Snow Day on Presidents Day

We had a great day yesterday in the snow up Snoqualmie Pass. The kids actually lasted 3 hours, which amazed me. Ava napped the first half in the car so I took the other two kids on the small kid hill. Gavin and Annika loved it, but wanted more action. So, after lunch in the car, we took all the kids to the bigger slope. Ava even went down the hill a few times! I definitely got my exercise by carrying Gavin up the hill over and over again. If you've seen Gavin lately, you would know why I am sore today! : )

Ava is growing up too fast!

I love this picture of the two girls. Annika adores Ava, and Ava adores Annika. Ava is 5 months on the 21st. I can't believe how fast time has gone. She is a very good baby. She started eating rice cereal and loves it. She started resisting a bottle, so that's a bummer for me. Ava is grasping toys, sleeping in her own room now, first teeth are almost through, loves to play "stand up/sit down" game and peek-a-boo. Ava has the cutest laugh when tickled under her chin. She is good at pushing with her feet while on her back. She loves to play in the exersaucer and on the floor with her brother and sister. We just love having her in our family. It still amazes us that we are a family of five now. It's great!

Grandma Great is holding Ava while I feed her rice cereal for the first time.

Playing in her exersaucer. Gavin loves getting in too.

Cute Ava

We had fun taking pictures today. The cute hat with the pink bow was made by Grama Arlie and the strawberry hat and booties were made by Nekell. Ava is lucky to have a talented Aunt and Grandma. I can't believe she is two weeks tomorrow. She is a joy!

Ava Samantha

We welcomed Ava Samantha to our family on Monday, September 21st at 7:43 a.m. She weighed 7 lb. 10 oz and 19 1/4 inches long (this is her correct height when had dr. appt.). She is beautiful!! Ava shares her birthday with her cousin Brooke, which is a lot of fun! She has lots of dark brown hair, which is a shock since both of our other kids had very little hair and was reddish brown. Ava has long fingers and a long torso. To me, she seems so petite compared to my other two. Her weight did drop to 6 lb. 15 oz, but is slowly climbing back up. Ava has her own look, but we can see a lot of Annika in her. Her middle name, Samantha, has a story behind it. We like to have our childrens middle names to be a family name. I couldn't really decide on what that name should be for Ava until one morning at 5:30 a.m. when I couldn't sleep. The name Samantha came to mind. I thought, why Samantha? There are no Samantha's in our family names. I wrote it down and instantly saw the connection. Samantha is an acronym for all of Ava's grandmothers and great grandmothers (first letter or last letter of their names). It was perfect! S = Sharon, A = Arlie, M = Marie, A = Wilma, N = Marilyn, T = Margaret, H = Sharon, and A = Vonda. It was truly inspired that she was to have that name and I love it because these are all wonderful women who we love dearly.

The kids have been great with Ava. They adore her and give her lots of kisses. We have adjusted well so far. And, thanks to all of our parents, we will be taken care of for a while. Also, thanks to dear friends for meals and play dates for our kids. It is all greatly appreciated. We are very blessed.


The strawberry hat and booties are a gift that our sister-in-law, Nekell, made. Love it!! Nekell is so talented!

See the Similarities?

First Day of Pre-K

First day of Pre-K was Wednesday. I don't know who was more excited, me or Annika. I know every parent understands. She woke up excited to go, then grumpy, and luckily by the time we got to school and she noticed she closely matched Mrs. Kinney, life was good. Annika gave hugs to her teachers, greetings to last years friends, and a glance to mom as I said good-bye.

When I picked her up the teacher commented that Annika was VERY talkative. Teacher said she is glad Annika feels so comfortable in class. ha ha I love how teachers are always so positive. Of course when I asked how her day went, Annika was completely quiet. She must have exhausted herself from talking so much at school I guess.

Ringling Brothers Circus

Last weekend we went to the circus with Grandma and Grandpa Bjorn. We had a great time. Annika and Gavin's favorite part was the elephant show. It was especially fun to take Annika because her new favorite movie has been Dumbo. If she could, she would watch it a couple times each day.

We are trying to have as much fun as possible until baby #3 comes 1 1/2 weeks). This weekend == Friday is the fair and Saturday the water park. I hope I can keep up. Grateful Sunday is a day of rest.