A week of Christmas!!!

Curtis celebration
New Year's fireworks - kids enjoyed this year

This was quite a year for celebrating Christmas!  By the end of it all, the kids were still waiting for more.  In trying to coordinate everyone's schedules, we ended up with one full week of Christmas.

We kicked it off with Ava's school Christmas program that included singing for an audience filled with parents and grandparents, including mommy, daddy, Vovo, Grammy, Alex, and Sofia.  Ava loved it all, even though she was not as prepared, having missed school due to a cold and her dentist visit.  She was so cute and really had fun playing with her friends at the reception.  She is so funny to observe while she is hanging out with her guy friends...reminds me kind of myself at that age! Ha!

The weekend before Christmas, mommy's side started to arrive.  Christina, Ayim, Martha, Ben, Bobby, Heather, Bridgette, and Aiden all came in town to celebrate.  We had a fantastic time just enjoying each other's company and a delicious feijoada by Vovo.

Our secret friend reveal was hilarious and sweet as always, and Ben did a great job joining in the fun - even though this was the first time we were meeting him in person.  Ava totally took to Ben, and Ben seemed to enjoy himself when invited to participate in multiple games of hide-and-seek with Ava and reading books to Alex.  Even Sofia found Ben to be quite amusing.  It was so great to have everyone together.

The kids had the best time and were more than happy to get to open presents already!

After the weekend, everyone left except for Marthi.  We got to keep her until the 26th. So we continued on celebrating, going to church on Christmas Eve, having dinner together, then Santa came to our house on Christmas morning.  

The kids were super excited and came downstairs to find the gifts they had asked for:

an air hockey table (they had played just a few weeks ago), a brown present and a blue present (that's what Alex had asked for), new pj's for all, and new soccer balls too!

Even after all that, we were still not done!!  We went over to Grammy & Grandpa's house to see them, have lunch, and Vovo, Voovoo, and Marthi came over too on Christmas day.  It was nice just to visit, and to kick off the celebration over there as well!  A few days later, uncle Trey and aunt Missy and family came down to visit as well.  Ava and Alex had a great time playing with Payton, and Sofia enjoyed it all too.  What could be better than family time with cousins and extra presents on top too!

What a whirlwind of a week, but so blessed to have had such a wonderful time with all of our family.  I only wish we could do it more often!  It was so special, that the fireworks on New Year's seemed to be the only way to top it all off - this year the kids seemed to enjoy hearing/seeing the fireworks more than being terrified of the noise.  Thank God for all these miracles!!!

 

My little yogi, Ava

learning from her yoga master, tia Marthi...

oh so concentrated!!

of course, Alex joined in the fun too!

Ava's first cavity :(

Well, it happened.  We do our due diligence to make sure we are taking baths, brushing teeth, getting our check-ups, but then one day you see it...

While playing during the day, I happened to be sitting down on the floor while Ava was standing up telling me one of her many stories and I thought I noticed something dark in one of her upper molars.  She had just had an ice cream sandwich, so I wasn't positive if it was chocolate or something else.  So that evening I decided to go upstairs during daddy's bath and brushing teeth time to check.  Sure enough, when I asked to brush Ava's teeth, I saw that she had a hole in her tooth!  She had no sensitivity there, just a big gaping hole!  The next day I scheduled an appointment with the dentist.  We were a couple months late making the appointment, but now I had an urgent reason to get in to see the dentist. 

Ava was a trooper, went in, had her teeth cleaned and had x-rays done.  Then I learned how we were going to have the cavity corrected. Ava had to take some Demerol to ease her nerves, along with some nitrous oxide, but then she was calm as long as I was holding her hand.  The dentist found the cavity in the molar and found there to be another small one forming between her two front teeth.  She cleaned them out and had them filled.

Hopefully this does not become routine, but with Ava's teeth being very "ridge-filled" and a little softer - per the dentist - we need to be even more vigilant and diligent about going to the dentist.

Look at that hole!!!!

The dentist also smoothed out the little ridges Ava had on her front teeth.  According to the dentist those ridges probably formed in utero, but now they are almost completely gone.  This will help prevent future cavities from developing in those crevices and makes Ava's smile even cuter! 

How do we get to heaven?

Why is it that questions like these always seem to come up when we are almost 2 hours past bedtime?  The other night Ava was already tucked in bed, books had been read, lights were out, and she was supposed to have been sleeping. She was feeling a little sick and I really wanted her to be resting. Instead, she started calling me on the monitor, needing me to come back upstairs to check on her.  I couldn't believe she was still awake.  I hoped that all she needed was a little reassurance or an extra kiss.

Ava: Mommy, my head hurts.

Me: Ava, it's late, you're tired, you need to rest.

Ava: But I can't sleep.

Me: Ava, you need to close your eyes and rest so your head will feel better.  You need to sleep and the angels will come, kiss your forehead, and you will feel better.

and so it began...

Ava: Where do the angels live?

Me: In heaven.

Ava: How do we get to heaven?

Me: (seeing how I got this started, I certainly didn't want to suggest death as an answer) I don't know.

Ava: How old is God?

Me: I'm not sure. Ava it's time to sleep.

Ava: How old is Jesus.

Me: 2013 years old.

Ava: Is Jesus with God in heaven?

Me: Yes.

Ava: Can I go to heaven when I am 26?

Me: No, you can go when you are around 90.

Ava: What's it like in heaven?

Me: Everything is wonderful.  Now let's dream about all the wonderful things and go to sleep! :)

Oh Christmas photos!!

Well, I must admit that I did try the impossible.  I tried to get a picture of the three little ones together for our annual Christmas card, and honestly thought I might be able to get them all with eyes open, smiling, and looking at the camera.  This, of course, did not happen... but these pictures did ;)  Still plenty of deliciousness!

And since I couldn't manage to get Sofia to smile or giggle while sitting with Ava and Alex, I got her for a few solo pictures...though I had a hard time picking just one!

 

So instead of just one picture, I opted for a photo montage this year! Merry Christmas!!! :)