She loves to sleep in a ball and on her belly:
But when she is awake, she is pretty roly poly:
The boys still run to Avery for kisses and hugs. They even skip us most of the time when it is time for goodbye and goodnight kisses. And they take frequent breaks from playing to run to her and snuggle.
We also braved the cold and joined the squadron to cut down a Christmas tree. And Geoff found a good one (certified by our good friend Heather who confirmed it was a good tree before Geoff cut it down). Here is J with his "umbrella" the top of the tree Geoff had to trim off. 
Gorgeous!
Those trees always look misleadingly small in the forest. Geoff had to do some more trimming to get it to fit. 
The next day we went to a "Wonderland of Trees" before ice skating. Before I had the stroller parked and the camera primed, the boys were on Santa's lap (there wasn't even a line...just Santa sitting by his lonesome) and they were telling him what they wanted for Christmas.
"A remote control helicopter!" "A remote control plane!" "A tree!" "A ladder!"
Mr. Claus looks as surprised as us. We knew about the helicopter and plane...they have been asking for that for about a year and a half. Geoff informed them that Santa probably doesn't bring remote control planes and helicopters to kiddos under the age of seven. As for the tree and ladder, just take a look back at a couple of pictures to see where that request came from...they want their OWN tree and their OWN ladder. We guess so they can decorate and play with it and climb on it as they choose. WITHOUT mommy and daddy's guidance. The boys have changed dramatically over the past year. We are shocked at the differences between the age of four and five for them. More outgoing and willing to try new things. Like ice-skating. We went back and they still wanted to skate and did great. After they warmed up they were even willing to skate with our friends Melody and Joe (Joe not pictured):
We also made time for some gingerbread decorating... 
Serious business. I think they are learning some things from "Cake Boss".
December is quickly getting away from us...more to come.
The boys still run to Avery for kisses and hugs. They even skip us most of the time when it is time for goodbye and goodnight kisses. And they take frequent breaks from playing to run to her and snuggle. We also braved the cold and joined the squadron to cut down a Christmas tree. And Geoff found a good one (certified by our good friend Heather who confirmed it was a good tree before Geoff cut it down). Here is J with his "umbrella" the top of the tree Geoff had to trim off. Gorgeous!Those trees always look misleadingly small in the forest. Geoff had to do some more trimming to get it to fit. The next day we went to a "Wonderland of Trees" before ice skating. Before I had the stroller parked and the camera primed, the boys were on Santa's lap (there wasn't even a line...just Santa sitting by his lonesome) and they were telling him what they wanted for Christmas. "A remote control helicopter!" "A remote control plane!" "A tree!" "A ladder!"
Mr. Claus looks as surprised as us. We knew about the helicopter and plane...they have been asking for that for about a year and a half. Geoff informed them that Santa probably doesn't bring remote control planes and helicopters to kiddos under the age of seven. As for the tree and ladder, just take a look back at a couple of pictures to see where that request came from...they want their OWN tree and their OWN ladder. We guess so they can decorate and play with it and climb on it as they choose. WITHOUT mommy and daddy's guidance. The boys have changed dramatically over the past year. We are shocked at the differences between the age of four and five for them. More outgoing and willing to try new things. Like ice-skating. We went back and they still wanted to skate and did great. After they warmed up they were even willing to skate with our friends Melody and Joe (Joe not pictured): We also made time for some gingerbread decorating... Serious business. I think they are learning some things from "Cake Boss".
The LOOK. 
And again...
and Grammy. Here she is attempting her first bottle with my milk so Geoff and I could go out to dinner for our anniversary. She is not fond of the bottle nipple or the pacifier yet.
We made it out of the house to go ice skating Sunday afternoon. It was so great to see the boys' huge smiles. J ice-skated almost the entire time and declared that "I love ice-skating" on the way home. It is amazing the difference one year makes.
Getting to know Aunt JJ:
And Aunt JJ sent some fun gifts from her recent trip to Turkey that arrived while she was here. Here is A with her new giraffe and new blanket.
And a profile of that lovely curve of her full cheeks that we love to kiss so much!
Here are the boys' pumpkins Geoff carved for school. J played with his pumpkin and it broke into three pieces. So Geoff stapled it back together and I think it probably turned out even spookier with the stapled-effect!
The shark trio.
And some pics of A. Her eyes are still blue but I think they will end up turning either hazel or brown.
She wants held all.the.time but sometime she will look into the playmat mirror for a couple of minutes.
4 weeks old already!
Grandma came for a visit and joined us for some trick-or-treating at the base. She was a great help last week with the kiddos, holding A, and keeping us fed and from drowning in dirty laundry and dishes.
