It has been forever since I posted an entry on Kaya and Ava’s blog. Kaya will be three years old in a couple of months and Ava is eighteen months old on October 12th. Kaya is talking much more which is wonderful, as she can communicate her needs in a calmer fashion. Ava is trying to catch up to Kaya as she chases after her around the house and at the park. Ava say’s several words like “mommy, daddy, dog, ball, and park and mine and no.”

Our days are filled with going to the local park and playing in the garden. They both like to pick tomatoes. Ava has a biting instinct which keeps Kaya at bay. She especially likes to bite into the tomatoes. Overall, the girls get along well and love each other. They both like to watch certain programs like; Oswald, Little Einsteins, and Dora the Explorer.

I have so many photos to place in here from our summer travels to Michigan and South Dakota.

I went back to work as a massage therapist and now work four days a week. Its a great balance for me between being independent and being a mother. I find I am more present and patient with my children when I am at home. I also love making money again! When I go to work we have a local woman, Gretchen, who watches them two days during the work week and Andrew watches them on Friday night and Sunday morning.

The little girls have become a complete joy, although still a lot of work. I have yet to return to my profession of massage therapy but know that I will look back at these days as very special. We had a great trip to San Diego, although cooler than expected. Kaya has become a little “parrot” with her vocabulary increasing by the day and Ava is a sweet mommy’s girl. Daddy turns thirty-seven on Sunday.

All is well in Holman land, so nite nitey or good morning.

More photos to come!

My little girls are my whole world right now. I spend every day with them trying to find the balance of rest and play. They each require different things in terms of their development but they both want my attention and sometimes I wish I were two people.

Ava can now say “mama” and “dada” and she points and shows things to us. Kaya is learning more words although the average person has a hard time deciphering what she is saying.

Things they like to do together:

They both like to go outside and hear the birds, feel for rocks, look at the sky, and play in the sand. They also both love to take baths.

Ava is now eleven months old and is learning to walk in her stroller. She seems to be poised athletically just like her sister.

It is a pleasant time of year in Northern Arizona so we can spend most of our day outside. At night we have music time in the playroom and both girls find something to jingle or drum. Daddy Drew plans to play the guitar, as he ordered a classic guitar on EBay. I am going to play the African drum, which is also on order from the internet.

Its time for some new photos. I became addicted to Facebook during my spare moments of computer time so I apologize that Kaya and Ava’s website took a backseat. In my life they take the front seat as seen in this photo on our patio. I look so incognito here. In the desert I try to shield my face from the sun as much as possible, especially since I am outside much of the day.

It is January here in the Southwest and the girls are getting lots of cool fresh mountain air. We had a nice holiday although it was very quiet with all our family in the midwest. Our car, an older BMW, broke down so I am walking everywhere and enjoying the exercise. It has its drawbacks though, as I get stir crazy at times. I miss being able to walk to a bohemian coffee house but otherwise life is juicy.

The economy is in the crapper though and we all await a hopeful fix by the new President Elect, Barack Obama. I don’t think I have a spa therapy job to go back to come Spring, so I am letting the responsibilites of housewife soak in. Drew is still busy doing web development work and is on the brink of another wedding photography season.

Ava is nine months old and is crawling and beginning to pull herself up on furniture. Kaya is twenty-six months and is starting to use more words and is showing more signs of maturity.

This is daughter number two, sweet Ava Rose, getting her face good and messy.

Ava enjoys her squash at 8 months old!

A post-Thanksgiving walk to Upper Clarkdale Park. My hair has turned red and my cheeks are parched from the countless days in the Arizona sun. Although in this photo it has been raining. It felt great to walk in the slushy leaves and climb trees.

Happy Thanksgiving from Upper Clarkdale Park!

Thanksgiving has come and gone and its finally chilly here in the Southwest. The house is dark while I sit and type but I see the sunrise in the distance. Our close friends, Linda and James, came this year for Thanksiving. They visited for just a few days but it was still nice to share a meal with them. Next time I hope they stay longer as its hard to let inhibitions go when you haven’t seen each other for a year. I still felt rapport with Linda but I didn’t have enough time to listen, being that I was having to tend to Kaya and Ava. It was also rainy but there was moments of sun which made for dramatic mountain scenery.

Linda and her husband are doing well back in Los Angeles. They still live in the hip nook of Silverlake, a community between downtown and Hollywood. Linda and James both write computer software and they are also trying to have kids. Maybe they didn’t want to stay in our house too long, as they could change their mind. People usually don’t daydream about the terrible two’s when envisioning being parents! Drew and I kept joking that they could take one of our kids home for awhile. Nonetheless, it was fabulous to see them and so sweet of them to fly here from Los Angeles to share our not so tender turkey. We don’t really eat or cook meat so maybe that should be a prerequisite in Thanksgiving 101. Next year we will cook a whole fish instead!

We had a festive sunset birthday party for Kaya, who turned two on November 22nd. Ava sits on the ottoman eating one of Kaya’s foam circles she received for arts and crafts time.

Kaya’s birthday fell on a Saturday so we invited seven other couple’s over with their toddlers, whom Kaya plays with at the park and other around town activities. All of the women there I consider close friends and it was a cozy soiree where people enjoyed microbrews and butternut squash soup. Everybody chatted and got along. We had a music person come and sing songs and such. The kids ate pizza that I bought at a grocery store called, Safeway. I tried it the week before and it seemed tasty but next time I would order from Vinnie’s pizza shop, a NYC style joint.

Speaking of food, I am missing the variety of restaurants that is in towns I have lived in the past. I didn’t realize that I was so food centric but I suppose living in cities like; New Orleans, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Ann Arbor, Los Angeles, etc…has made me that way. I was also raised in the Detroit area where the Immigrants brought with them excellent recipes. So we had wonderful Italian food as well as reasonable American fair.

Kaya and Ava are fine with life here. I still take them to the park everyday. Ava especially enjoyed the butternut squash soup that Daddy Drew made.