Christmas 2010

Lately...

I've been trying to get ready for Christmas. It's amazing how much the holidays change once you've had a child.

I've been trying to get excited about snow...since it'll be around until mid-April.

I've been wondering if calories really count during the holidays.

I've been trying to convince my Primary class that we can't have 4 Mary's to 1 Joseph in our class rendition of the Nativity (how would that look to the visitors...).

I've been cheering for the fact that two of my favorite people in the whole world welcomed a beautiful baby girl named Claire.

And I've been trying my hardest to capture more moments like these...

Holy Buckets of Snow!

Treasure Hunting...

Now that Avery is uber mobile I can't leave her alone for a second before she's gotten into something. I ran out to get the mail on Saturday and found Avery like this.

She couldn't figure out how to take the "helmet" off, but she sure enjoyed wearing it around so it didn't really matter.

Did You Know....

Pacifiers are so last month.

Toy mushrooms are the new pacifier.

Ta-Da!

She's pretty proud of herself, as you can tell from that smile on her face.

Now That's What I Call High Quality H2O...

On Friday we took a little drive to the Coon Rapids Dam...which ironically is actually in Brooklyn Park, MN....uh whatever. It was pretty magnificent and Avery loved every second of it...even though we woke her up from her nap to take her.

The Coon Rapids Dam

The Coon Rapids Islands

Avery and I loving the view.

The Calm Side of the Dam

The place where I kept muttering...don't drop your phone...don't drop your phone.

Please don't let me drop the phone.

Gravity at work.

Creepy spider on the dam....these guys were EVERYWHERE.

Along with the beautiful water, the trees were putting on a show of their own.

Avery loved taking in the sights from her dad's shoulders.

Obviously we had a great time.

A Walk To Remember...

So last weekend we went to the Springbrook Nature Center. Its a park reserve about 4 minutes away from our house. We walked through the visitor's center, looked at creepy snakes, huge turtles, and stuffed loons. Fun for the whole family right?! Then we went on a hike (its a hike when you walk more than a mile...did you know that?).

A pretty little lake.

A pretty little view.

A pretty little stagnant pool of mosquito infested water.

A pretty little girl.

Avery loved the walk. We bundled her up in her little bear suit and she just sat in her stroller looking around at all the birds and deer. Gotta love Minnesota for their abundance of hiking trails and lakes.