Christmas

What a Christmas we had! Avery and Paige enjoyed every minute of opening presents and Adam and I enjoyed every minute of watching them. Then we spent the rest of the day playing, eating and relaxing. A huge THANK YOU! goes out to all of our family and friends who sent wonderful gifts to us. We hope that everyone else had a very merry Christmas as well. Now that Avery is three and a half she understands so much more. As a parent it is fun to see her little mind work. She has been learning at school and church what Christmas is all about and was just as excited about the fact that Christmas is Jesus's birthday as she was about Santa and getting presents.

Unfortunately, this past week has also been a little sad. My Grandma Jan passed away on Dec 22nd. She has been ill for a long time and eventhough you think you are prepared, you still grieve. We will be heading to Pittsburgh this week for the memorial service. This will be the first time since my brother's wedding in Aug of 2003 that all of my siblings will be in one place at the same time. While we will be gathering for a less than joyful occassion, I am thankful for the complete "reunion" that will occur. Please keep my family in your prayers.

Please check back next week for what I'm sure will be a ton of pictures. Be safe as you ring in the new year and make your 2009 a year of purpose.

What a cutie...

Downtown Disney

On Uncle Jonathan's last day with us, we went to Downtown Disney. Avery loved seeing all the princess stuff. She would have stayed in the princess store all day if I let her. She also thought the lego people were pretty cool.

Lunch in Rainforest Cafe.

Children's Museum

We went to the Children's Museum last week. They have a pretend grocery store that Avery and Paige enjoyed shopping in. Avery then put on a smock and became the cashier, ringing up all the items.

Avery was also able to make her own gingerbread house.

Uncle Jonathan

My brother Jonathan flew down to visit for a few days. We went to Backyard Adventures (indoor inflatable play place) and had a blast.

Avery's Christmas Program

Avery's preschool had their Christmas program last week. She has been singing and practicing her songs for a month and sounds so cute. She got all dressed up in her Christmas best and we arrived super early to get a good seat. The house was packed and it was a lot of fun.

Avery and her friend Kennedy waiting for the program to start.

Enjoying some cake and punch after the big show.

Avery's wonderful teacher, Miss Vanessa. We love her!

Update...

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted! We have been so busy lately. Christmas is fast approaching and there is never enough time to do all that needs to be done. Just this past weekend alone we attended two Christmas parties and a baby shower. And we managed to get some shopping done as well.

I don't have a lot of new pictures right now but this is one of my favorites. Avery got the make-up kit for Christmas last year and always wants to play with it. She is so serious about doing her make-up and asks where everything goes. ("Is this for my eyes or my cheeks, Mommy?")

We are looking forward to Uncle Jonathan's visit tomorrow and will hopefully have lots of pictures to share.

Christmas decorating

We put up our Christmas tree on Sunday and Avery had a great time helping. She is so excited for Christmas and is really starting to get what it is all about. What a fun year this is going to be!!

Jacksonville

Since Adam had to work on Friday and Saturday, I took Avery and Paige to Jacksonville for two days to visit my sister, Christina and her family. All the cousins get so excited to see each other. For the most part, they all played nicely together. Thankfully the weather was amazing so we spent a lot of time playing outside.

Outside

We enjoyed some outside time while the turkey was cooking.

The Ganksgiving Turkey (as Avery says it)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a fun and relaxing day in our house. As most of you know, we like to grill our turkey each year so I thought I would take some pictures to share. We soak the turkey overnight in a brine and it is the juiciest and tastiest turkey we've ever had!

Avery having a peek at the turkey in it's brine. It may seem strange to put it in the trash bag but it's the easiest way to soak it!

Little drummer girl??

Yesterday my friend, Nicole had a house warming party. We had a lot of fun, enjoyed good food, and played Guitar Hero and air hockey. For those of you unfamiliar with Guitar Hero (or Rock Band) it is a video game where you hook up instruaments and play along to your favorite songs. You have to follow the notes on the screen. You can have bass, guitar, drums and vocals. It's really a lot of fun and Avery loves it too! We unplugged the drums and let her play along.

Avery was very serious about playing when the drummer on the screen was playing. She kept asking which drum to hit.

Nicole also has a triple player air hockey table. Lots of fun!!

In need of a new princess nightgown....

It's been pretty cold here in Florida this week. We've been seeing highs in the 60's and lows in the 30's and 40's. Now I know those of you who live in the arctic circle think that might be a heat wave but us Floridians are not accustomed this this type of cold. We don't usually see numbers that low until at least January or February and not for more than a day or two. I've even had to turn the heat on in the house the last couple of nights. I'm not sure what is going on but it certainly isn't global warming!

Anyway, back to the point of this picture. Avery sleeps in this princess nightgown almost every night. She even insists on sleeping in it when it is too cold to wear it so I made her wear warm pajama pants and long sleeves underneath. She loves it because of all the dresses she owns, this one twirls the most. The problem, however, is that it is falling apart. The straps are literally hanging on by a thread. The tulle on the dress looks like it was attacked by a kitten with sharp claws (Swishy, maybe?). I have tried to find a new princess dress that would twirl in a similar fashion and have the lacy tulle on it but have had no luck. If any of you come across one, it would be a wonderful Christmas present. (Hint. Hint.)

Ok, last batch.

Ok, so I had a few more really good ones that I couldn't resist posting.