Happy Thanksgiving

We spent our Thanksgiving at Aunt Britt, Uncle Drew, and Cousin Hunter's house. Poo-paw and G2 were also there. Averi did great on the plane, making lots of new friends and mastering opening and closing the airplane windows. Averi had a blast playing with Hunter and his dog, Cooper. She is changing so fast. She is saying more words and is very affectionate!


Sisters and their little ones!



Averi feeding herself yogurt! Always messy but independent!



Keith and Averi out in the cold. Averi liked wearing her John Deere cap and mittens.

Averi liked Hunter's chair. She sat in it to watch cartoons and eat cereal in the morning.

18 Month Check Up

Averi had her 18 month check up last week. Can you believe she is one and a half! Her appointment went well. Here are her measurements:
Weight: 29lbs 13 oz (97%)
Height: 34 1/4 in. (98%)
Pictures to come!

Trunk-or-Treat

We had a Trunk-or-Treat at our church on Halloween. Averi was a princess, but did not wear her crown or carry her wand! She played this ring game and enjoyed watching everything going on (hay rides, train, and, of course, costumes).

Pumpkin Painting!

Sorry it has been so long since our last post. Time is flying by and now it is already Halloween. We decided to paint our pumpkin this year. Averi, of course, wanted some of every color. This is a picture early in the process. By the time she was finished, she had paint EVERYWHERE!




Here is the finished product. I believe this is what you call abstract art!

Zoo

Averi had her first trip to the zoo with her friend Brayden! We spent the weekend with them and the zoo was just one of the many fun things we did.

Averi taking pictures in the cut-outs!


The squares the kids are standing on made music when they jumped!

1st Haircut

I took Averi to get her first haircut by the same person who gave me mine! Averi did such a great job, like she had done it a hundred times. I was able to get a little bit of her hair as a keepsake. She got her bangs trimmed to get them out of her eyes and just a little taken off the back to straighten it out. We think she looks adorable! Here are a few pictures from the event and then an after shot of her posing with her moose Keith brought her back from Alaska.

Mohawk

Averi is almost always a messy eater. I can't remember what he had for dinner this night, but whatever it was Averi put it in her hair and it was sticky! Keith decided to turn it into a mohawk.

New Buddies

We were so excited our friend Becky and her son came to spend a few days with us. What a weekend it was! Keeping up with two toddlers is quite a task, even for two moms!!


By the end of the weekend, they were good buddies. They followed each other around the house, not leaving each other's sight.



It was funny to watch them interact. Averi took more of a supervisory role, while Carson was the doer!

Amazing potential!

Here are some of Averi's latest art works. Her daycare sends tons of crafts home to us. It is obvious for most of them that Averi does not do much of the work, but these are a couple of my favorites because I thought she may have played a role!

Other news: Our summer is coming to an end. Next week mom will be going back to work and Averi will be starting daycare full-time. This summer has been such a treat, because Averi and I have been able to spend a lot of time together. However, I think getting back to a regular schedule and routine will be good for everyone. Averi continues to grow by leaps and bounds, now 15 months old. New pictures will come soon!

Latest Photos

I realized it had been a while since I posted pictures of Averi, so here are a couple of our most recent.


Averi's posing in her tu-tu dress!


Averi and momma! Aren't we cute?!

Happy 234th, America!

We spent July 4th with Poo-paw. He hung a swing for Averi to enjoy outside!

Poo-paw's already teaching Averi to fish!

Not sure where Averi learned to eat an apple, but she did not waste anytime. I was going to cut pieces off for her, but she took the apple and starting chowing down!

Workout, Anyone?

To me, Averi looks like she is ready to hit the gym with her sweat band in place! However, that is not what we were doing. I have been trying to find anything to help keep Averi's bangs out of her eyes. They have really gotten long. She is not willing to keep much in her hair, including bows, barrettes, and rubber bands, which brings us to the head band! I could not resist the picture. Although she did leave the head band on for a record 15 minutes, I think I'll have to find another alternative. I am not ready for her first hair cut just yet!

Time with Aunt Amy

We recently spent a week at Grandpa and Grandma Monk's house. Aunt Amy was down from Chicago! Averi was great and, of course, spoiled rotten! Some of the highlights were swimming in the neighborhood pool, playing in our Hello Kitty sprinkler, and making Averi's first trip to Shipley's doughnuts! We were so glad we got to see Aunt Amy (missed you Uncle Thurman but hope to see you soon).

Other things going on: I have been teaching Averi some simple sign language to help her communicate what she wants. So far, she is able to ask for more, tell me when she wants to eat, and when she wants her milk. It is soooooo nice to know more of what she is thinking!

Starting summer off with a bang!

We spent one afternoon swimming over at Aunt Joan & Uncle Curtis' place! Averi seemed to find the pool relaxing and spent most of the time floating in this turtle!


Poo-paw took Averi for her 1st boat ride! She liked her hair
blowing in the wind while we sped across the open waters!


We had to get Averi's picture with "Rufus". I think she thought he was a real boy. He is a statue that sits on the pier at Poo-paw's place.




Our intent was to feed the single duck that was swimming by the pier, but instead the seagulls swooped down and stole the bread! They were swarming us!

A New Do

Averi is now in the 1-year old class at daycare. I picked her up the other day to find her with a new hair do! Too adorable not to share!

1st Birthday Party

Our baby girl is one! We celebrated her first birthday at the house with family and close friends. Averi had such a great time and seemed to know it was her special day! Mommy made one mistake....getting a cake with red icing! Lesson learned. As you can tell, she enjoyed the cake.

One year photos

I took Averi to get her picture taken for her first birthday. It took two sessions, but we got some good snapshots! Here are a couple of them. Can you believe how fast she is growing?!

Outdoor Fun

Averi is officially walking now, so we have been spending more time outside. Our cousins were gracious enough to give us this outdoor set they had out grown. Averi climbs in and out and enjoys going down the slide.

We wanted to get a picture with Averi in some bluebonnets this year. We did not have a good opportunity to get it in the "wild", so we settled for one in the backyard with bluebonnets we planted!

STEPS in the right direction!

Averi has taken her first steps! She can take about 4 and then will fall down. She is pretty good at standing and can stand up from the floor by herself. Some of her other accomplishments include no longer taking a bottle and eating table food at daycare. Mommy no longer has to pack her a lunch!

P.S. Check out her hair!

"He has risen."

Easter morning we went to the Sonrise service. It was the perfect time for us, since Averi is such an early riser. Here she is in her Easter dress sitting beside her bunny Easter basket.



Averi had her first Easter egg hunt at our Aunt Joan and Uncle Curtis'. I had been "practicing" with Averi at the house, so she would know what to do for the hunt! She liked picking up the eggs but did not want to put them in her camo basket. She preferred to play with them.

Spring Break

We spent our Spring Break in the San Antonio area. Keith had a conference on the Riverwalk most of the week. Luckily, it was the week of my Spring Break, so Averi and I could join him. The week had a lot of firsts for Averi! We stayed at a hotel most of the week, which I was a little nervous about. However, when we arrived at the hotel we were upgraded to a suite, which was a hugh blessing. We had lots of extra room for Averi to play and sleep. We also got to see lots of family, including Aunt Britt, Uncle Drew, Cousin Hunter, G2 (Grandma Ross), Poo-pa (Grandpa Ross), Grandma Monk, Grandpa Monk, and Great-Grandma and Grandpa Foster. Other firsts for Averi included getting in a pool, going to the park, and having her first sleepover without Mom and Dad!

Yee-Haw

Averi and I went to the livestock show today with our cousins! Here are some of the highlights.



I wanted to get Averi a cowgirl hat, but she would not leave it on her head. I did get a quick snapshot though!


This is in the petting zoo. Glad he did not spit on us!



We took this picture for daddy!

Mommy's Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day!

9 Month Check-up

Averi had her 9 month check-up a few days early. Unfortunately, Averi's daycare called me yesterday with suspicions that Averi had pink eye. We were able to get in to see the doctor and sure enough, Averi not only has pink eye, but also has two ear infections. Despite the infections, she is doing well. She is curently 24 lbs, 8 oz (>97%) and 28 1/2 inches (80%) tall. They also stuck her finger to check for anemia (results were normal). Some of her new skills include waving bye, getting back down to the floor from standing, and cruising the furniture and other objects for short distances. She loves banging on her diaper boxes! I think they are the perfect height for her.

On two feet!

Averi is now crawling all over the house and pulling up on the furniture, including standing in her crib. She is practicing getting back down to the floor, but has not mastered it gracefully yet. We are looking forward to getting out of these winter months, so we can get outside to play. I think Averi misses the outdoors, because she likes to stand by the back window and look out.

Meeting Hunter!

We went to meet Hunter last weekend. He is adorable (and BIG)! Glad Averi is not the only one topping the charts! Here are some of the highlights from the weekend.


Averi was very interested in Hunter, so Britt had to protect him!


At first, Averi cried when Cooper got too close. But by the end of the weekend, Averi was petting him and pulling his hair. I bet Cooper is glad we left!

Decided to take a walk. Getting the kids ready took longer than the walk!

On Your Mark, Get Set, Crawl!

Averi has taken her first crawling steps! So far she has crawled as far as a couple of feet. She is still a bit wobbly, but works very hard to get to where she wants to go. Of course, the applause she gets from her parents is very motivating!