Or the best toy. Depends on who you ask.
Santa's elves did not realize how loud this thing was when they made it in their workshop. Santa would have never delivered it to our house if he knew it played a Hannah Montana song at 39,000 decibels.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Christmas Festivities
What a weekend!
On Thursday night, we said goodbye to my Dad (Grandpa Dave) and Melanie (Mauni) as they left for their long trek back to Germany. Finally, I have pictures of Avery with them! They were here visiting when she was born, but in the haze of new parenthood, I somehow missed out on getting a photo.
Christmas Eve was spent at my grandparents' house:
Just before dinner, we gathered in the dining room to say grace. Avery joined in the circle, and was a perfect angel during the entire prayer; she didn't move or make one peep. Honestly I think she was waiting for everyone to break out into "Ring Around the Rosy" and prance in a circle. (And obviously my manners were worse than hers, as I broke the circle to grab my camera and shoot pictures while the other adults had bowed heads and closed eyes).
And Josh and I noticed that we turned over a new leaf at this event. This was the first gathering where Avery was off on her own playing with another kid (Autumn), and Josh and I were able to enjoy our dinner together in peace. Yay!
Since Avery was such a good girl, Santa Claus visited our house that night...
Avery awoke to find this shiny new bike (trike) that he left behind!
She was so excited that we couldn't get her off of it. She opened the rest of her presents while sitting on the bike:
We eventually got her off the bike, but we didn't succeed at getting her to take off her helmet.
At 9:00 we packed up the bike to spend the day over at Gammy's house.
Our annual "kids in front of the tree on Christmas morning" photo keeps growing! And next year there will be one more under that tree... Avery is going to have a little cousin in July!
There's that helmet again...
And one last shot of Avery from this morning, laughing at the kitties playing with their new Christmas present(a drinking fountain)...
Merry Christmas to all!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Vegas [with a] Baby!
On Friday night, we raced home from work, gave Avery a quick bath, packed our clothes, and jammed out of the house by 6:15 to Las Vegas for our first mini-vacation with Avery. We got about three minutes down the road before we hit dead-stopped traffic. After traveling only two exits in 45 minutes on the 91 Freeway with Avery singing "Happy Birthday" like a broken record, we felt like we were in Hell and started regretting our plan.
Fortunately, about an hour into the trip, the traffic dissipated, and after Josh taught her to say "ROAAAADDDDD TRIIIIIIPPPPP" and "Vegas, Baby!," Avery fell fast asleep.
She woke us bright and early the next morning, so we took her to Circus Circus to play some carnival games. Little did we know that the Midway doesn't open until 10:30. So there we were at 9:00 am with no place to go! To kill time, we found a couple of quarter games that Avery could play:
And a toy store with things to keep her busy:
Josh paced around with her in the stroller for a bit while I played some penny slots. I turned this $5 bill into this lovely $59 voucher. Woo hoo!!!
Finally the Midway opened, and we took Avery up to try the carnival games. She didn't really get the concept that you have to throw the ball... She just wanted to keep the ball. We handed her a soccer ball to throw into a hoop and instead she took off in the opposite direction and hid in a corner with it.
She didn't have enough muscle power to get the skeeballs all the way up the ramp either, but she tried! And it was still fun...
Between the three of us (and a nice stranger who gave us her extra tickets), Avery raked in five new stuffed animals and a little pink "Diva" pillow.
We stopped to watch the juggler for a few minutes before heading back to the hotel, where all three of us laid down for a much-needed nap.
Later that afternoon we left the hotel again with Uncle Aaron
to visit the lions at the MGM Grand.
Avery was excited to see them up close!
...And then back again we raced to get dressed for my Dad's wedding.
The bride and groom had planned to wear traditional Bavarian outfits, so Avery was
gifted this adorable dress for her birthday. It is the female equivalent of lederhosen, and looked very charming on her if I do say so!
Shortly after 5:00 pm we were picked up at our hotel,
and Avery got to experience her first limo ride!
In the limo, Avery took notice of Jennifer's watch. Jennifer said, "Yes, Avery, that's my watch! Do you know what time it is?" To which Avery replied, "Party!"
Josh and I were as shocked as everyone else was! I have no idea where she learned that. But it was beyond hilarious.
Then she went back to playing in the ice.
The wedding lasted about as long as Avery's attention span (roughly three minutes?) so it was perfect. Then we were back into the limo for a fabulous evening at the Paris Hotel.
Right about the same time we got back to the Paris was Avery's bedtime. Josh picked up some pizza and took her back to the hotel for dinner and a quick bath. I stayed behind with the wedding group and enjoyed a fun champagne reception at the top of the Eiffel Tower, followed by a delicious dinner at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant.
Sunday morning Avery woke up with a cold so we packed up and got on the road by 8:30 am. Despite all my anxiety about the trip, she did great in the car and was a real trooper, even though she was under the weather.
In total, a good girl and a fun trip!
Oh, and we got serenaded some more on the way home too:
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Avery's Second Birthday
Still completely behind!
Grandma Sheila was here to visit over the weekend as well as Grandpa Dave and Melanie... So Avery has been very excited to have lots of visitors to play with her.
On Sunday morning before her birthday party, we let Avery open her birthday and Christmas presents from Boompa, Sheila, Auntie Brandi, Uncle Matt, Bo, and Zac while we Skyped with Boompa on one computer and Brandi, Bo and Zac on the other computer.
The babydoll and stroller was a big hit!
I decided to swith over to a "kid party" this year rather than going all-out like I did last year. I also moved the party location to Bounce U so that their staff could do all the work for me and I could relax and enjoy the festivities. (I didn't really relax, but my stress level was slightly down from last year, so I guess my plan worked, at least partially)...
Avery had to be woken up a little early from her nap, so she wasn't full of smiles, but still seemed to have a fun time.
Tomorrow we set off on our first mini-vacation with Avery -- Viva Las Vegas!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)