Avery and Lucy

Starting of our School Life

2011-09-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

As the school year started I realized that I haven't updated the blog since last May. Many things have happened this summer with different vacations, three birthdays, and starting Kindergarten. So I will back track to June and try to let you know what we have been up to.

As June started we decided to get the girls each their own bikes. We have had a lot of fun riding our bikes this summer, and even got to do a neighborhood bike ride. Each year they close down streets by our house for a community 7 mile bike ride. You don't have to do the whole trip, but along the trip there are different areas to stop and do activities. We chose to ride about a mile from our house to one of the schools where they had a kids area to play. The girls got to play on the bounce castle until we had an accident. This was the first time that we had taken Lucy out and about for a couple of hours since we had started potty training, and we forgot to bring clothes. It made for a little harder time riding back, but thankfully we were outside in the grass when it happened.

Bike Riding Pictures

In June we also found a cute little dog that we decided should join our family. Her name is Lady, and she is a bundle of energy.

Then as June was coming to a close Robyn, Heather, Todd, Mandy, Brett, and I took off for our trip to the Dominican Republic. We spent a week down there without any children, and had a great time hanging out on the beach and different activities. I am not really sure what my favorite part was, but it is probably a tie between the 27 waterfalls and boogie boarding.

Robyn, Heather, Ismael (our taxi driver), me, Brett, Mandy, and Todd before we went down the 27 waterfalls.

On the balcony of our condo.

Cabarete Beach going out for my birthday.

We made it back home just in time for the 4th of July and enjoyed the day at the Creswell Parade which is one of my favorites to go to. While we were in Eugene we also got to go to the Rodeo. Avery loved looking for the "Jessie's" (cowgirls for those not in love with Toy Story), and Lucy looked for the "Bullseye's" (horses for those not in love with Toy Story).

Parade and Rodeo Pictures

Next came Avery's 5th Birthday. I made Lucy's 1st birthday cake so I thought this year I would make Avery a cake, and now I am all done making cakes. Avery wanted to help me make the cake so she helped with the batter.

Laura and her girls gave us their easy mixer which worked perfectly.

Licking the beaters.

Proof that I did it.

The finished product.

Lucy got Avery a stuffed Jessie doll for her birthday.

That weekend we went up to the Winlock to listen to Papa Randall (my Papa) play in the bluegrass festival. It was a lot of fun eating hamburgers, having cake, and listening to him play, which was one of his favorite things to do. This was the best way to spend one last time with him.

Nanny and the girls playing on the playground by the stage.

Papa playing in the band scramble.

Avery and Lucy dancing while Papa played.

Papa only got second which he was happy about because they didn't have to play for 45 min. that night.

Capri watching as Avery blew out her candle.

This is Myah who Avery wants to be just like.

The next weekend we had a party for Avery's birthday at a park up here in Portland, and it rained that morning until it was time for her party. Thankfully it was fairly nice weather for the rest of the day and we had a lot of fun celebrating her birthday.

Avery's Birthday Pictures

We also did swimming lessons in July. This time Lucy got to be a goldfish even though she isn't 3 which means that she gets to go into the pool all by herself. It turns out this is the most wonderful thing in a parents life because then you don't have to get in the pool and get all wet, but instead get to sit back and enjoy watching swimming lessons.

Swimming Pictures

In the middle of August we went camping like we did last year with the Cliff Kimball Family, Grandpa and Grandma Kimball, Grandma Murray, Mema, my parents, Heather's Parents and brother, and Bri. We had so much fun in the boats, floating, and going to the fish hatchery. While we were there we also got to celebrate Annika's 4th birthday.

Camping Pictures

Then as August was ending and September was starting Avery got to have her first ballet recital. It was really fun to watch her class do their routine, and to watch how much she has grown. The funny part was that Lucy could also do the routine as well as Avery because she had to go to so many dance classes as well. Starting this fall Lucy will be big enough to also get to start ballet so both girls will be doing that again.

Ballet Pictures

After ballet we went up to Washington to hang out with Nanny and my dad's family for the weekend. We got to go to the Packwood swap meet which is always an experience. They had a spot where you could pay for 10 min. of playing on bouncy slide, and they kids had fun taking a break from walking in the heat.

Brandon pausing for his picture.

Avery going down the bouncy slide.

Allison, Avery, Lucy, and Brandon

When we got back on Tuesday we officially became the parents of a school girl. Avery started Kindergarten, and seems to really be enjoying school. She did last Thursday night make a request to have a home day, but it didn't have as much to do with not wanting to go to school as just wanting to hang out with Lucy at home. We will now wait and see how many days she makes it this week before she asks, because it could end up being a long 12 years.

Avery in front of her school sign

Avery has a Jessie backpack thanks for Ms. Rhonda

Practicing writing her name.

Avery and Lucy at the door leaving for Kindergarten and Preschool

This weekend for one our home days we went over to my friend Laura's house. She has two big girls, Kelsey and Maddie, who my girls are totally in love with. The girls all played in the pool together, while Laura and I floated in the pool and sat in chairs to dry off. It was a great way to spend a warm Saturday.

Kelsey and Lucy drying off. Who knows what Lucy is telling her.

Maddie and Avery hanging out in the pool.

Lucy refused to let go of Kelsey the whole time in the pool.

As we are now starting a new school year we hope that you are all doing well, and hope that this school year will be great for everyone.

The First 5 Months of 2011

2011-05-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

So it turns out that if you are doing tax season, dance class, working full-time, school part-time, and swim class then you don't have as much time to update a blog. There was a request for me to update the blog so I thought I would do that tonight. Here are all the pictures from the last five months.

Pictures

Here is the update on our family. Brett has now survived another tax season and is back to having Friday's off. My full time job ended in April, and I have now been subbing. We just got the girls bikes so we have been practicing how to ride bikes and they are actually getting pretty good at it. There has only been one time that we rode our bikes to the park because we got about half way back, and they both decided they didn't want to ride any more so we had to push them the rest of the way.

Avery is getting big by the day it seems. She is so excited to start kindergarten in the fall, and will be going to Arthur Academy. We got to go tour the school, and will get to go next week to a kindergarten open house. She just finished up another time as a penguin for swimming lessons where she made a new friend Daniel. Last weekend we even got to go to his birthday party, and it is so cute to watch them. Avery also has been doing ballet class since Feb., and is so in love with dance. She loves learning the moves and it is one of the highlights to her every weekend.

Lucy is no longer a baby, but has turned into quite the little girl. She has been wearing underwear for a few days now and is so proud of them. The thing she is most proud of is that she has earned a big girl date by filling up her sticker chart. She also got to do Starfish swimming lessons, and we are really excited to do swimming lessons in the fall so that she can move to Goldfish. The big plus to goldfish class is that mommy or daddy doesn't have to do swimming lessons as well. Lucy also got to do dance class, but it really wasn't for her. She would only go out there if Avery went out there, and by the end didn't want to go at all. She does however like to do freeze dance with Avery's class.

We are definitely enjoying ourselves as the sun starts coming out more, and we are getting to do more fun things. We hope that you are all doing well and now that I am not working full-time maybe I will have more time to update this.

The End of 2010

2010-12-29T15:58:00.000-08:00

It has been quite a long time since I updated the blog. To me it is amazing how busy we have been, and how few of pictures we have taken. Since my last update Lucy turned 2, and had a wonderful birthday party. We also celebrated Halloween as an 80's couple, Belle princess, and a fairy. We got to go trick-or-treating over at Auntie Mandy and Uncie Todd's house which was a lot of fun. They let us walk around their neighborhood, and we also got to help pass out candy. (Avery loved being in charge of the candy.)

Pictures of Lucy's Party and Halloween

After Halloween we went to Washington to celebrate Thanksgiving with my Dad's side of the family. We had a lot of fun playing with everyone up there, and even got some good pictures of Papa playing Uno with the girls, and Nanny making a backpack out of a shopping bag since she didn't have two.

Next came Thanksgiving with both of our families. This year Jason, Carley, and Cody came up and the girls had so much fun playing with him. We really enjoy when they come and love playing with them.

Finally came all of the Christmas fun. First we started off by going to the Singing Christmas Tree which was a great way to start off the Christmas season. We went out and got a Christmas tree with the girls and searched all over the tree farm until we found the right one. Next we went to the Grotto and got to see all of the Christmas light there. Lucy is my child who is never to sure about petting animals, but she petted the bunny at the grotto. Then we got to celebrate four Christmas' with one at home, and then one at both of our parents, and then one with all of Brett's extended family.

Pictures and Videos of Christmas

We hope that you are all doing well and enjoyed your Christmas. Hopefully with this next year I will find a little more time to do the blog, but it might have to wait until Spring Break since that is when the next break in school is. We love you all and are so glad to share our lives with you.

Random Pictures and Videos from the last 3 months

Pictures that Avery has taken (with permission) from my camera

The Summer has Ended

2010-09-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

It is now September which means back to school we go. We had a lot of fun at the end of the summer and tried to cram in as much excitement as possible. One weekend we went camping at the coast, then we drove down to Oceanside, CA, Avery had her birthday ice cream date with Auntie Mandy and Uncie Todd, and finally my cousins came up from Brazil to visit. We had lots of fun doing all of these things.
For the coast we went over to Florence to test out my parents new trailer that they bought this summer. It was a lot of fun getting to break it in and play on the sand. We stayed for two days and got to play on the sand a lot. Avery even got to try to fly a kite, but it wasn't really windy to it didn't go as well as expected. Overall I think that we had a great trip breaking the trailer in and are looking forward to more trips in it.
Florence Pictures

Here we come Oceanside. We took Tamma and Grandpa with us and drove all the way down there. It took about 15 hours to get down there, but we spread that over two days. By the time we got down there we all wanted out of the car. Down there we got to play on the beach, walk on the pier, and enjoy the sun. We also spent one day at Sea World. Lucy and Avery loved it, and we had a blast there for the day. Brett and I also got to go to dinner one night to celebrate our 6th Anniversary. We tried a place in La Jolla, and got to drive down Hwy. 1 to get there. The food was great, and we really enjoyed our date night down there (Thank you Tamma and Grandpa). On our way back we stopped at Concord for the night and got to tour the Jelly Belly factor. We had a lot of fun there seeing how jellybelly's are made.
Oceanside Pictures

Avery also got to go celebrate her birthday by having ice cream with Uncie Todd and Auntie Mandy. This year she got to dress up like her favorite princess, and they dressed up as the King and Queen. I am not sure who had more fun. Them coming up with their outfits or her getting dressed up.
Ice Cream Pictures

Finally right before school started my cousin and his family came to visit. It was really great to get to meet his kids and watch them play with Avery and Lucy.

Hope you are all enjoying your first week in September. We have been busy with back to school things. I have excepted a full time sub job through December with Centennial School District teaching 8th grade math, and helping coach a cute little soccer team. Brett now has the priviledge of having the girls all to himself on Friday's. This last one they went to the zoo and had a great time. The girls are back at the daycare they were at last year, and are so excited to be going there every day. We hope that you are all well and pray that you all enjoy your time as the summer ends and Fall comes.

End of July

2010-08-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of weeks we have had a lot of fun going to the zoo, swimming lessons, and hanging out with family. We also spent sometime writing on our chalkboard wall. Hopefully you can tell the difference between my handwriting and Avery's, but she wrote everything that I wrote. We only practiced our A's and 1-5.

Right now we are loving to learn to write, and our imagination is growing a lot. We were at the doctors office for her 4 year old check up and she decided that she was on the mountian, the white sheet was snow, the top of the table was grass, she was wearing a snow suit, and she kept telling Lucy to let go of the string because she was holding ice with her bear hands. I love trying to figure out what is going on in the world, because you never quite know where you are. (fo

For those of you who want to know Avery is 40.25 in. tall and weighs 32.5 lbs, and just like every four year old.

We have also been doing swimming lessons for the last two weeks, and the girls are doing very good. Avery is learning to do back floats by herself and bobs, which some of you know is a huge deal. Until this time Avery has never wanted to put her face in the water. Lucy also has done really good the last couple of nights playing with her teacher. Before this she would cling to Brett and I whenever her teacher looked at her.

Hope that you all had a great July and are looking forward to the many adventures in August.

End of July Pictures

Swimming Lessons Pictures

Happy 4th Birthday Avery!!!!

2010-07-08T16:24:00.000-07:00

Over these last couple of weeks it feels like a lot of things have been going on, but it has been so much fun. We started off our crazy weeks by going to Seaside to my cousin's wedding. (For those of you that think you might get to see pictures from their wedding before them you are sadly mistaken. I only put up one because I thought they should get to see them first.)

Seaside

Then when we got back from Seaside we had one day before we left to go camping. This year we went to Cove Palisades with Grandma and Grandpa Kimball, Grandma Murray, Mema, Tamma, Grandpa, Nana, Papa, Doug and Sally (Auntie Heather's Parents), Uncle Robyn, Aunt Heather, Annika, Jenna, Auntie Mandy, and Uncie Todd. It was a lot of fun camping with them and we had a great time at the lake.

Cove

We got back on Monday and have been waiting for today to come. Last night as Avery was going to bed she told me she was ready to turn 4 because it has been a very long time that she has been 3. Today she got extra marshmallows in her hot chocolate for breakfast. Then we spent the day at the zoo with Auntie Julia. Finally we went to McDonald's for lunch and she got to have her very own Happy Meal. Tonight we will see what her birthday holds, but for now we have set the bar high for future birthdays to come. I hope you are all enjoying your day as much as we are enjoying ours.

Avery went down the big slide for the first time today because "4 year olds can do that."

First Week of Summer

2010-06-27T20:06:00.000-07:00

This past week we have been getting ready for this next week, but I thought I would post a few pictures before we leave for more family fun. There are just a couple of pictures that I have of the girls playing around the house, but I want you to get to enjoy them.

Brett was working out, and Avery thought she would join him and do jumping jacks. It is my favorite thing to watch because she is positive that she is the best at jumping jacks.

Also as many of you know Avery has loved playing sleeping, and is finally starting to get Lucy to play it with her. Which basically means that Brett wont be guaranteed a nap each day.

Then this last weekend we went to Spokane without the girls. We thought we would make a quick trip up and back so we decided to share a room with Mandy and Todd. The whole way up we joked about how funny it would be if they gave us a room with only a king bed. When we got up there you can guess what happened. We decided to take a picture of the four of us in the bed which actually fit, and then we invited Robyn and Heather over and proved that you can actually get 6 people into a king size bed.

May 2010

2010-05-30T19:39:00.000-07:00

Hope you all are enjoying your May. We were at the beginning when it was sunny, and really wish that the sun would come back. Over the last month it seems like we have been busy, but actually we have been home the last two weekends in a row. Now we are just looking forward to our summer starting (in 21 days, or 8 more work days), getting to go on vacations, celebrate 4 year old birthdays and our birthdays. In the last month it seems like Lucy has started talking a lot more, and Avery is getting her really into imaginary play. They are really fun to watch play together, and they both snuggle up with each other when Calliou is on. We hope that you are looking forward to the summer as much as us, and I hope that you enjoy the new pictures of the girls. There are also some videos of Lucy singing and counting, and Avery singing and counting. Hope we all get to enjoy the sunshine soon.

May 2010

April 2010

2010-04-07T18:28:00.001-07:00

I do realize that we are only a week into April, but I thought I would post all of the pictures I have taken so far. This last weekend Tamma and Grandpa came up to celebrate Easter. We went to an Easter Egg Hunt at Alpenrose Dairy also with Uncie Todd and Auntie Mandy. Then they all came to our church on Saturday night and we had Easter dinner after that. The next day we got to have breakfast together and it was really a great time to get together.

Easter Pictures

Then today was our first day home this week all by ourselves. Avery woke me up this morning to read me a story, but sadly my camera was not charged so I had to do a second taping of the story. And of course it wasn't as good as the first time, but I still hope that you enjoy.

She also tried to pronounce my name, and now I am wondering what kind of parents (mine) name their kids so that even there own children (Avery) cannot pronounce it. I guess it really doesn't matter unless she is trying to introduce me to someone with my first name.

Then Lucy wanted her turn so we counted. The only number she can pronouce clearly is nine, but you will also hear her say two and six over and over again.

Finally as I was getting tired the girls got a second burst of energy so we worked on our letters online. This is Lucy's new favorite thing to do and I thought we would show everyone the letter A.

They also continued to play a chase game around the living room, which actually was rather comical to me.

The final thing that they did before daddy got home was Lucy climbed up on the table while I was packing our bags for tomorrow.

So I just thought you would all enjoy to know what happens around my house at about 5:30 when we all wish for daddy to be home. And we are so thankful that there are less than 10 days before he will be home around that time. Hope you all are enjoying the beginning to your April.

Washington Spring Break

2010-03-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

For the beginning of spring break we went to visit my family in Bellingham, Washington. We stayed with my Aunt Dee and Uncle Phil and had a lot of fun playing outside. Thankfully it was nice so we could got to be outside most of the day. My cousin Michelle brought over her kids bikes to play with. Her kids don't got to school on Monday so we got to play with Allison and Brandon during the day. We also got to play with Samantha, my cousin Sherri's daughter, during the day and then that afternoon her brother Andy came to play with us. We had a lot of fun playing with all of them and can't wait until we get to see them in June. I took a lot of videos of the kids and you can watch them, and I hope that you all have enjoyed your spring break even if you didn't get a break.

Videos are below and you can find pictures by clicking HERE.

Dance Class

2010-03-26T09:27:00.001-07:00

We did dance class at the community center and had a lot of fun. This time we did the Terrific Twirling 3s &4s. Here is Avery's favorite dance, and my favorite dance to watch. It is called the Bird and the Explorer dance. They get ribbons and when a certain type of music is on they are birds and then when it changes the explorers come out and they have to march with the ribbons. Hope that you enjoy watching it as much as I do.

Swimming Lessons Feb. - March 2010

2010-03-12T17:35:00.000-08:00

So last night was our last night of swimming lessons for a little while. Avery was a Penguin and Lucy was an Angelfish. Both of them really enjoyed it, and it was a lot of fun to see them progress through the last five weeks.
Lucy has been doing a lot of jumping into the water. She gets all geared up like there is going to be a huge jump and then pretty much falls into your arms. If I had to guess I would say that jumping in and trying to blow bubbles are her favorite. Right now she just puts her mouth in the water open, and to her she is blowing bubbles. We haven't quite figured out how to teach her to close her mouth, but there is a little more time before she needs to do it. Brett and I have been trading off nights with her in the water which has been great because we get to both see how well Avery and Lucy are doing.
This is Avery's first time in Penguin class. They do a lot of front floats, back floats, and bobs. We ended up buying Avery goggles so that she would put her face in the water. The only problem is she wont let us put them on tight enough so every time after she puts her face in the water she has to dump out the water. The goggles have really helped with the bobs and front float. Her only problem is the back float. (You can watch the video and see how much she doesn't like it.) One night though she did do it for a couple seconds all by herself and was so proud. Her favorite part of swim lessons is when they do Red light, Green light, Yellow light, Monster Green light, and Disco light with their kicks. She also really likes the game of Mr. Shark, and enjoys chasing people in the water. Overall she has learned a lot, and will have the wonderful priviledge to be a penguin again the next time we take swimming lessons.
I hope that you enjoy the pictures and videos, and all are having a great time. And only one week until Spring Break and one month until taxes are due. So those are two major HOORAY's in our lives.

Swimming Lessons Pictures and Videos

March 2010

2010-03-07T09:40:00.001-08:00

So I know that March has just begun, but we have already had some really fun things that happened in it. First we have been doing swimming lessons and both of the girls have really been enjoying it. Avery is learning to do back float and front float, and Lucy is all about "jumping" in the pool. We got Avery goggles so she is now starting to put her face more in the water, and is getting way more into jumping in the pool. It has been really fun to watch her get more excited about certain things in the pool. Lucy has always been excited about swimming, but now wants to do more things by herself.

The second exciting thing that happened was we got to celebrate Auntie Mandy's 30th Birthday Party. She had an 80's rollerskating party and it was a blast. We all got dressed up and got to see how quickly you can forget how to rollerskate. Avery did have skates and only fell once, but she didn't really enjoy it. Lucy had more fun at the end of the night when Brett pushed her around for a couple of minutes in them. Avery spent the night running around with Dahlia, and they had a blast together.

Hope that you are all enjoying your beginnings to March, and enjoy the pictures.

March 2010

January 2010

2010-02-03T22:25:00.000-08:00

We hope that you are all having a great start to this year. I just had some pictures of the girls hanging out at home and in Washington. We just got back last weekend from my Papa's 80th birthday party, and so I had some pictures from that. Also I took some video of the girls playing on the Wii, and Lucy trying to say words. It was very funny to listen to, and she is starting to get better at words. Hope that you all enjoy.

January 2010

Chirstmas 2009

2009-12-29T17:39:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to you all!!!!!

We hope that you all had a wonderful time with your family this Chirstmas. Today was the girls first day home to play with some of their toys and Avery was so excited to get out the train set.

Lucy made it crash on accident.

We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed seeing everyone. Here are some pictures that we took throughout all the Christmas' that we had. Hope that you enjoy.

Christmas Eve and Santa

Christmas

Christmas Tree

2009-12-14T19:14:00.000-08:00

We got home on Saturday for Florida, and my wonderful husband took us to get our tree on Sunday. We now have our house decorated and are ready for Christmas to be here. Well kind of, we have a few more presents to get and then Christmas can come.

Avery helped cut down the tree.

Avery and Lucy putting their ornaments on. The only problem was Lucy didn't want to let go of hers.

This is our new family ornament as of this year. We got it in Disney World obviously. It is all of the pieces of Mickey.

This is the tree that Avery wanted to get because, "I only like itty bitty trees...I really don't like big ones."

Disney World Videos

2009-12-14T19:09:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know we went to Disney World last week. It was a lot of fun and we took lots of pictures. Because life is in the full holiday swing I will get up pictures from Disney World after Christmas, but here is some videos that I took while we were there. Hope that you enjoy.

Disney Videos

Swimming Lessons in December

2009-12-03T13:35:00.000-08:00

So this is Lucy's first swimming lessons at the community center and she is starting to get used to it. Today was our second day and she really didn't cry as much which made it way more enjoyable for me. Avery also gets to do swimming lessons at the same time in a different part of the pool. She has started to jump in the pool which is a big improvement from our last swimming lessons. We will see what she can do and how much Lucy likes it after we are done in two more weeks. In the mean time enjoy these pictures of the girls at their lessons today.

This is a video of Avery jumping and then of Lucy riding on the noodle in the current pool.

Thanksgiving and Zoolights

2009-12-03T13:21:00.000-08:00

We hope that you are all enjoying your Holiday season. On Tuesday of this week we went with Auntie Mandy and Uncie Todd to the zoo for the zoolights. It was a lot of fun to ride the train and look at all the Christmas lights. We have now switched from Thanksgiving to Christmas and Avery is getting so excited for Santa to come. Here are some pictures from the last week that I thought you might enjoy.

We had to bundle them up to keep them nice a warm.

Tamma and Avery making breakfast.

Avery wore her underwear and her apron to make breakfast.

Avery helped Lucy put on the tutu and then Lucy refused to take it off.

Avery, Lucy, Brett, and Uncie Todd played ring around the rosy, and loved it.

Videos

2009-11-19T16:21:00.000-08:00

I thought that today I would get to uploading some videos that I have of the girls from this fall. These first two of the girls and their dancing abilities. They love to dance just like Brett does, and it is really great to watch them.

This next video I took while we were having lunch one day at home. Lucy was falling asleep and this sequence that happened in the video had occurred about 10 times before I could get the camera to video her.

Although it make look as though she is actually eating that piece of the sandwich never made it into her mouth. Avery and I got a kick out of watching her.

This last video I took today. Lucy has really been getting into reading books and we a book about farm animals. We have been working on what animals say. Lucy came up with what a dog says all by herself. And as you will see we are still working on duck, pig, and horse.

Hope that you enjoy all the videos and are getting excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas. We will hopefully see the majority of you over the next couple of months, and can't wait until that time.

We Have A Walker

2009-11-19T16:10:00.001-08:00

We officially have two children that can walk. While everyone has seen Avery walk for a long time, or littlest girl now is up and moving. And with every step that Lucy takes she wants to prove to us that she is her own independent child who will do her own thing. Avery started walking a little before 11 months, and Lucy decided to wait until 13 months. With Avery she took about three steps and then a couple minutes later took 7, and just kept increasing that. Lucy on the other hand would take about 4 steps for the last couple of weeks and then would take less and less as we tried to get her to do it. Then last week she walked from our couch to the carpet about 10 steps, and so I posted online that she could walk. At that moment she then decided to crawl for the next couple of days. The videos that are below are of her a couple weeks ago when she was first starting. She stood in the middle of the hallway and danced to the music.

At this moment I told her that any child that can stand up on her own and dance in the middle of the hallway with her hips swaying that they should be able to walk. From that point on she took it as a challenge and has been working on it. The rest of that morning we practiced walking in the hallway.

Overall she is becoming quite the little walker, and the only time we crawl is if she wants to get somewhere fast. It is very cute how often she likes to remind us that she is her own person and will do things in her own time.

The Princess and the Ladybug

2009-11-01T14:30:00.000-08:00

For Halloween Avery wanted to be Cinderella, and Lucy fit in the Ladybug costume. For the last three years we have always gone over and trick-or-treated Grandma Max and Grandpa Tom (Auntie Mandy's parents). We hung out at their house and then they were nice enough to let us walk around their neighborhood and trick-or-treat. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them, Amy, George, Auntie Mandy, and Uncie Todd. Avery got a lot of candy, and had so much fun walking house to house to trick-or-treat. She new exactly what to say each time that the person would open the door and loved getting candy. Then when we got home sitting outside our door was two little baskets with candy, a teddy bear, and stickers that our neighbors had left for us. We tried to trick-or-treat them earlier, but they weren't home. Brett and I both thought it was very sweet of them to get our girls little baskets. Well, we hope that you all enjoyed your Halloween, and enjoy the pictures.

Lucy is officially 1

2009-10-20T14:46:00.001-07:00

Today we went to the doctor for Lucy's one year old check up and we found out that she weighs 20 lbs. and is 28 in. long. This means she is in the 25 percentile for height and 25-50 percentile for weight. She is crawling around and walks around things, but right now doesn't want to walk all by herself. Lucy has started talking a little bit, and loves to ask the question "What's that?" or "Who's that?" Sometimes when you ask her what a dog says she starts to pant. Her newest trick is making funny noises. Here is video of one of her tricks:

Last night she wanted to walk while Brett held her fingers so he sat in our chair and walked her in a circle it was very funny:

Avery has been growing up very quickly as well. She thinks that she can do things all by herself and does not need help. Right now we are really into princesses, movies, coloring, and popcorn. After Lucy's 1st birthday party Brett and I took her to see the movie UP and she enjoyed seeing the big movie. Lately she has really been into making up stories and songs. She has a great imagination and each day I learn something new. Brett and I are also realize that there are no secrets anymore because she tells everyone everything.
Other than those things we haven't really been up to much. Brett and I have just been working, but I am enjoying being home with them every other day. This last weekend we went to the Pumpkin Patch with Todd and Mandy and had a great time. I put up some pictures from that sI hope that you enjoy, and are all looking forward to Halloween as much as we are.

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

Your Sins Will Find You Out

2009-10-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know my grandma has always said, "Your sins will found you out." It was true for my dad and for myself, and as of today it is true for Avery. So here is the story: Today I went to upload all of the pictures off of my camera and it said that I had 102 pictures and videos, and I definitely don't remember taking that many. As I looked through them I found that I have a little 3 year old who likes to take pictures so here are some of the things that she took pictures of. Now don't think that she is unattended because when she is taking the pictures Brett is getting ready for work and she is suppose to be eating breakfast, but here is what is really happening.

Lucy eating breakfast

Her toy puppy dog

Her puppy dog taking a nap.

Of the total 102 I took 12 and she took the rest.

Here is some footage of her excursion that she took. The first one is 3:08 but if you skip until the last 10 seconds you will see whose face appears; for those of you who say she would never do something like this.

Lucy's 1st Birthday Party

2009-10-11T19:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend we celebrated Lucy's 1st Birthday Party. It was very fun watching her eat cake and watching her learn how to open presents since this was her first experience. As you will see there are a lot of pictures, but I narrowed it down from the 258 that Brett took. Hope that you enjoy them.

Lucy's 1st Birthday

October

2009-10-05T21:06:00.000-07:00

We hope that you are all doing well. Right now we are getting ready for Lucy's 1st birthday and Halloween. I will get those pictures up soon, but right now I thought I would get some pictures off of Brett's camera. When I was getting them off I found pictures from our niece Annie's birthday, and then some pictures from Mema's 80th birthday party. I will update you all on what we are up to in the next post, but enjoy these pictures for now.

Annie's Birthday

Mema's Birthday

Avery Drawing

2009-10-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

Today Lucy decided that she wanted to take a nap this morning so I let her, and then Avery decided that she wanted to draw on the chalkboard wall. I made Avery explain her drawings, and then she helped me take the pictures of her favorite pieces. Hope that all enjoy.

This is the slide.

This is a picture of me. It was beautiful and then she realized that she had not drawn my hair and so you can't see how great it was.