More Christmas Pictures...FINALLY!

Avi got a huge stuffed dog for Christmas from her Mimi & Papa (my parents). I thought she would like it, but I had no idea how much she would like it! She LOVES that dog...as you can tell!

Avi enjoyed lying on her dog!

Still lying on her dog, but now with her head back!

Avi gave her dog many kisses. She is in a kissing phase right now. She kisses everything. She will open a book and kiss what is on the page. She also gives AWESOME kisses to people as well...no slobbering or anything, a very sweet puckered up kiss! Cory (Drew's brother) got one, if not the first, "real" kiss she gave. He was so excited, and it was very sweet!

Lying on her dog again!

Avi loves to ride Papa's "horse"... actually she loves to ride anyone's 

"horse!

Avi loves to stand on anything and do her penguin dance!

Avi was checking out her Mimi's Christmas tree.

Avi and her aunt Abbi.

Avi loves to look at the book about babies.

We finally got a shot of us together.

Avi loves to play the piano at Mimi and Papa's house.

Papa taught Avi to wink, and this is her version of a wink!! I love it!

Okay, so I know that I posted pictures a while back of Halloween, but I didn't have these from my mom's camera, so I thought these were cute and wanted to share them with you.

Look at my sweetheart!

Christmas Pictures...Having Issues

Sorry I haven't posted anymore Christmas pictures. Most of them were taken with my mom's camera, and near the end of Christmas day her camera went kaput. We have since sent it off to Canon to be fixed. So, we are at the mercy of Canon for now. I promise I will post them as soon as I can. In the meantime, here are a very few from Christmas morning before we went to my parents' house, as well as some other random pics from the holiday break.

Avi and I got Drew a new Tri/Time Trial bike for Christmas (we totally pulled off a surprise for him, and that was a lot of fun!). So, this is Avi checking out her daddy's new ride on Christmas morning!

Avi eating breakfast...she couldn't wait until we got to my mom and dad's house (my dad always cooks a wonderful breakfast on Christmas morning; I usually eat more at breakfast than I do for lunch!). (Please ignore her nasty nose!)

This is Avi Grace talking to one of the balls that goes to her favorite toy...it pops balls up and out of a hole. It is pretty fun. She loves it.

I'm not sure this picture does the mess she made justice. I was doing some things around the house one day in December, and she got quiet for a few minutes. I went to find her, and this is what I found...hand towels, wash cloths and toilet paper all over the bathroom floor! She was having a blast!

Abbi and Joel (my sister and brother and law) came over for dinner one night. Avi Grace had a blast playing with them. She especially enjoyed sitting in Joel's lap and playing with the startings of his beard (as the pic below shows).

Avi Grace playing with Joel's stubble!

I made a chocolate chip pound cake one day over the holidays. Chocolate cake batter is one of Drew's favorites, and he shared some of it with Avi Grace.

Licking the spoon of the cake batter!

I think she liked it...don't you?

Mud Pies & Christmas Times

Well, we finished our Christmas adventures yesterday. Last  Saturday, the 20th, we had Christmas in Birmingham with Drew's mom's extended family. On Sunday, we did Christmas with Drew's mom and his brother Cory. Unfortunately Jonathan, Drew's other brother, was not able to join us because he had to be back in Atlanta for work on Sunday. On Thursday we did Christmas with my family at lunch. And, yesterday we did Christmas with Drew's dad. We were also missing Drew's stepsister, Susan, from Christmas yesterday. She is pregnant with twins and was unable to join us this year because she is due in the next month or so! Whew! It has been a whirlwind of a week, but we have had fun and we were blessed with a wonderful Christmas! I have a lot of other pictures to post from our Christmas times, but these were all taken yesterday, and I thought I would start with these. The first couple of pictures of Avi Grace were taken before we left our house yesterday! She loves to be outside, and she was just too cute in her dress for me not to take some picture of her!

She loves to sit in any chair, so here she is sitting in one of our patio chairs!

Um, yes, she also loves to STAND in any chair, and my commands for her to "sit down" were not working at this point!

It was such a nice day yesterday. In the afternoon it was about 72 degrees and sunny. We had a big time outside. Avi Grace enjoyed playing in her first mud puddles. I tried to keep her out of it for at least 10 minutes, and then I just gave up and took off her shoes and her pants and let her have at it! She had a big time.

As you can see she wanted to ride the 4-wheeler as well. Thankfully Uncle Cory was there and helped with that mission!

AND, we went down to the small creek that runs behind our house and let Avi Grace and Laura Leigh play in the water. The water was extremely cold, and Avi Grace didn't stay in it too long!

Uncle Cory and Avi Grace on the 4-wheeler.

Laura Leigh by the creek.

Laura Leigh, Uncle Cory, baby Walt and Avi Grace ALL on the 4-wheeler together!

Laura Leigh riding on the back of the 4-wheeler!

Avi Grace and her Grandaddy (Drew's dad) riding on the 4-wheeler.

Needless to say, we had a fun day yesterday. We thoroughly enjoyed the weather and the company! I hope all of you had as wonderful of a Christmas as we have had. I will post more Christmas pictures soon!

Odds & Ends

Well, we had our Christmas get together with the Fountains, Waltons and Adkersons last weekend, and we attempted taking some pictures...as you can see, Avi Grace was having a little difficulty!

And, she's almost back up in a seated position!

What's that up in the sky? Is it Santa Claus or Dars 

(Jack's Elf on the Shelf that he named to rhyme with Cars!!)??

Ahhh, there we go. That's about the best we could do! 

(Left to right: Jack Fountain, Riley Walton, Avi Grace & Emily Adkerson)

What, doesn't everyone play with their toothbrush in the bathtub??

And, doesn't everyone try to brush their hair with their 

toothbrush while they are in the bathtub??

Finally, brushing her teeth in the tub!!

She loves to ride her Zebra that was passed down to her by Jack Fountain!

Telling me she's ready to "go" to school. And, she's sucking her thumb, one of her favorite things to do. For the longest time she wouldn't suck her thumb unless she was holding her "blankie," but now she has started sucking her thumb some even without it.

Now she's really read to go to school!

Avi Grace loves to pull all of the pans and paper plates out of 

this cabinet. So much fun!

She will NOT leave a bow in her hair these days! And, isn't this the cutest dress? Aunt Susan McAllister made it for Avi Grace!

This is how I found her hair one morning when I went in to get her! 

Very bad bed head! AND, we had to take her pajamas off because she had leaked out her diaper! This picture kind of looks like a mugshot, huh??!!

A fun Thanksgiving!

George Walter "Walt" Anthony

We had such a fun Thanksgiving. We went to Jackson on Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving with Drew's mom's side of the family, and got to visit more with Avi Grace's new cousin, Walt. Isn't he a beautiful baby? He is so sweet, and he slept the entire day we were in Jackson! Unfortunately that meant a not so fun night for mommy and daddy!

Avi Grace, AnnaClaire & Laura Leigh at Thanksgiving in Jackson

Avi Grace enjoyed playing with the big girls! She also loved it when the boys went outside to throw around the football. She roamed all around and kept saying "ball" "ball" "ball." It was funny. She just loved being outside most of all! She was hard to keep up with.

The extended McPhail family at Thanksgiving

After Thanksgiving in Jackson, we headed back to Starkville to eat lunch with my family on Friday. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and great company. My nephew and niece are growing up so quickly. John Michael is in the 7th grade and Madison is in the 4th grade! The weekend before Thanksgiving, my older sister, Sheri, and I went to Memphis to see Mamma Mia, and Madison and Avi Grace both spent the night with their Mimi. Madison taught Avi Grace to do a "penguin" dance. It is so adorable and funny! I have it on video, and if I can ever get my computer to load it to the blog, you can have a laugh over it as well. Avi Grace had so much fun that she didn't want to leave when I went to pick her up on Sunday evening! 

Avi Grace & Papa after Thanksgiving lunch

When it was naptime, Avi Grace sought refuge with her Papa. She was doing anything she could to keep from going to the crib for her nap! Isn't she sweet cuddling with her Papa?