Ava the Elf

Ava heads back to the North Pole tonight after Santa comes. Here are a few more pictures of what she has been up to this year:

My baby can read

I'm still in shock. On Sunday Brooke was playing with puzzles. She loves her puzzles. The one she was doing was an alphabet puzzle. I put together the letters c a t and asked her what that spelled. I couldn't believe my ears when she sounded out each letter and then put them together and said "cat". At first I thought she just got lucky and maybe had memorized it. But no, Paige and I repeatedly quizzed her with every 3 letter word you can think of and she nailed it!

Now she seems so old to me! When did she grow up?

Elf antics

Here's just a few of the things "Ava" the elf has been up to...

Paige's Snowman

A hug for Santa

I think this is my favorite picture of Paige with Santa. As he was getting ready to leave she ran up and hugged him. That's very unlike Paige to hand out hugs that freely...

Minivan Express

Last night we ate an early dinner and at 6pm asked the girls to go put their pjs on. Luckily since it gets dark so early and we ate dinner earlier they didn't realize it was only 6.

On top of their pjs they each had a golden ticket for the Minivan express. We popped some popcorn and bundled up. Before they got in the van I punched their ticket with a hole punch.

Once in the van we put the Polar Express DVD in and then drove to the light show at Lakemont park. We had to wait in line for about an hour, but the movie and popcorn kept them entertained! They loved the surprise and were very excited.

Visits with Santa 2012

The girls met with Santa today at the local tree lighting.

Brooke's photo was staged a bit, because she's still a bit scared. She turned around for the camera while Santa sort of snuck up behind her. Good thing she didn't turn around right then!

Ava the Elf is back!

And she brought a Lego advent calendar with her!

New bed

We upgraded our mattress to King and finally picked out matching furniture!