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!

And then there were 4...

I know it's been a while, but I'm discovering how difficult it is to manage two little ones and still fit in indulgences like, well, blogging.  So here I am, slowly working my way back in.  Be patient with me - I'm living on caffeine and a prayer.

We'll start with a few things you may have missed from our summer.  This could (and might) take several posts to get through, depending on how long I can stay awake.  Wish me luck.

June
June brought visitors all the way from Waverly, IA.  This gorgeous little guy is Ava's cousin Elijah.

 

Ava was still a big sister-in-training at that point, so I had a lovely time watching her practice her skills on Eli.  He didn't seem to mind either.

 

 

 

He was sweet enough to bring his parents, Ben and Alicia, and grandparents with him too.

 

Eli loved The Gardens.





We really enjoyed having them all here, and hope they'll make the journey back our way again soon.

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As always, summer also brings a bevy of birthdays. We start with one of Ava's besties, Brady.  He had his party at this super-cool ranch (farm?  Whatever.  It was awesome.) where the kids got to do sweet stuff like ride around in one of these:

 

 

And do art projects led by a real-life cowboy.  (At least that's what he said he was.  Who was I to doubt.)

 

 

Then it was back to Brady's house to play with all his new loot.

 

A little hug before we headed home.





That was just the beginning of June, so stay tuned.  Hopefully I'll get us to August before Christmas.

Loving Lila

There's someone very special I'd like to introduce you to.  Lila Michelle Lundstrom made her debut in our lives at 6:54am on July 8, 2012, weighing an impressive 7lbs 15 1/2 oz at 19 1/2 inches long. 

And just in case you were wondering, she is absolutely perfect.

There are a million wonderful little moments to experience when a new baby arrives in your life, but absolutely nothing can top the moment your children meet each other for the first time. 

Though we're dealing with a little of the inevitable jealousy over mom and dad's attention, Ava adores her new baby sister.  She holds and kisses her while softly stroking her little baby cheeks, and leaves everyone in the room completely smitten.  What a joy its going to be to watch these two lovely girls grow up together.

Here are a few highlights from Lila's first few days on earth:

First snuggles, first bath, and first family photo:

 

 

Meeting some of the people that love her for the first time:

First big girl bath at home:

And here are a couple more pictures, just because I know you can't get enough of these sweet faces.

Much more to come, but I have some snuggling to get to. 



Lovin' Summer

I don't think I've ever made a secret of the fact that I love summer, and I'm completely delighted that Ava shares that love.  So here are a few quick pics of my girl taking advantage of some gorgeous weather.  Enjoy!

Enjoying the awesome new elephant exhibit at the zoo.