What does the Fox say??

First experience with the snow

Christmas Extravaganza Continued……..

Ava loved everything about our trip to Chicago. She didn't mind the cold, loved watching the snow come down (just not going in it), loved playing with all her toys at Mimi and Papa's house, and was obsessed with her crib. She sleeps in the crib I slept in as a baby so maybe she can smell me on it and that is why she loves it. She would ask to go hang out in it when it wasn't nap time. But the best part of Chicago was the family we got to spend time with. Ava had lots of time with Auntie Beth, G-Pa, GG, Great Aunt Nancy, Great Uncle Bob, Grandma Joyce, Grandpa Ed, Great Aunt Cathy, and of course Mimi and Papa. The day before we left she even go to see some of Steve's Aunts, Uncles, and cousins who live in Chicago. You could tell she just loved every second of family time!

Christmas Eve. Getting ready to head to church. Glad I got a picture of her in her Christmas dress before she demanded it come off. She did not like the way it felt and halfway through church made me take if off. She wore her tights and coat for the rest of church. 

Sitting with G-Pa and GG at church 

Christmas Eve at Mimi and Papa's house

Very curious about the presents!

Ava's first White Christmas. 

She loved watching the snow come down, but wasn't too into touching it. 

Seeing the lights at Morton Arboretum 

Trying out her new coat from Grandma Joyce

Playing with her bike in the basement since it was too cold to go outside. 

About to go sledding for the first time

Not a fan! Don't know if you can tell but she is in fact crying in this picture. 

A little better with mommy on the sled too 

And a ride with daddy

We even got a night out in the city! 

Heading out to the Bears Vs. Packers game. 

Can they handle the cold? They did in fact, just didn't do so well handling the results of the game. 

Christmas Extravaganza…..

 Ava's second Christmas was a hit for everyone! Lucky girl got to celebrate Christmas 3 times! We had a fun month of visiting Santa (not the santa part, but everything else was fun), going to Christmas parties, and enjoying lots of shopping! She enjoyed helping me pick out gifts and was always so serious when I would tell her where we were going, who we were buying for, and what we were buying. There is something so magical about having little ones around during Christmas time. 

Waiting to see santa. Still excited about it. 

And this is as close to santa as she would get. After seeing him up close and personal she decided she would rather be outside of his house. 

Enjoying the chocolate mommy brought home from her students. 

Here is the quick version of our Christmas celebrations this year. 

We had our first Christmas at the Scifres' with Ma-ga and Pa-ga. Ava had fun opening gifts and was thrilled to receive a tool set from Pa-ga, magna-tiles from Ma-ga, and her first American Girl Doll Bitty Baby from Auntie Sandy.

After staying in the rest of the weekend to get healthy and prepare for our trip to Chicago we squeezed in our own family Christmas the day before we left for Chicago. Ava had so much fun playing with her toys all day. Luckily they kept her occupied so I could get ready for our trip! We also got in one last trip to the park before leaving for Chicago. Ava is used to being able to go outside and play whenever she wants and I knew that would be a bit of an adjustment for her when we entered the cold weather of Chicago.  

We headed out to Chicago very early on the 24th, luckily had no flight delays and even got there early! We bought Ava kid friendly headphones in hopes that she could be plugged in most of the trip, however, that worked all of 5 minutes! She was still pretty good for most of the flight even though the headphones did not do the trick. Steve ended up using them to watch a movie. 

She loved the mittens! Kept calling them puppets and pretended they were eating each other. As soon as we stepped outside she didn't seem bothered by the cold, but looked at me and said, "Mommy, it's cold!" It was so cute!