New Year's Eve

The princess finally sleeps- for an almost 4 hour nap! Thankfully Ava went to sleep tonight without any problems. Ava ended 2009 with her final dinner by eating a Peanut Butter Sandwich and a bowl of rice.
And we made Cioppino all day long so it cooked and melted together into a bowl of seafood yummy goodness. Grammie and Papa couldn't wait to dig in.
Check out the yumminess-
And who is this eating Cioppino? Why it's Olivia of course. She has become quite the seafood lover especially when it comes to clams. She has always liked shrimp, salmon, and crab, but now there's just no stopping her. She ate a huge bowl of clams and mussels. This picture really doesn't do her justice either because this was just when she had begun eating. I really should have taken the after shot of the mound of shells leftover..
After the fishy dinner, the ladies were promptly escorted to the tub for a bath. Ava was delighted in showing off her mermaid towel.

Liv wanted a picture of her towel and tail too.

That's my girls right there. The little mermaids.

See you later 2009, we had a great year, accomplished our goals, and made some wonderful friends. We have big plans ahead for 2010 and nothings going to stop us.

Dam Visit

Olivia's first visit to the Dam. She was rather enthused. The gates were opened and Olivia ran ahead.
Here's the gang at the bottom of the Dam. Look at how big it is behind the gang!
And here's a shot looking over the edge...scary!

The ultimate tourist, ready for anything, flying by the seat of her pants!
A nice view.

Olivia had a blast going on the Dam tour and visiting the Hall Of Echos. She came home with bookmarks, a whistle, and a shiny pencil to write her memoirs in the car on the way home.

Fishing Off The Houseboat

We arrived at the houseboat just in time for lunch- Clam Chowder!! Yummy!!!
Liv loves her chowder:)
Daddy was preparing the fishing poles for big business.
Papa geared up too.
Me and Livynut took a self-portrait.
Here was my funny face. Livy of course was smiling..
Now she got the hang of it and made some great silly faces.
Grammie and Ava had to get it on it too...
Gone Fishin'. Look at that pole. (Dora)

The Disney princess pole was in the water too. It was about that time it began to rain but Papa assured us that (when it's raining) was the best time to fish.
"I can do it by myself," proclaimed Ava.

Check out the rain. It was really coming down by this point but the fisherwomen were still going strong. That's Papa on the left and Daddy on the right.



So this was what was caught- 2 giant fish.
OK, they were minnows out of the bucket. Dave was just being funny.

Snow, Snow, Snow

This was not the real snow we played in. This was a tester section of snow to see if both girls could fit on the sled together. But why not take advantage of an opportunity to make a snow angel.

And there they go...
We made it to the mountain and found a snowman someone else made so we added some limbs and a nose. Olivia seized the chance to throw a snowball at Daddy.
So cute. Olivia had such a great time in the snow. She was loving it.
Ava posed with a snowball with Grammie and Papa. Her main attraction was snow angels though. She would run and dive face down and spread out her arms and legs. I tried to tell her she was supposed to lay the other way but that wasn't what she wanted.
That's Olivia and Dave sledding down a giant hill. You can't see Olivia's face too well but she was grinning ear to ear.
They are going so fast. I was slightly freaked out.
Ava tested the smaller slope before hitting the big hill. She loved both hills. I was surprised seeing as Ava scares sometimes at the littlest things.
The bottom of the hill and still smiling. Who Hoo!
Look at those cuties!!! My snowbunnies.

And Then It Was Christmas...

This was Christmas morning when the girls came running down the hallway to find their presents. Checking out all the loot.. Man it must have taken Santa quite awhile to pile all these gifts under the tree.
Stocking stuffer groovy glasses.
Papa looked so fancy.
Daddy enjoyed his Christmas with his girls.
Santa gave Ava the groovy glasses too.
I was given a JD flask. Let's not analyze it.
Ava got a baby and boy was she happy.
Sugar was given a new shirt and Lady, well... may have been left out this Christmas...Oops!
Papa was opening his special gift from the girls.
He was given fishing poles to take the girls out on the houseboat for some fun.
The family photo. I was having a good hair day which was pretty awesome being that it was 8 A.M.
On Christmas day it was pretty much a free for all. As you can see it was still 8 A.M. and Ava is eating a giant lollipop.
The girls also received a bat and ball and played some baseball with Daddy. Both girls could already hit the ball.

And this is what occurred most days we were at Grammie and Papa's house... A lot of relaxing.
The girls were given these beautiful dresses from Grandma B. Olivia wore hers for 4 days straight and cried the day we had to wash it. She waited for it to come out of the dryer and put it back on again.
Ava's godmother and her mother came to visit.
And this was proof of Dave's score (234) on Wii bowling so that no one can ever dispute it again. Olivia scored a 145 and got a turkey on her last frame. I can't even do that. It's scary when your kids surpass you with electronic gadgets and they're only 4 years old.