Saturday, December 1, 2012

The Holiday Season is Here...

 
 
 

We went to visit Santa in Luverne today.  No pictures (long story) but we did order one that will be coming.  It was a classic day in our family!  We waited in line for about a half hour and in true form, Owen wanted nothing to do with Santa.  Ava was even a little hesitant and asked if she could just sit by Mrs. Claus.  I ended up having to sit by Santa as well to get Owen anywhere near him.  Ava is very curious this year about Santa.  She wanted to know how Santa and Mrs. Claus were going to get to Luverne, where they were going next, and if they were going to head back to the North Pole tonight for bed or if they would stay overnight in Luverne.  So funny!!  We looked for the sleigh on the roof, but Brad explained that they probably left it at the airport and took a car to the school today!
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Thanksgiving with the Sieve's...


Layne, Ava, & Joe 

Carly 2 years

Brad, Zane (Lori's boyfriend) & Lori
 

Ready for pie!

Our house with the Springer's

Ava, Layne, Owen, & Carly

Our family
 

Her birthday present from the Springers- she loved it!

Joyce & Gary hosted the family for Thanksgiving and everyone was able to come home except James.  Joyce made a great meal and we all ate too much as usual!! We then had Lisa, Roy, Layne, and Carly stay with us through Saturday.  Ava enjoyed playing with Layne and Carly.  We stuck around our house for the most part, but did venture over to Sioux Falls for supper on Friday night which was fun.   
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The Christmas Tree Goes Up....


Ava was so excited to start decorating!
 

Owen getting in on the action
 
 
 

We attempted to put up the tree the Sunday before Thanksgiving, but ran into a little bit of an issue.  The whole top of the tree's lights did not work.  Brad spent some time Sunday trouble shooting that.  Finally, I located the correct replacement bulbs in Sioux Falls so Brad was able to replace about 20 bulbs in the tree.  Miraculously, it worked after that!  Ava had to wait patiently for two days until we were finally ready to put ornaments on it.  She was a huge help and nearly did all the decorating herself.  Owen put a few ornaments on, but was not nearly as interested as Ava was.  We bought a tree for the basement this year, and she was just as excited about that one and wanted to make sure I didn't put it up while she was at preschool!
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Family Fun Day at Preschool...

 
 

They had family fun day at preschool where the child could have a member of their family come join them for part or all of the day.  I brought a reluctant Owen to Monica's (daycare) for an hour and went to see Ava at preschool.  I got to hear them sing their songs which I've heard many times at home.  Ava is certainly animated and knows the actions quite well.  Then I went to snack time and play time with her.  They played a bean bag game on their scooters and Ava is, by no means, competitive.  She was very willing to let someone else grab a bean bag right in front of her, or hand hers off to some boy who was aggressive towards her.  It was comical to see her in this situation as she wouldn't be that way at home with Owen.  Regardless, she had fun showing me the ropes of preschool. 
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Thanksgiving - VanMeeteren Side...


Owen & Sam playing IPod/IPhone

Big grins!

Addie & Ava

Ava was thrilled to hold Reese (3 months)
 

My mom hosted Thanksgiving a little early before they left for Tucson.  In addition to our family, she invited Shelly's in-laws and Gary & Joyce to join us.  We had plenty of food which was all great! It was good to see Reese again as I feel like she's getting so big already!  The kids had fun playing together and all the adults enjoyed the visit!
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Owen: 2 Year Old Report....


Owen was a pretty good sport for his 2 year old well check.  In addition to his usual well check stuff, we also had to get a blood sample to recheck his thyroid since we hadn't checked that for a year.  We also had him tested for diabetes as long as we were getting a blood sample as he has an extremely excessive thirst.  So much so, that many nights he is soaked by 2-3:00 am.  I thought they were going to do a finger poke, but they ended up having to do a venipuncture stick in his elbow.  I was a little nervous after hearing this, but after we had him laying down and the tourniquet on, he just laid still.  He didn't even flinch when they stuck the needle in.  Luckily, they got him on the first try.  Both tests came back completely normal which was great.
Stats:
Height:  36" (84%)
Weight:  34 lbs (96%)
Another child at the top of the charts!  Owen is doing great by all accounts healthwise.  Our only concern was that he isn't speaking nearly as much as Ava was at this age, but Dr. Crabtree wasn't concerned about this yet.
Owen is our little active 2 year old.  He is so curious about things and will try just about anything.  He loves anything with wheels and is very happy playing with a truck or cars for extended periods of time.  He is such a happy little boy and laughs and plays with us all the time.  He loves to play with his sister, even though they fight, and misses her when she's gone at preschool.  If Brad takes Ava to preschool because Owen sleeps in, his first stop when he wakes up is to check in Ava's room to see where she is.  He is thrilled when I tell him it's time to go pick her up and rushes to put his shoes on.  He learned to pedal his tricycle just a few days after his birthday, and continues to excel in motor skills.  He's a great eater and lets us know if he doesn't get enough!  Owen has some favorite words/phrases right now including "I don't know", "Milk please", and "Bye, bye, truck".  He is nearly obsessed with milk and drinks plenty each day.  We are not worried about his calcium intake.  He also loves to go somewhere in daddy's truck.  He will usually make his request as we are getting our shoes on that he would like to take the truck.  Of course, we usually do!  He is so funny to carry on a converstaion with because he will always respond to your requests with "K" or "I don't know" and it fits right into context.  He is adjusting to daycare more and more all the time. He had a hard time at first, but he seems to be getting along okay now.  He doesn't always eat or sleep like he does at home, but I guess that is to be expected.  I'm now used to him eating twice as much in the evenings when he's been at daycare all day! 
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Ava's 5 Year Old Report


On November 5th, we took the kids in for their well checks.  I asked Brad to come along as I knew Ava would be getting her kindergarten shots.  We talked quite a bit about the shots before we went and Ava seemed like she was going to be fine with them.  We told her she couldn't go to kindergarten unless she got them, and that was plenty of motivation.  In fact, she thought as soon as she turned 5, she was going to automatically move from preschool to the kindergarten classroom!  She was excellent for her well check as usual, and was thrilled to have Dr. Crabtree look at her.  Then the shots came.  She got two at the same time in her thighs and she hardly even flinched.  With the grin still on her face, the nurse gave her the final shot which was the tetanus.  She quickly started to get a quivering lip, and she did cry a little after the nurses were all done, complaining that the last one really stung.  I'm sure it did!  Regardless, she did great, much better than I expected.
Stats:Height:  45.67" (95%)
Weight:  51 lbs (95%)
Once again, Ava was at the top of the charts for both height and weight. Dr. Crabtree is not concerned at all and said she was doing great and very proportional. 
Ava is growing up right before our eyes.  She seems so mature and is always amazing us with things she remembers or helps out with.  She loves her brother and is always quick to go and greet him when she gets home or after he wakes up from his nap.  She refers to him as "Bud"most of the time.  She quite often has to give him a hug and a kiss before naps and bedtime and tell him to "sleep good, Bud".  She absolutely loves preschool.  She comes home with so much information from what they ate, the letter they talked about, and who was sick.  She seems to be extremely observant and knows exactly what's going on.  She has taken a great interest in letters and numbers.  It seems in a couple short months she has learned every letter, the sound that it makes, how to write it, and words that start with that letter.  Their class in preschool has only learned about the first 10 letters of the alphabet, so we aren't exactly sure how she learned all of this.  She often asks us things like, "does clock start with a C?"  She can write her first and last name, Owen, Mom, and Dad without help.  She loves to write other words if I just tell her how to spell them.  We are amazed as just this past summer, she really had very little interest and couldn't even identify all the upper and lower case letters.  She has become much more of a "self starter"and will voluntarily do things that she knows need to get done without me telling her.  This isn't always the case, but she certainly can be very helpful.  Her chores right now are unloading the dishwasher, making her bed, putting away her laundry, and she helps Owen with lots of things like getting his coat/hat on .  Tonight as I was tucking her in, she asked me if we could "get a baby girl because she'd really like a baby sister".  This is often her request lately.  Oh my!
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Owatonna Trip with the Reiter's.....


Owen going down the kiddie slide

Brad & kids after their trip down the big waterslide

My turn down the slide with the kids

Ava & Maddie

Maddie & Ava (Maddie is 4 months older than Ava)

Owen sporting his swim attire
 

We enjoyed a nice weekend away in Owatonna in early November.  We met up with old friends of ours, the Reiters, that used to live by Worthington and now live by the cities.  They have 4 kids so the waterpark hotel was a big hit.   It took Owen a while to warm up to swimming, but Ava loved it right from the start.  Ava had one scary incident her first time (& only time) down the big slide by herself where she lost her tube, but other than that she loved every trip down with somebody else.  We even took all 6 kids to the outlet malls for a short while.  It was a fun weekend and great to connect with Ken & Kelli again. 
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