I prefer the reindeer.

By all accounts, Santa is a pretty nice guy.  The wardrobe is a bit of a head-scratcher, but anybody whose entire life is dedicated to spreading Christmas cheer is OK in my book.  Unfortunately, Ava does not yet seem to agree.  Once again this year we bundled up and went to visit the big guy, and once again Ava acted like he was there to pick her pockets. 

Eventually she's going to figure out that he's the one leaving all those awesome presents under the tree.  Bet she'll sit on his lap then.

A visit to Santa may have been a bust, but the stuffed reindeer in the lobby were a huge hit. 

Prancer and Dancer there will have to fill Santa in on Ava's Christmas wishes this year.  Hopefully they wrote it all down.

Happy (almost) Holidays!

Ava's going to be a.....

The newest Lundstrom is scheduled to make his/her debut on July 18th!  Ava was made for this job.

Dude, get me out of here.

Uncle Joel came into town a few weeks ago and met us at the museum.  He was her favorite uncle until he almost fed her to the dinosaur exhibit.

Uncle Joel thinks the teeth on this t-rex are hilarious.  Ava just wants to find the exit.

Decking the Halls

Our girl is growing up.  So, in yet another celebration of this fact, we decided to let Ava decorate the Christmas tree this year.  We placed every unbreakable ornament we have at her feet, and let her go to town.  Girlfriend did not disappoint.

She placed each ornament on its branch with extreme care, heatedly tossing aside any that didn't meet with her artistic vision.  (She's even been back to the tree a half dozen times since yesterday to perfect her work.  I'm certain this is a sign of extreme genius.) 

As she decorated, she repeatedly stood back, surveyed her brilliance and exclaimed - quite rightly, I think - "Wow! Is BEAU-Ful!!"

I couldn't have said it better myself.

3 Halloween Costumes = 1 Lesson in Parenting

It all started with the ill-conceived idea for a sheep costume.  So cute, right?  Puffy, soft, and totally endearing; it was candy-getting' gold!  Well, I'll have to show it to you on the model hired by Pottery Barn, because my little darling wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.  Plus, when I put the hat on she alternately thought I was a kitty cat and a bunny.  Confusing, to say the least. 

See how this kid's not screaming?  Yeah, that would have been nice.

Moving on...

Next, Andy and I headed to Target to pick up what I naively thought was going to be a sure thing.  Ava is obsessed with princesses, so a sparkly Cinderella dress (no head gear required) was the answer to our problems, yes?  Uh, no.  That too was met with ear-piercing screams, and thrown directly to the floor. 

This final fit happened about half an hour before we were leaving for Boo at the Zoo, and Mama was gettin' desperate.  Who was going to give candy to a kid dressed up as, well, nothing?!  I ran to her closet and pulled out an Iowa cheerleader dress someone had given us last year.  It was a size too small and didn't even cover her diaper, but matched with some tights, and an old pom-pom from the toy box, it was the best we were going to do. 

This time, no tantrums, and she had a ball at the zoo.  She gamely ran from station to station, holding out her bag for candy with an enthusiastic "trick or treat!", offering up a polite and hearty "thank you!" with each treat she was given.  But I think the best part of this debacle was that her coat covered the whole costume, so most of the time you couldn't tell what she was anyway.  *sigh* 

The only thing she actually cared about was that red sucker in her hand.  She didn't put it down until we got home.

More trick-or treating tonight, in a cheerleader dress that fits.  Pics to come.  Happy Halloween!

Milestones

Kids come with lots of milestones.  Some are big (first steps, first words, the first time you get more than 20 minutes of sleep after they're born), and some are smaller, but no less thrilling for them and you.  Saturday morning we had one, and  - at least for us - it was a biggie. 

It was The First Haircut.  (And yes, the boldface print was necessary.)

We went to one of those places that specializes in cutting children's hair.  It was perfect - cartoons, chairs shaped like little cars and motorcycles, and everything from the walls to the floors covered in festive colors and kid-centric artwork.  It made me wish I was five and in need of a trim. 

Ava however, smelled trouble.  As soon as we tried to put her in the little red fire truck that should have been her seat, she lost it.  It was clear we wanted her to do something, and equally clear to her that she wanted nothing to do with whatever it was.  Luckily, it wasn't the stylist's first rodeo.  She distracted Ava with a cool toy and let her sit in her dad's lap.

Then she presented Ava with her first-ever lollipop, which she - literally - sucked on for the next 2 hours.

It was all over in record time, and topped off with a jaunty pink bow. 


Well hello, gorgeous.

And once we were done, she decided those cool chairs weren't so scary after all.

Hopefully this is the last motorcycle she'll ride.  Ever.

Have a great week!

Is "autumn" a color? If so, I think it's mine.

Fall is in the air.  The temperatures are dropping, the sweaters and boots have come out of hibernation, and recipes for hearty soups and stews that have been laying in wait all summer have found their way into the cast iron pot once more.  I do love summer, but there's something about changing leaves and the need for a warm pair of socks when you get out of bed in the morning that I find exhilarating. 

And what better way to kick off the season than a trip to a local pumpkin patch?

"I like this one!"

The look on her face in this one cracks me up.

 

They also inexplicably had a bunch of hula hoops lying on the ground.  Score!!



Ava and Brady liked the giant climbing-pumpkins.

We walked away with two fabulous pumpkins.  We haven't done the carving yet, but I have a feeling Ava's recent obsession with Mickey Mouse is going to factor into the design plan. 

A few days later Ava helped us put the jack-o-lantern lights along the front path.  And by "helped", I mean "stuffed the heads full of leaves". 

Ok, so I'm not sure if autumn is my color, but it is definitely Ava's.

It was time for something new.

Denver is an amazing place to raise a family, and we like to pride ourselves on taking full advantage of everything this fabulous city has to offer.  But even with all we do, we're always on the lookout for something new.  Enter, The Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  Now, before you wonder if we've been living under a rock for the last 4 years, let me assure you that we know the museum has been here forever, and Andy and I have been there quite a few times by ourselves.  The "new" part is introducing it to Ava and seeing it all through her eyes.  I love this part of being a mom.

I wanted to make sure that Ava's first impression of the museum was a good one, so on the advice of the lovely lady at the ticket counter we hot-footed it straight to the Kid's Discovery Zone.  It was the right choice.



Andy had a good time too.



We spent so much time in there that the only other room we made it to was the Space Odyssey.  Also, a very good choice.

We flew a spaceship...

Retrieved moon rocks...

And learned all about planet earth...

I'm sure it goes without saying that I now have another membership card to keep track of.

Donna Reed sleeps in the room down the hall.

And she looks (and cooks) suspiciously like my daughter.

There is nothing I enjoy more these days than cooking with Ava, and to my endless delight she seems to feel the same way.  She sits on the counter, carefully scooping, measuring, counting, and tasting until whatever delicious treat we're making that day is in the oven.

This particular day's confection was a batch of oatmeal cookies.  Those are healthy, right?

In case you were wondering, these were even tastier than the rice krispie treats.

It was corn-mazing!!

Sorry for the corny title, but what else do you call a post about a corn maze?

Choosing to spend the better part of an evening lost in a field of 8 foot stalks of corn with a 2 year old was - to say the least - a bit of a gamble.  No toys, friends to play with, or cartoons to watch, and only the sad little selection of snacks we had packed in Ava's backpack to sustain us.  But, as happens more often than not, our sweet girl took the whole thing in stride and assisted us in kicking some corn-maze butt.

We even let her lead the charge for a while. We did eventually have to stop that, or we'd probably still be in there.

But she did a great job of helping Andy decipher the clue sheet they gave us on the way in.

The answer to each corn-related question was designed to lead us to the next numbered post. Since my knowledge of corn is restricted to the fact that it's yellow, and - contrary to popular opinion - has absolutely no place in a burrito, we had to defer to Andy for most of the answers. 

Ava was riveted by Andy's explanation of the little tassel thingy at the top of the stalk.



Hey, Dad, found one!

We finally made it out, alive and well, and celebrated our victory with a post-maze pony ride. 

I'm pretty sure she had a little crush on the cowboy.

Here's hoping your weekend was as a-MAZE-ing as ours!

(I'd like to promise you that the next post will be free from puns and corny jokes, but we all know I'd be lying.  Sorry.)

Florida, Part II: Disney World

“Laughter is timeless. Imagination has no age. And dreams are forever.”

― Walt Disney

I love Disney World.  The rides are thrilling, the parades are magical, and the ice cream shaped like Mickey Mouse's head is just about the most wonderful thing I've ever tasted.  I've been there countless times, and yet I still get butterflies in my stomach when I see Cinderella's castle peeking up over the trees from the windows of the Monorail.  And since I was lucky enough to marry someone who also refuses to grow up, you can imagine how excited we were to take Ava to the "Happiest Place on Earth".

Now, anyone out there who's ever had a toddler in their lives knows that any given situation - even the ones that are seemingly guaranteed to make a kid happy - can go any number of ways.  Will you be rewarded with smiles and laughter, punished for your efforts by an epic temper tantrum, or simply met with an indifferent, befuddled stare?  We walked through the gates, held our breath, and awaited the verdict...

Our timing couldn't have been better. A parade was underway, and whose float should be going by at that exact moment, but Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  Our girl was hooked.

We didn't want to lose any momentum, so once the parade was over we hot-footed it straight to Fantasy Land for some rides.  First up?  The Teacups, of course!

Ava loved it.  The faster that silly cup twirled, the bigger her smile got.  And for the next 4 days, girlfriend's life was good.


Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride



Ava and Grandma Sally checked out the fish tanks while we waited for "Turtle Talk with Crush" to start.

We were even lucky enough to score a meeting with Princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog (Ava adores that movie).  She was about to wrap it up for the day when the security guard took pity on us and gave us one of the final spots in line. 

The rides and parades were great, but it was something else entirely that threw the whole trip over the top. Thanks to Grandma Sally's insatiable love for ice cream - often in lieu of an actual meal - Ava got to indulge her sweet tooth at least once a day. 


Mickey Mouse's head = Chocolate-covered heaven.



Yup, that's lunch. 

 One of the coolest attractions was the Nemo musical at Disney's Animal Kingdom.  Ava actually sat (relatively) still for the entire 45 minute production, clapping, laughing and waving at all the right times. 

That was our last day at the parks, and our sharp parental instincts told us Ava had finally had enough.  

A big thank you to Grandma Sally and Grandpa Mac for helping to make this whole experience so incredibly special.  We love you guys. 

We're going to make this an annual thing, right??

Florida, in two parts.

The biggest problem with wonderful experiences is that they must eventually come to an end.  But if you're lucky - as we are this week - you're left with sweet stories to tell, pictures to share, and memories that stick with you long after your plane makes it safely home.  Our recent trip to Florida delivered all that and more. 

Since our trip was divided into visits to two different cities, spending time with 2 different sets of grandparents, I thought I'd break it up into two posts.  So sit back, relax, and enjoy a little visit to the sunshine state....

Florida, Part I: Palm Beach
Besides, of course, spending some quality time with family, I had one goal for this leg of our journey: get my girl to the beach.  I grew up completely in love with the warm, salty smell of the air, the sound of the waves lapping against the sand, and the irresistible feel of the sun on my shoulders.  And the sunsets?  Oh my.  If you've never seen it in person, grab your bucket list and add "Sit on the sand and watch the sun disappear into the ocean".  You won't be sorry.

You should probably know that I didn't inherit this love from my dad.  He's more of a lounge-by-the-pool-after-a-nice-golf-game kind of guy.  But despite his aversion to sand in his swim trunks, he gamely suited up and drove us to the shore so his granddaughter could have her first date with the surf. 

She loved being close to and watching the water (as long as she didn't actually have to sit in it.  Girl knows what she likes.)

And was completely content to sit under the pier scooping sand into her brand new beach bucket.

It was the perfect day.  Thanks, Grandpa.

My obsession has now been successfully passed on to the next generation.  Next stop: shoe stores.

The beach was amazing, but only a small part of our 4 days in my childhood summer vacation spot.  There were cuddles with Grandpa, and afternoons by the country club pool...

And meeting her aunt, uncle, and cousins for the first time.  It was so great to see them again - it's been way too long.

My step-sister Jen (yup, she's a Jen too) and her husband Mike

My niece Katie and nephew Aaron

How gorgeous is this girl??

It was a lovely 4 days that went by too quickly, and we will be back for more sun, sand, and fun.  Thanks, everyone, for everything!  We miss you already!

Stay tuned for Florida, Part II: Disney World!