Ava Got It In Drive

OK, I finally have video of Ava crawling forward. Sorry it took so long. I'm sure you all put your lives on hold waiting for this video. Well, you can finally get back to prodding the cattle and shaving the sheep (or whatever it is you do) because here it is:




Yep... after months of being stuck in reverse, Ava finally popped her gear into "drive".

(Did I do that car analogy right? I know cars about as well as I know sports. But I am pretty confident that I hit a touchdown out of the park with the above car-related metaphor.)

Yartide

Here are some random Christmas pictures. (Random in that they were carefully selected so we all look semi-entertaining, halfway competent, and relatively good looking.)

Here are the kids on Christmas morning. Bub is showing Ava how her fancy new blocks work.



We went to Grandma and Grandpas. By the time we got there, Bub had decided that since it was barely below freezing that going barefoot was best. He was re-shoed before being allowed out of the car.



Ava yarred out everyone with her Christmas dress.


She enjoyed feeling Aunt Rachel's face. It felt facey.


As usual, grandpa was emitting powerful sedatives. She was unconscious within moments of being in his arms.




Yea, Christmas!!!

Fun with Funnel Fundamentals

Here is Tim putting the FUN back in the often dreary world of funnels.



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Please note: no babies, or funnels, were harmed in the making of these videos. Please don't write a letter to PETF (People for the Ethical Treatment of Funnels).


So that was us putting the "fun" in "funnel". Somedays we put the "el" in "funnel"... which means we put the "the" in funnel. I don't know what that means either... but that's why this is called "Our Dumb Blog" and not "Our Highly Insightful and Dare We Say Witty Blog".

We need MORE SPRINKLES!!!

Alexander decorated Christmas cookies. He was very careful with the colored gel...



And he showed enormous self-control with the sprinkles....



Wait...did I say enormous self control? I meant the opposite of that.





May your holidays be filled with excessive sprinkles!



MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Kids Say the Darnedest blah blah blahs

Yes, it's another installment of my kid saying the darnedest whatnots and whathaveyous...

Alexander likes to play with the weather channel feature of the Wii. He goes around the world, clicks on various cities and gets the weather forecast. He reports the temperature to us, and whether it is cloudy, sunny, raining, snowing, etc. Perhaps this will translate into a lucrative career as Al Roker someday.

Today he clicked on a city where it was night time and clear. So instead of a sun, it had a picture of a moon. He said "43 degrees and moonie."

Whaaant-waaaaaaaaah! (<--- Trombone enhanced punchline.)

(As a sidenote...One downside of him learning numbers on the weather channel is that he has started adding "degrees" to at the end of almost every number. For instance, the speed limit up the street is "25 Degrees". If we ever get pulled over, Bubby is doing the talking.)

...


In other news... Ava is now crawling FORWARD!!! After months of backwards crawling, she has finally figured out how to get her hinder out of reverse. So there is a whole new world of shenanigans for her to explore, head first.

Clean Up on Aisle Ava

Alexander really likes to be a helper. By “helper” I mean someone that causes everything to take twice as long and be three times as messy. One way he likes to help is by feeding his sister. Check out the yar.




Here is a picture of one rockin’ meal. Literally. Bubby and Ava both look like they are screaming their way through an Iron Maiden record. Plus, check out Ava’s right hand.

A Boy and His Tree

We went out last weekend and got a Christmas tree. It was skinny enough to fit in the playroom, and fat enough to still be a respectable Christmas tree.




("meh.")




("yeaaa!")

Alexander was so insanely excited about getting a Christmas tree that I felt like Momineezer Scrouge for not getting a dozen trees… for each room of the house. He loves the tree. He says good night to it before he goes to bed. He talks about it quite a lot. He makes sure Ava knows how awesome the tree is.




I’m not sure how he will take the news that after Christmas, Grandpa is going to both remove the tree from our house and to BURN it in his backyard. Hopefully by then he will be over tree mania. Otherwise, you'll see a post in Feburary titled "A Boy and his Fire Hazard."

Bundled Bub

There is something so endearing about a small child immobilized for a harsh Midwestern winter.




He can’t even find his hands. Awwww…

Kitty-like Baby

Exhibit A:
Serious tongue action when eating.



Exhibit B:
Happiest on high perches.



Conclusion:
Parenting responsibilities are falling too heavily on Cow and Bear's shoulders.

Gobble.

Happy Thanksgiving! We had family over and ate crock pot ham and a smoked turkey ordered online. So like the pilgrims... I didn’t take part in the meat-fest, of course. I just stood back and watched in horror… or mild disinterest. I’m not what one would call a Tofuist (a name I just made up for insane vegan activists - it makes them sound sort of cute and fun! Not like the tree hugging, hemp-wearing, compost piling, red paint throwing, condescending head shakers that some tofuists really are.)

The meal was good, but our house took a beating this year. A coffee table, a toliet, a bathroom door, an ice maker... those were just a few victims of the holiday. Next year we are installing full-nerf coverage on every guest to keep them safe and immobile.

Alexander LOVED getting to play with his cousin.


And Great Grandma got to see how massive Ava has become.


Speaking of Ava... she is locomoting at lot more now. She makes pretty good time crawling backwards. She can also hinder-hop forward while in a sitting position – like a levitating Maharishi. Much to her dismay, her first tooth is coming in:



Nevermind the sweet potatoes up her nose. (Don't ask.) Here is an "enhanced" shot so you can see the tooth better.


She’s clapping, waving, and “talking” more. Total yarfest.


Tim just turned 40. He's also clapping, waving, and "talking" more. We had a little party and I paid our local bakery to make a cake for him. Using his money. Aren't I a great wifey??
He'll miss being a member of a key demographic, but he still knows how to rock.

(See file photo below of Tim Rocking)