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Friday mornings start out like this. Watching the garbage man carry our trash away. Quality entertainment, right?


Well, it gets better. We picnicked at a sunshine-filled park with our cousins. It's so cute to watch Avery look up to her friends and copy them. Check out their arms.

Next, we stopped by this cute little place. Avery had a blast. We bought a membership so we could go when those afternoons become a little too long.

Here's some fun pictures from the day.








She looks so stinkin' cute in that apron!

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Friday the 13th

Is a lucky day around here. In January at least. Nanny's Birthday! We went to San Fransisco for some fun and shockingly found sunshine as well. It was beautiful and we had a blast being tourists around the city. Thanks Nanny for sharing your day with us!




One of our stops was Golden Gate Park. It's huge. We stopped at this park which was packed with kids. It was kinda fun to watch all these cute little people. Brian and I tried these tea cup things, and they were scary. You get going too fast and you can't stop. Woof.
Also, do you see that hill behind Avery in that last picture? It's a steep cement slide that all these kids fly down on pieces of cardboard. Brian tried it out. It looked a little intense from the top. And he had that "creepy old man" vibe while he waited in line as the only adult around. Come to find out, it's not meant for adult bums. He made it about half way and then slid off the cardboard. I laughed. Sorry babe.
We scrunched into a photo booth at Pier 39. We all had a good laugh. You can too.


And as tradition would have it, we ended the night in Union Square on the roof of Macy's at Cheesecake Factory. Yum


Thanks for having a birthday Nanny. I think Avery officially fell in love with you there. She talks about you--and to you--all the time now. It's so sweet.

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Please excuse my awful voice. I was laying down and super congested. Am I the only one who thinks their voice is ridiculous when they hear it back? sorry Y'all.

Mini Me

Avery is my cute little shadow lately. The other day, this is where I caught her.



My newest student? Maybe. She can point out the 'A' at the end of YAMAHA at least.

Highlight of my Hiatus

Strawberries from The Homeland.

That's right. Brian and I went to our local farmer's market Saturday morning and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw #1: Strawberries in January, and #2: A banner that said "Santa Maria, CA Strawberries." We asked the guy how he got them here and he said he drove up that morning. It doesn't get fresher than that.

They were delicious, and smelled like home. The strawberry fields of home...not the broccoli fields. I can live without that one for sure. Avery loved them. In her hands, #17 and #18. I didn't know that little belly could hold so much.

Needless to say, we'll be back next Saturday for a refill. They were gone by Sunday night.


I'll try and update more often, but here are a few happenings since last time. We packed up Avery's outgrown clothes...and she started to climb. She can now climb on the dining room chairs and almost the couch. She's pretty proud about it.

She found my piano lesson sticker stash. I knew it was too good to be true that she was playing alone for 15 minutes. She was having a blast though.

She found Grandpa's glasses as well. Cute stuff.

THIS was a red-letter day! We went to some friend's for dinner and some much needed catching up and their boys happily entertained Avery without us in sight! It was so exciting for us to leave her alone. We've found us a baby sitter!


I reminded myself that I really don't like puzzles. At least not anything over 100 pieces.

I had to finish it once I got that far, and wouldn't you know, it's missing a piece! I think Avery's hiding it in her intestines.



And lastly, Avery's new kitty came. Can you tell them apart? I can. I'm having a bit of a guilt-filled dilemma.

Do I put away the new one until the original is thread-bare and lost all it's appendages, or do I keep switching them out every time kitty takes a bath in the washer so they wear the same? That feels a little shady. My child's not an idiot. She'll soon recognize the difference. I actually tried swapping them once, and because new kitty is still super fluffy, she actually looked and it, hugged it, and looked at it again. I felt awful. I think I may just save new kitty to show her in 5 years what she used to look like. Ideas?

Happy 2012

So I felt totally guilty going to bed last night without blogging. I won't lie, it was a nice break, with just a small side of guilt.

So, I'm back. With a new resolution. I have an entire closet full of craft junk. It's totally embarrassing. I buy the supplies to make a craft--thinking I'll make ten--and only finish one. So, 2012 is the "USE IT OR LOSE IT" year. The craft stuff I don't use up this year, I'm sending to the thrift store...coffin-sized bin of flannel included. After all, that's where today's project began.

I saw these adorable pin cushions using old wool sweaters and was unfortunately in need of a pin cushion at the time.

SO, I went to the thrift stores for the next couple months and instead of buying enough for my one perfect pin cushion, I bought a box full of other people's old used sweaters...among other things.

Yes, I made a pin cushion...6 to be exact. They are sitting in my craft closet if you want one.

I decided that box was the perfect place to start. So I looked on Pinterest to see if people were doing cute things with felted wool sweaters, and sure enough! I whipped out my sewing machine during Avery's morning nap and voila! <--I just google'd that. I was going to spell it wha-la, and Brian totally made fun of me. That's the last time I ask him for help!


A pair of slippers Avery totally loves! She wore them all day calling them her "boots."

Here's her boots and her hat. I love her.


These bad boys went over so well for Avery, Brian asked for a pair. I mean, was I REALLY going to use THAT ugly sweater in a pin cushion??

This is how we party!

What a way to ring in the new year. Avery on the floor and me on the couch. Sorry we didn't invite you all to our rockin' party. We were giving out infectious disease as party favors.


On a happier note--can you believe I've made it a whole year of daily blogging? I don't want to stop because it's fun to look back on, but every day is a little intense now that she's met a lot of major milestones. Maybe I'll have to start words of the week since she seems to be learning new ones every second. My favorite is "off." She says, "aus" like a cute little German girl. It makes her dad proud.

Who's The Boss??

Today...Avery is. She's gotten away with more stuff because she feels so lousy and her whining was making me feel lousy. My ears are actually ringing from her crying and whining all day. It's sad really because I know she's miserable...but the quiet is so nice.

This is...

...What 104 Degree temperature looks like.


And still smiling...


Her temp has fluctuated all day, but we did finally take her into the doctor when it shot up this evening. They proceeded to gag her for a strep test and looked at everything else and sent us home to wait it out. Hope this fever breaks tonight.

Poor Thing.

Remind me I need to buy another kitty tomorrow before they don't sell them anymore. I have strange suspicion she'll need a replacement in a few years.

Avery's had a rough day. I just had Brian check in on her and she's finally feeling some relief.

She woke up from her morning nap today and was jumping in her crib while I got her some clothes for the day and her knees buckled and she fell down. Then she started screaming and didn't let up. It was really scary. After about 20 minutes I had tried all my magic tricks. Even her favorite show on TV didn't calm her down. In fact, she tried to walk up to the tv and her poor legs started shaking and she just stood screaming. I called my Mom because I didn't know if I was supposed to wait it out, call the doctor, or take her to the E.R. Well, my uncle who's a doctor happened to be in town and at her house so I threw her in the car...where she SCREAMED for a few minutes, then fell asleep from exhaustion I bet. Her legs seems sensitive to him, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Except for the fact that she would lay on her back for longer than a minute. She laid on the couch a good 20 minutes before rolling over and gingerly taking her first steps. I was happier to see those steps today than her very first ones I think. It was not so much fun.

She stayed pretty cautious the next few hours and then woke up from her afternoon nap not herself. Crying and lethargic and just let me hold her while she closed her eyes up again. I took her temperature...103 degrees. Poor girl.

uh oh...she's up again crying...it may be a long night.

Black Beans and Books

They must taste better straight from the can...by the handful.






Oh, and a mouthful of chocolate.