Avery is 8 Months Old!

Dear Avery,

This past Friday, you turned 8 months old!  Holy smokes, you are growing like a weed!  Mommy and Lily took you to get your pictures taken in the morning and then we all had lunch together.  It was really, really, really hard to pick out what pictures I wanted to get because they were ALL so cute.  I didn't want Daddy to get mad so I only picked two this time.  Your little smile melts my heart.  I love you so, so, so much little girl.  It is so fun to watch you grow and change, but at the same time I wish you wouldn't grow up so fast.  Pretty soon you won't be a baby anymore.

What Avery is doing at 8 months:

~wearing size 3 diapers and size 9 month and some 12 month clothes

~eating 2 meals a day and nursing around 5 times a day

~waking up 1-2 times a night for some unknown reason!!!

~you are loud, loud, loud!

~say "DADA" all the time

~you are MOMMY'S girl and you cry when I go out of sight

~suck your thumb with a blankie curled up to your face

~are practicing drinking from a sippy cup

~still don't like veggies

~wake up when you get yourself stuck on your tummy in your crib

~like to pull hair

~sit in highchairs/carts like a big girl

~no teeth and no signs of crawling yet

~like to sit in your wagon and swing at the park

~you are a good sport when it comes to your big sister messing with you

~like to drink water from a water bottle

~love popsicles with PaPa

~went to the nursery for the first time at church and had fun

Time flies when you are having fun!  I love you higher than the sky and deeper than the sea sweet baby girl.  You will always be my baby.
Love,
Mommy

This and That

 Judy and Avery at Relay For Life.

 Lily and her flower face painting from Relay for Life.

 Relay for Life 2011...

 Our tent at Relay...our team was comprised of 12 nurses and techs from the floor that I work on at The Nebraska Medical Center.  Our team raised nearly $2400 to benefit The American Cancer Society.

 Judy, Gina and Margie playing "Twister" on Judy's bra...a fundraiser at Relay.

 Gina, Amanda and Judy.

 I know this is a hodge podge of pictures but I have to get them in their books!  Avery after her bath.

 Lily splashing around in the tub.

 Sissies

 My little chub a bub.  She wears all of Lily's old clothes and jammies and I love pulling them out and remembering Lily in them.

 I can't believe how big Avery looks in this picture!  Lily can hold her standing up now.

 Sweet Avery Gracie.

Lily Bit is getting so big...makes her momma sad.

Father's Day 2011

 This one was actually Father's Day eve.  Daddy playing with his two silly girls in their jammies before heading to bed.  Lily worked on a special gift for her daddy during the day and we didn't even get a picture of it!  Too late now...it is already at work with Jason.

 Lily and Jason being goofy as usual.  We went to church in the morning and out for brunch at Mimi's Cafe afterwards. 

 Lily and Jason waiting in line to ride the ferris wheel at Scheel's.  I didn't do very well this year as we had to RETURN EVERYTHING I bought Jason for Father's Day.  Wrong sizes...you would think I would know what size he wore after 10 years!  Lily was in one of her moods most of the morning so she is one lucky little girl to have even gotten to ride the ferris wheel!  After Scheels we headed home and we all took a very much needed nap...it was fantastic!  We wrapped up the day by going to Maddie's softball game and then out for pizza at Mama's.

Happy Father's Day to my dad, to my husband and to all of the other wonderful dad's out there!  Being a daddy is no easy job, but it is one of the most important ones out there!

Trying to Beat the Heat!

The girls and I decided that if we wanted to make it to the park today we were going to have to go EARLY.  It has been hot, hot, hot here and it is just too hot to have a baby outside in this heat.  We packed up the wagon and headed to the park around 8:30 this morning.  It was "a beautiful day today mom," as Lily says.  I love that Avery is big enough now to sit up in the wagon.  Jason is out of town on business in Boston this week so it is just me and my girlies...having fun so far!

Ringling Bros. Circus

 I purchased circus tickets months ago and Lily was so excited that the day was finally here!  All week she kept saying, "Am I going to the circus today?"  She has an Olivia book that is all about Olivia's trip to the circus so she also kept asking if Olivia was going to be there.  She knew she was going to see "really really big Elephants Mom!"  We were a little worried about how she would do since she got up early, went to church first and never got a nap before the circus...she did great though!  This first picture is taken just right out front of the QWest.

 There was a face painting station when we first walked in and I didn't really want to pay $15 for her to have her face painted, but this was her special day with mommy and daddy so we let her do it.  I am more surprised that she sat still in the chair and actually let someone paint her face!  I think it helped having lots of little girls in line before her so she saw what it was all about.  She had the choice to be a tiger, clown or butterfly...can you guess what she chose???

 A BUTTERFLY!  A beautiful one I might add!

 Lily eating her $8 box of popcorn.

 Jason's excuse for buying her all of this junk food was that this was his first circus too.  He said that he was supposed to go in first grade but he got the chicken pox so he couldn't go.  I think he enjoyed the circus and all of the junk food more than Lily did!

 Sharing a Tiger Sno-Cone with mommy...she licked my nose in this one!

 She got to pick out one toy and of course she picked the $22 wand!

 The elephants were her favorite and mine.  I asked her what she liked the best and she kept saying "the monkeys."  I said to her, "Lily, there weren't any monkeys there!"  Funny kid.

 Her face is worth a million bucks to me in this one.  She had so much fun and I think she really enjoyed spending the day with mom and dad without baby sister...I missed baby sister though :)  We left her at home with my parents.  I think Avery would have really liked the lights and the music and there were a lot of little babies there.

Tickets to the circus: $55

Butterfly face painting: $15

Lunch: $22.50

Popcorn: $8

Smores: $5

Tiger Sno Cone: $12

Princess Wand: $22

Parking: $8

Lily's face and pure enjoyment and getting to spend the day with my little girl:  PRICELESS!!!