December 27, 2009

Christmas 2009

This past Christmas we flew back to Pennsylvania to spend Christmas with Larry's family and to attend the wedding of his younger brother Danny. This was the first Christmas in which all of the Furrs were together at once since 2004. Pictured below are all of the Furrs on Christmas morning except for Abby and Christian (who were sleeping) and Larry (who was taking the picture).

Ava was quick to scope out the presents under the tree.
She started by opening her stocking, which included this Little Mermaid necklace.

Her favorite present was by far this Snow White dress, which Santa found online for just $4. Ava has worn it pretty much every day since—the best $4 ever spent. After putting on the dress, she will announce that "it's Snow White time" and then proceed to hand out roles. Larry and Christian are typically cast as dwarfs, while Krista gets to play "a bunny". Guess who is always Snow White. Ava will then run around the house flailing her arms in distress mimicking Snow White as she runs through the forest near the start of the film.

Christian (who was up Christmas Eve until four in the morning) slept blissfully through most of the festivities. Abby, however, was up and ready to open presents. Her shirt (which reads "What Santa doesn't bring me, Grandma will") was spot on, as both she and Ava made out like bandits.

Christian eventually decided to wake up and open his presents.

After opening the presents, Larry's family headed over to the church to set up for Danny and Patricia's reception the following day (pictures are forthcoming).

December 24, 2009

Christmas Preparations

As per the annual Christmastime tradition, we gathered at Granny O and Freddy O's house for decorating gingerbread houses. Ava was very excited that all of her girl cousins on the Olsen side of the family (Sophie, Zoe, and Annissa) were there to make gingerbread houses too.

Ava was very proud of her gingerbread house creation.

Aunts Maddie, Lauren, and Betsy were feeling pretty proud as well.

While the girls were making their gingerbread houses, Larry took Christian to the basement with the other men (and boys) to watch football. Christian got a little upset when his mommy tore him away from the football game on TV to pose for this picture with his sister. Larry can sympathize, but has learned how to hide his true feelings behind a smile—a skill Christian has no desire to acquire at this time.

A few days prior to the gingerbread house festivities, we attended our church's annual neighborhood Christmas party. The focal point of the evening was a visit from Santa Claus.

Compared to previous years, Ava was pretty excited to see the man in red this time around. This has everything to do with the fact that she can now comprehend that Santa Claus = getting stuff on Christmas morning. And of course she was happy to receive the signature candy cane as well.

A few days later, Ava and Christian traveled to the mall with cousins Zach and Zoe to see Santa again. Santa appeared to have conspicuously altered his appearance during this time, but Ava didn't seem to notice.

Despite the lack of candy canes from Santa #2, Ava and Christian were still happy for the opportunity to relay their Christmas wish lists to Old Saint Nick.

December 21, 2009

Our Little Peas

While shooting portraits of the Olsen cousins, Jeppson Studios was kind enough to take individual pictures of each child. Christian was much more smiley alone than in the group shots.

Apparently he likes being the center of attention.
Although eventually he got tuckered out.

Ava threw a fit about midway through the photo shoot, but eventually decided to cooperate with the photographer.

You'd never guess from these sweet and innocent faces that she was having a meltdown just moments earlier.

Apparently she decided that getting her picture taken was princess-esque.

Two peas in a pod...

...twenty peas in four pods.

December 20, 2009

Christmas Cousins

Over the holidays we got all eight of the Olsen cousins together to have their pictures taken. From left to right: Seth, Zoe, Ava, Zach, Sophie, Annissa, Christian, and Luke.

It was utter pandemonium trying to get all eight kids to sit still and smile at the camera all at once.

The four oldest cousins were a bit more cooperative...

...but also a lot more silly.

Here are the boy cousins in green...

...and the girl cousins in red (and bows).

Thanks to the wonderful Jeppson Studios for miraculously capturing some darling pictures of these eight rather rambunctious rascals.

December 13, 2009

Princess Birthday Party

We recently celebrated Ava's third birthday by having a princess birthday party.

In attendance were several young princesses including Princess Abbey...

... and Princess Annissa.

And several older princesses including princesses Betsy, Lauren...

... and Madeline.

The festivities began with several games followed by opening presents (with Oliver supervising).

We then gathered in the kitchen for sandwiches and cookies.

There were tiara-shaped sugar cookies which the children frosted and decorated.

Seth was intent on getting the frosting on his cookie just right.

Next Ava blew out the candles on her Disney princess cake...

...and obliged her parents with a smile for the camera.

Before we knew it the party had come to an end so Ava handed out the party favors to her cousin Sophie and other guests.

Later that night Ava opened presents from her parents and little brother.

Her favorite gift seemed to be these Disney princess pajamas.

She wanted to try them on right away, which proved to be the perfect segue to bedtime.

Happy Birthday Ava! We love you!

December 5, 2009

Baby Expressions

For this post, we've collected several pictures from Christian's second and third months of life which demonstrate his many facial expressions. As a side note, the puppy in the first picture was named "Jellybean" by Ava prior to Christian's birth. She also has a "mommy puppy", a "daddy puppy", and an "Ava puppy".

Playful (I love my little puppy friend):

Confrontational (don't even think about trying to put me down for a nap):

Happy (I'm up from my nap...):

Really happy (...and ready to eat):

Sad (why is mommy making me wear this ridiculous hat?):

Really sad (enough with the pictures already):

Surprised (a bottle for me?):

Perplexed (what do you mean you're out of milk?):

Pensive (how can I ensure they never get any sleep?):

Feigned shock (that stinky smell is coming from me?):