Sesame Street Live!

Mr. Don, our next door neighbor, works at KXOJ and got us 4 free tickets to go see Sesame Street Live at the Mabee Center! We were so excited, and we invited Christy and Chloe to come with us since Daddy said he didn't really want to go. (Imagine that!) It was so incredible and both the girls loved it and had a great time! The characters looked exactly like on the show and their voices were the same. It would have been worth it even if we had paid for it. Avery was yelling "Elmo! Big Bird! Cookie Monster! Ernie! Bert!" and every other character. She knows all the characters from some of her toys, books, and yes, Mommy even lets her watch some Sesame Street on TV every now and then. It is pretty educational. :)

I thought it was a really special time for us. This is really silly, but when I saw how excited Avery was when the characters first came out, I got really choked up and teary-eyed. She just loved it and I was glad to have that fun time with her.

Riding a Horse

Avery and Chloe got to see a lot of horses yesterday! A man in our church lives close by and has a lot of horses and a new colt, so Christy asked him if we could bring the girls over for a visit and he said sure. Avery has seen horses before, but not this many and not this close up! He had about 16 of them! At the end of the visit, one of the horses was already saddled up because she had been ridden and Mr. Clarence asked Avery and Chloe if they wanted to sit on him. I was shocked that Avery wanted to and once she was up there, she didn't want to get down! Chloe was a little more nervous about it and wouldn't get on, and that really surprised me. They had fun, though, and didn't really want to leave! Christy did especially when she stepped right by a little snake as we were leaving! Oh, well, that's life on a farm!

Avery's New Pony

Well, Pop's horse Ruby finally had her colt. Now Avery has a little pony!

Easter Sunday

He is Risen! Easter Sunday was a wonderful day spent celebrating our Lord's resurrection with family. We went to Texas for the weekend and had a wonderful time. Avery got her Easter basket with various goodies and toys from Mommy, Nona, and Aunt Staci and Aunt Jenna! I know I went a little overboard on Avery's outfit, but I couldn't help it! She got her hair curled for the first time and even though she did wear them for the pictures, she did not wear her gloves or hat otherwise. This was the first time she has ever sat through an entire worship service! She does not like to go in the nursery at Nona's church, and who can blame her in a totally different place? So she got to sit in Big Church and did a pretty excellent job for a 2 year old! We didn't have to take her out once. Her aunts said she looked like Driving Miss Daisy, but I thought she looked like Holly Hobby. (Let's see who knows who that is!) She was beautiful and she even got to take some pictures with her cousins who came over for lunch. They were all so cute! A couple of these pictures are going in frames!

First Easter Egg Hunt

This was Avery's first Easter Egg Hunt ever! Christy and Chloe had us and Natalie and Peyten over to hunt eggs. The girls were kind of unsure what to do and were more excited about just playing outside than hunting eggs. But we showed them what to do and they finally hunted them all down!

Beaver's Bend Family Camp Out

We just returned from a really fun weekend at Beaver's Bend! My home church in Texas where Craig's brother is on staff has a Family Campout here every Spring Break. This year my parents, sisters, Craig, Avery and I all went. We stayed in a primitive cabin and yes, had to walk to the bathrooms and showers, but we had a wonderful time! Avery had so much fun playing with the other kids (and even more, their toys!). We will probably make this an annual tradition now because we all had a great time. The food was delicious, the beds hard as a rock, the bathrooms not the cleanest....but more importantly we made some family memories to treasure forever! Craig and I love to rough it and tent camp, but until Avery gets a little older, this will be as close as we get!

Breakfast Girl

This picture is really nothing significant, but I thought Avery looked so cute and grown up on this particular morning, and her hair is getting so long! She had just gotten out of the shower, and I put her new swimsuit cover up on her (pretending it was a robe) and her Elmo slippers. She is such a breakfast girl like her Mommy, meaning that that is her favorite meal of the day! She will eat any breakfast foods, and she really likes to carry around her bag of cereal. She is getting so grown up and 95% of the time, she is the sweetest kid on earth. I hope she stays this way forever!

Too Much TV

You know you've had the TV on too much in a child's life when at just two years old, she's saying "TV on, turn TV on..." when it's off. One day I had been doing laundry or something and I came back in the living room to find Avery like this. She had brought her two little chairs into the living room and placed them as close to the TV cabinet as she could get them. She was sitting there sucking her thumb watching whatever it was on TV and you can see Baby got the other chair and she is watching, too. Bad Mommy, bad Mommy... No more TV for this little munchkin.

No More Monkeys Jumping On the Bed

What little kid doesn't LOVE to jump on Mommy and Daddy's bed????

Avery's 2nd Birthday

On March 1st, our little Avery Grace turned 2 years old! It's hard to believe it's been that long. We celebrated with a Cowgirl Birthday Party! We dressed up in our jeans, boots, and hats, and some of our guests dressed up, too! Daddy and Pop grilled out hot dogs, and we also ate beans, chips, and of course, cake and ice cream! Avery had fun playing with her friends and cousins! It turned out to be a really warm day, so everyone could go outside. She received a new tricycle, a playhouse for the backyard, a water and sand table for the backporch, lots of new clothes, books, puzzles, and much more! Our friends and family are so giving and generous! Mommy cannot wait until summer so we can start wearing all the new clothes! Thank you to everyone who helped make Avery's day a memorable one!