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!

Happy 2nd Birthday Avery!

After work this evening Avery and I met Gammy and Uncle Aaron at the Irvine Park Railroad for Fairmont's annual Christmas Celebration.  Avery got to wear her new birthday present from Mommy - this coat - because it was VERY cold outside!

(And Mommy is still a little bitter that this coat didn't come in Mommy's size).

First we got in line to ride the train,

which circled through Christmas lights to the "North Pole."

Next, of course, the jumper.

Followed by some fun pictures, chocolate chip cookies,

and waving to other kids as they passed by on the train.

It would even "snow" when the train would pass by!

(It didn't turn out in the pictures, but it was very pretty).

Happy 2nd Birthday to the brightest, sweetest, most amazing 2-year-old I know!

Hugs and kisses sweet Avery!



Santa's Visit 2011

We had a trip to see Santa this morning that I know Avery will be talking about for a LONG time!

After dance class we headed up to Villa Park to catch Santa on his route through town.  Avery has been watching the video of her visit with Santa from last year, and I have been talking to her about sitting on Santa's lap and telling him what she wants for Christmas because he will bring presents.  Even though I don't think she entirely grasps the concept, she at least knew enough to prevent her from crying when it was her turn in line.

(And that was my goal).

The sun was super bright, so we didn't get the best picture, but I do love this one:

She was so shy with Santa that she froze in this position with her head down for most of the time on his lap, and didn't speak a single word.  I bent down next to her and encouraged her to tell Santa some of the things she wanted for Christmas (which we had talked about at home), but she sat there in complete silence. 

So I let Santa know that she really wants a bike, and a helmet.

After she got her candy cane, we walked over to look at the firetrucks that came with Santa...

And this lucky girl got to sit inside!

The fireman on the left was a little concerned about Avery touching the computer and signaling a call. The fireman on the right said, "Nah, I doubt she'd be able to figure out how to send a call."  I turned and said, "You underestimate her..."

Lately when we get home in the evenings, Avery jumps right back into the car so she can take a turn in the driver's seat. She will sit there as long as I will allow, tugging on the steering wheel and messing with the air conditioning dials, hazard lights, and windshield wiper controls.  If I try to interfere with "Avery's turn," she sternly instructs me to close the door.

VIDEO: CLOSE THE DOOR!

When I told her it was time to get down from the firetruck to allow some other kids to have a turn, she pushed me away and snapped, "Close the door!"

Santa's watching you, Missy!

?Habla Espanol?

Although I know that Avery is learning bits and pieces of Spanish at Lizzy's house, she somehow knows that we don't speak it at home so we never get to hear her use it. It is on rare occasion (and only when Lizzy is present) that I get to hear her use a word here or there.

So she stunned me this morning when we walked into Lizzy's house and she asked,

"?Manuel esta aqui?"

Apparently she is not only speaking Spanish, she is speaking Spanish sentences.

I am so out of the loop (and so impressed)!



Tis the Season

It's that time of year again... When I get overwhelmed and fall behind on everything! Between cooking for Thanksgiving, working on Christmas shopping, planning for Avery's birthday and getting the house ready for out-of-town guests, we have been pretty busy.

So, a quick recap...

Avery and Dee washing their hands/paws:

Avery keeping occupied while I worked on Thanksgiving cooking:

and Thanksgiving at my mom's house:

I felt guilty for not getting my Christmas tree out last year for Avery, so I got ambitious this morning and pulled out all the dusty Christmas decorations.  It should have come as no suprise that someone hindered my progress.

And not this someone:

THESE someones:

Here are the last few moments before my tree was on its side.

Aaaaaaaaaand it's broken.

So much for decorating!

Lemonade

Well I seem to have fallen behind... So let me recap the weekend. 

On Saturday morning, Avery went upstairs with Josh because she likes to play with the exercise ball. He had her birthday present up there, which was a big basketball hoop. It was still in the box, but he hadn't covered up the box or taken any extra measures to conceal it.  So when she went up the stairs, she saw it. 

I told Josh that she could just look at the pictures of kids on the box, she didn't have to know what was actually in there. But he felt bad for her, so he set it up. 

Her excitement lasted about 10 minutes. But Josh's excitement still hasn't worn off.

I think I know who this gift was actually for...

Later in the morning, Avery (surprisingly) let me dress her for dance class (with the exception of princess shoes in place of ballet slippers, of course).

She practiced her moves before we left..

Passe:

Tendu:

Arabesque:

Plie:

Chausse:

After Avery was asleep last night, I started steaming our clothes and prepping for our family photo shoot (for Avery's 2 year pictures and our family Christmas card photo), which was today. Just to emphasize the importance of this day, let me interject here that I booked this photo shoot a year ago. A YEAR ago. 

So naturally, here's where things started to fall apart. 

I had misread the calendar when scheduling my hair appointment prior to the pictures.  So my hair appointment is NEXT Saturday. By the time I realized I had scheduled it a week later than I wanted it, it was too late to change it, as Julie was not working this weekend.  So she suggested that I just get some blond dye at the store to touch up my roots before the pictures, and then she would take care of the highlights next week. 

I don't know if I just got the wrong color, or if I just didn't apply it correctly, but my hair turned out bright orange. ORANGE. Not an exaggeration. I looked pretty much like a Golden Tamarin. I completely freaked out, and assumed I didn't allow the bleach enough processing time, so I decided to go for a second round.  This of course made my hair even lighter with patches of yellowish white mixed in with the orange, so then I looked like a 50/50 bar.  (This is why I usually leave my hair to a professional).

By the time I was done with the second round of dye and my second tearful phone call to Julie, I gave up and went to bed, with the depressing plan to buy a hat in the morning to cover my head for the pictures (and for the workweek).

Fast forward to this morning. I woke up, wishing it was all a nightmare as I stared at my Carrot Top reflection in the mirror. Then Avery woke up with a pimple on her cheek. Yes, a pimple. (!?!?)

I zoomed out of the house at 11:00 (when I knew the clothing store near our house would be open) and came home with one hat and a couple of headbands. I was pretty happy about one of the headbands, which seemed to cover the worst spot on my head, but Josh hated it and told me it looked like I was wearing a dead bird. (He really has a way with words).  Well, between drunken-clown-orange and dead bird, I chose dead bird.

Let me add in here that Avery wouldn't nap, so Josh somehow managed to get her to crash out for 40 minutes in her highchair because she wouldn't go in her bed.  So she had purple circles under her eyes, which was adding to my stress. Every time I try to orchestrate things perfectly and construct a plan around her schedule, she manages to completely botch it.

But despite the various debacles, the lemons found their way into lemonade, so to speak.  Avery miraculously went on the big girl potty for the first time in the middle of all this chaos. The forecast said rain, but the sky cleared this morning and we had beautiful sunny skies for our pictures.  And somehow, some way, with my orange head and Avery's pimple and dark circles, (and one talented photographer), we managed to pull it together.

[Disclaimer: this is the only photo I have seen. So there is still a chance that this is the only decent one out of all the hundreds we took.  But I'm hoping for lemonade!]