Snuggly November Days

Well, November came in warm and beautiful, but is turning out to be quite nasty now. I'm glad I took Andrew and Aveya outside while I had the chance! One nice thing about cold weather is snuggling to keep warm. Andrew takes every chance he has to snuggle his new little sister. Here the little faker is pretending to sleep for the camera. No worries- I was sitting right next to them on the floor. As if any of you really thought I'd let my three old sit alone on a futon with our new baby. :o)

Doesn't it just LOOK chilly out? We get the most beautiful rainbows in our backyard. The rainbows always seem to frame our pond. I love the colors in this picture!

Here Aveya and Andrew are posing together once again. I'd like to thank my mother for the use of her arms. Without her, this picture would not be possible.

Here's Aveya in her little traveling hat. I wish a company would actually make a hat that would fit a newborn's head. We have to roll this one twice in order to keep it from going over her eyes. My next strategy is going to be to beg my mother to crochet her a hat that will actually fit. (My guess is that she'll have it made for me one night after she reads this- My Mom Rocks).

Now, I'm sure you're wondering what is going on in this picture. My son refuses to wear pants around the house. Most days he is in a T-shirt and his undies. Now, it's cold in our house in the mornings, but that doesn't stop Andrew. He gets cold, and he snuggles his blanket, but he will not put his pants on. On this particular morning, Ryan taught him to sit on the heating vent with his blanket wrapped around him. And voila, we have a hut of hot air surrounding Andrew. That husband of mine is a real problem solver.

Here are Aveya and Andrew with Great Grandpa and Grandma Knoll. They are Ryan's mom's parents. Let me just say this about them- they are what grandparents should be. And they're just like my Grandma and Grandpa Ciardo. So, our kids are incredibly lucky to have such awesome great-grandparents. We really need to try harder to get together more often!

While we visited Great Grandma & Grandpa's, Aveya was snuggled and Andrew was spoiled. Grandpa wrestled and played cars with him, and Grandma read him several books that Ryan remembered from his childhood. It was a really nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

After visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Knoll, we went and had dinner by my parents. They can't get enough of Andrew and Aveya. Here's a picture of me (finally) snuggling my little girl. What do you think? Does she look like me?

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it has officially happened: Ryan has hooked our son on video games. He's a chip off the old block- seriously- look at what he's wearing!!! I guess I should just be happy that he's wearing pants......Here's Andrew playing his CARS video game. Please notice how neatly the DVDs are stacked in the entertainment center. Lord knows it won't look like that by tomorrow evening.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but Aveya is not happy with me in this picture. (I think she even rolled her eyes at me, but I can't be sure) Apparently the nuk is not an adequate substitute for what she REALLY wanted. While my daughter is usually sweet and peaceful, I felt that her Future Diva shirt fit her quite well at that particular moment.



Conspiracy Theory: I suspect that my children are in kahoots. I think Andrew told Aveya that she should sleep all day long so he would have me all to himself. Then during his naptime, Aveya agrees that she will wake up and consume two hours of Mommy Time. Then when Andrew wakes up, Aveya is worn out from being awake for two hours- and she goes to sleep. At bed time, Aveya wakes up just as Andrew drifts off to sleep. I believe the above picture captures them shaking on their little arrangement.