Spirit Run 2012

Avery and I participated in Spirit Run at University this morning - Avery even had an official bib! We didn't quite make it through the whole 5k but it was a beautiful morning and we had fun hanging out with Grams!

Avery was very chatty during the pre-run speeches!

She looks a lot happier with Grams....

 

Hopkins Family Wedding Weekend

We spent the weekend in Midland, MI celebrating my cousin Blain getting married. It was a 6 hour drive and Avery did amazing in the car both ways so the travel was easy!! 

Unfortunately, my Grandpa had an emergency appendectomy and was stuck in the hospital all weekend recuperating. Luckily the hospital was about 3 minutes from the wedding, so we took turns driving to visit Grandpa and watch the awful Mich/ND game with him. I wish he would have been home and feeling better - but at least we got a little time to visit with him and he did get to see Avery toddling around his hospital room.

Besides the painful Michigan loss and Grandpa's hospital stay, we had a very fun family weekend. It was great to be able to introduce Avery to all my aunts, uncles and cousins. As usual, she LOVED seeing her Aunt Maddie. And also had fun getting to know and play with everyone else. She was a bit shy at first but once she warmed up she made everyone laugh and was very busy exploring my Grandma and Grandpa's house. We had a babysitter for the wedding and it was nice to have a night out (although not so fun waking up the next morning).

It does feel good to be home and back to our routine but we are happy we made the trip and grateful to have such a wonderful family. 

Playing with Cousin Liam - Matching Stripes!

Playing with Aunt Maddie

Reading with Grandpa- She still LOVES her books!

 

My Dad standing in for Grandpa at the wedding for "Longest Married Couple" dance

 

Fall School Pictures - 2012

We just got Avery's Fall School Pictures - She is wearing her spare change of clothes that are too small for her and doesn't look particularly happy to be having her picture taken. They made us laugh and thought we should preserve the memory.

Avery "Talking" on the Phone

Lately, Avery loves "talking" on the phone. She takes anything that looks like one (remote, iPod, an actual phone) and puts it to her ear and chats away. Hung got a little bit of it on video while I was away last week - it's so cute. And maybe a sign that I spend too much time on the phone?

 

Ava's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Ava's 1st birthday party with Courtney, Mary, Ava, Mike, Poonam and Savera. Avery is teething pretty badly (2 more just popped through on the top and it looks like a couple more on the bottom will appear soon) so she was a little clingy and fussy at first. But once she warmed up she had lots of fun playing with her friends and looking through her new, personalized book from Savera. Avery also spent a lot of time trying to figure out the baby gate with Dad on the stairs - at one point she got it open on her own! It was a fun afternoon and we all enjoyed spending time with friends.

Hanging with Grandma Trinh

I had to travel to San Diego for work last week and Hung and Avery were lucky to have his mom stay with them and help out while I was away. She made them lots of good home cooked meals and spent most of her time reading to and playing with Avery. They all had lots of fun together and it was so nice to not have to worry while I was traveling!

Avery's 1st Birthday Party

We had a small 1st Birthday Party for Avery this past weekend and it was a blast! We decided to stick with family only and a couple super close friends and keep it simple. My mom and I had a lot of fun planning all the decorations - we made a picture wall of Avery's 1st year that included a pose from each of our monthly "photo shoots" and we also made favors our of her baby food jars. We spray painted the lids pink and added flowers and ribbons and filled them with cotton candy and strawberry shortcake jelly beans or pink sixlets. We are not "crafty" people so this was quite the undertaking for us and I was really pleased with how it all turned out. The theme was just "pink" so we had lots of balloons and pink roses and Avery looked adorable in her pink dress. Hung spent lots of time grilling rib-eye, filet mignon and bbq chicken during the party and we also had roasted veggies, broiled tomatoes, broccoli slaw, fruit salad, fried rice, and appetizers a la Chuck. We had a 1/2 red velvet and 1/2 white cake that was delicious with ice cream and cookies - so no one went home hungry!

Avery did not devour the smash cake like I thought she would - It was a bit overwhelming with everyone staring at her I think. But she eventually got into it a bit and also LOVED opening her presents and having them piled around her and she could not get enough. Everyone that came was so thoughtful and generous and we really appreciated everyone making the trip to Indy to celebrate Avery's first year. It meant a lot. She has tons of new toys, books and clothes - we will not be bored for quite some time.

She could not fall (or stay) asleep that night - she just wanted to keep playing with everyone and have her family read her books and play with all of her new toys. She is one lucky girl to be surrounded by so much love and I think she could feel it. It was a great way to top off the first year.

Happy Birthday sweet girl - Glad that your first party was a success!

 Surrounded by presents!

 Not liking the hat!

 See - Not very interested....

 Uncle Du had to smear some on her face to get her started....

 Randomly did not like her hands being dirty.

 Finally getting into it a little bit.

 Ended the day hanging outside in the beautiful weather and playing Bags