Already??

Yesterday I registered Ava for kindergarten. KINDERGARTEN!! I still can't believe that she's nearly 5 years old. And that I have two other girls. Where has the time gone?

Anyway, while registering you'd think it was the Spanish Inquisition. In order to prove residency, I had to have:


1) A copy of our rental agreement
2) A current PG&E bill
3) My driver's license


And if that weren't enough, additional things I needed were:


4) Ava's birth certificate
5) Ava's immunization records



Once I was at the school, I had a small folder of paperwork to fill out. Which reminds me, I still need to get back over there to give them a self-addressed stamped envelope so they can mail out the acceptance letter in April.

Good thing we live across the street! One of the many reasons why I love our new place.

Bedtime Delay Tactics

Normally Ava and Norah go down for bed without a hitch these days. However, lately Norah has developed a new delay tactic. It's hard to resist, for she's very cute. She will now get out of bed, come to us and say "Hug and kiss!" When we go to give her a hug and kiss, she will run down the hall and say, "NOOOO!! Hug and kiss in bed!!!!!"



My, how they get so sly, LOL!

Los Angeles

About a week and a half ago we took a family vacation down to Los Angeles. We met up with two of Mason's sisters. While we were there, we went to Disneyland, had a tea party at American girl, saw "The Princess and the Frog," and had an early Christmas at C.C.'s place. All in all it was a fun trip, and we were glad to catch up with family.



Waiting for the train as Disneyland


Head of Main Street. This was my first time seeing Disneyland decorated for Christmas.


Haunted Mansion



New Orleans Square

Cinderella's Castle



Norah and me

Ava - this summed up the first few hours at Disneyland (we didn't have very happy campers)

C.C. and Sage


Nancy, Sienna, and Kai

Mason and I taking a silly picture while waiting for Space Mountain


All the cousins (except Norah) posing with Minnie


The castle at night - so pretty!



Main Street at night


Our tea party at the American Girl store. We had drinks and finger-sized food.



The cousins' early Christmas at Aunt C.C.'s. Ava and Norah loved their dinosaur.

Keira - 7 month update

Today Keira went to the doctor for a weight check. Apparently she's taken after Ava with having a month of losing weight, and being overall a skinny baby. Her doctor wasn't too concerned after seeing the trend with Ava, but he wanted to be on the safe side all the same.

Keira weighed in at 12 lbs, 9 oz - about a pound heavier! While it's not a huge gain, at least she's trending up. She's just an active baby - crawling around and exploring, and also Ava and Norah love playing with her. She even has three teeth now!

But we've started to supplement with formula, so that's helping a bit. We just love our tiny babies!

Wake-up Call

This morning I was pleasantly surprised to discover that our kids were sleeping in a bit. Well, Keira will normally sleep until 9 am or so, but Ava and Norah are usually up around 7 or 7:30 am. But at 8:30, they were still asleep.


But not for long.



I looked across the hallway into their bedroom to see that Ava had indeed woken up, and she was sitting on Norah's bed, patting her head. She was telling Norah,

"Wake up, WAKE UP!!! The sun is out and it's time to play! Wake up Norah!"


Norah just gave her stink eye.

Keira - stats

At Keira's 6 month check-up last week, she came in at 11 lbs, 10 oz and 24 1/2 inches. Needless to say she was below the 10th percentile for both. Apparently she's taken after Ava in that respect. Her doctor wasn't too concerned, since we went through this with Ava, (and she's hitting all her milestones in terms of activity) but all the same she's scheduled for a weight check next month.

She also has teeth! Her bottom two teeth finally poked through on November 9th. Compared to Ava and Norah (who both started to get teeth at 9 months), she's a teeth prodigy!

Halloween 2009

I know I'm just a wee bit late in posting our Halloween fun, but here it is. We started the day by taking a walk to my parents' house - they literally around the corner from us. After everyone's afternoon nap, we carved pumpkins and baked cookies (although we didn't get to decorating the cookies until the next day - at least we attempted!). We rounded out the holiday with that coveted of all traditions - trick or treating!

The quote of the day belonged to Ava. We approached this one house that had motion-sensor zombie bodies. She said she was scared and didn't want to go up to the front door. I told her we could on to the next house. What did she do? She stood on the edge of the porch and said,

"NO! I will stand right here and THEY will bring the candy to ME!"



Gotta love her persistence!



Norah giving us her Halloween moon



Keira and my dad



Mason and Keira on the walk home



Ava and Norah on the walk home



Mason as the Cat in the Hat and Keira as a bumblebee



The family together (of course I'm behind the camera!)



The girls - Ava is Star Catcher and Norah is Pinkie Pie. And for those of you not in the know, those are My Little Ponies.



Norah showing off her cutie mark



Ava showing off her cutie mark