It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It was nice to spend a few days in Mt. Carmel before Christmas Day arrived. Ava and Aidan had a blast playing together. It's so neat to watch their relationship grow now that Ava is getting older. They were chasing each other all over the house, dancing, and only occasionally fighting over toys.

Thursday night, "Santa" (my good friend Natalie's dad, Ed) came to visit the kids. They were pretty amazed. Ava was good and sat on his lap. A candy cane sure helped her feel more at ease. The entire thing was pretty much eaten by the time he left!



My Dad has started a tradition of taking the kids out to feed "Sammy" the squirrel every time they come to visit. Here is Ava feeding Sammy with Dad:



Coming inside after a successful squirrel feeding:



My Mom always lets the kids play "Flour Sugar", where basically they get to spoon out all of her baking goods and mix them together in a bowl. They love it. Here they are, mixing away:



Playing a few Christmas tunes for us:



Setting out cookies and milk for Santa:



Making "funny faces":