A Huge Thank You!

I totally screwed up and forgot to take pictures of Christmas. I cleared off my card and everything and was going to video, but the morning of Sam got frustrated with my camera because he wasn't sure how to start recording and it got sat on a shelf and I completely spaced it. Avery was so cute and so excited. He did get a short video of her on his phone, but that is with him now at work.

I may not have the pictures, but I do have some words. Christmas Eve was wonderful. We went to our friends home for dinner. Jesse and Melissa rent this great little house on Auke Lake about a mile or two away from us. We had a scrumptious pulled pork dish and a rice/sausage dressing (Melissa is from Louisiana and loves cooking Cajun style things). Melissa even provided an activity for Avery! She decorated ornaments with stickers. I think she must have made 6 and hung them all on their tree! They even got Avery a gift, a Mrs. Potato Head! Now we TWO and tons of body parts to go with it! She was so excited. Avery must have sat on Jesse's lap for over and hour playing with him and the toy. So cute, she adores him. At one point I asked if she needed to try and potty and she begged for Jesse to take her. Avery was pooped and dead asleep by the time we got home. So we bypassed the whole "milk and cookies act" and just took her to bed and pulled the gifts out of the room they had been locked in.

Christmas morning Avery was up bright and early and screaming (not happy screams). She woke up in a terrible mood. Honestly, she should have gone back to sleep, but I couldn't settle her down enough to go back to sleep so we were up. We came downstairs and she was SO excited about her dollhouse. She couldn't keep her eyes off of it. She'd open a present and then go back to the dollhouse. She was TOTALLY spoiled. She got some beautiful clothes, lots of movies, a sweet new purse, baby doll accessories, books, a leap pad, play mobile people, a doll house and some new jewelry. I am probably leaving a lot out, but she got a lot and it was all awesome. Huge Thanks to all who made Avery's and our Christmas. Avery was not the only one spoiled. Sam and I made out pretty well too. It was so unexpected and wonderful. Thank you very much for spoiling us as well! It was such a nice surprise to have presents to open. You all are so wonderful to us! The rest of the day was spent eating leftovers, skyping with family, watching football and we went for a nice walk with the dogs. The only thing missing was being physically with family and well SNOW! All our snow had melted all 54.8 inches! Three inches showed up a day late.

Thank you again for all who made our Christmas! Love you all and hope to see you soon!

Even though the water is cold we really do love the beach. I love water, always have and always will. There is just something about seeing is that makes me feel more at home. I had forgotten how much I missed it.

We have been keeping busy with play dates, Kindermusik, swimming, ice skating, turf 4 tots, etc... Our last day of nursery school this year is next week. We are hoping to make another semester of it and we will be starting up a 16 week Kindermusik class in January (BIG Thanks to Grandpa Rick and Gigi for that!)

Sam has been keeping himself busy. He joined a gun club and is on a trap team for the winter. Smith Equine is slow, but that was expected as equine work is slow everywhere in the winter. Thanksgiving was wonderful. We had a great time with friends and met lots of new great people. Sam's work Christmas party was also a lot of fun. Avery has a growing crush on one of the other Doctors at the practice, "brown Jesse". There are 2 male Jesse's and one is bald and the other has long brown hair. She talks about him often and totally lights up when she sees him. It is pretty funny!

I believe Avery is ready to potty train, so we are going to make a go of it next weekend and the following week. Our normal activities are canceled so we are going to go on lock down and lose the diapers. She has been waking up dry and I have convinced her the past 3 mornings to sit on the potty and she has been successful in peeing in the big toilet each morning. She has started bringing us diapers and wipes to change her when she is wet or poopy. And she is obsessed with a few books that are about potty training and we have really been talking it up.

So Avery's Christmas present to Mommy and Daddy.....NO MORE DIAPERS! I hope it goes as planned ;)