For Those Who Hadn't Heard...

...WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

After many months of looking and a fair bit of disappointment at the lack of options, we finally found a lovely house in a wonderful neighborhood. The house hunting and now updating, has kept us plenty busy (thus the non-existent blogging), but we are enjoying it. The house backs up to the forest here in Flagstaff, so we have a lovely view out our back windows. So far all of our neighbors have been extremely friendly and welcoming, which has made things even more fun. We love not having people stomp around and bounce basketballs in an apartment above us. Plus, we have a garage where we can park a car (if we can get more organized that number could top out at TWO) and more importantly has a work bench for projects! Although it is a number of miles farther from work for me (Erik) it is well worth it. 

So far we have been working to paint the interior and get organized. Hopefully there will be before & after pictures sometime to follow.

Father's Day Take #3

Today was my third official Father's Day (fourth if you include the one when Britney was pregnant with Ava), and they just keep getting better. Here are some of the highlights from the day:

-Sleeping in until 7:30 am after Ava woke up at 6:15 am
-Waking up to yummy waffles topped with fresh strawberry topping and whipped cream
-Having our Boston friends the Cook's stay with us last night (they have a daughter 3 days older than Ava)
-Being presented with a fill-in-the-blank paper that my dear wife helped Ava fill out (the picture below)
-Receiving a king sized Symphony chocolate bar at church (sadly I mistakenly grabbed the one with only milk chocolate instead of the one with toffee) 

-After church when Ava saw me approaching in the hall she said, "I got you some candies. I want the pink one."
-Hearing Ava sing the ABC song from her bedroom 20 min after we put her to bed and she should have been asleep
-Video chatting with my 90 year old grandfather who was using his brand new iPad
-Being so well taken care of by my wonderful wife, thanks for all the fun things you do for me!

Funny Girls

Both girls are really growing up and developing fun habits and characters. Ava has become completely enthralled by the Disney movie Tangled, to the degree that she requests to listen to songs from the movie constantly (the jury is still out on whether or not it was a good idea to buy some of the songs on iTunes). Since we purchased the songs and have begun to listen to them frequently, Ava has started to sing the songs at random times throughout the day. Sadly she won't perform them but we can occasionally catch her in the act, as seen here:

Kate too has started doing some fun things, as seen here (Ava is watching the camera screen as this video is being taken, thus the excessive commentary from her):

Another Birthday!

I had another B-day a couple weeks ago, and received a big snow storm (~2 feet)! What a present, church was cancelled so we got to spend the day at home. With previous snow storms (mostly in Boston) Ava was either too young or we didn't have the right circumstances (time, etc.) to be able to go out and really enjoy it. This time Ava and I went outside to play in the snow on the playground in front of our apartment. We had a BLAST!

In addition to going down the slide what felt like dozens of times, we made some snow men, threw snow balls, knocked snow off of the bushes, and kicked snow balls off the playground platform. Ava was in HEAVEN!

That evening we had homemade ice cream cake but I had a bit of a mishap with the candles; you see for yourself what happened...

you are MY sunshine

Ava was really on a roll the other night - singing "You are my sunshine"

I almost cried the first time I heard her sing this on her own. I hope someday she internalizes the words and realizes how much we love her!

Ava antics

Having a 2 year old (going on 16!) is challenging and hilarious, all at once. Here is some of the hilarity we've enjoyed this weekend:

baby blues

No editing needed...these baby blues speak for themselves. My angel baby is as sweet as ever. I could kiss those cheeks all.day.long.

Welcome, Emma Jane

I was so lucky to be at the birth of my newest niece this week, Emma Jane. Welcome to the world, baby! We love you!

(Claire's general reaction to the whole situation :)

how to stay thin

Here is a sure fire way to stay thin (it has worked for me!):

• Get a mysterious virus (no one else in your family contracts, which is nice, but mysterious) that completely "detoxes" your body
• Said virus will leave you nauseous and tired for days afterward, so your appetite will come back very slowly
• Lose 5 lbs in 2 days, guaranteed!
• Repeat in 4 months (necessary for maintenance)
• Other unnecessary but plausible circumstances that may accompany the virus: 
• husband has to stay home from work because you have locked yourself in the bathroom
• you may figure out new sleeping positions so that you can get some sleep on the cold bathroom floor
• you may get an allergic reaction to the virus that leaves you covered in hives and makes the urgent care doctor concerned about your airways swelling unless he acts quickly
• treatment for the allergic reaction may leave you drugged out of your mind. note to self: benedryl is not for sissys!
• you might be reminded how amazing and capable your husband is!

Wood Working!

I really enjoy making things, and through the years have done quite an array of wood working projects. Britney knew this but since we have been married, I haven't had time or access to make anything. That finally changed over the Christmas holiday. We spent 10 days at Britney's parents house in warm Gilbert, AZ, and Britney asked that I make a toy storage shelf (described in THIS website). The version outlined on the website was smaller than we wanted, so we made it 50% wider and added another shelf. It was difficult to make in one week with the limited tools I had available, but it all worked out in the end and I'm pretty happy with the result.

This is what Ava's toy storage used to look like. [It was a terrible old particle board book case that I had inherited when I first moved to Boston in 2006. We had attempted to paint it a cream color but it didn't paint well, and it needed to go.]

This it what the shelf looked like before adding the toys.

And here it is with everything. There is still even a little space left!

 

Not to shabby if I say so myself!