Friday, December 30, 2011

Diehard Vikings fans

They get it from their father.

Just a cute picture

I had to take a picture of Ava standing on the heater ledge looking out the window since it doesn't seem that long ago I took one of Jack doing the same thing. Sigh.
Jack LOVES his Legos. He will literally play with them for hours. Tonight he made a J.

Good-bye, Neighbor

Our neighbors, the Ball family, have moved out. They are starting language school in Texas in January. We have had a great time with them and will miss them. Here are the kids at our last play date the other day.

Christmas pictures

Wow what a great week! And still going strong. We all got sick this week at some point and we are rarely sick So that was no fun to be sick around the holidays. But we still managed to enjoy ourselves! We have had a great time with family and working on our house this week. My presents are usually things I want for the house, but Matt still manages to surprise me. He got me a Coach wristlet. So cute! We are also painting the common areas of our house gray. It's beautiful so far. It will take us a while probably, but its been keeping us busy this week. And we have a couple more parties this weekend and birthdays coming up. I forget how busy January is, too. We are looking forward to it!

Here are some pictures from Christmas.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas Videos of Ava

Well, we had a great Christmas this year and I just wanted to post a couple videos of Ava that we thought were pretty cute. The first is of Ava opening her first present of Christmas. We let the kids open one present each on the 23rd. The second video is of Ava playing with one of her presents and you can tell she likes girly things!





Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Christmas is almost here!

"Only 3 more sleeps" as Jack would say. We are all getting excited about it. Even Ava. She has discovered toys at the store. This will be so much fun!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Merry Christmas 2011 from the Fures!

We are not able to send cards to everyone, but we are glad to be able to keep up with you all through our blog and on Facebook. Praise the Lord for His Son and His love in giving us a wonderful year!

Here is our Top 10 of '11
1. Jack turned 4, can write his name and recently taught himself to button.
2. We had a great trip to Colorado for mommy and Ava to meet her cousins.
3. We started our moms group at church, and it's going great.
4. We had a fantastic family vacation in sunny Florida.
5. A great VBS that Matt directed.
6. MN State Fair and the MN Zoo = great summer fun.
7. Ava turned 1, celebrated with the whole family (Welcome Home, Aunt Nanny!) and recently started walking.
8. Shannon took on a new ministry as organizer of Blessing-dale's through the Metro Women's Center.
9. Celebrated 5 years at Berean Baptist Church. We really love it!
10. Wonderful holiday season already with countless blessings and memories of family and friends all year long.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Jack likes his new coat that he said shows off his muscles.

Another new word

I was tickling Jack and Ava the other day and Jack starts whining, "Mommy stop! You're nervousing me!"

A couple of firsts...

Ava'a first haircut. I've gotta figure out a way to keep those curls alive. Love it! She's got hair like her daddy. We celebrated by going to McDonald's and for the first time, she noticed the toys. So I bought her a happy meal toy today.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

We have been staying busy. I think a little too busy. I always know I'm too busy when I start getting cranky about everyday things. So I'm hoping to slow down these next couple of weeks. Of course it's the hardest time of year to slow down. Christmas is only two weeks away. I still have a lot of shopping to do, and also our neighbors downstairs are moving out so we have a lot of activity surrounding that. On top of the regular busy schedule that has already almost filled our December.

Update on the kids. Ava now has 12 teeth. She doesn't open her mouth very wide so I don't always think to check. She also climbed out of her crib yesterday. She cried a little but was fine. Time to lower the mattress!

Jack learned how to button in the last week or two and is fitting into size 5. Both of them are growing and developing and are by turn making us either want to pull our hair out or die laughing. Jack is going through a clumsy phase. Someone told me that means he is growing. I don't know but pretty much every thing he holds, he spills or drops. Hence the pulling of the hair out! He still makes up words to get his point across. Ava's still jabbering. We've been trying to get that on video because I know I will want to hear it again when she's older and doesn't do it anymore.

That's a little snapshot into our lives this past week. Hope you are all on your way to a Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

The auditorium finished. Jack and Lexi posing. Ava's new Christmas dress courtesy of Grandma Hanks with hair bow courtesy of Aunt Nanny. Thank you both!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

More pictures

Our bedroom and Jack's room updated. Decorating the church turned out nicely.

Merry Christmas!!!

DIY

I took on a couple of house projects this week that I had seen on tv. And I'm pretty happy with them. I haven't updated the blog with pictures from my phone before, so hopefully it's not too confusing to see what I'm talking about.

I had an old window I had bought at a garage sale for $4 that I didn't know what to do with. I saw this on a show on Friday and decided to do it. Just covered the back with burlap and hung it up and put my wreath on it. Now I need a table to go underneath it! I like this because it's a large piece of art on the wall. With art being so expensive, this is a good way to get around that and is maybe a little more interesting.

Here's a quilt hanger I found at goodwill and painted for Ava's room. This quilt was my inspiration for her room, and I've always wanted to display it.

We took the doors off the main upper cabinets and put fabric behind the shelves. I just cut up a table cloth that I had and used spray adhesive to attach it. But it really brightened up the space. Even though the kitchen is painted a bright green, it still tends to be on the dark side with the cabinets. So this helps draw the eye up and focus on the brightness. I also think its a nice contrast to dark wood.

Here are some random pictures of the house. Everything's a work in progress always evolving. I like to think of it as my playground. It is fun!