Enjoying Photos and some of that guy

The girls have now started asking me to take their pictures. So here's what our beautiful Ava chose to look like:


And here is how Violet chose to smile like a princess:


I thought this one was really cute. You can totally tell Ava has started posing.



Oh, and speaking of the other person in the house, what's his name? Ummm.. Tyler? Yeah, I think that's it.. Here's Tyler working hard last night.

Here's Tyler with his sweet girls. He really is a great dad.

First dance class

Ava had her first ballet class today! It went well. They practiced jumping, skipping, galloping and twirling. Ava went right in all by herself and paid very good attention to her teacher, Dianna. Ava was really tired by the end, so we are going to practice some moves so she's not so tired next week. We also talked about "taking a nap" before so she isn't tired.

"Tissue in my nose"

Yeah, that's right. Last night while Tyler was studying late Violet got a piece of tissue rammed waaayyy up her nose. I thought for sure we were headed to the emergency room. Thankfully I was able to fish it out with tweezers while pulling her cheek back and looking up her nostril. I could barely see it. Let's hope this is a once in a lifetime experience.

The girls have runny noses. From what I think was the swine flu to this. Fun times.

Thankful

I've been feeling very grateful lately for the abundance of blessings that I have. Even though there are many things that I want, or that worry me, I am so blessed. Here are some of the ways I am thankful:

For a beautiful library and story times.



For dear friends of the best variety that let us share in the joy of another baby. It is these experiences that really humble us and help us realize what life is all about.


For Aunts and uncles that love our children.


For piles of dirt and the joy they bring to kids.


For FREE science centers.


For a little fear every once and a while.


For the majesty of birds, the letter B, and for kind hearts that give a home to injured animals.

Amazing Photos

http://anothertestamentofchrist.com/

Absolutely gorgeous photos of Christ.

Cute craft and more updates

Here is the little Ikea table I painted a couple weeks ago. Super easy. It can also be done on a canvas. How I did it is below:



1. Get craft paint from Joanne's or Michael's. Make sure you get a clear coat too.
2. Measure surface and mark light guidelines for lines (they may show, so the lighter, and less lines the better)
3. Paint. It may take several coats. I had to cover up marker and paint, and in the end it didn't cover all the way, but good enough. My lines aren't perfect either.
4. Print word(s) you want off the computer. Use any font you want. Make sure it is the exact size you want too.
5. On the back side of the word(s) you printed, color heavily in pencil. Do several "layers." This is a cheap, easy substitute for graphite paper. Only do behind where your word is printed.
6. Lay on surface exactly where you want letters to occur graphite side down. Tape so paper doesn't move. (although I didn't do this. I just eyeballed it)
7. Trace letters on printed side with pen or pencil
8. Lift off paper.
9. Color tracing with black sharpie. This is MUCH easier, and more accurate than painting.
10. Use clearcoat of paint to cover entire surface.

Enjoy!


This is Ava's shopping cart. She certainly loves her "stuff." She always has bags, pillows, blankets, purses, papers, little toys, big toys, etc all crammed in it. And she knows exactly what's in it. Maybe it's a stage, but it is really funny. Or maybe she's just rebelling against mom's decluttering.


Preschool has started up again and we have started with a vengeance. Here are some apple seed shakers we made. We put some seed inside the apple aka beans, and danced around. We also made a book of a few "A" words. This week we're on to the letter B!

Here are some more fun pictures from the game a couple weeks ago. It was HOT and we got free towels to wave in the air.


The main reason I like the picture below is because I don't look pregnant. I'm not, but big yellow t-shirts tend to accentuate the midsection. Our seats are pretty good!! All the student section tickets have "Maize out" written on them so you're supposed to wear yellow.


Us :)

Awesome Saturday Game

In case you didn't hear, U of M won against Notre Dame on Saturday in the last 20 seconds of the game. We traded away our ticket, but are going to Ohio State, so I'm not sad we weren't there but we watched the whole thing on TV. It was AWESOME! You could hear the crowd roaring at our house and the loudspeaker every time a big play happened. We were yelling and screaming at our house too.. it was so fun. Yeah, more than 100,000 people are a loud bunch.. We had a tailgate with a few other LDS - Business School families who live in our complex. Our neighbors are the ones right in front of us with their son, Carter. Ava and Violet were too busy playing to get them in the picture.

The first view of A2

Rather than writing out the entire name of Ann Arbor, I've reduced myself to using the term A2. Here was the view out of our window this morning at 7:30! Tailgating! We're super excited to go to the game this afternoon. It's going to be a hot one. I hear the student section is conveniently located right where the sun shines.



I ran across these pictures on the camera from last month. Tyler and the girls camped in the back yard while I was at girls camp. They are so cute!