BIG news!

She was very excited to tell Daddy. She ran to him and yelled, "Surprise!"

telling Daddy the exciting news!

I can't believe my baby will be a big sister come August! Not sure if my heart can hold that much love, it might explode. :)

SANTA!

fun at the park

I LOVE spending time with my girl

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! and other funny things...

I can't believe Christmas is around the corner! I am so excited! I love having the house decorated for Christmas, having a fire going and smelling my holiday scentsy! Avery is beside herself excited about it too. She has already sat in Santa's lap twice and it's December 1st! He asked her what she wanted from him last time and she exclaimed, "A hug!!" Melted me. :)

She loves that every store has Christmas decor., her favs are Frosty(which she calls every snowman) and Santa. We walked in Hobby Lobby the other day and she said, "Ohhh, I happy!" ha! I love seeing Christmas through the eyes of a sweet child. We are working hard to teach about Christmas and what it really means. Right now she will tell you it's about God and Santa. :) We pulled all the Christmas stuff out the other night and she had a total blast staying up late and helping decorate.

She loves having a her own tree in her playroom. She picked out Disney princess ornaments to put on it and she rearranges them every 20 min. ;)

her little baby tree from her first Christmas

I took this random pic the other day of Avery in the driveway. The lighting did something really cool and then I made it black and white and played with it a little. She's not even smiling but it turned out to be one of my new favs of her!

On a funny note, Avery has been cracking us up lately with new things she is doing and saying. I lost my keys the other day and looked for probably 30 min and had my whole purse dumped out in the process. I just happened to walk by her little pink car in the hallway and noticed my keys in the ignition and my cash and gum she had also taken and stashed in the back. Little stinker!! Made me laugh. She told me she was "driwin" :) Another couple of funny things to share that I want to be able to read when she's 20 and laugh: We were in Kohls shopping the other day she saw a little boy about her age shopping with his mom, they made eye contact and were waving. The little boy a few minutes later did something to get in trouble and his mom said" You are going to get a spanking now, get over here!" Avery looked at his mother who was only a few feet away at that point and yelled "NO! He don't want it!!" It was hilarious. The mom explained to her afterwards that no, he didn't want it but he in fact needed it. :) Leave it to my daughter to get onto a grown woman and a stranger at that. :) She's growing and changing so fast that I hate it but at the same time love it because she is developing her little personality more and more. She told me the other day at lunch when I told her she must eat her turkey before having chips, " It's MY choice, I want chips!" Wow, she wears me out! Good thing I love her more than anything :)

Thankfulness...

Today at MDO, Avery had a Thanksgiving party and praise time. All the kids went to the chapel and sang praise songs and talked about the things that they are thankful for. She learned today want being thankful means. That means more to me than her learning any number, shape or color; I'm so grateful that she goes to a Christian preschool!

I went to her classroom at lunch time for the Thanksgiving feast. All the kids had made their own super cute laminated place mats that they decorated with turkeys made from tracing their hands. (a def. keepsake!) They also wore Indian hats that they had made which totally cracked me up. Avery was so serious about hers and did not like to take it off. ha! She has been telling me all day that she is thankful me and daddy.... and several other things including Dora and Boots. ;) I am so blessed to have so many things to be thankful for, mostly my sweet girl!

Feasting with some of her friends

Love this girl! This face here cracks me up, I have never seen her smile like this :)

Weekend Fun

We had a great weekend with family at my cousin's wedding. Avery was the flower girl; she's getting pretty good at this job now. :) It was a beautiful wedding and Avery looked adorable despite the dog bite on her face. Long story short, a little dog bit her right around her eye when she bent down to look at him. It scared this momma SO bad! Thank God she is fine and it didn't damage her eye. She seems to not be afraid of dogs because of it and I hope it stays that way. As soon as we got home on Saturday night she said hi to Chloe and gave her a big hug. :)

When we were loading up to leave, poor Chloe thought she was going with us. I guess she thought if she offered to drive we might let her go. ;)

I had to document this event! Avery has NEVER fallen asleep in some one's lap since she was about 5 months old. I know that's crazy but true. She has way too much energy to do that and even when she has stayed up way late, she has never done it. Well, the night of the rehearsal dinner I guess she was exhausted and the dog bite incident probably wore her out and she just cuddled up to me and fell asleep. I was in total Heaven!

Can you tell we are sisters?!

Sweet girls!

The girls with the beautiful bride, my cousin Shaylee

Being a flower girl is tough work...she had to take a break afterwards

Dancing with Daddy, priceless

Dancing with Papa!

We couldn't get this girl off the dance floor all night! It was too cute.

The view of downtown Austin was gorgeous!

My favorite part of the wedding was this girl :)

The Finest Age

I took this pic the other day and thought, "Oh, if I could just freeze her at this age! When everything is magical and she wants to be just like mommy."

I came across this quote and just loved it!

When she was only nine months old, And plump and round and pink of cheek, A joy to tickle and to hold, Before she'd even learned to speak, Her gentle mother used to say: "It is too bad that she must grow. If I could only have my way Her baby ways we'd always know." And then the year was turned, and she Began to toddle round the floor And name the things that she could see And soil the dresses that she wore. Then many a night the mother whispered low: "Our baby now is such a pearl, I hate to think that she must grow" But on she went and sweeter grew, And then her mother wished she could keep her always two, For that's the finest age of all. She thought the same thing at three, And four. She sighs to think that She cannot always be the Youngster with the laughing eyes. Oh, little girl, my wish is not Always to keep you little. Each night I stand beside your bed And think of what the years may hold; And looking down on you I pray That when we've lost our baby small, The mother of our woman will say "This is the finest age of all." -author unknown