Ava's First Dance Recital

Our little diva had her first dance recital and we are so proud of her! She did a great job and was excited to have her family there to see it! Daddy gave her flowers after her performance which just made her day! She said, "Now I can be a wedding girl since I have flowers!" Yikes, not yet!

During the medal ceremony at the end of the recital, Sophia decided to run across the stage and share the spotlight. I attached a pic of her looking up at the big girls like, "wow.............someday I'll be big like you............."

Another fun thing Ava told me recently was when I was putting her down for her nap and she said, "Mommy, we should say our prayers......no wait, let's just send God an e-mail!" That's our girl! Ava is also very good at writing her name, can spell her last name and knows her phone # and address!

Sophia is excited because she started going to Little Gym today too! She just wanted to touch everything, climb on everything and was running around squealing. She is definitely our "no fear" girl! She's starting to sing and loves to dance.

Happy New Year 2008!

We had a great New Years Eve and we hope that we will have an even better New Year!

The girls got new hair cuts (Ava's second, Sophie's first) and Ava makes sure to tell everyone she sees that she has a new beautiful hairdo! Ava just wanted to make sure that cutting Sophie's hair with the scissors wouldn't hurt her. We assured her that she would be fine. Sophie did a great job and sat very still. Ava saw a girl in the lobby of Kenneth's (before she got her haircut) that was wearing a tiara, so Ava thought that everyone that gets a haircut receives a tiara afterwards. I had to explain to her that, unfortunately, that was not the case.

Merry Christmas 2007!

It's been awhile since our last blog post. It's been very busy around here! First, Ava had her Christmas Play at pre-school and she made us very proud. She remembered all of her lines and when she was done she said, "Mom, I practiced my play!"

Then, Sophia turned 15 months. She weighs 22 pds 4 oz and is over 31 inches tall. She grown almost 3 in since her 1 year check up and only gained 4 oz. She is talking like crazy and her hair is growing very fast. She knows most of her animal sounds, a few of her body parts and a few motions to her favorite songs.

And finally, Christmas arrived at the DeCastros! Ava has been counting the days and the big man finally came through. Of course, now we need to add on to our house in order to hold all of their new toys! Ava got the "robot dog" (I-Dog), dollhouse, and kitty (pretend) that she was wanting and Sophia had a very "Elmo" Christmas. She also got a Rose Petal Cottage, that Ava has pretty much taken over.

Here are a few pics of the girls at their holiday celebrations, playing with their new gifts, playing in the snow and playing with MaMa and TaTa's new puppy, Tillie. Although, Ava is calling it "my little one."

Christmas Eve - Santa gets a note and some cookies

Christmas Day - Sophie oversees construction of her Rose Petal Cottage

Ava takes a break from playing for a quick pose

Also, this is a pic of Ava in a gray coat and hat which belonged to me (mommy) when I was little!

Snow Babies

Sophie played in the snow for the first time today and like a true pro, she had to taste it first! She couldn't decide if she liked it or not? Ava is a pro at making snow angels. I had to practically drag her back inside!

Stay tuned next week for pics of Ava in her very first Christmas Play (it's on Monday night). She is very excited and has been practicing her lines every night! Sophie has been trying to sing along too.

Happy Thanksgiving

The girls had a great Thanksgiving! Sophie was a mashed potato maniac and Ava ate cupcakes all day, but what ever makes their Thanksgiving happy, right? Sophia was quite the host (even though we didn't have Thanksgiving at our house), she made sure to walk up to ever person in attendance and wave at them. She knows how to work a room! Ava enjoyed great grandma's early Christmas gift, a slot machine. She was quite good! She got three 7's in the first few minutes of playing, now if only it paid out real money!!!! Although, the next day Ava gave an Academy Award winning performance telling us her arm hurt and didn't use it for over 12 hours. We were headed out the door to the doctor Friday morning to have it looked at and it miraculously healed itself! I think she really strained it from playing the slot machine for an hour straight! Mike says we are moving to Hollywood to pursue Ava's acting career!

Also, there is a pic from Ava's Thanksgiving feast at pre-school and of Sophie deciding to climb in the dishwasher and help me unload it :)

The reindeer in the pics were made by the girls at Build-A-Bear, which Ava was very excited about!

Sophia is 14 months old and meets Santa!

Sophia is 14 months old today and very busy! She is non-stop motion, which she has to be to keep up with her big sister Ava!

And..........more importantly...........the girls saw Santa over the weekend. I wasn't expecting him to be out and about already, but Ava was VERY excited. She talked his ear off for over 5 minutes about her list (which includes the butterscotch pony that costs $250) and a music box for Sophia. We are trying to sway her to the kitty cat that only costs $40! Sophie was fine with Santa from a distance, she waved to him and everything, but once placed on his lap and after turning around to stare at him, she decided she liked him better from a distance!

I hate to say it, but we've been using the whole "Santa doesn't like when little girls throw fits, don't listen, etc......" And it's working pretty well so far! I'll be bummed after Christmas is over, we'll have to think of another incentive to behave!

The last picture was all Sophia's doing. She always wants to sit on my lap when I play the piano and I wasn't picking her up that time, so she just shoved her bench over, climbed up and played beside me! Too cute!

Go Bucks!

I won tickets to see the OSU-Wisconsin game from NetJets suite at The Shoe...Yes, it is as awesome as you think. We had a blast. I concentrated more on the game than taking pictures, but here is a quick strip of the photos we did snap.

-MD

Trick-or-Treat

Well, we made it through another successful Halloween. The girls (or should I say Snow White and Tinkerbell) had fun going door to door and Ava had fun passing out candy to others. Sophie liked pointing out all the pumpkins and saying "kun-kin!" We started the night off pulling Sophie in the wagon and letting Ava go up to the houses but Sophie would cry and try to get out, so she went trick or treating too! Ava kept saying, "I love trick or treating! I'm getting more candy and more candy..........Let's go to the next house!"

Mommy is excited but sad.................tomorrow is "school picture day" for Ava at preschool! She's too little for school pictures!?

The girls also went to a Fall Festival at Ava's pre-school, Bella and Colin's Halloween Party and Boo at the Zoo! They've had a pretty fun week!