Sisters

These pictures are cute and show how they are starting to interact and just how much of a personality Isabel is developing! Avery was asleep on the couch and Isabel was trying to get her up. At first Avery was getting really mad but then she started to have fun and play with Isabel.

Christmas Train

This summer we heard that this old-fashioned train in Willits, CA does a special holiday train around Christmas time and we decided that it would be great for the girls. We can't afford to fly to Indy this year but thought we should still do something fun to celebrate the holidays. My mom was able to fly in to go with us and we had a great time. It's not quite the production a Polar Express train is but we got cookies and cocoa and we got to see Santa. Avery's very favorite was the Train Singer. She was so excited to see him because she remembered him from when she went on the train in August. It was a great time for us to get in the spirit of the holidays!
The next day we decided to drive a little further north and check out the giant Redwoods. We stopped at the tree you can drive through (it's actually called the Chandelier Tree, who knew?) then did a very fast driving tour through a nearby park. Hopefully we can make it up there next summer to camp!


I had this wonderful plan to get this nice family photo in the Redwoods for our Christmas card. Great idea but man it was a mess and the kids were just not into it. It was raining so we had to find a tree with enough shading to keep us dry. Avery decided she was scared of trees and didn't want to get dirty. I was a true "mommy dearest" and started screaming at everyone to pay attention and smile(you can guess how well that motivates people), I was yelling at my mom to take faster, better pictures, I'm sure Ryan was thinking about dumping me behind a tree, basically not a proud moment! In the end I think we got a pretty good photo and maybe you can't tell just how crazy I was...



All the screaming and crying finally did give us this! Aren't we a good-looking family!

After a long day of trying to get a family picture they were so over it and I had chilled out a little!!

Running on the beach, can't beat that.





Chasing birds, surprisingly neither one of them caught one... ha ha ha



Only for love of daughters and wife...


Train singer

mmmm....cookies

They encourage wearing PJs for the trip so I found coordinating ones for all of us. The theme was snowflakes and I had lots of luck for all the girls but they just don't make men's flannel pants with snowflakes, and believe me we looked everywhere. Needless to say Ryan ended up in girl pants and was such a good sport about it! What a great guy!!! He'll be so embarrassed when he finds out I posted this!!






Writing her letter to Santa!

Reading her letter









We ate here on the way home. We were really out in the middle of nowhere and this was the only place to eat, we loved the sign, classic small town. The BBQ was great, we didn't check out the laundromat...