The Sieve's: 2011-12-11

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Ava's First Sunday School Christmas Program...

Ava had her first performance debut at the church Christmas program. She was so excited to get all dressed up and sing. We obviously didn't get to the church early enough (hence our not so great side picture of her singing). The video Brad took was priceless though! To say Ava was animated may be a bit of an understatement. She had fun and it was short and sweet so Owen even did well watching. Grandpa and Grandma VM even came to see her sing.

Candid Shots from December...

Christmas cut-out cookies with Grandma Chris

My "Poser" by the tree (we tried to include Owen, but it was a lost cause)

Peek-a-boo with the playroom door (a game that never gets old)!

Hannah & Luke...

Hannah & Luke opening their Christmas presents from us.

As has become tradition every year, Hannah and Luke give us a wonderful Christmas present: they watch our kids for an entire day while we Christmas shop and go out on a little date. Ava couldn't have been more excited (as were we!). I bet she asked 50 times when they were coming over. It was a big treat to have both Hannah and Luke to play with and she also thought it was fun that they were going to be staying until bedtime. We had a great time in Sioux Falls and Hannah and Luke seemed to handle the craziness with ease!

The Elf on the Shelf...

I'd like to introduce Gordy, our "Elf on the Shelf". If you haven't seen this before, you can purchase this elf at Target or off Amazon and it comes with a little story book. He is "sent" from the North Pole by Santa to watch children to see if they are good or bad. Each night when the children sleep, he flies back to the North Pole to tell Santa the news from the day and lands in a different place upon returning. Each morning, the child has to go find where they are. Gordy is the name Brad and Ava came up with for him. It has become quite a highlight for Ava each morning to see where Gordy is. She is so amazed by all the places he has been. The best morning was when we put him on her mirror in her room. When she got up, she was so excited to come and show us Gordy! We will be making this one of our holiday traditions.

A Visit to See Santa....

The kids were pacing the halls as we waited in line...

Check out the first "take" of the Santa photo :)

We took the kids to see Santa in Luverne. Ava has been quite fearful of Santa every year, and this year proved to be no different. After we waited in line for about a half hour, she proceeded to turn into a board and we had to drag her up by Santa. Once she saw the candy, she warmed up and was at least willing to be near them. Then came Owen...scared to death! Another comical year for us visiting Santa! Ava did have a few questions after we left like how come Santa wore gloves and when was he going back to the North Pole. It's so fun seeing Christmas through a 4 year old!