For Artie

This post is for Artie. For those of you who don't know, Sara moved in January 2008 and had full hopes of being called "Tia", which is Spanish for aunt. Well, Ava had other ideas, and starting called her "Artie". We still don't know how she came up with it, but we went with it. Now we still call her Artie and it doesn't sound so strange to us anymore. :) Artie lived with us for almost 2 years! I don't think any of us expected her to stay that long, but it was so fun having her here. She was here for some very big moments in my life and I miss her. It was funny, because having an Artie in the house was all that Ava and Annabelle ever really knew. I think Ava thought that all families have a mommy, a daddy, and an Artie. Because we miss her and because Saturday is her birthday, I decided to make a little tribute to Artie.

This was the day Sara arrived. After a 2 day (18 hour drive), she was happy to be here.

Ava was only 11 months when Sara moved in, and I was 5 months pregnant. She was here for Ava's 1st birthday. With all the fun we were having, Miss Annabelle decided to join us 2 1/2 months early. Thank God Sara was here to watch Ava when Annabelle was born. This picture was the first time Artie met Annabelle. We had to get special permission for someone other than me and Jason to visit in the NICU. Sara got Ava all dressed up for Easter. I drove home from Denver on Easter day to pack some things up and to see Ava. Sara had cleaned our entire dirty house.

Artie was here for Ava's 2nd Halloween....

...and Annabelle's 1st Halloween.

Ha ha. This picture makes me laugh. Oh, the joy when Barack Obama was elected into office.

Decorating the Christmas tree (2008).

Ava's 2nd birthday!!

Annabelle and Artie in the hospital.

Sara used to take Thor for hikes.

She used to make smoothies all the time before work. The girls loved them.

Artie and Annabelle and the Teton County Fair.

Halloween...again!!

We miss you, Artie!!!

Grandma Em's Visit

Grandma Em came out for a visit the beginning of December. So...these pictures are almost 2 months old! As always, it was wonderful to have my mom here. In fact, it's wonderful to have anybody here! COME VISIT! :)

Grandma Em made Ava and Annabelle their first cup of hot chocolate.

Here's Ava drinking it out of her "First Norweigan Kup" from Grandma Lu.

We made sugar cookies....

By the end of the whole deal, the girls had each eaten a pound of sugar, I swear.

Annabelle went a little crazy from the whole event.

This last cookie demonstrates how we all felt by the time the cookies were decorated.

Grandma Em pulled the girls around in the sled.

We went to see Santa Clause.

Ava wouldn't even look at him, much less talk to him.

Annabelle was just excited to get a candy cane.

Face Painting

We paint almost every day around here. I thought it would be a good idea to let the girls paint while I vacuumed so they would be out of my way. WELL, you can see from the following pictures what happened when I wasn't looking!

They were quite pleased with themselves!

The Girls

Why do I feel like I start every entry out as an apology for not updating my blog for about 500 days?...Possibly because I only update my blog about every 500 days? Huh... Well, here we go again. Finally. I have so many pictures to share. I thought I would start with the most recent pictures I have of the girls to make Lori and Sara happy :)

Here are the little poopers!

We had our friends over the other night for dinner. Ava and Annabelle were big fans of "Baby David" (as Ava likes to call him).

Oh, little Annabelle!! Isn't she cute? She's never actually done her business on the potty,

but she loves to sit on it.

You can tell that it makes her feel SO special to sit on the potty the way

her big sis does. :)

Like I said, I have lots more pictures to share and they are coming. Promise. Life has been busy. Ava and Annabelle are doing great. They've been going to daycare one day a week all winter, but are going to start going two days a week soon. Ava is really shy at daycare and doesn't talk much while she's there....TOTALLY the opposite of how she is at home....we can't get the girl to stop talking! Annabelle is very social. She loves everyone and will cuddle with anyone who will cuddle with her. She's saying a lot of new words, which is encouraging. Jason is still doing carpentry and I'm still working my same job at the hospital.

Gosh, I feel like this is turning out to be the Christmas letter that never was! Until next time....