let it snow!!!!

so, every other year for Thanksgiving we head up to Pinetop with the Earl clan. and this year, it snowed!!! we had to stop at Walmart before we got to the condo to pick up snow clothes for everyone. and then, we had at it! the kids were thrilled to play in the snow! on Thursday, we enjoyed a beautiful Thanksgiving feast! and that night, all 3 girls caught cold. we got about 45 minutes of sleep, (you know it's bad when the best sleeper is a mere 6 weeks old.) one hilarious moment from our sleepless night was when a delirious Anna, who was wide awake from 2-6:30 am, said, "mom, watch me do the splits," when i replied, "Anna, lay back in your bed," she started to cry and said, "mom, that wasn't nice, you're supposed to say that's cool, not get back in bed." oh, man the drama! but sleeplessness didn't stop the girls from wanting to play in the snow on Friday. poor Madeline spent Friday and Saturday, red faced, and crying, "i want pay so!" (translation, "i want to play in the snow.")it was torture telling her no. we found other things to do. like building "ginormous" castles out of plastic cups:

and napping:

all in all, it was a great Thanksgiving!

thankful for friendship

we had a thanksgiving family home evening with our street on Monday. it was a full spread including a marvelous first turkey by Michele. everyone got nice and full, and our newest neighbors the LeSueurs favored us with a lesson. it was a fun and fabulous night, we are thankful for friendships. in that vein, i want to take this time to highlight the many virtues of my neighbors.



i feel immensely blessed to be surrounded, and i mean surrounded by so many people who i can love and trust. last year, i posted about the 36 neighbor/friends we were visiting for the holidays, and that number has continued to climb. i just can't believe how blessed we are to live near so many extraordinary friends!

the zoo...............hurray!

so, you may remember back about 21 months ago, a young mother just brought home her second daugher in as many years and celebrated with a trip to the zoo? no, you don't remember? well, Anna did. ever since Avery's come home Anna has been asking, "when are we going to the zoo?" so, we figured this is an Earl tradition. we took the girls to the zoo. as usual, they had a great time. Madeline was especially hilarious giving her impression of a lion. someday i will capture this on video. basically, she stiffens her whole body and makes a low grunting sound. while we were walking to see said lion, she had to stop about every 10 feet or so to show me what lion says. she'd do her growl and then look at me earnestly and say, "like that mommy!" as usual, the lions were sleeping so no real growls were to be heard. also, Maddie wore new shoes to the zoo, a practice i don't reccomend, she had to be carried most the day!

some zoo highlights: the monkeys were very active with several coming right up to the ropes and one even crossing our path. i always assumed the zoo keepers warnings not to touch the monkeys were for show only, but they are to be heeded. also, we saw the mountain goats actually coming down the mountain, a beautiful sight. both of these things were not captured on film, as i had my hands full. Avery was a champ sleeping the entire day. she fell asleep in the car at about 9:30 and slept until we got home just before 2:00, so her first trip to the zoo wasn't necessarily memorable for her, but that made it all the more enjoyable for us - thanks little A. good tradition Earls!

my friends are rad

so, i have a lot of rad friends. just look at the blogroll to the right and you'll see - i have a lot of rad friends. recently, i was reminded how rad my friend Ashley is. she is a young and beautiful mother of 3 living in the big city. really, the big one NYC. recently she posted this and this on her blog. in a word, she is as RAD as NYC itself. keep on keepin' on Ash!

winter dance finale

so, Anna had her big dance recital! Grandma and Grandpa Beardsley came in to town and brought her flowers and a teddy bear! then, Grandma and Grandpa Earl took us out for ice cream after the big performance! Anna was so cute and proud, and as a weekly observer, she's come a long way since the first day of class!

Avery - month one

here are a few pics of our sweet little #3 at a month. she has brought so much love into our home, especially from Madeline, who is thrilled to be a big sister! at one month, Avery is sleeping in 5-6 hour blocks at night! this, of course is awesome! she is an easy baby and loves to be on the go, so we happily oblige her, going to Anna's dance class, the library, park, MacDonald's, the mall, she is a happy little angel. hurray for Avery!!!!!!!!!!!

blessing

we had Avery's blessing this weekend. it was so much fun to get the whole family together. i had all my brothers and sisters in town! it was a full house, but a blast. the girls have so much fun playing with their cousins. and they were both thrilled to introduce them to their new sister. once again, this is the first time we have taken a picture of our whole family together. and Anna had some new fun faces to share with the camera!

Avery was such a good baby, she got a little hungry during church, but then slept the rest of the afternoon! and Madeline fell in love....with Shea, my aunt Marcy's puppy. Maddie could not keep her hands off this dog, and loved walking her around on her little pink leash.

nepotism alert

so, if anyone is looking for some beautiful faces to slap on the cover of a magazine, or if you are looking for a fantastic photographer to make you look like you belong on said magazine, check this out this post at Erin T!

(p.s.: Erin is my cousin, and the beautiful family she photographed is my brother's, hence the nepotism, but hello i'm not lying about the amazingness!)

whoa, check out that barrel

my girls love to look at surfing with Daddy. whether online or in a mag, they could do this for hours! i hear things like, "oh Dad, he did a wipeout!" or "that wave is so awesome!" like father, like daughter.

sneak peak

Anna has her dance recital on the 17th,but here's a sneak peak: