Happy Halloween 2012!

Avery's 2nd Halloween was much better than her first! Last year she got her 2nd month shots and was running a fever and not feeling well. This year was much more fun! We started off the festivities with a party and costume parade at her school. After that, we headed home and had dinner with Grams,GG and Uncle Cullen. We went Trick-or-Treating to a few houses on our street (it was pretty cold and we didn't last too long) and then spent the rest of the night passing out candy. She was the cutest little doggy we have ever seen!!

 Having Snacks at her school party

  Avery's Best Friend Beau

 Hanging with friends...

 Getting ready for the parade with Dad

 A little clingy when the parade started

 Finally participating a bit

 All the kids gathered for a school picture

Passing out candy with Grams (as a ladybug)

 Heading out for her first Trick or Treating with Mom and Dad

 Stopping to check what's in her Pumpkin

 Looking through her candy stash before heading to bed

14 Month Update

Some new tricks as we enter Month 14:

• When you ask "What does the Lion say?" she says "Roar" - But it's silent. It seems that all of her animals are missing their vocal cords
• We hear lots of "bye bye" lately
• You can ask Avery "Where's your belly" and she promptly lifts her shirt
• We are told that she loves to dance at Daycare with her friends
• Avery seems to understand more and more of what we tell her and ask her. She is talking all the time and saying lots of little Avery words and sometimes things that sound like real words.
• She has this cute thing where we have a computer power cord plugged in on our entertainment center to charge our computer. Avery kept trying to grab it and put it in her mouth so we kept telling her "no" and putting it behind the entertainment center and out of her reach. Now if it's ever sitting out she goes and puts it behind the entertainment center for us and if any other cords are sitting out she walks them over and throws them behind the entertainment center. Too funny!
• She loves to empty drawers and bags and purses and give things to you
• Avery likes to pull up your shirt and look at your belly button and give you raspberries. She makes the funniest little sound!
• She's a great eater and likes basically anything we give her. Randomly she has started liking the packets of baby food again - she thinks they are a great treat and it's an easy way to get her extra veggies.
• She still uses her hair to comfort herself and loves her fafa/paci
• Avery has 12 teeth and is down to one nap a day in the early afternoon
• She is a smiley and happy girl - We can't get enough of her giggle!

 

Our Trip to Lincoln to visit Elaine and Abby

Avery, my mom and I flew to Nebraska this past weekend to spend time with Elaine and Abby. It was Avery's first plane ride and she did awesome - slept the first half and spent the second half playing with the Airline magazines (mostly ripping them up and then throwing the paper scraps on the floor and waving bye-bye to them).

Avery had so much fun meeting Elaine and Abby and Elaine's parents Ruth and Cale. They pulled out tons of toys that they had collected over the years from their grand children and great grand children and Avery dug right in. She loved going through the View Finder discs (I didn't think she should play with them since I thought she would break them but she took the tin over to Ruth who gave right in). She also enjoyed the Fisher Price Little People and the Barnyard Animal Noise Machine (the rooster sound was her favorite). The toy she loved the BEST was the baby stroller and baby doll (sometimes she seemed a little jealous if we played with the doll or gave it any attention). She spent a good part of the weekend pushing, carrying and dragging the baby stroller around the house and the yard and feeding the baby. She also enjoyed playing the piano - they have a grand father clock and anytime it rang she would go and play the piano along with it.

Avery was a little confused by the high chair that they had for her - the one we have at home has a cup holder and this one didn't. It made her very upset at first that she couldn't find a place to put her sippy - cracked me up! We had lots of good meals and Avery could not seem to feed herself fast enough! She had some trouble sleeping through the night but my mom and I made the best of it and luckily she slept in every morning so we were able to get enough sleep and enjoy the days. Overall, she was a great little traveler and everyone loved having her around.

My mom and I also had fun spending time with Elaine and Abby - There was lots of laughs and eating! We got to go to our favorite Lincoln staple - Runza's  (Avery loved it as well). It was so great to have time with our oldest friends and have a Girls Weekend!

At the airport - loading up on snacks and looking at the planes

Playing around the house - and on the Piano 

Playing outside with her stroller and enjoying the leaves

What does the Doggy say?

 More stroller time....

Taking a little break

Checking out the grill

Playing with the ball - she was good at kicking it around

Checking out the leaves after they had been raked up

Abby and Avery

Avery, Abby, Elaine and Ruth

Avery, Elaine and Grams

Avery, Abby and Mama

Go Blue!

Avery got to witness her first win againt MSU this weekend - It was a close game and I think my reaction to the win freaked her out. She was following me around whimpering. But she's gotta learn young - this is how things are around on the house Michigan Football Saturdays :)

 

A Visit With Grandpa G and Aunt Maddie

Grandpa G and Aunt Maddie surprised us with a visit this week. We were so excited that they were able to fit in the quick trip and spend time with me, Hung and (most importantly) Avery!! She got to "skip school" today and play with her family - and she had a BLAST! After playing around the house all morning and a short nap we spent the afternoon at Snapperz and Avery had fun climbing around the Toddler area with Aunt Maddie and crawling around the big jungle gym with all 3 of us. 

We had dinner at Bub's Burgers (our first time there) and it was SO yummy. Avery was such a good girl and never fussed once. When we got home she had a major second wind and decided she needed to take everything out of every drawer in the living room and also tear up Grandpa's newspaper. She was basically running between Grandpa and Maddie, giving them lots of hugs, bringing them toys and books and anything else she found lying around. She was full of energy until I took her upstairs to bed at 9 where she was asleep in about 2 minutes. It was a busy and great day. We are sad they have to leave first thing in the morning but also very grateful for this time with them!

Go Hawks!!

We had a quiet weekend at home but did manage to get Avery dressed up for the Iowa game. It was a close double overtime win against the Spartans - So I think Avery was good luck for her Dad and Uncle Du :) She got the dress from Uncle Du for her birthday and she looks great in it.

Avery also had fun playing with Uncle Cullen, Grams and GG this weekend.