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

Keira - 6 months

Keira is now six months old! Her personality is really starting to shine through. She loves to smile and giggle, but she has also developed a piercing, shrieking cry, unlike anything her sisters produced when they were babies. It's so loud that we've taken to calling Keira our little velociraptor! Or Raptor Baby for short.

She's also started to get up on her hands and knees to rock back and forth - I foresee crawling very, very soon!

My Little What?

At the risk of sounding silly and juvenile, I write this post. But it's Halloween, and everyone who knows me usually finds out at some point that I collect ponies and that I moderate at a pony forum, so there.

It's become a tradition at the MLP Arena to switch up people's user names for Halloween. This morning I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me from a fellow mod when I logged in.





Oh what a name.






I'm now TwinkleLittlePoo!








Happy Halloween everyone!!

Pumpkin Patch

This past Saturday we took the girls to the pumpkin patch. There were loads of activities - a petting zoo, pony rides, a bounce house, and even a haunted house! Ava and Norah only wanted to see the animals in the petting zoo and jump in the bounce house. After they were sufficiently worn out, we chose our pumpkins to carve and were on our way! We'll carve them probably tomorrow or Friday - whenever we have time, LOL!

Keira and Me:

A rare photo of the girls and me:

Keira and Daddy



Ava feeding the llama



Norah feeding the llama



Ava petting the goats



Ava and Norah going down the slide of the bounce house

Aboard the what?

Ava has preschool three days a week. Today the theme was "exploration." In addition to learning about Chirstopher Columbus and various places in the world, they made ships out of cardboard boxes. (They were pretty cool, IMO). Using dowels and posterboard, sails were made to go on each ship. The teacher asked each child what they wanted to christen their ship.

And what did Ava choose?



USS Scooby-Doo.



Gotta love her personality!

Keira - 5 months

Our little baby is now five months old! I can't believe it. Time just flies by so quickly. She is such a cutie-patootie. In addition to rolling, she grabs her toes and sucks on them. It's quite hilarious to watch. Still no teeth, but that doesn't surprise me - her older sisters didn't cut their first teeth until the 9/10 month mark, so that's probably when they'll start to show.

Ava and Norah love to play with her. Ava has now started to call her "Keira Koo-Koo." I'm trying to thwart that nickname. (But my efforts are in vain I think, since we called Norah "Norah Noo-Noo when she was a baby). Today when Ava addressed Keira by that, Keira got the pouty lower lip and started to cry. She knows she doesn't like it, LOL!

Ava, 4 1/2; Norah, 2 1/2

Our oldest two, Ava and Norah, love playing together. Which is great, because it's fun to see their relationship flourish and grow. My only hope is that they continue to be close as they get older, and that Keira will become a part of their circle as well (which I think she will - they already love to play with her too).

They have such vivid imaginations. From pretending to go on campouts and picnics, to pretending to be dragons and princesses, Ava and Norah always have a great time together. Well, except when they are in bad moods, LOL!

Having a campout



Wearing hats when it's still summer

Keira - 4 1/2 months

Inspired by a friend's blog, I've decided to try and update the progress and growth of our girls.

Operative word being "try."

Keira is now in what I like to call "prime baby mode." She rolls, she coos, she smiles, she giggles, she grabs our fingers. All the cute things babies can do, she does. She is even attempting to try and crawl. She'll roll onto her tummy, and push her little legs up behind her to try and push herself forward. It's quite amusing to watch, but utterly frustrating for Keira, since she starts to cry after three or four attempts.

Keira in sunglasses. We do things like this because we can, LOL!



Keira just being cute.



Keira the baby-reading prodigy.

I Couldn't Help Myself

This week I gave in - I decorated for Halloween! I just love, love, love this time of year. I've been chomping at the bit ever since we moved into our new place to start holiday decorating. I really tried to wait until October, but I couldn't resist. When the stores start putting out the candy and the costumes, I just want to join in the fun!

Ava and Norah were pretty excited about our decorated house too. I did most of it while they were napping, so they had a fun surprise when they woke up. They went from room to room, oohing and aahing at the pumpkins, the bats, the haunted houses, and the lights. Yes, I even have a black Halloween tree with orange lights. I think now I'll go take some pictures to share!

Okay, I've got the pics!

Here's our front porch


Now the hallway to the left as you enter the house:



Here's some shots of the living room:



And the dining room:



And the kitchen:



Our bathrooms are also decorated. I do plan on putting lights outside in the front and the back - and perhaps something hanging from our trees. Oh the possibilities!!