First Snow!

Yes, it snowed for the first time this season in Flagstaff, and here is a picture from our front door to prove it!

 

I shouldn't be that surprised since we are living at almost 7,000 feet.

For those who didn't know, we moved recently to Flagstaff for a new job, and we are really enjoying it. Erik is loving the outdoorsy stuff (hiking and cycling), and Britney is loving being so close to family (she has seen them almost weekly since we moved).

Hiking near Snowbowl

It was so much fun to have Chelsea and Claire come stay with us for the weekend. Erik, Josh, Bradley and my parents went with other family members to Lake Powell over Labor Day. Not wanting to go with a newborn, Chel stayed with me and we made the most of it! We had a blast (at least I did - I really put her to work!) We did lots of projects around the house, played hard while the girls were awake and even got in a nap or two ourselves. The weather was amazing that weekend, so we decided to take the girls on a short hike. 

Ava rocking her sunglasses and "Katherine" bracelets (made by cousin Katherine of course)

These girls have such a love/hate relationship (mostly love) - love to see each other and be around each other, until the other tries to get attention from their mom or wants their toy.

Claire absolutely did NOT want to be held. That girl is independent! She just wanted to walk, walk, walk. I'm pretty sure she walked the entire hike!

Ava on the other hand, was quite the opposite. She liked walking for about 10 minutes, and then just wanted to be held. I had Kate in the sling so that was pretty unrealistic! Made for some desperate pleading to Chelsea to relieve her...she got really good at walking right in front of Chel trying to get her attention.

Kate zonked out the entire hike, and then cried the entire ride home!

Claire loved being outside.

Walking back to the car - very accurate depiction of the last 15 minutes of the hike! (Ava crying TO get held, Claire crying if she WAS held)

...until she found this log that is! Then she was happy as a clam!

Chel and Claire must have liked it okay, because they decided to stay an additional week! It was so much fun and we had lots of adventures. More reporting to come!

Kate coo's!

I love this baby stage - cooing. So sweet!

More videos

We finally got the full alphabet book recitation on video. Ava soon caught on to the fact that we were exploiting her skills, so she flat out refused to read, look at or even talk about the ABC book. Luckily she changed her mind and we got this video the other week (sorry it is so dark).



translation:
A - apple
B - balloon
C - cow
D - dog
E - elephant
F - frog
G - giraffe
H - horsie
I - ice cream
J - jack-in-the-box
K - keyhole
L - lion (most often said emphatically, like li-ON!)
M - moon
N - nest (she gets m and n confused often)
O - owl
P - panda
Q - quilt
R - rabbit
S - shell
T - treasure chest
U - unicorn (or most often just 'corn)
V - vase
W - whale (although she got a little excited in this video and said x :))
X - x marks the spot (she gets confused by this one)
Y - yacht
Z - zoo!!!!!

Kate's dimple and smiles

Sorry this video is sideways, but it's still worth watching. Kate has the cutest dimple and smiles so easily. We love her so!

Our new place {before}

We are absolutely loving our new place. We have so much more space and light! It is amazing. 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Room for family to stay (hint hint!). The ability to have the girls share rooms. Not having our office in our bedroom. Have a beautiful porch to enjoy the beautiful weather. Love it! I am having so much fun decorating too (hopefully Erik is as enthusiastic :)). We've set up a lot already, but the walls and windows are pretty bare. Here are things as they currently stand:

family room

kitchen (front door is on the right)

view from the front walk way

dining room (what you see when you walk in the front door)

office/current dumping ground/guest quarters

guest/girls bathroom

walking into the master bedroom

master bath

Chelsea and Claire are currently staying with us and she has helped me get a lot of projects done around the house. Can't wait to post updates!

misc summer videos

We went down to Arizona in May to interview with Erik's current job. We surprised my sister and her family and got to have lots of cousin play time. We even got to be there for Claire's first birthday party - a very special treat!

Anyone who knows Ava can appreciate how excited I was when Ava was playing independent of me. Yes she checked in, but do you see the distance she created between the two of us?! Magical I tell you. She is growing up.