The Zoobie...

Finally we've had some beautiful weather and so Avery and I decided to take advantage. On Thursday we loaded up into the car with Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Chris, and cousin Lincoln and headed out to the zoo.

My Little Basketcase...

Avery got her food/shopping basket stuck on her head/around her neck a while back, and being the amazing mom I am I didn't take it off of her (even though she was following me all around screaming and running into the wall because she couldn't really see) until I had taken a few pictures. The pictures are blurry because she didn't want to hold still, but I really can't blame her.

Avery Tales...

Last week while I was emailing Greg, Avery was crawling/cruising around our bedroom going from the bed to the dresser, back and forth and back and forth. So I was a little concerned when I heard her coughing because I wondered what she'd gotten into. I look up and see Avery had found the bowl of Valentines Day candy that Greg and I kept by our bed. And she's stuffing as many Sweetart hearts in her mouth as fast as she can. Every second or so she would make this really sour face but she kept on stuffing. In the two minutes it took me to grab her and throw her on the bed to get her away from the candy she'd stuffed about 11-15 candies in her mouth so that when she looked up at me with a big smile candies started falling out. She was pretty proud of herself.

One day Avery looked up at me and said "uhn," and then started crawling away, looking back to make sure I was following her. So I followed her down the stairs and into the kitchen. She crawled over to an empty milk jug that I had placed next to the trash can to be taken out with the trash. She picked up the milk jug and said "uhn." So I asked "Do you want a drink of milk Avery?" And she started clapping. So I grabbed her sippy cup and filled it up and handed it to her. She took a big drink. Clapped again. And then took her sippy cup and crawled back upstairs with it to her room where she continued playing.

She's figured out that things roll down stairs...and when they do they make a lot of noise. So she'll grab blocks or balls and rolls them down the stairs. Clapping as they fall down and then she'll crawl down the stairs, go and pick up the item, and crawl back up the stairs to do it all over again.

I Shake my Little Tush on the Catwalk...

So Avery's Gramma Turner got her some super cute dresses for her birthday. And so we had a little fashion show trying them on. Avery's getting used to the paparazi treatment.

Avery's Birthday Party...

We celebrated Avery's birthday on Saturday, because, well, its busy season and Greg has to work ALL the time so Saturday was the first day he could be there. We had a bunch of people over, Avery's grandparents Tom and Faye, her uncle Scott and aunt Nicki and cousins Lincoln and baby Ty, and her great uncle Dan and great aunt Karen. Avery was a little confused at first about why all these people had invaded her house. She'd never seen that many people at her house before (we're pretty low key around here). And she'd decided not to take her naps that day so she was a little subdued.

The party started at 5:30...here was the spread (a little after people had started chowing down). Chipotle Chicken Pasta Salad, salsa dip and chips, strawberry cake cookies, and her ladybug cake.

Now I'm definitely not a cake decorator (as you can tell), but I guess my first try at this birthday cake thing wasn't a complete mess. Presenting Avery Claire's ladybug cake.

People milled around eating pasta and dip and cookies for a while. Chatting and talking and trying to make Avery smile (something that's usually a snap but that night was more of a challenge).

Avery enjoyed her cookies the best.

Then it was present opening time. (I figured best to open presents first so if she totally demolished her cake I could just throw her in the tub after). Lincoln was more excited about the presents at first, but his excitement got Avery into the whole thing a little bit more. This is an "activity box." We figured we better get her started early on her abacus math equations.



Here's Avery opening my favorite gift that she got. An uber cute magnetic "paper" doll set. It'll be great for church when she's a little older. Right now Avery just wanted to eat the poor doll's head.

Then it was time to sing happy birthday. We got Avery down to her onesie and let her sit in front of her cake to "blow out" her candle.

We put her in her high chair and gave her a big piece of cake. At first she was a little perplexed because I usually don't just let her go at a piece of cake like that. I guess she had to examine it to make sure it was something she really wanted to eat at first.

But soon she realized everybody was standing there staring at her. She didn't seem to like that at all. And started crying and trying to get out of her chair. She was tired and not used to so much attention.

We cleaned her up and then she played a little bit with cousin Lincoln and then fell asleep as soon as everybody had left. Here's a look at her great loot.

And a little video of her getting tired of her cake.

Memories

She went from this...

To this...

in 1 year. Amazing.

Mischief Managed...

She has neither teeth nor hair...and she turns 1 on Thursday....you gotta love her.

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...