Sunday, June 26, 2011

Stay-at-Home Moms are My Heroes


Gabby B. and Avery at the zoo- Manatee Springs.


Gabby B., Avery, and Addy at the gorilla exhibit.

Avery and Addy at the zoo (Avery in a not-so-ladylike pose).

Avery worn out after the Hillenmeyer Crawfish Boil.


We were patriotically decked out for Flag Day! :)

Our friends the Hillenmeyers had a super-cool "Crawfish Boil" for Flag Day- flew in live crawfish
from New Orleans and the fun ensued from there- Avery was fascinated to say the least!



Avery and Addy at the zoo.



Avery and a new friend at the Crawfish Boil- Avery's first experience dancing with
a boy- we're in trouble for sure :).



Okay...so full-time moms are AMAZING and have my complete respect forever. I don't know how they do it! I am literally exhausted at the end of the day- more so than when I am working part-time and taking care of Avery the other half of the day. Weird! Anyway, we've been filling up our summer days with tons of stuff- every day we either go to Gymboree, story time at the library, the park, to play at a friend's house, etc. Or if we're home we play outside for the majority of the time. It has been lovely weather so that has helped- not too hot! Avery is talking up a storm these days (although she's about 30% understandable). Here are her favorite words:
-NO
-Mama, Dada, Papa, Nana, Mimi (Grammy), Mpa (Grandpa), Sadie, Addy, Cott (Uncle Scott), En (Aunt Jen)
-Bubbles
-Bath
-Gain! (again)
-Dog
-Cat
-Turtle
-Capiller (caterpiller)
-Bee
-GO!
-Car
-Hi!
-Byeeee or Bah bye (bye bye with a very thick southern accent- funny)
-Shoes
-Door
-Ouside (outside)
-Phone or Call
- One (holding up 1 finger)

She will pretty much repeat anything else you say as well...or at least attempt it. It's amazing how much of a little girl she is becoming as opposed to a toddler. Oh so opinionated and she has the limp legs/ spaghetti arms thing down in public places if you've asked her to do something she doesn't want to do...She is also fundamentally opposed to being restrained in any sort of manner- stroller, car seat, cart. The other day we were Krogering and I let Avery get down from the cart (moment of insanity). The next thing I knew I was picking up a bunch of bananas and Avery was taking a huge bite out of a tomato. She looked at me with panic when she realized that it was not in fact an apple as she had thought. So right back in the cart she went:). Ahhhh, exciting moments in suburbia.

So we are having a lovely summer thus far. I have some severe senioritis as I'm supposed to be getting my final presentation of my research together for my Masters. I'm done July 23rd (look for me that day with a big old drink in hand). It's just too tempting at the moment to hang out with Ave in the backyard rather than work. :) Hooray summer!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Miss Liberty/ Dr. Doolittle














Ave had a ball on Memorial Day at Nana and Papa's and of course she had on a Little Miss Liberty outfit provided by Nana (she would be running around naked if it weren't for her Nana and Grammy B.). Grammy B. came to visit and watch Avery for a few days to help me out as I finished up the school year- whew- my hat is off to all of the working moms who do their jobs full-time and the are moms full time. I only had to do it 9 weeks and it was tough! Working mommies are super heroes for sure (and stay at home mommies are too- I just started summer vacation with Avery home all day today and I am markedly more tired then when I was working full-time- sheesh!). Anyway- we are oh so grateful to Grammy B. for helping out as well as Nana helping out on some Fridays so that I could make it through the school year without too much mommy guilt. This weekend we found a hidden gem- West Chester lawn and garden center- they have animals! A turkey, alpaca, rooster, emus, goats, sheep, a huge ram, donkey, white peacocks, and more! Avery loved it!

New Water and Picnic Tables- Also, watering the flowers!










Thanks to Nana for the awesome water table, and to Grammy B. for the awesome picnic table. Avery loves both, and has taken up a new pasttime- watering the flowers1

Racing at Gabby Beerman's House




Except Ave doesn't really get the concept of racing- ha! It was fun to see the Beerman's awesome new house and Avery loved playing with Gabby!

More at the Beerman's New House

Pigtails...and at the Beerman's New House











Oh jeez, we can finally do pigtails and man are they cute (which is good, because

man is Little Miss Avery rotten these days! :).