Stats

Ava 26.6 lbs & 33 1/2"
(75th percentile for weight & 80th percentile for height)
Isabella 26.2 lbs & 34 "
(75th for weight & 90th for height)

The Dr. said they looked GREAT!  She was impressed with their sizes and predicted that 1/2" height difference now will translate to about 3" later in life...we will see. :)
She wasn't concerned about their late walking.  Her son who was born on time didn't even walk till 18 1/2 months.  The girls have extra "catch up" time because of being born early.  She watched Ava walk and although wobbly she said she looked good. :)

The picture above is SO funny because I had left some mini marshmallows on the table for a recipe I was making and sure enough Marc caught them 1st thing in the morning digging in!  Ava was handing them off to Isabella.  They can be quite the pair sometimes.

Isabella wanted to be wearing her jacket and hat on one of the warmest days of the week...I have no idea why.  She kept them on for quite a while and it was pretty warm (almost 70).  I think the hat was because Isaac had his bike helmet on and it was the closest thing like it. :)

Ava continues her obsession with dirt!

When Isabella wants something there is no stopping her...she is VERY determined!

She wanted her snack at the big table and she was saying "cheese" to the camera.

She loves to blow kisses.

Ava always has the biggest smiles that light up her whole face, she also always has a dirty face...see it??

exhibit B of the dirty face and adorable smile!

Isabella is hard to get a smile out of sometimes but even her serious face is cute.

Ava was sporting the boots Grandma Nadine got her...so CUTE!

She was pointing to Isabella and saying "Bella!"

Isabella LOVES to snap the stroller straps together...weird obsession but she spends a lot of time doing it...just yesterday she sat in the stroller for at least 30 minutes doing it.

Another view of what she was up to...don't you love her new pink boots (they kinda blend into the stroller).

We love these girls!!!

Our 3rd day in Italy was a very full one!  We started the day at Bassano del Grappa...a really neat town.  It is where Grappa is made...have you ever had it??!!  This bridge has lots of history and you can see bullet holes from WWII on the walls on either side.

Here are Steve-o and Isaac.  Two good-looking blonde guys!!!

The girls were ready to GO!

There was a group of us that went and Isaac was having a blast playing with this little boy, Kyle.  I also had fun shopping at the market you see behind the boys.

Half of us (the ones with the young kids) went to lunch and it was YUMMY!  The girls were enjoying being out of their stroller...such a sweet look on her face.

Ava was pointing at something!  She is always saying "look!"  You can tell both eyes were having problems this day. :(

Of course a highlight was the gelato...YUMMY!

The girls had no gelato but got a little nap in! :)

After Bassano we went to Marostica!  This is another awesome town with a cool castle at the top of the hill.  We had Christmas Dinner at that Castle in 2003 with our dear friends Brent & Amee....such a fun memory!

Here you can see the castle at the top of the hill.  The square we were standing at was under construction but they have a live (with real people) chess game every-other year.

This time we switched the stroller up since Isaac was getting tired and Isabella loves to ride on Marc's shoulders.

The men on the day trip.

We went up to the castle and had a little fun.  The kiddos were into the rocks...The girls of the trip are chatting in the background.  This may be the only picture we have of Kathy....do you see her (standing above Isabella)!? :)

...and of course the throw!

I will have to do that stats of the girlies tomorrow...

DONE...

ever feel like that?!  I had high hopes of getting much more done today than I actually accomplished.  I spent half the day going in circles trying to get errands done and most of the day in the car.  We also had the girls' well-baby checks today and they are doing awesome.  I will give stats tomorrow...I am too tired to think!  Here are few pics from snack time the other day.  For some reason Isaac wanted to sit in the high chair!? (he has also gotten a haircut)

Ava wanted to eat next to her favorite spot..the dirt (and with no shoes on).
[needing a haircut--check out them bangs!] 

Isabella was the only one where she was suppose to be.  :)
[no haircut yet--finally growing some hair!]

...until tomorrow.  :)

Hope you had a good birthday....

Grandpa Gary! :)  Did you enjoy your cake as much as Ava enjoyed this donut!?

* Our internet as been down most of the day so more Italia fun tomorrow...

Italia day 2

The kiddos started our 2nd day in Italy with yummy Nutella sandwiches! ---that yummy chocolate hazelnut spread is a little bit of heaven in a jar :) They all were enjoying this cute kid-sized table and chairs.

Isabella was super concerned about her chair sliding under the table.

Ava somehow ended up with a lot of Nutella all over her face! :)  You can also see that her eye was a little swollen.  Yep, they all came down with colds over the weekend.  Every cold that Ava gets goes straight to her eyes...poor girl!

Isaac wanted to do a puzzle and this is all we could find...see how much he was able to put together??!!  Just kidding...he is good but not that good...they came out of the box like that!

You can see in the background an adorable little boy named Gavin and his Mommy Kathy (a different Kathy from Steve-o and Katerina).  They lived in Vicenza when we did and are back living there again.  We were able to meet up and take the boys to a local mall and they played on these rides.  It was so much fun to see them and meet Gavin...he is SO cute. The girls took a 3 hour nap so they missed out on playing with him.

Isaac jumped on all the rides and tried them out.  Later that day we went to the Caserma Ederle (the base) and checked things out and forgot our camera...it was very similar to what it was when we lived there plus some cool new upgrades.  They had a great playground that the kiddos enjoyed.  I also had to go buy sweatshirts for the girls...since it was too warm for their winter jackets we brought but too cool to not have anything.  :)

Check back tomorrow for day 3....

Italia via Ryan Air

We had a fairly early morning flight from Eindhoven (about an hour from us) so in the airport waiting for the flight Isabella fell asleep in the stroller (interesting position)!!  Ava wasn't even close to falling asleep!

We haven't flown with the girls since we moved over here, so this was a whole new adventure...they did awesome but were very curious. :)

Ava sat on Marc's lap and Isabella on mine.  We had to be in separate rows because of the oxygen mask requirement.

This is what Isaac did as we were taking off...so cute!  He was SO excited to be on the plane.  He still remembers that Grandma June and Grandpa Norm took a plane home a couple of months ago and he talks about it all the time.

We were excited to be back on land and playing at our friends' house.  We went to visit Steve (aka Steve-O) and Kathy (aka Kat-a-rina) who were back in Italy filling in at the hospitality house for 3 months...a ministry we were involved in (and they led) when we lived there.

The kids were loving looking for lizards in the yard...oh, and it was sunny there!!  It had felt like we hadn't seen the sun in months!!

Later that afternoon we went back to the house we use to live in.  The house doesn't look quite the same but it was fun to see.

We also checked out our local pizza joint....same guy still owns it.

We also found a great park for the kids to play in...they were LOVING the slide. :)

Ava loves to say "WEEE" as she is going down.

Happiness! (Can you find Isabella on the stairs???)

Isaac was also digging all the playground equipment.

Later that night after the kids were bathed, right before bedtime...they were BEAT but still wanted a story!

Isaac was DONE and Isabella was on adrenaline....Ava was somewhere in the middle, but they all soon crashed for the night.
Day 2 tomorrow....