Oh-Bla-Di

…and in with the Christmas tree!

It took a week of home recovery from our Thanksgiving shenanigans before we were ready to decorate again, but we got our Christmas tree up last weekend.  After our Christmas shopping excursion Saturday morning, Matt and I came home, got the kiddos in bed and then did the tree & light set up.  When Ava and Noah woke up, they got to help put the ornaments on.

Ava helped with the little tree in the TV room, too.  That tree has been Matt’s and my tree since we first started dating.  It has lived in our bedroom every year since we got the big tree in 2005, but we decided to share it with the fam this year.  As I was putting the lights on it, I asked Ava if it was pretty yet.  She said no, not yet.  I asked what would make it pretty and she said, “The star.”  We got the star on pronto and then it was “so beautiful, Mommy!”

This is the first year that Ava really gets the whole Christmas thing and I think it’s going to be so much fun.  Looking forward to all the fun winter/holiday activities heading our way in the next few weeks!

Even though it’s been nearly two full weeks since our favorite holiday, I can’t just skip documenting it here. Someday, I intend to get this ol’ blog printed, so I need a full and accurate accounting of our days.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with lots of friend and family and food. You know, the three most important F’s in life.

Anyway, we had a houseful of people with Matt’s family, some expected…

…and some not.

Michael and Whitney showed up Thanksgiving morning as we were just headed out to fry a turkey. Such a big surprise as he was supposed to be in the field over the holiday.

Speaking of frying a turkey, this was new for us and turned out really well. Dave brought all the implements and, since we had plenty of men to gather around the fryer, everything went very smoothly.

Did you know there was a uniform for frying a turkey? It involves getting as redneck decked out as possible and holding a beer. Bonus points if you wear a beer holster.

I do most of my Thanksgiving cooking the day before, so Turkey Day is mostly centered on setting the table and waiting for the turkey to cook. That leaves me with plenty of time to be organized. Someone evidently found my organization amusing enough to photograph.

In my defense, tables like these don’t just happen.

So, there.

In the end, though, this day was perfect in that there was plenty of time for the most important stuff. Relaxing, hanging out with good friends and loving on our family.

We have so very much for which we are thankful.

: : We’re big fans of Playmobil around here and Ava was gifted a few sets for her birthday.  We don’t have this one, though, and that’s maybe a total fail.  Be sure to read the customer reviews.  Hysterical.

: : from the back of the van, gesturing to a man on a motorcycle

Ava: “Mommy, see that guy?  He’s a bad, bad guy.”

Mommy: “He’s a bad guy?  How do you know he’s a bad guy?”

Ava: “See that thing on his head?  That makes him very bad.”

Guess she doesn’t really approve of motorcycle helmets.

: : Noah is laughing!  It’s the cutest sound ever.  He did it for the first time yesterday and it was so very sweet.  He’s such a happy kid!  Love, love that baby boy.

: : Oh, the rollercoaster of living with a three year old.  One minute she’s talking your head off telling you neat things and the next she’s flipping out about goodness knows what.  Sometimes it’s frustrating, but sometimes it’s just downright funny.  Especially in a video viewed a few weeks later.  

: : We swapped child care with the Hoffmans this weekend so that the adults could do Christmas shopping together for the kiddos.  Such a wonderful thing to get to actually go choose a gift, rather than to order online or to shop solo.  I think it’s a new tradition in the making!

: : I have jury duty on Wednesday.  Half hoping that I really do have to go and that they’re really inefficient so that I get to spend hours sitting in a waiting room somewhere reading Harry Potter.  Of course, more than willing to do my civic duty also.  

That’s what Ava said when she walked into the front room at the end of her birthday party and saw this sitting there.  I think I might forever kick myself that I didn’t get it on video.    Matt did a fabulous job turning our crummy, Craigslist, purple princess bike frame into a shiny, red piece of wonderful that is perfect for our girl.  When you work on something like this for your kiddo, this is exactly how you want them to react.

Although we had been a little concerned over how well the bike would be sized for her and how she’d take to it, there was really no need.  Whoozers climbed right up, rang the bell, and rode that bike right down the hallway.

Ava went to bed that night asking to go ride her bike first thing in the morning and we did just that.  With an entourage of six (four adults, a baby and a dog), she pedaled up and down our street like she’d been doing it for months.  She rode in a mostly straight line pretty well, but we practiced steering quite a bit too.  Mommy, Daddy or Noah were the targets and she followed us from one side of the street to the other.  Once she learned to trust the training wheels, she did a pretty good job.  Also, if she’s not busy being nosy and telling other people what to do or where to go, she remembers to watch where she’s going.  

I think we’re going to put a lot of miles on this bike and we’re so glad she loves it.  Happy Birthday, dearest girl!

Six years ago today, Matt and I were married on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

One deployment, three Masters degrees, three PCSes, four houses, and two kids later, it’s still the most exciting thing we’ve ever done.