Funny Friday:Avery

I picked Avery up from school today and as I was putting her in to the car she said to me very matter of fact, "I want a brother for Christmas." I had to ask her to repeat herself because surely I just misunderstood what she said. Nope, I heard it just right. Not sure where she came up with that??? How does one respond to a statement like that? I just decided to change the subject!

A few months ago Avery LOVED Dora... she wanted everything Dora... Dora gown, Dora panties, Dora stickers, Dora toys, Dora TV show. A couple of days ago I picked Dora panties for her to wear. As a side note, to Avery the design on her panties is more important than the design on her shirt! She often spends several minutes deciding on which pair of panties she will wear that day. So when I handed her the Dora panties the other days, she says in a serious and frustrated voice, "Mom, I don't like Dora anymore!" What? Since when and why not? I guess this is another indication of Avery growing older and how quickly kids change.

Avery's Bed Transition

I woke up Saturday morning to the sound of Avery's voice outside our bedroom door, "Good morning" she says to Ashlyn. One problem... she still sleeps in her crib which means she must have scaled the side rail of her crib and somehow lowered (or dropped) herself to the floor. We've been in no hurry to move her out of her crib since she seems content to lay in her bed in the morning and sing or play with the 15+ stuffed animals and dolls she insists on sleeping with. More importantly, she is quite an early riser waking much earlier than needed or desired by Chris and me. But now that Avery has discovered a way out of bed we decided it is time to remove the side rail from her bed transforming it into a toddler bed. She now is able to get in and out of bed on her own. As Chris took the side off her bed and then Avery easily climbed into her bed, she had the biggest grin from ear to ear. She must have felt like such a big girl at that moment. She and Ashlyn then played in her small bed for part of the morning enjoying the new change.

Avery handled the transition well last night, staying in her bed all night after being tucked in. I thought it was going to be smooth sailing. However, this evening she has already been out of her bed twice since being tucked in. 45 minutes after going to bed, she is now finally asleep. I hope tonight was just her trial to see "what if".

So, we've met another milestone to make note of and of which to be excited and proud! Chris and I were just as thrilled as she was at that first moment she sat on her "big girl" bed.

Avery- Our Funny Girl

Things Avery said:

Chris sometimes "threatens" the girls into good behavior... he tells them he will call Santa if they don't do what he needs them to do. Last Sunday while getting dressed for church, Avery wasn't cooperating when getting dressed. Chris said to her, "Do I need to call Jesus?" Avery replied, "You don't have to call Him, Jesus is everywhere!" So precious! It's amazing what little kids absorb in school. I'm thankful for her preschool that focuses on Christian teachings.


While visiting Mimi this week, she gave us some stew that she made for us to take home for dinner. Being the "reuser" she is, she put our stew in a large pickle jar to take home. Who needs tupperware when you have things like pickle jars and cool whip bowls! He, He! (one of the many things I love about my Mimi!) When we got home and I was warming the stew up, Avery says to me, "I don't like pickle soup!" I got a good belly laugh out of that one.


Ashlyn is my 'rule follower', at least while at school or with other adults. She gets her feelings hurt and is practically devastated if she gets a time-out or her name called. (I can't say as much when at home.) Avery on the other hand just throws the so called "rules" out the window. Consequences are no big deal to her. This week she has been in time out at school for refusing to pick up with the rest of the class, was being 'talked-to' as I picked her up from school for climbing up on the fence, and today she told me she didn't get a stamp at school. I never did figure out what caused her to loose the stamp. Unfortunately, Avery doesn't feel at all sad or bothered by any of it. She smiles a bit when talking about it even. I'm certain we need to find a new strategy before the teenage years arrive!

Avery Halloween party

Avery's preschool class at CDC celebrated Halloween with a class party. I volunteered to help out at the party along with a couple other moms. Her teachers planned a really fun party with crafts, songs and spider cupcakes that the kids decorated themselves all while wearing an adorable spider hat they had constructed earlier in the week. I enjoyed watching Avery interact with her friends at school as well as seeing the typical 3 year old behaviors of having difficulty sharing. I'm blessed to be able to volunteer at the girls' schools and get a glipse of their days at school.

Our little cowgirl at Texas Day

Avery's school celebrated Texas Day today. She dressed up in her suede vest, pink cowgirl hat, jeans and boots. She looked so incredibly cute! Chris volunteered at the school event helping with the horse shoe toss. The kids played several other games like lasso the horse and riding in the OK corral. From the smile seen on her face in the pictures, I think Avery likes the cowgirl life!

Avery's 3 Year Well Visit

Avery had her 3 year old check up today. We were both glad she didn't receive any shots, just a finger prick. But, she certainly wasn't fond of it either.

Stats:
Height- 38 inches (75 percentile)
Weight- 31.4 pounds (75 percentile)
BMI- 15.2 (40 percentile)

Avery is tall, muscular and very healthy!

Avery Build-A-Bear Party

We celebrated Avery's 3rd birthday today with lots of friends and family at Build-A-Bear Workshop. What a fun way to celebrate! Each child was able to pick an animal of her choice, put a heart inside, stuff it, brush it, pick an outfit and then name it. A birth certificate was printed and then each guest took their animal home in a cardboard house. All the kids had such a blast, especially Avery! Avery chose a cat, which she had decided on before the day of the party. The cat is grey, and she named her "Meowie". Then she chose a pink ballerina tutu; quite fitting as Avery really enjoys ballet class right now. Ashlyn chose a brown furry bear and a cute Hello Kitty t-shirt. Afterwards, we sang Happy Birthday had had yummy Princess birthday cake. Then the family went back to Grammy and Poppy's house to open presents.

Avery 1st Days of Preschool at CDC & HGBC

Avery had 2 "1st days of preschool", today and yesterday. Avery is going to 2 different preschools... 3 days a weeks at Hunter's Glen Baptist Church (CLC) and 2 days a week at our church, Christ United Methodist (CDC). We chose the two different schools because we feel they each provide different areas that we feel are important. HGBC offers a strong, rich bible based curriculum, and our church offers a strong academic curriculum. Also, we feel Avery attending preschool 5 days a week will be beneficial to her since she has such a late birthday and is the youngest for her grade level. Hopefully this will give her a 'boost' academically and socially so she is more than ready when it is time to attend kindergarten.

So yesterday was her first day at CDC and today her first day at HGBC. She was so excited both days and seemed to feel like such a big girl. She seemed confident and thrilled to go to school each day. She is familiar with both schools as she went to HGBC last year and has been attending Sunday school and other events at our church since birth. My heart strings were pulled once I realized my baby would be at school five days a week, all day, 9 am-12 pm! This may be more of an adjustment for me than for her!

"Prepping" for her 1st day of preschool the day before school starts.

1st day at CDC

Avery with mommy walking to her classroom at CDC.


Putting her school bag in it's spot.



1st day of preschool at HGBC-CLC.


Excited to go inside her school.

With her teacher, Mrs. Gina.

Our Little Ballerina is 3! Happy Birthday Avery!

Happy Birthday to our sweet Avery, our little ballerina! Today is your special day! We are so blessed to celebrate 3 fun-filled years of watching you grow and blossom! We love you, angel and look forward to celebrating many, many more birthdays with you!

You are full of smiles all the time! This picture shows how truly happy you really are!

Your birthday lunch after church... When we asked you where you'd like to eat, you said "hamburger." So we went to Fudrucker's- not a regular place for us to eat but we thought we'd try something different than our usual places. When time to order though, you decided on grilled cheese and fruit.

Your huge birthday cookie, Marilyn Monroe style!

Our pretty 3 year old, growing so tall!





After lunch we took you to Toys R Us to pick our your birthday present!

You picked out Barbie and her horse!

Mommy and Ashlyn with the birthday girl!

All about Avery:

1. The first feature you notice when you see Avery is her huge, sparkling grin! Most of the time she is all smiles from ear to ear, when she is happy and even when she is being mischievous! The only difference is her head is a bit cocked which is a dead giveaway when she has been up to something.

2. She LOVES her big sister, Ashlyn (pronounced by Avery as "Ashwyn"). She immediately looks for Ashlyn the minute she gets out of bed.

3. Avery loves music and loves to sing. She often requests whatever song she is in the mood for while driving in the car... most recently is the vacation bible school CD and Taylor Swift. Many of Avery's favorites are a reflection of what Ashlyn likes as Avery really looks up to her big sis, ie: Taylor Swift!

3. Avery loves dolls, stuffed animals, blankets/loveys. She sleeps with no less than 5 stuffed animals or dolls and at least 3 blankets. She must choose the blankets as well as which order they are laid down to cover her up.

4. Avery loves clothes and shoes. She is quite particular about what outfit she wears and prefers to pick it from her closet herself, panties and shoes also. She may not always match or even be dressed for the current season, but she is proud to have dressed independently. She also usually makes sure to have a bow for her hair.

5. She is quite independent, or so she thinks. "I want to do it myself" is one if her favorite and most used phrases.

6. Avery doesn't walk- she runs and bounces everywhere. She's a ball of energy.

7. She is still a cuddle bug. She loves to sit and cuddle in my lap, loves hugs and kisses and likes to be held a lot. I love it too!

8. Favorite show: Little Bear, although is usually content with watching spurts of whatever Ashlyn is watching

9. She loves pink and purple. Loves all things girls, including princesses and ballet.

10. One of her nicknames is stinker... she is quite mischievous and is not concerned with the consequences. Going hand in hand with that, she is headstrong. She does what she wants, when she wants. She is quite familiar with "time out" at home and at school. She usually shrugs this off.

11. She can be a bit shy or reserved at first meeting or in large groups. But with people she is comfortable with she is very engaging and playful.

12. She loves to help in the kitchen, cook, clean the dishes, empty the dishwasher

13. She is messy! She leaves a trail of activities everywhere she has played and it doesn't really cross her mind to put her things away. She must get that from her dad!

Last Week of Summer

Sadly, this is our last week of summer vacation before school begins. I wanted to have some special time with the girls and have a fun week before the calendar fills and the schedules begin. On Sunday after church Chris and I took the girls to my parents' community pool to swim. The girls really love to swim and are quite comfortable in the water. Ashlyn is getting so close to being able to swim without any flotation device, but still needs the blow up arm floaties. Avery wears a zip-up body suit with built in flotation and also the blow up arm floaties. We spent the afternoon swimming and soaking up the sun. They both have a pretty golden tan, despite always putting on sunscreen. Ashlyn and Avery both love for Chris to throw them up in the air and splash down in to the water... little dare devils!

On Tuesday I took the girls to Boomerang's Bounce house. They had a great time bouncing and sliding and running around.

On Wednesday I took the girls to one of the city's public pools. I've been nervous all summer to take them by myself but decided to go since they have done great in the water this summer and Ashlyn has really wanted to go. She remembers going a few times last summer. (She has a great memory of things, it truly amazes me!) What always catches Ashlyn's attention as we drive by this rec center is the tall, multi-colored water slides. She also recalls last summer not being tall enough to ride these slides. To her dismay, she still isn't tall enough this summer. The rules say you must be 48" tall; she is around 45" tall. Those life guards are sticklers! Most of them anyway! On Ashlyn's first attempt to go down the slide, she climbed way up all the steps only be told she wasn't tall enough. She had the most pitifully disappointed look on her face as Avery and I watched her climb back down to where we were waiting for her. So we went swimming in the big pools and played in the water fountains. I slyly waited until a quite 'laid back' lifeguard rotated to the top of the slide and we attempted the slides again. Bingo! Ashlyn took turns sliding down the 3 different slides over and over. One of the slides is enclosed and could hear her squeal as she came down. So funny and she absolutely loved it. But then, the life guards rotated positions again and spoiled all Ashlyn's fun. Once again, she was turned down and had to walk back down all those steps. I was so proud of her when she didn't complain and instead was happy to have gotten to try out the water slides. While Ashlyn was sliding, Avery played in some water fountains at the foot of where the water slides dump out. Afterwards we went over to the sprinkler playground where Avery had a blast sliding over and over down a slide more her size and then we moved indoors to the lazy river. What a fun place so close to our house that has so much for the girls to enjoy. I'm glad I decide to go despite my nervousness of watching them by myself in the water.

And now, as they say, all good things must come to and end. This is the end of the summer, but we have wonderful things to look forward to as school begins...like, Christmas is only 4 months away! Ashlyn has already been working on her Christmas list and singing Christmas carols! I haven't been able to think past the first day of school though.

Precious Ballerina, Avery!

Avery started her first ballet class today! She has been asking for months to take ballet class. She tried on her pink leotard and ballet shoes yesterday (they are the same Ashlyn wore when she first took ballet at age 3) and Avery did not want to take them off. She did very well for her first day. She followed her teacher right in to her class and looked like she was enjoying herself every time I peeked in to the class. She loved showing Chris and me the dance steps she learned in class once we got home and has continued to dance around the house this evening.

Watching the older girls dance

So cute in her leotard and ballet shoes!


During class with Miss Tiffany

Fun Friday

Fun times today! The girls and I went to the "Friends of the Plano Library" sale this morning. This is an annual, huge used book sale with tables and tables of boxes packed full of books that have been withdrawn from the library or have been donated by others. We picked out a bag full of great children's books to add to our "home library".

Afterwards, we went to the mall to play. As we were leaving we discovered a very artistic lady who was doing face paintings at the candy store. We couldn't resist the face painting or the gummy worms!

Observant Avery

I went to get my hair cut on Saturday while Avery was taking a nap. As I went in to her room to get her out of bed after her nap, she noticed my hair cut. "I like your hair," she said. Then, "Did you get a lollipop?" I told her no..., "Then what you get?," she wanted to know! She knows that every time she gets her hair cut she gets a sucker afterwards. I guess she assumed mommy would too! So sweet of her to notice and compliment my hair!

Substitute Teachers

Chris and I can now add substitute teacher to our resume. We substituted in Ashlyn's Sunday school class yesterday and in Avery's class last month. I always have a renewed appreciation for teachers when I attempt to teach or be 'in charge of' a group of kids. And I also have a better appreciation of my own children and their behavior as well. I am equally impressed by how much these young children know and believe about Jesus at such a young age. I enjoyed being a part of teaching these children and our girls really were excited for their mom and dad to be the teachers.

Happy Birthday, Maddox!

Saturday was Maddox's 5th birthday party at Chuck E Cheese! This is one of Ashlyn and Avery's favorite places to go. They both love the games and Ashlyn loves winning the tickets and trading them in for prizes. Ashlyn actually won 100 tickets in one turn on a game this time. She was so excited as she watched all 100 tickets spurt out of the machine. Ashlyn and Maddox are pretty good buddies even though they don't see each other very often. The whole family had a fun time celebrating Maddox's birthday and playing games, eating pizza and seeing Chuck E!

Finally, potty-training is accomplished!

Avery did it... she decided to accomplish potty training! We started last Monday, July 20, 2009. I decided we'd go "cold-turkey"... no pull-ups except at bedtime. She had a few accidents on Monday, but only one accident each day from Tues-Thurs. Thursday's accident just happened to be in the middle of Target, but at least she didn't leave a puddle! We stayed home all week until Thursday to really focus this time around (this is our 3rd attempt over the past 6 months). I think the trick this time was being able to stay home and truly focus only on potty training. We were just too busy with school and other activities during the school year to be able to stay home and focus. Avery seemed to learn very quickly. I think she finally was willing to do it; she IS a bit head strong at times! I did also change on other aspect of the training this time... "positive reinforcement", a.k.a. bribery! I tried to avoid it the first 2 times but this time is was inevitable. I bribed her with skittles. Every time she used the potty without an accident, she received a couple of skittles. It worked! She is very much like me though, in that she would rather 'hold it' forever than use a public bathroom. It has been one week since starting the training, and I think we can call it, mission accomplished!

So, it's official... I no longer have a 'baby'! No more diapers, she calls me 'mom' now instead of mommy, she's become a 'chatty Kathy' with so much to say, she wants to pick out her own clothes each morning, and she is sprouting upward like a weed! But, she is still my little cuddle bear who loves to hug and sit in my lap.

Vacation Bible School

WOW! What an amazing week! We just finished a week of learning about Jesus and having fun with friends. Ashlyn, Avery and Abbie had a great week and they woke up each morning excited for the day ahead at VBS. Our church's theme was Camp E.D.G.E. (experience and discover God everywhere). I was a leader for Ashlyn's 5 year old group- 15 of them actually! Ryann was in our group also. We had a blast learning about God through music, crafts, science, drama and recreation. My favorite was the music. Ashlyn said her favorite part was, "all of it". She especially enjoyed Friday's water games with water squirters and water balloon fights. The songs are so catchy and send such an uplifting message. The girls and I found ourselves singing the songs throughout the day all week long... "L-E-T-S, G-O". I was amazed to see what an impression this week had on Abbie. She learned and believed right away that "Jesus is my friend" and talked about it with us a lot with much enthusiasm. Moments like these are what bring me and the 200+ volunteers back each year.

We also participated in VBS at Payton and Hudson's school, FBC of McKinney, in June. They had a "Boomerang Express" Australian theme. I again volunteered in Ashlyn's group, although I requested (but was not assigned) to be in Avery's group so I could have a chance to volunteer in each girl's group. This was another amazing week and I left there each day feeling positive, happy, renewed and energetic, despite the time and energy required to make each day a success for the kids that attended each day. The girls had so much fun, despite not knowing a single person on the first day. Praise the Lord!

Avery's Last Day of School

Today was Avery's last day of preschool at Hunter's Glen Baptist Church. What a wonderful year she had! Her teachers are so loving and warm and Avery always looked forward to going to school. Avery will return to HGBC next school year for the 3 year old preschool class 3 days a week.






















First day of school Sept 2, 2008 -----------------------Last day of school May 28, 2009

Avery with her friend, Kali


With Mrs. Lisa



With Mrs. Martha