Greg's last flight in VFA 32

 The girls waiting in the ready room for Daddy's last flight in VFA 32

 They have landed! That is our man in the back seat.

 Some of his buddies waiting to spray him down

 Got him! They are spraying him with the water reserved for fires on the runway

 Ava gets into the fun!

 Getting him with champange

 I got a bottle of champagne for Ellie too but she refused to go near Greg. She was terrified of the whole situation. I'm so glad mom was there to get all of this on video for us!

 Mission accomplished

 Greg with his good buddies from the squadron Jhunt, Shmike, and Blida

So proud of her son in law! She will even smooch him soaking wet.  Great JO tour Greg. We are so proud of you and everything you have accomplished these past 3 years. 

The annual Santa is a terrorist picture....

 The girls went to the squadron's annual children's Christmas party. The girls were thrilled to wear their pretty Christmas dresses, go to the bounce house, see their friends, and open presents. They didn't realize that part of the deal was that they had to sit on the strange old man's lap again this year. Ava was actually excited to do it this year after learning and understanding more about Santa. 

 The girls waiting in line for Santa. Ava was pumped but Ellie was not.

 Ellie building up dread.

Ava (being the mother hen that she is) was very stressed out by Ellie's reaction to Santa

 "Whyyyyy do you make us do this every year!?"

 Ava starting to perk up when she realizes THIS is her chance to tell Santa what she wants this year.

 Ellie is screaming "Daddy NO Daddy NO!!!!"

Ava came back later in the party to visit with Santa without her sister and get her "real" talk in with him.

Girls with their new presents. Great party overall. We will be sad when the kids actually LIKE Santa. It   just won't be as fun for us :)

Ava's Christmas Program

Ava had her annual Christmas program at school. Daddy took off work and both Grandmoms drove from Northern Virginia to hear their girl sing. I read about a scientific study awhile ago that said one of the most undesirable sounds to the human ear is children singing. Normally, I agree and there is only so much I can take of our children's sing along CDs that I put on in the car (only during road trip emergencies). However, it is the most heart warming sound hearing your sweet little girl singing out of tune with a giant toothy smile on her face. They worked hard for several months learning several Christmas songs with hand motions to match them. There wasn't a dry eye in the house when they sang Silent Night with candle props and a live Nativity scene. It really brought the true joy of Christmas to our house. Great work Ava!

 Ava's cheering section

Anxiously awaiting the arrival of her sissy

 There she is!

 Right in the front row!

 Great group of 4 year olds

 Favorite picture from the program

 singing Silent Night

 Nanny boosting Ellie up so that she can see

 Ellie loved bouncing between 4 laps through the program

 Gigi chasing after Ellie when Ellie tried to go up and join her sister on stage

Caught her!

 So blessed to have two supportive Grandmas that will travel so far just for a Christmas program!

Bring on the Christmas Cheer

Despite our property manager's advice, we have decided to decorate our house for Christmas this year. We are showing our house right now for potential renters and we decided not to be Scrooges. The decorations are only going to be up for 2 weeks but we figured it would be worth it to bring some holiday cheer to a stressful moving time. 

Miss Ava was full of holiday spirit and woke up with an abundance of energy to decorate.

 Ellie was more of the Scrooge who was tired of going to time out for breaking ornaments

 Helping Daddy set up the tree

 Santa Penny Lane!

 What a good sport Penny is.  She puts up with so much "aggressive love" that the girls like to give her.

 Striking a pose with their stocking, trees, and Santa. This is the first year they are really interested in Santa and don't think that he is just a home invader.

 Daddy frustrated with the lights still keeping up his Christmas Cheer

 Continuing a Valdez tradition of flowers on the tree

 Time out for the 5th ornament causaulty 

 Decorating their mini trees

 Ellie is so funny and likes to put all her ornaments on one or two branches.

 Ready to start our holiday baking

 The girls have been hanging out with Aunt Jen enough to inherit her love of crafts. As a reward one day we went to AC Moore and stalked up on fun Christmas crafts.

 Ava making a Christmas tree ornament for her tree

 Ellie making a Santa ornament

 The next day was painting Frosty masks

 Linoleum floors are the absolute best for preschoolers because EVERYTHING comes off them including paint!

 Kind of gothic but creative Frosty

Mardi Gras theme Frosty