A Day with Brant and Aryn (and Finn and family)!

As we photographed a wedding in San Francisco, my brother and Aryn offered to watch Avi.  We were very grateful!  They went on a open-top train ride through the redwood forest to Santa Cruz!  Cool!

 In a tunnel!

Baby Finn

    Even though Baby Finn lives 3 hours away, and we don't see him all that often - he's in our conversations with Avi almost daily.  She loves talking about him!  She compares things to him, thinks about him when she sees other babies, and we "use" him to teach her about how she's not a "baby" anymore - and she gets it.  Like today, when she didn't want to walk from the beach to the car.  Then we saw a baby, and mommy said, "See the baby getting carried?  Babies have to be carried because they can't walk - like Baby Finn.  But you can walk because you're not a baby anymore - you're a big girl!"  We also used Baby Finn as a way for her to understand when we stopped breastfeeding.  Now, she says (almost every morning) Baby Finn gets "tatas"  and then she asks like she's going to breastfeed me or daddy and then she laughs and cracks herself up!

    When Brant, Aryn and Finn visited recently, Avi was so sweet and considerate towards him.  She always wanted to involve him in anything we were doing...  It's adorable to see how "motherly" she is already.  She has a tender, sweet heart.

Christmas Tree Decorating

There's nothing like a Christmas tree: the smell, the lights, the gathering to decorate it...  Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

Lighted Boat Parade, 2011

 In what's becoming a family tradition, we went to watch the Lighted Boat Parade in Morro Bay in early December.  Brant, Aryn and Finn came to visit, and Eric, Pam, Kelly and Pam's sister was there, too.  We babysat Avi's friend, Millie, so she got to join in the fun, too!

Baby Finn tried to fit into Avi's jacket - he wasn't to happy about it.  But actually he filled it out pretty good considering the 2-year age difference!

Michael dutifully made spiked hot chocolate for everyone (except the kids)!

 Avi and Millie sooned learned to scream "Merry Christmas" at every boat that passed by!

 One of my favorite parts is to see the gorgeous reflections on the water.

Pismo Christmas Tree Lighting

 A quick stop at Guisseppe's Express for some Italian food while Michael put new house batteries in our RV outside!

 We got the food to go and ate in our motorhome overlooking the ocean and saw the sunset!  Very nice!

 A walk on the beach from our motorhome parking spot to the pier.

Michael points out stars to Avi.  Pacha taught Avi about the star Venus, and now every time Avi looks at 

the stars, she asks, "Where's Vena?"

 Following the firetruck from Highway 1 to the Pier for the tree lighting.

 Ahhh... The Pismo Pier Christmas Tree all alit!

Village Christmas Parade with Halle and Co.

 We met at the Thai place in the Village for dinner first.  Even though it's a nicer restaurant - that didn't stop Avi from undressing (and teaching Halle it was "okay" to do the same)!  Luckily, there wasn't another soul in the restaurant at 4:30pm that afternoon!

 Darn kid gets the best view of the parade from on top of her daddy's shoulders!

Halle, Dan, Avi and Michael.

 Sarah and Dan made us sneak in to the parade.  Those rebels!  Here Avi's doing her duty and waving at the literally hundreds of people on the sidewalks.

After the parade we went to get ice cream!  Ah, it was a decadent night!

Mimi and Boppy Time!

Mimi and Boppy came to visit for Thanksgiving.  They recently got a new car, so instead of coming in their usual motorhome, they came without a bed this time.  I think it was the first time ever my dad has slept in MY house (and I've been married 11 years already with 3 different homes under my belt)!  It was LOTS of fun having them there and Avi loved it, too, of course!  I hope they visit much more in the future!

We took a walk to Oso Flaco on a gorgeous sunny, but windy, day!

Mimi is so fun - she grabbed one of Avi's tutu's and dressed up too!

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving plans this year were as crazy as a turkey with it's head cut off!  First we were going to Fresno to spend time with Michael's mom and family (but then she was going down to the desert), so we were going to Brant and Aryn's (but then their house got too full), so then back to Fresno to see Maren's parents and family and Michael's grandparents (but then Grammy Louise didn't want to travel that far), so home in Oceano (and that almost got canceled because my dad got sick and half our party wasn't going to make it)!  Regardless to say, we were happy and thankful to have a great potluck cooked meal with family!

Michael was in charge of cooking (deep frying in peanut oil with some neighborhood buddies over beer) and carving the turkey!  Good work, baby!

I just did appetizers, drinks, and stuffing.  Pretty easy!

Tryptophan attack.

Michael's View of Refugio

Yes, that's Avi - who drug her potty to the middle of the street to go!  Luckily it wasn't a busy street!

Two Years and Four Months Old

We are so blessed that we have the skills and the equipment to do "mini photo shoots" whenever we want. Here's a mini shoot in the Euctalyptus grove near our house.  

Avi loves to go barefoot.  Even in the early morning on our cold tile floor.  I don't know how she stands it!

She loves playing in sand and dirt.  

She's talking so much now.  Sometimes, she gets this far-away-look in her eye and tells you a story of something that happened in her life recently.

She's silly. She knows it.  And we love it!

She can hop and skip.

Her hair is getting long, but she hates wearing it up.  It's almost always crazy and in her face because that's how she likes it.  She let me put a ponytail (or hair tail, as she calls it) in for this shoot.  

She can run fast!  We've gotta stay on our toes!

She loves hugs and kisses.  She constantly is carrying around a doll or stuffed animal and giving it hugs and kisses to make it feel better.  She's a compassionate and caring human being.

She loves getting swung around in the air by her hands.  

She's going places.  She often tells us she's going to "work" or going to "yoga" - two places we go a lot!

One of Avi's favorite "alone time" games is to talk to and care for her baby dolls (Baby Jesus and Baby Ruby - she named the former, Mommy named the later - I didn't want to have Baby Mohammed and Baby Jesus in the same room together)!  She loves to cuddle them, soothe them, sing to them and feed them.  She really is a sweet "mommy."

She loves being carried.  "Hold you, Daddy" is what she says when she wants to be in your arms.

She loves going barefoot, bare-armed, bare-butt, bare-everything pretty much!  (Though she does like wearing dresses!)  Before I had kids, and I heard parents say something like, "I can't get him to put a coat on!", I'd think to myself, Well, you're the parent, just put it on him!  Well, that's true up until they learn how to undress themselves - then there's really no way to keep anything on they don't want!  Avi is potty trained, but still wears a diaper when sleeping.  Well, once she learned how to remove her diaper we had a naked wet baby every afternoon after her nap time!  What could I do?!  The current answer: bribery.  If she wakes up with her diaper still on she gets a lollipop - one of her favorite things in the world.  So much for being a "perfect parent!"