Avonlea's Birthday

Avonlea turned five last month and had a fun birthday.  Here are some of the pictures we took of her birthday, which stretched out over the course of several days.  It started with a night at Chuck E Cheese the day before her birthday and finished a couple days later when her presents from Grandma Jumpy got there. 

Avonlea was showing us that she was five.  Boy was Marshal excited. 

Avy really liked her stickers.  Marshal was still excited.

 

Avonlea liked the flying bike at Chuck E Cheese. 

Avy wanted a pink dinner on her real birthday, with pink waffles and pink milk.

Avy had fun decorating her princess cupcakes.

Avonlea was excited to blow out the candles. 

Mmm. . . pink cake.  

Grandma Jumpy sent lots of Charlie and Lola stuff. 

Avy loved her Charlie and Lola movies and dolls. 

Avy also had lots of fun with her new roller skates. 

Catching Up

Since Christmas, life in our home has been somewhat busy and chaotic.  Jeni, as always, is busy with church stuff and helping out the Young Women in the branch. The kids continue to be busy with piano and school.  Also, as most of you know, Jeni's parents lost their home to a fire over Christmas.  So we have been trying to be supportive and helping them out in whatever ways we can.

We did take a few pictures at Christmas that we wanted to share.  Also, Avonlea lost her first (and second) tooth over Christmas.  So here are a couple pictures of her with her tooth.  Her two new teeth are mostly in already.  Her dad pulled the first tooth out, but Avonlea pulled the second one out all by herself.  It was pretty wobbly. 

Avonlea with her Charlie and Lola dolls

Marshal playing with his new legos

Mya putting new clothes on her doll

Avonlea falling asleep with a few of her new toys

Avonlea with her first tooth that fell out

Avonlea's toothless smile

Christmas Eve Day Sledding

As is our family tradition, we went sledding on Christmas Eve Day. It helps get some of the energy out of the kids so they will be more likely to go to bed on time.  Everybody had fun and Marshal didn't get hurt this year!  Avonlea probably had more fun than anyone and was very upset when we had to leave. 

Mya coming up the hill

Dave giving Avy and Mya a push

Avy and Mya at the bottom of the hill

Mya giving Avy a ride

Marshal coming up the wrong side of the sledding hill

Avy got lots of rides up the hill

Gingerbread Houses

Last Sunday we made gingerbread houses.  Jeni spent all afternoon baking the gingerbread, and then the kids decorated them for our Family Home Evening. 

Marshal and Avy with their houses almost done

Jeni supervising the decorating

Marshal getting started

Avonlea loved putting frosting and candy on her house

Mya's house almost done

Avy decorating a few gingerbread people too

Christmas Tree and Cookies

Jeni helping the kids put together our tree

Our decorated tree

Avonlea only used pink frosting.  Now there's a big surprise!

Marshal did multi colored cookies

Mya is proud of her cookies

On Sunday for Family Home Evening we set up the Christmas tree and made some Christmas cookies.  The kids had a lot of fun doing both.  After we did the cookies, we watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. 

Fixing Comments

Lots of our friends say they have had a hard time leaving comments.  I think we fixed it.  Hopefully back to normal. 

Thanksgiving

Here are some pictures of our family at Thanksgiving.  Jeni made a wonderful Thanksgiving feast and everyone enjoyed it.  Avonlea especially enjoyed the Cloud Fluff (mashed potatoes).  She didn't care for the turkey (when she saw it in the morning, pre cooked, she said "Is that a turkey? Well I'm not eating that!).







During the weekend Dave painted the upstairs in our house.  The bedroom, hallway, and stairwell were all painted to match our downstairs.  Now our house is "Totally Tan".  All of the flat white paint our home came with is gone, with the exception of the bathrooms and closets.  Maybe next year.