For Family Home Evening we decided it was time to carve those pumpkins we picked. Avery was pretty excited at first. After Greg cut the top off we let her look inside the pumpkin to see if she'd help scoop out the gunk.
However, it wasn't what she expected I suppose, so instead of a happy little helper we had a distraught 2 year old.
So after telling her it was alright, and letting her sit on mom's lap, she calmed down and started asking, "What's that?" She picked out the only design we had with an animal, a cat sitting on top of a pumpkin.
Then it was time to trace the design onto our pumpkin. Greg started the tedious job.
We had to keep this out of Avery's sight, because she'd get upset every time she saw it. I wonder what it reminded her of.
While Mom and Dad were carving Avery decided to take a few self portraits, this one didn't turn out half bad.
Carving a pumpkin is kind of stressful, you certainly don't want to mess up.
And the finished product! TaDa!
Avery can't get over the fact that when she turns out the light she can see her cat on a pumpkin. I have a feeling she's going to be pretty upset when this thing has to get thrown away in a week or so.
Its that time of year where you have to break out the rake and invest some time in your yard. Seriously who knew owning trees was so time consuming?? Avery loves helping with the leaves (read: jumping in and kicking around your neatly made piles). So yesterday I made her sit down for a few minutes for some pictures. Lately, she's become obsessed with having her picture taken and has even gone so far as to practice smiling in the mirror. Apparently this is the smile she's decided on for now.
Hope you're all having just as much fun with your leaves as we are!
Last weekend we went to this great pumpkin patch to pick a couple pumpkins to carve for Halloween. Avery thought it was absolutely fantastic. She had a great time wandering through all the pumpkins and picking momma pumpkins, daddy pumpkins, and baby pumpkins.
It didn't take her long to find her perfect "Avery pumpkin" as she kept calling it.
The patch had these really nice wagons to haul your kids and pumpkins around in, and Avery loved catching a ride back to the farm.
And while the pumpkin picking was fun and all, the highlight of the trip for Avery was seeing a crate full of kittens. She had to hold each one.
We had a great time at Dehn's Pumpkin Farm and will be making this a family tradition for sure!
Avery loves The Voice. Tonight she bested her most entertaining performance by going into the kitchen, pulling out the turkey baster, and using it as a microphone. Holy Moses, she's a little performer.
The new game around these parts is hide-n-go-seek. Avery loves it. When we first started playing her hiding places were a little obvious to say the least...
And if we happened to say "Where is Avery?" She would gladly respond "Here I am!" Soon her hiding places got a little better...although we had to teach her that just because her head is hiding doesn't mean we can't see the rest of her.
She soon got over her ostrich mentality and her hiding places got better and better.
We took turns hiding, and she loves counting to twenty now.
Her last hiding place was by far the best...we wouldn't have found her except she got a tad bit stuck and starting crying a bit. She ended up with a scratch on her head but she had a great spot! Way to sacrifice the body Avery.
Avery decided it was her turn to say the prayer tonight. (We've been trying to get her to say prayers for a while now...sometimes she's willing, other times she would rather bounce on her knees while singing a choo-choo song.) We said, "Avery it's time for prayers!" And she was off....
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank thee for Lincoln, Tyson, Nicki, Luke, Lauren, Tigers, Jesus, Mommy, Grandma, and ice cream. Help us to sleep well and have good dreams. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Greg of course noticed right off he was not mentioned and was a bit disappointed. However, if you say, "Avery, Dad is the..."
She immediately replies "The Best!" So he shouldn't feel too terribly.
Avery and I were able to travel down to Georgia for 2 whole weeks. Greg was unable to go due to work duties but he graciously let us go without him and told us to have a fun time. And we certainly did! Avery got to play with her cousin Tessa. And at first they played like this together, far apart.
Don't worry I don't blame you Tessa. Avery can be very intimidating. She's like a nordic viking, tall, blonde, and loud.
However, they were soon paling around like the best of friends. We got to help celebrate little Tessa's 1st birthday. Avery was so excited to sing and help blow out her candle.
Tessa was very dainty at first, not what we expected, but once she figured out that under that yummy frosting was even yummier cake she dug right in.
And was even willing to sharing with her mom, the wonderful and gorgeous Amy.
On Sunday, we went over to Brad and Karen's to sing Happy Birthday to Rose and Tessa. We got a first hand look at what will surely be the most amazing pool in town.
This cake was beyond delicious.
And this is just half the crew...we're a big bunch when we gather together.
Not only delicious but look how colorful!
Avery fell head over heels for the little rabbit. She talked about it the whole night long.
"Rabbit, Hold it?"
And even though Ryan and Amy both have brown eyes, little Miss Tessa has the bluest eyes on the block.
After cake the kids disappeared to play and romp around. A while later, Little Jamie came down and went over to his mom, Jess, and said, "Mom Avery is upstairs playing the guitar and singing. And Mom, she.is.good." So the kids convinced Avery (not that she would need much convincing to perform) to come downstairs and play us a little tune.
She put on quite the show and rocked out.
The next day for Family Home Evening we decided to take a walk around a pretty little lake. Avery's favorite part was being able to walk Kirby all by herself.
Grandma has some pretty awesome bath toys and Avery always had a blast in the tub.
Most days in Georgia were hot and muggy, so in the evenings, even if we had already gone swimming, we would break out the sprinkler and Avery would have a ball.
At night we would go out back and catch frogs. My little girl is a animal lover of all kinds, shapes, and sizes. She doesn't mind slimey in the least. This little frog was very patient with us, can you find him...here's a hint...he's not in Avery's hand anymore.
After frog catching, Avery would get to "swing" with Granddaddy.
Great Grandma and Granddaddy came to visit as well. She loved getting to know them better.
She hated swimming the first day, screamed the whole time. Granted the water was cold and the sunscreen ran in her eyes but she overcame her first experience and started loving it.
Tessa and Avery loved spending time together and Uncle Ryan was the most awesome Tiger spotter around. (Apparently there are hundreds of tigers in the backyard...they even have their own tiger house, but you have to be really fast to see them.) Ryan pulled these two little girls around and around the yard. Avery thought it was her own private roller coaster.
On the last Tuesday we were there we went up to Noah's Arc, a free animal reserve. Avery was beyond excited. "Tigers?! Monkeys?! Bostich?! (Ostrich) So fun Mom!" Even though she looks a little disturbed Avery was loving that tiger. Her and Tessa just loved walking around and looking at all the animals.
This is where Dad realized the camera had been in black and white all day and switched to color...its kinda like that moment in The Wizard of Oz.
That night she got to water the plants...but she ended up watering Grandma.
We learned a few new tricks like balancing ponies on our heads.
And flying.
This last picture is for Katelyn. Katelyn, I hope you love Avery's face as much as I do. You would never know it, but Avery was laughing the whole time...she wasn't nearly as terrified as the picture depicts.
We had such a great time at Grandma and Granddaddy Turner's house. It gave us hundreds of amazing memories.
