A very merry DeCastro Christmas

The girls had a fabulous Christmas and are enjoying playing with all of their new toys! Thank you family and friends!

We went to MaMa & TaTa's on Christmas Eve and opened our Round 1 gifts and the girls were very excited to get their horse stables, Wonder Pets, Barbies, etc. The girls had fun playing with their family, the family dogs and dancing with MaMa and Uncle Chris. As soon as we got home, we were sure to leave cookies out for Santa and the reindeer and leave them a special note.

Sophia was the first one up on Christmas morning (no surprise there). When she saw the presents she said, "Are those my presents? For me? Sophia Caryn?" Her sister woke up just after her and the opening began. Ava hugged her Wall E Wii game and with each present she opened said, "This was what I wanted!" She got a little out of control and when she was done said, "I need more presents, is this all?" We reminded her that she received far more than was on her list and that some children only receive one present or even none. About 15 min later, she came to us and said, "Mom & Dad, you can tell Santa that I don't need anymore presents.....I have all that I need." That's my girl! Other favorite gifts were the mini trampoline from Grandma and the My Little Pony amusement park from Uncle Chris., who had the time of his life playing My Little Pony with Ava for an hour!

A great present for us is that Ava is starting to read! She is reading many words on her own and read a 5 word sentence completely on her own! Great timing since Aunt Bev got her the LeapFrog Tag reading system for Christmas!

I think that one of Sophie's favorite gifts was her Alexa dress from Barbie and the Diamond Castle. She stripped down to her birthday suit in the living room and wanted it on immediately. She wore it most of the day. Aunt Bev had to alter it a bit so she didn't have any more "wardrobe maulfunctions" with her chest exposed!

Christmas may be over but the girls are still enjoying Christmas songs and shows and are looking forward to next year.

We were also able to finally visit the Zoo Lights on Saturday, we had to take advantage of the warm temperatures. A perfect ending to a perfect week!

Hoilday Season 2008

Here are the girls on Thanksgiving morning standing on our new hardwood floors installed by daddy and TaTa. Thank you!!

It has been a LONG time since I've blogged, but as you can see from all of the pics, we have been VERY busy! The girls had a great Thanksgiving (the above pics) and also had a great time making Christmas cookies with Aunt Bev. Ava is quite the baker! She made cookies for her teachers and her friends, Garrett, Jake and "silly" Alex. Ava received a present in return from Garrett and Jake made her a jingle bill ring. We are in TROUBLE!

Next, there are pictures from my work Christmas party including Sophie's face painting and the reptile petting zoo. Sophia Caryn would prefer to pet snakes and iguanas over sitting on Santa's lap! Ava did a beautiful job of singing "O Come all Ye Faithful" to Santa at Target when we had our Christmas Card pictures taken. I will try to upload the video to our blog. It brought tears to my eyes and everyone in the studio!

On Dec. 1 was Ava's Christmas Program at preschool. She did an amazing job singing and holding up the letter "C" during her Christmas song. She worked very hard memorizing her songs and even taught them to Sophie. She was very excited to have her family there cheering her on. I also attached a picture of Ava with her "boy" friend, Garrett.

The following week was family day at dance class and we got a preview of Ava's dance recital. Sophie wanted to do everything that the big girls were doing. She will get her turn in January when she starts dance class too!

Next was the Little Gym Christmas party. The girls loved playing with their good friends, Caroline and Charlotte. Ava and Caroline met at the Little Gym clear back in 2006 when they were 2! Sophia and Charlotte take classes together now. Sophie loves her teacher, Miss Mamber (Amber)

Today was a big event for the DeCastro girls......Breakfast with Santa at Smith & Wollensky! The girls decorated gingerbread cookies and ate a special breakfast including a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus. Sophie claimed that she wanted Santa to pick her up, but quickly changed her mind once he was within 3 feet. Santa thanked Ava for singing to him at Target the other day and Ava was blushing. A few minutes later Ava said to me, "I didn't know that was the same Santa from Target Mom?" Too smart! As we walked out we said good bye to Doner and Blitzen (as Sophie called them).

Sophie has been entertaining us by pretending to be Santa and talking in a deep voice. She has her big sister sit on her lap and asks me to take a picture. She also enjoys singing "Rudolph the red nosed Reindeer" and "Costy the Snowman" as she calls him.

Here are the girls modeling their presents from Santa at the breakfast. Ava said she loved having princess earrings like mommy!
Last but not least, here are some pics of the girls in their new coats/hats from Gymboree. Mom decided to participate in Black Friday for the first time and got to Polaris Mall at 4:45am to be the first in line for these $11 winter coats for them. They were modeling them for daddy. I don't know that I will be so crazy to do that next year, but it was a fun experience!

Happy Halloween 2008

Well, we managed to make it through another successful Halloween and we also seem to be coming down from our sugar/excitement high as well. Ava decided to be Belle for Thursday's festivities and Ariel on Friday. Sophia was Minnie Mouse for both complete with her mouse ears from Disney World. The girls went to a Fall Festival at Ava's Preschool on Thursday as an "appetizer" to Trick or Treat and had a blast. They got to go around to different game stations and earn candy. However, Sophia would walk right past the line for the game and head straight to the adult handing out the candy. After she received her candy, she would open her bag for anyone that would look and show them how much candy she had accumulated. She was very proud of herself. All of Ava's experience playing cornhole paid off and she did very well at any bean bag toss games. The girls also had their faces painted which was a first for Sophia. I couldn't believe that she sat still for that long, but she did! She was very proud of the cupcake on her cheek.

The next morning was a Fall Party at preschool. Sophie was the only sibling in attendance but made herself right at home. She loves hanging out with the big kids. The girls helped me make cupcakes as our contribution. It was torture for them to make a sweet treat, but they made it through!

Friday night was the big event. The girls had fun trick or treating with their friend, Nathan. Sophia decided one bag wasn't enough, so she carried two. Ava had a goal of obtaining 100 candies. After each house, she would ask me if she had reached 100 candies. Sophia had several pieces, but when I finally started cutting off her supply, she moved to asking daddy. Yes, she's started the "asking the other parent to get the answer wanted" trick already! When daddy told her no, she said, "I ask MaMa and TaTa!!"

I really think that the girls enjoyed passing out candy more than getting it, which was nice to see. They were very excited when they saw someone dressed like Wall-E and thought the banana costume was HILARIOUS! Sophie woke up the next morning saying "trick or treat" in her crib.

Fall Fun

Here are a few highlights from the past month. Ava finished soccer and earned her first trophy......very exciting! Sophia went potty for almost a week, I went and bought panties (Chihuahua panties because they loved the Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie) and now she just says, "No thank you potty, I don't like it, I'll watch you go potty" ugh!

Sophia is talking so much, it's unbelievable. She recognizes several letters of the alphabet, all of her colors, shapes, etc. She is in love with the Wonder Pets right now and she will tell you, "I like Linny best." (Linny is the hamster). Sophia is infatuated with the Halloween section at Target (just like her big sister was). The other day Sophia said, "Oh my gosh, we have to go to Target to the see the spooky stuff." Her other favorite thing to say now is "for the love of pete" (thank you maw maw) and "socka bocka" which none of know what it means, but she thinks it is hilarious!

Ava has been very busy in preschool. She had a great report at Parent/Teacher conferences. She is very outgoing and seems to often gravitate towards the boys in her class. More than one parent of a boy in her class has said that their son told them, "I don't like girls, only Ava."

Ava told me last week that if we have a fire, we need to call 911 and she now recites the Pledge of Allegiance which made her Ta Ta very happy.

She also voted for the first time with daddy the other day. A few days later she said, "Mommy, I like Obama, but why is Obama not a girl?" Girl power!

Sophia is doing really well at Little Gym, she galloped for the first time last week. Ava is really enjoying dance class and can't wait to wear her Ariel costume to class tomorrow.

I have attached a few pics from the pumpkin patch (sophie wanted to ride the hay ride all day), making apple pies with Aunt Bev (which Ava had her plastic jaguar toy help her make), playing in the leaf pile and meeting Barbie at the Toys R Us grand opening this past weekend. The girls LOVED meeting Barbie since they sing every song from Barbie and the Diamond Castle together. They also met Spiderman. Ava was excited to tell her "boy" friends at preschool that she met Spiderman, however Sophia was petrified of him. That night before bed I could hear her on the baby monitor saying, "I no like a spiderman, only barbie the best."

I will update the blog next week after Trick or Treat!