Deck the Halls

I had been asking Mummy and Daddy almost everyday since Thanksgiving when we could get our Christmas tree... well, it finally happened!
This year we went to cut our own down at Wonderland Farm in East Corinth. It was a little bit of a drive, but it was worth it!

First we had to pick up our saw and sled.


There wasn't any snow, but Daddy still gave me a ride. Yee haw!


We looked around for the perfect tree for a little while--ducking in and out of the rows of pretty trees. It was some serious work.


We finally found the perfect one. Not too tall, not too short, not too skinny, and with no holes. I never knew it was so complicated!


Daddy cut it down while Mumma, Violet, and I watched and giggled at all the funny noises he was making. He was very grunty.


We loaded it up and I helped Daddy drag it back to the warming hut.


We brought it to the guy to stick it in this funny machine and make it skinny for the ride home. He said he'd put me in there too, if Dad and Mom wanted to tie me up for the roof of the car... I did not think that that was a good idea--or funny, for that matter.


We had a little cocoa and paid a nice lady and then it was home to decorate our beautiful tree!


Isn't she a beaut?!


Merry Christmas!

xoxoAyda

I love me some iPad

To say that I am obsessed with Mimi's GPS (I mean, iPad) would be an understatement. I want a GPS (I mean, iPad) for Christmas and Santa knows it. I have been praying to him in my closet at night.

On Tuesday mornings when I spend time with Mimi before school, I beg her to let me use her GPS (I mean, iPad). She showed me a funny way to take photos of myself...here are some of my favorite shots...

Things Ayda says...

Written by Mumma:

John and I were taking Ayda to the University to go to the fabulous pool they have there (which we call Papa's pool because it's on the campus he works at) and Ayda was really excited and chatty in the backseat.

Me: Huh. There's no moon tonight, Ayda.
Ayda: (Serious as could be) I guess maybe God forgot to put it out tonight.

I thought that was pretty clever and assured her that she must be right... how smart she was! (She loves to hear that she's smart or clever)

As we drove along (It's only about 7-10 miles to the campus) she kept asking John if he knew where he was going... because she certainly did. I'd ask her if we should go left or right and sometimes she'd guess correctly until finally she'd had enough and said:

"Don't worry Mum, you'll know it when you smell it. That's how you know when you've reached Papa's pool... by the smell."

Clever.

Unfortunately, the pool was closed when we got there and I knew instantly that I was about to endure the wrath of Ayda at her worst. She was so upset and told me that I "ruined everything" and that we had "drove all the way here for nothing!"

I admitted that I had goofed by not calling first and gave her permission to be mad at me... which in the end satisfied her enough to cool her jets.

We settled for having pizza and bread sticks--food fixes everything.

jbs

**Ayda and John went on a 'special' date the next day to Papa's pool and had a fabulous time.

Violet's Lost Video

So, Mimi made this video on Violet's very first day of life....and forgot to post it! Better late than never...here it is!



Aren't we the cutest?

Uncle Wade

Uncle Wade came to our house just before Thanksgiving for a visit and to meet baby Violet. (Okay, so he's not really my uncle... and his name isn't even really Wade... I mean, it is his name, but not his first name... it's all very complicated to me.)

As soon as he walked through the door I insisted on taking everyone's picture with him. He's like a celebrity in this house.

Here's him with Mumma...



... and one with Nana and Vi...



... don't we make a cute "family"?



And of course, one of the legend by himself. I angled the camera a little for dramatic effect.



For good measure, and so he wouldn't feel left out, I snapped one of Pup... and Mum.



I had a really hard time being still and good-mannered when Wade was here. I was just so excited to show off my little sister! (And to just show off in general.) I don't know why I do some of the mischievous things I do... I told Mumma that my brain just tells me to do it--and I can't help it.

She doesn't believe me.

xxo
A.S.E.S

Day of Thanks, 2011

Well, this year we did things a little differently. Since Violet is so little (and lemme tell ya, kinda fussy) Mumma and Daddy decided not to drive all the way to New York like usual. Instead, the four of us went over to Nana and Pup's with Aunt Sally and Grandma. It was a much smaller party than I'm used to for Thanksgiving... so I made sure to keep the noise level to a maximum--it only made sense.

Of course, we can't celebrate a holiday without the proper attire...



Even my little sister had something pretty to wear.



I think she's pretty 'thankful' for having me as a sister, don't you?



We had a most delicious meal and watched some of the parade and a silly dog show. After we filled our bellies, I noticed Daddy was missing. This is how I found him...



... so I joined him (for a second).



I also spent a fair amount of time trying to scare people by jumping out of the closet!



Aren't holidays the best?

xoxo
Gobble Ayda Gobble Sue

Good

Not that it's any great surprise, but I'm still not old enough to do anything fun... just ask my big sister Ayda. For now, this is pretty much all I'm good at--




Mumma says I'll be fun soon enough. For now, I'll just relish in the fact that I get a "hall pass" to nap whenever I want.

xoxo
Violet Anne

More photos of Violet!

Hey guys, it's me, Violet! I wanted to share some more photos with you that my Aunt Mimi recently took of me. I have changed so much in the past three weeks it's amazing! I am just getting cuter and cuter everyday!

First Day With Violet

Hi Guys...my name is Violet and I'm new here. Very new in fact -- I was just born yesterday! I've had some visitors here in the hospital and it's been nice meeting everyone. I met my big sister, Ayda, my aunt Mimi, my friend Alyssa, and Nana and Pup! It was a very busy day and I slept through most of it. I was awake for a little while when my big sister showed me some videos on this funky screen thing.


My sis was very gentle with me and I really liked sitting in her lap and snuggling up next to her.


I don't know if you have noticed or not...but I have a lot of hair. Mimi gave me this upsweep...


As far as babies go, I'm a really good one. I sleep a lot and don't cry very much. I have such a great family that I feel really lucky! Here are some more photos of them!



I'm such a good, healthy baby that I am actually going home today! Mama is feeling fine and we're ready for the comforts of home. Daddy went to pick up Ayda from school today and we're going to just hang out until we can go home! I'm going to ride in the back seat with my sister! How exciting! My Grandma and Grandpa from New York are coming to visit next week. I'm getting sleepy just thinking about all the excitement...

Introducing: Violet Anne

Guess who's finally a big sister? That's right ME! Ayda Sue Ellen Sonnenberg has a little SISTER named Violet Anne. I KNEW Mama was going to have a girl!


She looks just like I did when I was born...though people think Violet's hair is longer than mine is. Mama did such a good job having Violet -- she was in labor for something like 5 hours. It sounds like it hurt a lot.

Violet came out of Mama kicking and squirming around. Mimi says she had her eyes wide open! I guess she came out looking for me. I can't wait to show her around.

Spooky Spiders

Halloween will be here before ya know it, so Nana and I did some decorating this weekend. We made these spooky spiders to hang on a tree in Nana's foyer. I put the googlie eyes on them...aren't they creepy?


One even crawled over to Daddy and got up on his head! I took this photo before he realized what it was....

I can't wait to show you photos of my awesome Halloween costume Mama has been sewing me. I'm going to be a MERMAID!

Beauty

Aunt Mimi here.
I got the photos of my wedding back from the fabulous Mark McCall. When I saw this photo tears sprang to my eyes. Such a gorgeous snapshot of two of my favorite girls in the world. Pretty soon a new baby will be here with the family...but this precious shot of Ayda and Jennie will be a cherished reminder of "before."

Photobooth Fun

So Mimi and Shane had this cool thing at their wedding...it's called a photobooth! Mimi's friend, Katie Baker, was on hand to take photos... and she brought some really cool props! Take a look!

I really liked these moustaches...

And these satin gloves were meant for me...I just wish they would have fit a little better.

This is my cousin, Lexy. I was going for the rock n' roll look here...

Me and Mimi wore matching hats...and I really liked this cane thing I was holding.

All in all it was really fun. And I just LOVE looking at all these photos of myself. I'm so cute sometimes...

My Buddy Nana

This is my buddy Nana. I love to play with her because she has such a good imagination...just like me! One of our favorite games to play is to pretend we live in England and we are orphans. We have to make a living in the woods and do things like look for food to eat and gather firewood - which I'm really good at by the way.

Some Good Pickin'

I don't know if you know this, but Saturday was a perfect day to go apple picking!



This year we decided to go to the spot Nana and Papa used to take Mumma. It's an orchard called Conant's and you know what the best part is?!
The ladders!



Some I climbed all by myself, and some Daddy helped me with a little--especially when I went up really high.



The only problem was, he made them all wobbly! That was a little scary and I had to let him know that I, in fact, did NOT trust him.

After a little ladder picking, Mumma and I found some down-low apples that I could reach from the ground.



We filled this whole big bag!



I took that picture- thankyouverymuch and this gorgeous picture of Mumma sneaking an applelicious snack!



After some successful picking, I took the time to climb some trees. Isn't that cool that you can actually climb the trees here?!



Next year, I'll teach Bijou how to pick and climb!



xoxo Ayda Apple Seed