We're having a snow day from school today, so I thought I'd reflect some on the sunshine and warmth we experienced on our trip to Arizona this Christmas!!! But first, I had some favorite pics from Christmas here that I never posted. The kids picking out our tree!! They're just so cute all bundled up!!!
Then, while we were setting up the tree, I kept smelling and exclaiming how good it smelled... so Oliver followed suit!!!
As the rest of the decorations were coming out of storage, Avery found our kid nativity set...and then modified it! Her depiction of the birth of Christ!
After our family celebration in Colorado (see post below) we hit the road for another successful road trip! We visited lots of friends- at one friend's house, Oliver discovered his new love of Mr. Potato Head. The family had a TON of potatoe heads and just happened to have gotten him one for Christmas!!!
We spent a TON of time with the cousins! It was always caos-filled with the energy of kids ages 5, 3, 2 and 2 exploding around the room! Here was an attempt to calm things down... Avery reading to the little ones! See how they're all sweaty and flushed??! Ha!!
Then we went to Tucson and saw Great Aunt Nita! The kids always love eating at the Golden Corral and getting a ride on the golf cart! Though Aunt Nita's new puppy trumped everything else this year!!!
We went to a few different parks!!! Railroad park with Grandpa!!!
Typical.... Oliver jumping off something!
Then came the big day!!! Christmas and all of its fun! We had mentioned to Santa when we saw him that we'd be in Arizona, so we made him some fudge and put out a treat for the reindeer!
Avery hung the stockings on the couch with care.
And then all heck broke loose!!! Uncle Todd was super excited!
Avery patiently waiting for her turn!
And enjoying their haul!
Doesn't Avery look so old here??? Obviously the pillow pets were a big hit! We know own a pillow zoo, since both kids got two!!!
Now some of you may not think these are quite as cute as we do, but Oliver is killin' us with his cuteness lately! So here are some videos of him being cute!!!
We celebrated our Smith Family Christmas today... or "Fake Christmas", as Avery calls it!! What an awesome day the Smith kids had! First off, we'll start by showing you our Santa pics from our visit on Thursday. Both kids did great! The sat on his lap (Avery's first year of doing that!!) and Oliver actually spoke to him!
*Note the crooked, very, very loose bottom tooth....
So while Avery had some razz-ma-
tazz hands while waiting in line... this is how Oliver spent his time in line!
He eventually woke up and was in a decent mood! (Avery received some brown lip gloss that day and was liberally applying... so her mouth looks a little- big)
This is Avery explaining to Santa that we're going to be in Arizona.
Here's Oliver explaining to Santa that he wants a Panda Bear Pillow Pet.
And then came Fake Christmas Morning!!!! Oliver is completely, totally, and whole-
heartedly in love with Woody and Buzz
Lightyear (there is a picture montage of his new relationship with them below)!!! He also received this cool Toy Story 3 game from Grandma and Grandpa Smith.
Avery has spent most of her day playing with her new Nintendo
DS from Grandma and Grandpa!!! Literally... hours and hours spent playing her new games- silly me... I put this on her Christmas list with some hesitation because I wasn't completely convinced she'd like it... HA!! It is definitely her favorite present!!!
Some play time- Avery and her Fire Breathing Night Fury (loves it!!! cool toy!) and Oliver and Woody!
Avery also got the as-seen-on-
tv Fuzzoodles. Another hit! If anyone needs a gift idea for a 5 or 6 year old girl... try some
Fuzzoodles!! They're like super furry, monster sized pipe cleaners that come with a bunch of faces, shoes, and accessories. You can make a bunch of silly creatures. Or if you're Avery, you make a visor.... (girl after my own heart) (**AND note the missing tooth!!! Avery pulled it out herself!!!! Major bravery progress- but it was actually flapping around when she would talk, so it was QUITE loose!!)
And spell your name with them!!
Then you wear your visor all day while playing your many hours of your
DS!
And finally, the Oliver, Woody and Buzz montage. These new additions to Oliver's heart have now watched him eat, watched him sleep, been hugged on, dropped, and flown around the room with sister!
He has spent a nice chunk of time examining how I wrote his name on the bottom of their shoes (just like in the movie, ya know?).
Woody sits on Oliver's lap and he talks to him and falls down a lot. Woody knows when his hat is off or on his head, and Oliver thinks that is pretty fun!
Ooohhh, the love!!!!
Oh Oliver. While he is still very much a two-year-old (read: tantrums, irrational emotions), he sure makes us laugh pretty regularly!! I'm working on our Thanksgiving in Indiana pictures, but in the mean time, here are some videos to tide you over!!
Oliver was pretty pumped about decorating the tree!!! He pretty much bounced the through the entire process.
Up next is something that stems from Dora singing a silly song. She takes well known songs and then throws something silly in. This one is "merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a.... bowl of spaghetti!!" Followed by lots of giggling!
Finally, this one was in Indiana. We were spending time at the lovely Dark home and Joanne was reading Oliver a story and cracking. him. up!!! It was something having to do with the word 'icabod'. It was a cute little moment for them... and now for all of you!!
Icabod from Stephanie Smith on Vimeo.
Avery's loose tooth FINALLY fell out!!! It had been loose for soo long! We first noticed it was loose on October 12... and almost a month later- November 11, it finally came out!
For those of you who might not know, Avery has an extremely low pain tolerance... or an extremely high capacity for drama and emotions, depending on how you look at it. So I knew there was no way anyone would get near her mouth to pull it out or that she would pull it out.
She was just wiggling away. Yesterday, as she was talking to me, it was flapping back and forth!!! ridiculous! So she was munching away on a fruit leather, "heard a crunch", and it plopped out!!! It bled for a while (she had previously been afraid that the bleeding would hurt) and she wasn't scared at all!!! The one next to it is loose too, so we'll see if that one takes a month to fall out!!!
Showing how she could stick her tongue through it!
Showing Oliver her new skill!!
Oliver trying on dad's childhood hat... too bad you can't see that it says Jeff on it!
In other news, we got our first snow!! Its actually still on our grass 3 days later... unusual for here!! Usually it melts right away fast, but its been pretty chilly.
And Avery was sick. Missed 2 days of school this week (which I think she sort of liked!) with some sort of weird virus. She just had a fever and a headache. weird.
Finally, we've got the obligitory leaf pictures for the fall!!! This raking didn't really result in the actual picking up of any leaves, just jumping- and Avery has perfected "swimming" in the leaves! Hopefully we'll get them up before it snows! They were just so darn excited, I took a lot of pictures... so get ready!!
At this point, they were pretty much done jumping and had moved on to burying each other. Little cuties... but seriously, Oliver... what is with that smile??
The first jump!!!
Now Ollie's starting to get into it!!
Then came the big day!!! Christmas and all of its fun! We had mentioned to Santa when we saw him that we'd be in Arizona, so we made him some fudge and put out a treat for the reindeer!
Doesn't Avery look so old here??? Obviously the pillow pets were a big hit! We know own a pillow zoo, since both kids got two!!!
