Ava Elliot
Raising the most beautiful girls in the world…
Fall days.
Dec 24th
The end of the year is creeping up on us. Well, really it’s more like a cheetah chasing us down on the hunt, with us being the innocent gazelles totally unprepared while chewing our savannah grass. But, I digress. Christmas Eve is here and that means time to catch our breath and savor the last few days of 2009. I won’t launch into all the wonderful things that 2009 has brought us (a new baby and a new job), rather I’ll just post a few pictures of a recent fall day where we went on one of our regular walks to feed the ducks and played at the park. Luckily, I happened to have my camera (that doesn’t always happen these days with three little ones running around).
Happy Halloween (hey, at least I'm getting this post up before the next holiday)
Nov 6th
At this rate, it’s a good thing I am posting these before Christmas. Good Lord, where has the time gone. The days fly by so fast I just can’t keep up. I actually asked Dave last night, “Is there a software program that can coordinate all your calendars? You know, like your Outlook calendar and your other work calendar and then your personal iphone/gmail calendar?” He just looked at me like I had live snakes for hair… but seriously folks, anyone know of such a thing… because at this point, I’ll take any advantage I can get on this time thing.
Halloween was a blast. We went to the Zoo Boo very early and then had a little shindig with our friends, who also have all girls. Girls, girls, girls… we were a fleet of estrogen parading through the neighborhood demanding chocolate and candy! The Dads tagged along taking pictures and everyone was happy. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Oh so thankful, and oh so sad.
Nov 6th
I was in the airport when someone said “That’s just crazy about those mass shootings at Fort Hood…” And like any news story of the troops, particularly ones where I know my sister or brother-in-law could be involved, my skin got goosebumps. I found the first TV I could in the airport and caught the blaring headlines. Sara and Jeff have been at Fort Hood for awhile and I knew they were both busy working that day. I immediately called my sister’s cell phone… she has one of those crazy numbers that plays music while the phone magically “finds my party…” and in those moments I was just sort of holding my breath and floating. When the phone clicked, the first thing she said was, “I’m OK. Jeff’s OK.” And then, I was OK too.
I have no words really. Only sadness for the many, many people who have been touched by this horrible senseless act. And such utter gratitude that Sara picked up the phone when I dialed. It breaks my heart to think of the 13 families who didn’t get an answer when they dialed…
Beautiful day and beautiful weather.
Oct 17th
Finally, the weather has cooled off a little… we were so excited to have weather that wasn’t in the 90s!
Look who's two…
Oct 4th
Well, its been a busy month, to say the least. Since I started a new job two and half weeks ago, I’ve had trips to both Belgium and Seattle. Belgium was amazing and I had a great time learning about my new projects, seeing old friends, and seeing Antwerp on the day that I wasn’t working (thanks Amy for showing me around). Seattle was also beautiful, even though I didn’t get much free time to see the city. It made me miss the Northwest though; fresh air, trees, hills, houses that don’t all look the exact same, good microbrews…
This weekend we celebrated Miss Livi turning two! Can you believe it, because I seriously can’t. When we asked her what kind of cake she wanted, she kept alternating between “Nemo” and “Dora”, so we went with Dora. Thanks Mom for another great cake! We spent the afternoon moving Olivia’s crib out of her room and replacing it with a “big girl bed” (more pictures later). She was super excited about this, even though it crimped her bedtime style. She was up and down for a long time and appeared for the final time at about 9:30 pm tonight before finally settling in and falling asleep. I’m hoping that will only last a day or two until the newness wears off.
We tried to get a family picture, but that is tough to come by these days. The one on the bottom of the post was as good as we could get. 
Have a great week! Happy Birthday to our little spit-fire…
Chef Olivia test her recipe.
Aug 31st
Ha ha thought I’d post some funny videos of Olivia that we captured over the last couple days.