Christmas at The Gray's 2009

The day after Christmas... Watching Ava open more gifts!

Ava and her new sunglasses!

Kait and her new headband!

More pictures to come.... I just have to scan them in.

Christmas at the Pytlewski's Part II: Dinner Time

My 3 favorite men in my life: My brother Brian, my dad and of course husband!


Cousin Ashley and the girls.

BBQing in the backyard.

A Snowman!

While on our walk around the neighborhood to look at Christmas decorations, Ava had to hug this snowman. Here it is all caught on tape...

Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa Pytlewski's

On Christmas Eve, Ava convinced all of us to walk the neighborhood in the freezing weather to look at all the Christmas decorations...

Ava's newest talent... playing the piano with her beanie over her eyes.

One of our best gifts of 2009!

The girls on Christmas morning!!

Ava opening the gift she had been asking for 3 months straight...

Kait chewing away...

An intense game of Hungry, Hungry Hippo with Uncle Brian and Daddy.

Ava playing with her new kitchen. This was before she decided to cook her Zhu Zhu pet.

Riding her scooter in the backyard.

The Tree has Arrived!

While daddy worked hard putting the lights on the tree....



Ava and I played Spartacus. I have no idea who Spartacus is but she insisted that we had to put on mustaches.

Did I mentioned that we ran out of tree lights and I sent Ava with her mustache, green polka-dot shorts and ladybug rainboots to the store?! Jacobe will be getting his mustache when he returns.

Christmas is on the way...

The girls are so excited for Christmas. Here they are wearing matching Christmas pj's (thank you Grandma Kathy) and wearing their favorite headbands...

Cute picture of Kait... not so cute of Ava...


Cute picture of Ava... not so cute of Kait...

I hope one day to get one cute picture of them both!

Ava is so excited for Santa to visit this year!! Every time I ask her want she wants, she says the same thing: "I want a Dora scooter with a basket." Good thing I went to Target today. I scored the last one. Who knew it would be such a popular Christmas gift!

Thanksgiving in Santa Cruz 2009

One of Ava's favorite things to do... Play talking Republician heads with Great Grandpa Ray. It's so funny to watch!


Ava helping Grandma Kathy with the mashed potatoes. Yummy!


Great Grandpa Ray and "The Tank" Kait! We can't believe how big (fat and tall) Kait is for only being 5.5 months in this pic!!!


Daddy and Kait.


Another happy baby!!

...and another yummy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving in Walnut Creek 2009

I love this picture!! Grandma Betty and Kait at the park.


Grandpa Roger getting his arm workout with Ava on the swing.


Kait hating the leaves. Being born and raised in Santa Cruz she only likes sand.


Ava trying to convince Kait that leaves are not so bad...


Kait finally loving the leaves! Look at the 2 of her 4 teeth!! What a cutie!

As much as I love the beach and the fantastic weather in Santa Cruz, I sure do miss the fall weather and the changing of the leaves in Walnut Creek! It's just beautiful!

What Ava will do for 10 Jelly Beans...

Sorry about the shaky video. I took it on my iphone. I couldn't stop laughing at how stinking cute our little girl is. Oh, the outfit!

Halloween 2009

Our little chickens all dressed up and ready to go trick or treating.

Kaitlyn enjoyed her costume more without the chicken head on as you can tell from down below. Every time I put it on, this is the face I got...

Kaitlyn sport'n some muffin top from the stroller straps. The poor girl could barely more in her costume. It was quite entertaining trying to watch her roll over in it.

The scary house Jacobe took Ava to. What a bummer the picture is out of focus. The house was amazing and Ava of course was TRAUMATIZED by it!! She refused to go to the door and starting screaming (who could blame her) and then for the next 20 minutes she kept saying "Daddy, you took me to a really scary house."

I just don't understand why.....

Jacobe doesn't want a 3rd?!

Jacobe Saves the Day!

Poor, poor little hummingbird flew into our house. I had the girls sequestered in our room becuase I thought the little thing just might poke out one of our eyes. It was flying around frantically. All it took was a little encouragement from the broom to get him out of the skylight and into my husband's hands. I'm glad to report the hummingbird survived.

Weekend Getaway in Napa

A weekend getaway without the kiddos! How relaxing to just do nothing but drink wine and spend time with my sister and her boyfriend. We got a personal tour of Folio Winery (Thanks Michael!) and then went on to a wine event my sister was in charge of putting together. The best part was having cocktails at Mustards Restuarant, walking back to our cute cottage (Stacey's house) and then traveling on to the Mondavi property where Michael lives and having a wonderful dinner!!

The old carriage house transformed into a living quarters. Here is Jacobe watching football and enjoying more wine.


Sunset above the vines.


Jacobe pretending to be interested in what the wine man was telling him. All he really wanted was a class of wine. Hurry up and pour!


Enjoying the beautiful weather.

L.O.V.E

Being that I work full time, I cherish the moments I can just hold my girls close to me. After feeding Kaitlyn 8oz of milk (she is such a pig!) and laying her down to sleep, Ava climbed into my arms. While talking with her about her day, she aburptly turned to me, looked me in my eyes and said, "Mamma, I love you" and went off to play. I told my husband, it's the first time that I felt Ava told me she loved me and actually knew what she was saying and how she felt. I will always remember this moment.

Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose

We L-O-V-E this place. Ava can spend endless hours exploring and always finds something new.

Ava checking out a large tire...


Playing in a boat...


Making bubbles (one of her favorites)...



And Daddy found something interesting to do this time. Making corn husk dolls!!


They also have a face painting station. All the parents were in there painting perfect paintings of soccer balls, butterflys... I let Ava on the other hand paint her face herself. Although other parents were laughing, I thought Ava looked amazing! She was so proud of the "makeup" she put on.