Christmas is coming...!

Hailey was here last weekend, which meant the kick-off of Christmas festivities for us! I had lots planned and we blasted off with the fantasy of lights on Saturday night. We brought our own music and blasted it! Ava helped daddy drive the car through the "fantasy" and Hailey hung out the passenger side window singing! Brad and I wondered if this was fun b/c of the lights, or because we were breaking the law with our children driving and hanging out windows? we debated next year skipping the event and just driving around in a parking lot with xmas music blaring and the kids hanging out the windows?! thoughts?! :)

(ps. click on any image to enlarge so you can see it better)

 You can see I had fun playing with the light in my camera. pretty. 

Sunday morning was a little rough. The girls were up until 10 the night before and Ava didn't fall asleep until 10:30 b/c she was convinced there was a bug in her room!

She was tired, but we went to see Santa anyway (and waited 45 min. to do it). Mama was losing a little patience by the time it was our turn. But we held it all together and it was worth it :)

The look on Ava's face is quintessential worry before meeting the big man in red!

He was so nice & gentle. Acted like he knew who we were!

he eased Ava into the idea by showing her his jingle bells, though she was still skeptical.

So, daddy helped out!

Then they took a family photo. (that elf isn't part of our family in case you were wondering! Though I wish she was. I could use one :)!

Next up: pick out a tree! We wanted to chop down our own, but it was getting too close to nap and a trip to the mountains was pushing it, so to pepper tree lot on Winchester we went!!

(left: the tree brad wanted to get. right: the trees that cost $180!!!)

Ava was pulling Hailey along, SO excited!

I told Brad to stand in front of this tree so that we could tell people this is the one we got! 

(it would never fit on our house!)

I told the man I wanted a tree that didn't cost $180, but smelled amazing! He showed us the most beautiful tree and it only cost $50!!! SCORE!

on our car and we headed home :)

The rest of the story is just classic. We get the tree off the car (and it's heavy by the way), needles falling off as we push it through the door, and the trunk doesn't fit in the stand we have. OK. so we bring the tree back outside, needles everywhere again, girls running around getting the needles stuck to the bottom of their feet. Brad leaves. goes to get a new stand. $40 later we have a new stand. Get the tree in the stand! I begin putting the lights on and find that all the strands I have are half out. I go get new lights. $50 later I have 3 boxes of new lights and the 1st box I open: half the strand is out!!!!!!! OK! Brad goes back to Walgreen's and returns the lights and buys 5 more packages! That was just enough to fill the tree. Meanwhile Ava is taking ALL the ornaments out of the boxes and throwing them on the floor. OMG!

At this point I have to bring Hailey home, which is probably the break we all needed, though she was so bummed that she couldn't help decorate the tree :(

when I got home everyone was still feeling a little funktified, so I decorated the tree myself, while Ava played & took all the ornaments I put on off. wonderful.

All I have to say is that when you look in someones window and see the beautiful tree they have magically glowing...well, I never knew about the blood, sweat and tears that went into getting that massive thing up! And now I do. The next morning when Ava came downstairs she was in awe though. She said "wow! that's a pretty tree!" And then it was ALL worth it! :)

the best part of all this is when I shared this story with friends and family, they ALL laughed and shared similar stories, even worse for that matter. And I felt normal. 

Thanksgiving 2010

This was a specail Thanksgiving. If any of us could have guessed we wouldn't have bet on Grandma Koch being here this year to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. 100 years of life in this woman. And it's fitting that after all the hardship and scares she's been through in the last few months that she would be here, for she is the most thankful person I know. Brad and I are both belivers that a main contributer to her living to be 100 has been her positive spirit. When I asked her how she made it this far she said, "know the Lord." Well, though I call it God, I know it more and more the more I open myself up to it, and it sure does make life easier and feel better to be in touch. And when life is better it's easier to live.

I'm sad that I haven't had the chance to get to know Grandma better in her younger years, though I'm not sure that even matters. It took all I had to hold back tears when I saw her, which tells me I know enough to love her. And from her perspective she's knows me just as "little" and loves me just as much. Poweful. 

Ava took a long nap and Brad and I spent that time sitting with her by the window. She was sweet and gracious as can be. It meant a lot to her and to us. We asked her about her life and told her about ours. 

I rubbed her shoulders and photographed her, which helped me feel even more connected to her. 

The way Brad tells his childhood stories, I know part of my love for her in based on my love for my own grandparents. She was very much the same. Loving and so happy to see us. That's an important part of a child's life. Ava is beginging her expereince of that too. I still know what my grandma's house smells like and think of them any time I eat an M&M. She'll have those kinds of things close to her heart someday too. 

Ava sat with Grandma for a few minutes when she woke up

And helped Grandma decorate the tree too.

Ava found the nativity. I caught her peeking inside. 

Favorite ornaments found! 

Aunt Pat & Uncle Ray

 The train is up and running too! Along with my absolute favorite Chirtmas story. I cry at the end. 

every time.

Christmas is coming!

Oh, yeah, and we had Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious. Uncle Butch made sweet potaotes and cranberry sauce, Aunt Pat made pecan and apple pies, I made pumpkin. Turkey and mashed potatoes and voila! (time for Christmas)! 

But that's just how it is at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Thanksgiving gives permission for Chirstmas to come alive!

Hailey's 1st visit to the new house!

oh, how this little Ava has missed her sister. She asks for her all the time. Almost a month had passed before we saw her. Just too much going on. But the long awaited visit finally came! Now, you're not going to beleive this: Hailey gets in the car at the fremont mcDonalds (designated pick up spot) and says to Brad (and I quote) "it's been so long, Daddy. I missed you guys!". There was a day I wouldn't belive those words were uttered from her mouth, but it just goes to show that time heals and love is stonger than words. She feels it here and she knows it's true and she knows it's safe to say that she loves us too. It was a long wait for that.  I'm going to drink that in. Ahhh.

So, in other news, this is the only thing Ava will wear. She calls it her "cinder-a-ya dess" (Cinderella Dress). She dances around in it singing a dream is a wish your heart makes, and walks down the staircase screaming "please! wait for me!" (that's what Cinderella says in her 1st attempt to get to the ball). I'm really not exaggerating. Come over, it'll happen. As you can imagine, she is still 2, so we have absolute melt downs when mommy says you have to atleast wear tights and a shirt underneath. "I'm NOT cold!" She protests on these 50 degree days. 

I caught her looking out the window, talking to herself the other day. I love these photos of her.

So, little miss Ava is a princess and Hailey is a writer. She spent lots of the weeeknd writing stories, and running in to the room I was in to read them to me. She's a really good speller. 

Between the 2 of them life is a lot more interesting when they are together.

They get along so well.

 Meanwhile, if I am taking pictures, Ava is too. :)

 the house was fully explored. They found old shoes to play dress up

and spent lots of time in Hailey's room. How sweet is this? A mother's dream come true: children sitting queitly entertaining themselves. HA! This lasted maybe 10 minutes, which is actually pretty good!

This is when you know you need to intervene. Time to go outside!

 Across the street is a playground for the middle school. We played in the puddles and on the equipment. I love photographing these two. My favorite subjects, my little models. Hailey gets really into it, she'll actually pose. Ava, I just catch her in her moments. Like this one:

sneak peek!!

Since things are not so together around here I haven't taken any photos. But Mom keeps asking to see, so ta-da! This is our kitchen (and the new rug I found to keep my feet warm while I wash the dishes). That's all you get for now :) Come visit if you want more!! haha!

so behind..

As you can see, I have fallen very behind in family blogging. On the other hand, my photography blog has been updated regularly! I have been booming with clients and having a blast! I feel so lucky. At first I thought, I can't handle this, but after a good talk with Jill she gently suggested that maybe it was a good disrtaction, since I can lose my mind over chaos. So, unlike me, not every box is unpacked. I know, sometimes I can't even believe that. The house is definately not put together and that's okay. i realize now that there is nothing to really rush for. If my sanity depends on taking it slow, so be it. 

Anyway, we are loving our new home. It feels more like our home everyday. We miss our neighbors and haven't even seen them since the move!!!! It's been THAT busy. Things are slowing down though and I like that :) 

Last time I posted Halloween was fast approaching. Well, obviously now it's come and gone. We moved that weekend, so sadly, there was no trick-or-treating on the actual day, but we GOT trick-or-treaters!! Poor things. I had NO candy to hand out :( 

The week before Halloween auntie hsiaolei asked invited to come to Santana Row for trick-or-treating. On a whim, we went! Thank goodness! So I have some photos of Ava trick-or-treating (treating really). truth be told, I would not go trick-or-treating on Santana Row again. Much too crowded, but things work out in funny ways. I'm so glad to have gone. Ava was into it and had her first lollipop! She ate it the way my mom described me eating my 1st ice cream cone (that I stole from my grandpa). I coudn't get it away from her! She slurped it up!

Can you see her fangs? They crack me up! Who did she inheret them from...? well, they work well on halloween!

And Mommy dressed up as Snow White. We went to our music class together as snow white and the wicked queen. we re-inacted the poisoned apple scence for daddy. 

true love's kiss. It's a beauitful thing. Especially when it's from Ava.

Thank you for being patient. Stay tuned. We had a really nice Thanksgiving and so many photos to share...