Aaah! Elliot has learned how to climb out of her crib. She demonstrated her skills a few times this evening as we tried to get her to go to bed. I was working on the computer and looked down to find a little person trying to climb into my lap, "Elliot! You're supposed to be in bed!" "No nap, no nap!" she said. Sigh. When Mike asked her if she was proud of herself for climbing out of bed, she nodded and said that it was "easy."

One more thing . . .Averyism

Avery (calling from her room at 8:30pm at night): Mom! Can you get my lion for me?
Mom (lying on her bed, utterly exhausted): Um, okay, in five minutes.
Avery: Okay. (pause) Or I think you might just fall asleep. Am I right?
Mom: yeah, you might be right.
Avery: Mom . . .are you laughing?

Thanksgiving

For those who might be getting sick of seeing the same pictures from Halloween, I thought I'd jump to the next holiday and post some pictures from Thanksgiving :) We spent Thanksgiving in Moscow, ID with Mike's family. It was a really nice, relaxing weekend. Just perfect for gearing up for the rest of the season. The pictures below are not in any particular order. Elliot and I are sharing a hot chocolate in Leavenworth on our way home from Moscow.

 At "Kris Kringle," the Christmas extravaganza store in Leavenworth. Leavenworth is a German town up in the mountains, which we call the "Christmas village."

 Elliot is not happy that dad is keeping her from touching all the ornaments :)

 Avery had lots of fun with her cousins in Moscow. Here she is with Jessie at the mall playground.

 Getting ready for the snow!

 Sledding in Grandma and Grandpa's front yard with cousins.

 The Thanksgiving feast!

Picture of the girls in Leavenworth taken by the panoramic feature on Mike's camera.

Grandma's aprons and Halloween

I was in California last week for my Grandfather's funeral, and my mom and aunt took out my Grandmother's old aprons and the granddaughters all took a couple. Here are the girls having a great time wearing the aprons. They helped me make apple pie while wearing them later that night :)

Halloween! We decorated the house the week or so before. Avery directed the placement of the lights and spider. She also picked out the spooky picture for the front door.

 Spooky pumpkins!

 Getting ready for trick or treating! "Ick or eating"! As Elliot would say.

Some of the loot.

The day was so beautiful today. The girls and I went to one of our favorite places, the Everett Botanical Gardens. There are lots of little paths, a creaky gate, a fountain and walls to jump off. Plus it's just a beautiful space.

Some pumpkin fun

We were able to take advantage of the beautiful fall day this past Saturday and took the girls to a pumpkin patch in Snohomish. A lot of other people had the same idea and so we skipped the hay ride because of the long line - BUT, we still had lots of fun things to do and see.

 Elliot likes being THE little pumpkin in the family! Someone's going to have a nasty shock next March  :)

 Ah, such a beautiful day. Can't top a wheelbarrow ride with some pumpkins ripe for carving.

 "Stand here while I take your picture girls!"

Last weekend we had the wonderful opportunity of going down to Portland for a friend's wedding (Ian Schrom) at which Daniel was the best man! Daniel is always so fun to hang out with. Avery certainly thinks so :) I wish I was standing up straight though, need to work on that!

The little blight on the weekend was our car completely failing us about 70 miles from our house. Mind you, it's a relatively new car: 2008 with only 40,000 miles. We were completely stranded on a Sunday, with no car rental places open, no credit cards (another story) and dying cell phones. We were lucky to find some good samaritans at a local hotel who let us hang out in their lobby for about 5 hours, gave us cell phone chargers and let the girls eat all the complimentary lobby mints. We finally gave up trying to do it on our own and called a friend to come get us, thanks Jim! The car is now fixed with an entirely new transmission and is driving well . . .for now. :)

Elliot! Two!

Last Wed was Elliot's birthday. She had a busy birthday day. In the morning, a few of her toddler friends came over (Chase, Sophie and Teagan) for a Dora adventure. The kids had a Dora map and had to climb a mountain, go through a tunnel and save the animals in the pond! Avery was my big helper, and she really was a help. Then we took Avery to preschool and Elliot took a nap. After nap, we got Avery and went to the dentist. How fun is that on your birthday?! But they both were great. We found this amazing children's dentist where the kids can watch Disney movies and get tons of prizes afterwards. So it was actually kind of fun. Then back to prepare for Elliot's birthday dinner and family party where we did the usual drill with presents and fun.

Happy Birthday cute Dee. You are the snuggliest, funniest girl.

Avery's REAL birthday

Friday was Avery's birthday. We had the party a couple weeks earlier and so had a family party that night. The family parties seem to be taking the general shape of eating the birthday person's favorite meal, playing a game, opening presents and eating cake. Can't beat that right?
So for dinner we had chicken nuggets (what else), corn on the cob and honeyed carrots.

Avery wanted to play "pin the cupcake on Avery" after considering and rejecting "pin the thumb on Elliot" and "pin the dress on mom." Yes, I know, my drawing looks like Avery is obese with oddly short and pliable arms :)

Even Elliot got into the act. Blindfold and all!

Present time! Some books from Grandma Starkey.

Blowing out candles. The dog beside her (still to be named, currently responds to "fluffy" "fuzzy" "snowball" or "puff ball") is a toy Avery's been wanting for the last six months or so. She was VERY excited to finally get a "dog that you can walk"!

Happy Birthday Miss Five!!

First day of preschool!

Avery is going to a three day a week preschool this year. She had a great first day!

At a local baseball game, the AquaSox. The AquaSox are a farm team for the Mariner's, and it was fun to see the players so close. Elliot and I didn't last quite as long, we both needed to go home and go to bed :) But Avery and Mike stuck it out to the end!

Continuing with the theme . . .

After Avery's party, we crashed for a bit then Avery and I roused ourselves to go the county fair. I love the fair, and Avery was definitely interested in checking out some rides, particularly when she heard that there was a Michael Jackson themed ride. Mike and Elliot did some church stuff and hung out at home.

A sow had 15 piglets just that morning. They were sooo cute! We stayed here for about twenty minutes :)

The ferris wheel. Avery was really excited about the ferris wheel, and the first few turns were pretty fun (although I had to make an effort NOT to look down or I would start geting dizzy. What is happening to me?!!!). But we both decided that the ride lasted WAY too long :)

Mom, am I five now?

The morning of her birthday, Avery found me getting ready in my bathroom and asked me this question. When I said, yes! She quickly looked down at herself, looking for some evidence of this wondorous transformation. When I asked her if she felt different, she said she felt a little taller :)

We had a friend birthday party this year for Avery, a couple weeks before her actual birthday. I haven't quite made up my mind about how often we'll do this, but for now every other year feels somewhat manageable. We had a dancing party, as Avery really wanted a Michael Jackson theme, but I wasn't sure if this was an acceptable genre for a five year old party :) Thankfully, the weather more or less held so we could do most everything outdoors. Avery said she had a lot of fun, so whew, I guess it must have been a success.

Pretending to be frogs for the "Animal Action" song. The Limbo! and a balloon song.

We had to incorporate a little bit of Michael Jackson :) Finally the presents!

McCall 2010

We got back Wednesday from the annual Walker McCall-palooza. What was probably most fun for me this year was watching the girls, and Avery in particular, enjoying the week on their own terms: playing with the cousins, jet-skiing, kayaking and WAKE BOARDING! I am going to try to post the video next . . .Avery got up with Mike on the wakeboard by holding onto his legs. She loved it and was so brave. Two days after we got back to Lake Stevens, she went again! Elliot had a good time as well, despite having the runs the whole week. Poor girl.

Getting ready to kayak with cousin Olivia.

Elliot wearing her shades.

We had a hard time finding the perfect position for Elliot to kayak, but this did the trick for awhile.

Sorry Kendal - didn't mean to cut your face off here :) Chilling with cousins.

Captain Avery.

Having fun in the lake (just don't drink the water. oops, too late).

I can do it myself! Kayaking with Jesi.

This picture is totally unnecessary. I just think my husband is handsome :)