Surprise!

This little rock star caught me off guard when she came down the stairs from her nap wearing those shades. Kinda funny. And check out that sweaty mane of hers. What am I supposed to do about that?



OH, and we discovered that Avery can whisper. It's cute.

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What's NOT cute is the pile of books left after I finished recording her sweet voice. Well, maybe she's a speed reader...yeah right...wishful thinking. She tried to use them as a little extra height to climb into the shelf.

And speaking of climbing...Avery figured out how to climb up our stool. You know the two step kind from Ikea? Well, she got up and was right next to me and then next thing I know, in slow motion, she fell to the tile floor, hitting the towel drawer she left open on the way down. It was horrible. Luckily, she only suffered a bloody tongue from biting it, but there were lots of tears. Poor thing.

Drawers!

She found the towel drawer today. Fun!

True Love

Avery loves her birthday Hippo.


She also loves climbing into her toy tubs.

Put that little equation together and here's the result:


True Love.

ps..I'm in love with that hippo. I want one for myself. I saw it on a blog and thought it was super cute. So when I saw it at Costco, I had to buy it for Avery. It has a super soft little sleeping bag rolled up inside. It's a pillow and blanket in one! Way cooler than a pillow pet and extra cozy too. Really, I'm not joking when I say I want one. If I curl up in the fetal position, I can even fit in the sleeping bag. Bonus! :)

Whimps.

The Capital Air show was today--and tomorrow also...(remind me to take the other way to church tomorrow...) and we had plans to go. Or rather, to watch from the end of the bike trail where we could get a good show for free. BUT, it was blazing hot and humid so we ended up at Grandma and Grandpa's and watched the show from the spa. Well, my little skinny dipper did anyway.


She also had some fun with her cousins. These two are getting to be good friends. It's fun to watch.

New Toys!

Yay for new toys! Avery has been loving her new birthday loot. (me too!) Thanks everyone for being so generous to our little one! She loves loves this magnet barnyard!

Sorry about the blurry picture. Although, it does help me decide what I want for my birthday...a new camera. I'm accepting donations now. :)

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Happy Birthday!

The Girl.


The Grub.

The Guests.




The Gifts.


And a little cake to wash it all down.



Our family of three is now a year old!

(the white shirts were not done on purpose...I actually just realized we were all wearing the same color when I uploaded this. And...our pictures with the camera timer need a little work. haha.)

Almost Here!

So my baby turns one tomorrow. Crazy. We ran a few last minute errands today with my mom and Avery decided the cart was a fun thing to push..(or rather I decided it was fun for her to push so she wouldn't grab at everything on the shelves.)

I'm excited for her birthday, but exhausted from all the nonsense I thought I needed. Her banner's hung, balloons have been blown up, and I just finished dipping these babies.

Cake Pops.

I now know what Calvin and Hobbes Chocolate Covered Sugar Bombs taste like. Bleh! They are super cute and people are doing really fun things with them, but they are just not my flavor. They remind me of being in elementary school when we'd be treated to Wonder Bread in our lunches and we'd scrunch up the bread into a ball and eat it. What, am I the only one who did that? Well, that was just as wrong as cake pops are. To me anyway. Oh, and a side note...I can't believe I ever thought Wonder Bread was a treat. Glad I grew out of that one.

In case you're curious, I'm still planning on serving them at Avery's party. They were too much darn work to not. Plus, Brian likes them. Maybe I'll make him these ones for his birthday...

Busy Busy

I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get everything ready for Avery's first birthday. I don't know why I can't just make a cute little batch of cupcakes, hang some streamers and call it a day. Oh well, she had plenty of fun entertaining herself today.



I rewarded her with the beaters for some lemon cake I made for her Pink Lemonade Party! It's gonna be cute!



I told you everything that can be, will be made into a bracelet. Even sticky beaters.


Here's a silly video from today. Avery just being her silly self. It's a little long and boring if you don't think she's as cute as I do. I won't be offended if you only make it 30 seconds in.

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Labor Day!

What a difference a year makes! Last Labor Day I was laboring. Literally. In the hospital...with a baby who refused to make any progress, so they sent me home. Where I labored for two more days.

Ahh...today was worlds better than last year. We went for a bike ride around the lake in the most perfect morning air we've had in awhile and then spent the afternoon at a little river above Lake Clementine


Do you see these tiny frogs? They were everywhere. Tadpoles too. That's a four year old hand, that's how small they were, and he was really good at catching them.



That's my girl. She loves a rock like nobody I know. Even her cousin thinks she's crazy.



The water only came up to my waist at it's deepest point across the river. It was nice and warm too. Perfect for wading and floating...(I was told ankle deep...that's why I'm in clothes and not a bathing suit.)

It looks pretty fun to boogie board too. Plus, any activity that includes the word "boogie" has got to be fun.



I can't get enough of this girl. So adorable, hilarious and sweet too.

I think she's pooped. She climbed up in this chair and lounged in the perfect weather we had today.

I Promised...

A couple weeks ago I promised I'd get a picture of Avery before church. You know, with clothes on and hair done, rather than your normal Sunday after church picture sans clothes and nap hair. I'm finally delivering.

We had to get her white dress on once more before Labor Day. Does anyone follow that white rule anymore? She was also wearing shoes at one point. Like me, she'd rather go barefoot.


This is how she walks...both hands in the air...I'm tempted to dress her up as Frankenstein for Halloween. Would that make me a bad mom? And she hasn't let those bracelets leave her side since the swings yesterday.




Don't you wish you were a Sunbeam? I've been teaching the Sunbeams (3-4 year olds) at church for a few weeks now and loving it. They are hilarious...not to mention pretty smart. Anyway, I had to make bread this week and thought it would be perfect to bake some baby loaves for our lesson on being thankful for food and clothes. I can't kick the Young Women President out of my system. A couple kids were totally unhappy when I told them I had a special treat for them and then revealed wheat bread at the end of class. Terrible I know.