Baby Cousin

On Saturday, July 14, Avery's new baby cousin James Aaron arrived!

We have been calling the baby "baby cousin" because we weren't sure if it was going to be a boy or a girl... It was a surprise! 

Kids must be 12 years old or a sibling of the baby in order to visit the labor and delivery floor at the hospital. So Avery had to wait outside while Josh and I took turns visiting.

She admired little James from afar....

But today she was so excited to meet one week old baby James in person!

She even got to hold him.

He is so sweet!



Avery Reads "Old Hat New Hat"

VIDEO: AVERY READS "OLD HAT NEW HAT"

Fourth of July 2012

I shouldn't have mentioned the word "parade" before we left on vacation, because Avery has been talking about seeing the parade for the last 10 days straight. On the other hand, at least we built up the excitement for today!



Vacation

Josh's parents ("Boompa" & Sheila) came out for a visit this week.  Avery had such a great time with them and was very spoiled! 

They went to the park...

They rode bikes...

They visited the zoo...

And even the aquarium...

They also took a few trips to Target for some new cups, sunglasses, videos and Dora band-aids...

And of course did not miss Sunday dance class!

Meanwhile...

Josh and I jetted off to Cabo San Lucas for our first (and last vacation) in a very long time! (Which I will admit was a little bittersweet for me. Up until this point, I was the only person on the planet who had seen Avery in person every single day of her life).

But it was everything we hoped for....And just what we needed.

Swim up bars, warm temps, ocean breezes, fireworks at night, as much sleep as we wanted...

(Below is the view from our balcony)

And one very beautiful wedding.

Congrats Auntie Jennifer!



Dance Recital

I found out there's a reason the dance recital information sheet instructed us to be 30 minutes early.  Of course I found this out when we were NOT early at all, and arrived in a total panic only to realize that we didn't need to do anything except find some seats and sit down. The reason they tell the parents to be early is because they know you have a toddler and getting ANYWHERE early is virtually impossible, so they tell you to be 30 minutes early so that you will simply be ON TIME. And their sneaky little ploy worked out perfectly, since this morning I was up against a defiant young lady who refused to brush her teeth, and ripped off her dance costume about 30 seconds before we went out the door.

She was good through most of the dance numbers considering her group was second to last on the program. (Nevermind the part where she unraveled the hem of her tutu shortly before her turn on stage, and I was forced to cut off a giant piece of satin trim with a box cutter). She even danced in the aisles... (which, unfortunately -spoiler alert - is where most of her dancing occurred today). 

VIDEO: AVERY DANCING IN THE AISLE 

Of course when it was her turn to perform, that was a different story. The parents wanted a group photo of the class standing together backstage and they all obliged adorably:

All except one, that is:

And the rest is history...

VIDEO: AVERY'S FIRST DANCE RECITAL

(If you watch closely, you will see Avery scolding the instructor at about the 27 second mark for wearing her tennis shoes and not her tap shoes like everyone else).