Dear Santa...

The magic of Christmas would be nothing without a proper letter to Santa. 

There is something so charming about a letter to Santa that's only asking for two things.

We added the appropriate postage...

And sent it on it's way to the North Pole.

I have a really good feeling that my sweet girl is going to get everything she asked for.  And then some.

Decking our Halls

I am of the opinion that childhood should be magical whenever possible.  There should never be a doubt that Santa Claus is real, there is gold at the end of every rainbow, and pixie dust can be found, if only you look hard enough.  And there is no time of year that holds more magic than Christmas.

We began our yuletide preparation with - what else? - the tree.  Well, trees, actually.  I scored an adorable 2 ft. tree at Target for Ava's room, and let her have her pick of tiny decorations. 

Lila hung out and supervised.

Here's the uber-fabulous finished product:

Jealous?  You should be.

A few days later it was time to tackle the big tree.  Step 1: hit the tree farm.

"Hey Lady, get that branch off!" 
Yes, she said that.  Repeatedly.

Step 2: Bring that tree home and make it beautiful.

 

For the Lundstrom household, the magic of Christmas has officially begun.  

Front Yard Follies

It all starts when she points to the sidewalk and tells you to take a seat.  She issues a hearty, "Ladies and Gentlemen!", and then begins what I think is The Greatest Show on Earth.  It's a one-woman show with singing, dancing, audience participation, props - and I wouldn't miss a minute of it.  Here are a few visual highlights from last week's performance.

Halloweek

Nope, that title is no typo.  Since I was a kid, Halloween has gone from a single night of costume wearing and candy procurement, into a celebration the length of which is beginning to rival Hanukah.  We kicked off the festivities in downtown Littleton the Saturday before the Big Day, Ava making use of her favorite mode of transportation (her dad) to gather treats from the local merchants.

Yes, she was dressed as a princess.  If you're surprised by this choice, then you clearly have not been paying attention.

And the girl was good.  She zeroed in on whoever was holding the bucket of goodies, flashed a megawatt smile, and offered up her most polite "thank you" to each and every one.  She was a hit. 

Lila got in on the dress-up action too, but since she was covered in a blanket for the entire outing, all the good pictures were taken on the couch.

Sunday found us - same costumes, washed of the previous day's lollipop stains just in time - at Boo at the Zoo, Tuesday was Ava's Halloween party at school, and Wednesday was, of course, the day we had all been waiting for. 



"Oh yeah, I'm wearing this dress.  Now give me all your candy."

Lila got her game face  - and her mouse ears - on to help me hand out candy while Andy and Ava patrolled the neighborhood.

We'll be swimming in Halloween candy until Christmas, and the sugar high may last until Easter, but I'm loving that Halloween is a whole week now; think I can get away with doing this for our birthdays?

Pumpkin Decorating: Lady's Choice

When we were kids, pumpkin decorating was pretty straightforward.  You grabbed the nearest knife, hoped it was sharp, and hacked away at your pumpkin hoping to create something that resembled the face of a jack-o-lantern.  Now there are patterns, kits, characters - the possibilities are endless.  With 3 pumpkins to work with we had some choices to make, and once I hit the Halloween isle choice #1 became pretty obvious: jewels!

I spent 10 minutes following Ava around the front yard, bejeweled pumpkin in hand, while she decided where to put it.  After repeatedly explaining why the middle of the driveway was a bad idea, it eventually came to rest at the base of one of our trees.  We admire it every time we leave the house.

Lila supervised.

And Ava appreciated her input.

Choice #2 didn't require a trip to the store at all.  Paints, brushes, and glitter from the art bucket, and this creation was born:

The paint eventually became nothing more than a place to stick more glitter, which I think was a brilliant choice; everything is better with glitter.

Incidentally, our entire house is now covered in a fine layer of pink glitter that, unless we happen to eventually sell to a Las Vegas show act, is unlikely to increase the resale value.

Stay tuned for Choice #3. 

Fall is in the air...

It seems to happen overnight.  All of a sudden everything tastes better with a cup of hot chocolate, and the need to immediately bake anything that will make your house smell like warm apples and cinnamon is almost overwhelming.  You walk outside and the leaves have started to turn from green to gold, and blanket the ground practically daring you not to run outside and do this:

And the fashions?  I defy you to resist any time of year that necessitates a child looking like this...

How badly do you want to kiss those cheeks right now?

I'm sure you know by now that we will seize any excuse for an outing, and the yearly local pumpkin festival has quickly become one of our faves.  No matter how many hay bales you put in a parking lot, it just doesn't make a convincing "pumpkin patch". So I love that just a few miles from our house we can actually wander through a field and pull our pumpkins right off their vines.  It's muddy, and uneven, and almost impossible to pull our little wagon through - exactly what a pumpkin patch should be.  Throw in a few cheesy carnival games, a pony ride, and some tents selling cozy handmade hats and sweaters, and you have the perfect way to spend a chilly fall morning.

Ava was pretty sure the perfect pumpkin was that way.

We have a winner.  Just gotta kick a little of this dirt off.

And this is what happens when the "perfect" day turns colder than expected, and mom didn't bring along coats for anyone.  Look up "sad face" in Wikipedia; the picture should look something like this:

Somehow Lila slept through the whole thing.

Let the pumpkin carving begin! 

Saturday Night Fever

Saturday was Lucas' 1st birthday party.  Ollie, Brady and Ava decided to show him how to shake it up, preschool style.

I love that halfway through Ava seems to remember that she left something under the ottoman.

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Ava was born to be a big sister.  She's a natural leader, and doles out all the love needed to make Baby Sister her loyal subject.  One of her favorite games right now is to have me set Lila up in the perfect spot to watch her while she paints.  So every few days, Ava paints...

And Lila watches.

Fabulous.

And since I know I've been remiss the last few posts about sharing Lila pics, here's a bonus one just for fun.  Enjoy.

To Be a Little Girl: Part II

Now for the creative side of girlhood...

There's not much Ava loves more than a good project.  Painting, coloring, decorating herself (and the walls, and the floors, and her family...) with stickers - embellishment is her forte.  She's crazy for the art portion of the day at school, and I'm always on the lookout for things we can create here at home.  A couple of weeks ago Aunt Brandy and Aunt Marianne came to town and brought Peyton with them.  She's 6 months Ava's junior and cute as a bug.  I wanted to make sure the girls had something fun to do while they were here, so I decided on picture frames.  The project went down like this...

First, we gave them brushes and paints.  And no rules.

Then we gave them tiny canisters of glitter (again, no rules).

A few letters and a glitter heart later, and this rockstar creation was complete.  They look pretty cool if you ask me.

Project Number 2: ladybug cupcakes

The sugar high lasted for 2 hours.  Totally worth it.

To Be a Little Girl

Being a little girl can mean pretty much anything these days.  Girls are allowed to be whatever they want, unencumbered by the societal conventions of the past.  I love that this is the world my girls get to grow up in, and I'm having a ball watching Big Sister exercising her right to Be a Little Girl.

In our house, being a girl means dancing, and creativity, and friendship.  Here's a little taste...

The First Day of Dance Class
I'm always a little nervous when we start something new.  Excited, of course, but nervous too.  I'm not even sure why.  I mean, the stakes are pretty low.  Ava doesn't dig something, we shelve it and move on.  Try the next cool thing we stumble across.  And yet, there it is. 

Ava, looking every bit the ballerina in her new dance clothes, seemed to share none of my apprehension.  She marched in, tap shoes shining, ready to get her arabesque on. 

And then she wasn't.  The teacher came over and asked her to join the class and Big Sister froze.  She declared that she wasn't going to do it.  I thought we were sunk.  And then, out came the tiaras.

 

 

Someone please remind me of this next time we start something new.  No matter how nervous I may be, my girl's got it handled. 

 

Tomorrow: Creativity

 

Sisters

I love that my girls have a sister.  Sometimes when I'm talking to Ava I catch myself calling referring to Lila as "your sister" instead of using her name, just because I like the sound of it.  I picture them as they get older, talking about boys, sharing makeup and clothes, fighting one day, uniting against Andy and I the next.  And as they get older, spending hours on the phone talking about their lives and families.  I love seeing how different they already are, and can't wait to see how that bonds them as they grow up.

Those phone calls will have to wait a while, however, as at the moment they don't have many common interests.  Ava has seemingly overnight turned from a sweet little toddler, to a young lady now putting her many passions into practice.  Case in point: she's now officially old enough to rock her love of music and dance in a dance class.  She starts Monday and I'm not sure which one of us is more excited.  Step 1 was (as always) getting the necessary shopping done.

The look on her face when she saw herself in this outfit for the first time was priceless.  She spun around in front of the dressing room mirror in the dance shop exclaiming, "I'm a princess!"  Watching her was the most fun I've had in a long time.  It was hours (and a pretty serious chocolate milk stain) later before she finally agreed to take the leotard off.  The shoes took a little longer.  (And lest you panic, yes, the stain did come out.)

 

Lila's major concern at the moment revolves around finally getting her thumb into her mouth.  And despite the fact that her sucess will eventully result in the Hurculean task of breaking her of the thumb-sucking habit (as well as a sizable orthodontist's bill), I have to admit I'm rooting for her to succeed.  I find myself giving her a pep talk every time I see her trying to navigate the desired digit towards her mouth.

 

This is her "sneak-attack" approach.  Maybe the thumb won't see her coming...

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This last bit just illustrates what I hear over and over again: "Every baby is different."  My first girl was tiny.  6lbs 8oz, and 18 inches of delicate little baby that took what felt like ages to outgrow her newborn clothes. This picture is her at almost 5 months: 

 

Here is my second little love at barely 2 months in the exact same outfit:





 

Maybe they won't be fighting over clothes after all.

 

Either way, it's sure going to be fun to find out.

Recharging

I'm sitting here at the end of the day, and I'm beat.  Andy is out of town, so the girls and I have been left to fend for ourselves.  I'm proud to say that I've managed to keep everyone clean, fed, cuddled, read to, diapered, and (mostly) happy, but I think we're all ready for Daddy to come home.  I'm not really sure where he's going to sleep though, since Ava has unapologetically taken over his side of the bed.  Oops.

Now, I'd better get back to our Summer In Review while I'm still awake.  I should have turned into a pumpkin over an hour ago...

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For the last 2 summers, we've rented a house in Breckenridge with 2 other families for a long weekend.   The kids play, and the grownups stay up too late talking.  The food is good, the wine is plentiful, and the company  - and the view - are lovely.   The moms even managed to sneak away for an afternoon at the spa, and the dad's took a day to climb a mountain.  Not a bad way to spend a few days.  Since I was extremely pregnant, and was busy taking advantage of the fact that everyone thought I should take it easy, I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked.  But here's a small sampling of the few I did get.

We spent an afternoon with the kids at the local children's museum. 

And everyone spent relaxed days just hanging out. 

We came home recharged, happy, and ready to meet the newest member of our family. 

Next stop: July!