2011-10-17T00:15:00.032-06:00

On October 17th, 2010
at 12:15 am
we welcomed our baby daughter
Avalynn Kaye
into the world.
It's been ONE year.
Happy Birthday to our sweet girl!

Dear Avalynn,

Today is October 17th, 2011. You are ONE year old.

You always hear parents talking about how fast that one year has flown by, leaving memories and experiences in the dust. I'm here to tell you that it is so true. This year has been the fastest of my life and by far the best so far.

Your father and I wrote your older sister similar letters when she turned one. We wanted to make sure we did the same for you, so that you could have the same memories we shared with her. We love you both very much.

I feel so blessed every single day to call you my daughter. You are the happiest baby I've ever known. After your sister, that is saying a lot. You always have a smile to share and a snuggle to give. Because of your sweet nature, you've adopted several nicknames. "Smiley", "Beauty", "Snuggles", & "Squish" to name just a few. Your sweet spirit in our home has blessed all our lives as we try to live worthy of you. We couldn't ask for a more perfect little baby girl.

You love your sister and she loves you. I'm amazed every day when I watch the two of you together. You are the best of friends and your endless time spent giggling and playing together makes our hearts grow 10 sizes - something I didn't think was possible anymore. Our hearts and love are incredible things, I suppose.

You are lovely and everywhere we go, we are stopped because people want to admire and play with you. I think it's because you radiate your sweetness, goodness, and beauty - and it's impossible to ignore. This is also the reason your father and I have spoiled you rotten. We may be paying for it soon. But for now, you are our youngest and our baby.

All we can do is hope and pray that we will continue to be the best parents for you that we can possibly be. We pray that you will continue to grow strong and healthy, beautiful and smart. We pray that you will continue to bring joy into the room you enter, along with your incredibly sweet spirit. You have made our family whole.

We love you and admire you. You will always be our princess and our little miss ava.

Love,
Mommy

12 facts for 12 months:

so we don't have ava's "stats" (height, weight, etc.) yet because I couldn't get her an appointment until next week. I'll just tack those onto her birthday party post, since her party isn't until saturday.

fact #1: Ava has suddenly become an active little thing. She first rolled over at 3 weeks old, and only took a short month break from rolling over. She was sitting up at 6 months, and army crawling at 8. Around 10 months, she decided she had better stop hating being on her knees (that's why she settled on army crawling in the first place) and she was crawling non-stop. At the same time, she was pulling herself up to stand and walking along all the furniture, walls, etc. And she even started climbing the stairs. Just last week she was standing all by herself, without the help of anything else. We expect that she will just take off running one of these next few days. It's been a huge adjustment these past few months, considering she was so laid back before.

fact #2: Ava has two bottom teeth and is working on two top teeth as we speak. It's actually been sad to see that she's going to be teething cranky for her birthday.

fact #3: Ava knows where her belly is and can point to everyone's mouth. I don't know what her obsession is, but you have to be careful when you're holding her - you'll randomly get a finger in your mouth with an excited "yee!" from her.

fact #4: So Emerie has always been our little dancer. She jammed along to music from about 6 months old. Well, Ava's little "thing" is music. She loooooves music. Emerie always hated when I sang to her, but Ava adores it when I sing her lullabies or when I sing along to the radio during the afternoon. We foresee singing and music being a big part of her future.

fact #5: She gives the world's best kisses. I didn't realize how much I missed baby kisses until Ava came along giving big wet ones. She's been kissing for awhile now, but they've recently matured and she loves kissing our cheeks over and over again. And after each kiss, she'll giggle. It's darling. She will also kiss on demand.

fact #6: Ava is already taking after her sister and has quite an extensive vocabularly. As her mother, I recognize it more than other people, but there are definitely some clear words, too. Her first words were "hi", "hey", "dada", & "mama". She has more recently added pointing her finger at something and asking, "That?" and sometimes she even includes a "wuz" to the front of it, so she's asking "wuz tha'?" It's really cute. She's been working on "Em" and she loves waving, too.

fact #7: Ava will eat everything. In fact, the only thing she has EVER turned down are the pears from the jar. If I make homemade pears, she loves them. I cannot express how wonderful it is to have a child that will try & eat everything that is put in front of her. Her favorites seem to be potatoes in any form - takes after her mama, I suppose - and breads. She also loves macaroni and cheese and will finish anything that Emerie doesn't. She's also a big social eater and if anybody is eating anything nearby, she will beg.

fact #8: She's a good sleeper. She's been on a one nap per day schedule for awhile now. I find it odd, considering most babies will nap at least twice a day - but she only did that for a few months. So she naps once a day for at least 3 hours.

fact #9: Ava was given a minnie mouse stuffed animal/blankie all-in-one toy when she was about 6 months old and she is awfully attached to that thing. We've recently let her sleep with it at night and she nearly jumps out of her skin every time she sees it. I think it's so cute when children get attached to a blanket or toy.

fact #10: She's always kinda been a mama's girl. Emerie was the type of child that never had a favorite parent for long. If anything, she's been more of a "grandpa" girl" than a mommy or daddy's girl. Sure, Emerie had her moments where Tim could calm her down easily or she didn't want me to leave the house...but it never lasted for long. Ava has been rather attached to me and it's been more apparent lately. Personally, I love it. Mostly because I know it won't last for long until the day comes that my little girls love daddy and mommy is mean. So for now I enjoy the tiny bit of favoritism I get.

fact #11: Ava has brown hair and blue eyes and I love the contrast to Emerie's blonde hair and brown eyes. I do not love the comments I receive from random old women at the grocery store asking if they have two different fathers. They are both mine & Tim's - I promise.

fact #12: She is Maya's favorite member of our family. Sad, but true. Probably because Ava looooves Maya. So much. And she gives Maya more attention than the rest of us. Even above Emerie. So Maya will withstand all the yanking of her fur, the slobber fingers poking her eyes, and the baby squeals in her face. I think Maya understands that it's Ava's way of loving on her. So it's pretty darn cute.

Ava,

Every day that goes by is another reminder that our little girl is growing up. Your sweet personality has made it easy to forget that you won't be our baby forever. Thank you for spoiling me with cuddles & snuggles. It's hard to imagine anything more enjoyable to a father than feeling truly loved by his child. I feel that love each time you cuddle into me and look up with adoring eyes. You have blessed me with countless chances to experience that love. I can only imagine what it is you are thinking during those moments. Throughout your life, I will try to live up to the person as you see me right now. I know that as you grow and as I try to raise you as best I can, there will be times that you are frustrated with me because you won't understand why we don't see eye to eye. I also know that neither of us will always be right. I only hope that I will be able to reciprocate the tenderness you have shown me when you need it most.

Your patience and happiness during this first year of your life has been a great blessing to our little family. We've been through a lot over the last couple of years. You may never know the things that we have overcome during your young lifetime but because of your sweet personality, you haven't been a burden to us in the least. You continue every day to be a joy and a blessing to us. I want you to know that each day of your life, we have felt greatly blessed to have you in our lives. As you are now beginning to become more active, crawling, climbing, and soon walking, we continue to be impressed by your ability to shower us with love and to bring light to every room you enter.

Your personality has always been sweet but I don't want you to think that is the extent of who you are. Lately, as you've begun to learn how to express yourself, we have come to realize how funny you are. You may only be one year old, but you have already developed quite a sense of humor and we love that about you. Even though Emerie is in the "world revolves around her" stage of life, she often pauses to watch or listen to you - she laughs hard; we all do.

At one year old, you are already clearly intelligent, sweet, and full of love and patience. I very much look forward to watching you continue to develop the many talents our Heavenly Father has blessed you with. I thank God every day that we were entrusted with the great blessing of raising you. May we always honor him and you by teaching you by a righteous example.

Always remember that I love you,

-Dad

{pictures courtesy our sister rachael @ rachael tyler photography}
{www.rachaeltyler.com}

♥

i {heart} these people

2011-10-10T12:44:00.003-06:00

we had some family pictures taken while we were in california

aliso beach in laguna beach
chelsea clarke photography