Halloween Pics & First Major Bobo

So, this was Avi Grace's costume. She was a PIG! I fell in love with the costume when I found it, and I had to get it even though I had a passed down lion costume already. She did so well in her costume! She left the head piece on every time that she wore it. She didn't even bother with it.

We had SUCH a fun time at the Fall Festival at our church. Avi Grace walked around like she owned the place! They had a room just for toddlers, which is where the first couple of pictures were taken, but when we first got there, we walked into the gym. That is where the "big kid" games were taking place. As you can see Avi Grace decided she was going to be a pumpkin thief!! It was funny. I would return the pumpkins and then she would just take them again!

Isn't this the most adorable costume in the world?? A SKUNK!! This is cutie Turner, who is in Avi Grace's Sunda School Class. His parents work with Campus Crusade for Christ at MSU. Loved the skunk costume!!

Emily Adkerson as a clown

Brent & Jack Fountain as Curious George & the Man in the Yellow Hat

Cy & Nicholas Hallberg as Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat!

We enjoyed getting to see some of our friends at the fall festival. Aren't the costumes cute?! Amy Fountain has more pictures on her blog if you want to look at them.

See the blood on her dress?

See her fat lip?

Yep, that's right. Avi Grace got her first major bobo today. I'm glad I wasn't home when it happened. I know that may sound weird, but I think I would have freaked out more if I had been there. It happened right before I got home. Drew was very sweet and picked her up from daycare this afternoon. They were about to take a ride on the 4-wheeler to check on the cows. The 4-wheeler is very old and extremely temperamental, and as Drew was struggling to change the gears, it jumped a bit and Avi busted her lip on one of the handlebars. Drew said she cried for less than a minute. She got blood on her dress, but we have already washed it, and it came out! After about 5 minutes she acted like nothing had ever happened. Her lip is fat, but I don't think any other damage was done!

One last note. Those of you who know us well know that Drew drives a 1990 Toyota Forerunner. Yes, that makes the truck 18 years old! It has had no air conditioning for at least 5 or 6 years now. Anyway, just thought I would share our monumental news. Drew bought a new-to-him truck today!! Woo-hoo! Avi Grace and I are so excited! It is a 2006 Toyota Tacoma. It even has air conditioning!!

Halloween Party & Sneak Peak of Avi's Costume

Avi Grace wearing the head piece to her costume before Halloween

Avi Grace at school on Halloween

Avi Grace & Miller playing with my cake carrier

Avi Grace & Miller sitting in the fun chairs

Peter & Avi Grace

Avi Grace eating Cheese Puffs at her school party

Miller, Peter & Nohl, 3 of the 4 boys in Avi Grace's class

Aren't Halloween parties so much FUN!

I've got lots of pictures to post from the Fall Festival at our church with Avi Grace in costume. It will take me a few days to get it all on the computer and then on the blog! So, you'll have to enjoy the preview of her costume for now! The other pictures are from Avi Grace's party at school on Friday. I enjoyed being able to go to the party and seeing the kiddos eat cheese puffs, cookies with orange icing and drink juice drinks. Avi Grace LOVED the cheese puffs! It was the first time she had eaten them...it took her a long time to eat one of them, but she really liked them! Thankfully her teacher was smart enough to put spare t-shirts on the kids while they ate their "party" food! I had fun watching them eat and play. It was fun to see Avi Grace in her element with other children!

Spaghetti Anyone?

First spaghetti experience.

Second spaghetti experience.

Third spaghetti experience.

Well, first I have to apologize for taking such a long time to post another blog. It has been absolutely crazy around here. We have had one thing after another with little time to relax. Thankfully we are having a peaceful afternoon today! In spite of all of the things we have had going on, we are doing pretty well. Avi Grace has been sick off an on with the normal daycare illnesses. I am hoping we get rid of the runny nose and cough soon, but I am not counting on it seeing as how we are entering the winter months!

Avi Grace is just a bundle of joy these days. She is such a happy little thing. She's practically running, and I'd have to say that she owns this place! She still struggles with just having the one nap at daycare, but she has learned to tolerate it pretty well! All this week she would become giddy when we pulled up in the daycare parking lot! I guess that means she is enjoying herself when she is there!

The pictures above are from her first real spaghetti experience. I cooked spaghetti one night for dinner, and she LOVED it! She stuffed herself so full several nights in a row that we thought she might explode! Really, one night after she ate a ton of spaghetti, some green beans, a whole banana and some peaches, I had to cut her off! Her belly was so full and tight! As you can see from the pictures, she became progressively messier with her spaghetti eating! We just laughed at her, which made her smear it even more!

A couple of things she is doing right now that I absolutely love are: 1. Last week she started humming to herself. Mostly it is when she is in her car seat, but it is the sweetest thing, and it just makes my heart melt every time I hear it! I am dying to get a video of it, but the timing hasn't been right thus far; 2. She is able to do 3 signs: the sign for more, the sign for eat, and the sign for all done. The sign for more is my favorite. We haven't really tried to teach her other signs, but I am sure she would pick those up too, if we showed them to her. She is also trying to say thank you, which is sweet!

I promise I'll try not to let it take so long before I blog again! Take care.

Tailgating, Reading Books & Daycare update

Reading a book in the chair she got for her birthday!

Isn't she adorable?

Sitting sideways in her chair, as she loves to do!

Standing in her chair, as she loves to TRY to do before I tell her No, No!

Tailgating before the first home MSU game

Doesn't it look like she is trying to play center??!!

Okay, now she looks more girly with the football!

One of my favs from the photo shoot as we tailgated! 

She's like, "you talkin to me?"

Well, I've been meaning to post these pictures for a few weeks now, but I didn't want to take away from her birthday pics! Avi Grace LOVES to "read" books. It is one of her favorite pastimes...and she loves to do it sitting in the chair that Wan and Granddaddy gave her for her birthday! Most of the time she sits as she is supposed to, but as you can tell, sometimes she likes to stand in the chair! She has gotten better, but you still have to watch her closely. She also had a hard time getting in and out of the chair at first, but now she has pretty much mastered it with a few mishaps here and there. Of course just the other night she was sitting in her chair, and I commented to Drew about how well she was doing getting in and out of the chair now, and as soon as I got it out of my mouth she took a nose dive! Oh well, I guess that is how she learns to be careful! (It didn't hurt her...she cried less than a minute.) 

We tailgated with some sweet friends, Kristi and Steve Brown, before the first home MSU football game a few weeks ago. Avi Grace had a blast. She walked everywhere...wouldn't sit still! There were 2 little boys throwing a small football right beside where we were, and she was having a fit to be involved with it. They sweetly brought the football over to her, and she was excited. I love the picture of her looking like she is about to hike the ball! Cracks me up! We had a fun time, and we could not have asked for better weather...overcast and a fairly mild temperature.

So, daycare is going pretty well. She is doing great at drop off! Almost every day last week and every day this week, she has gotten down and started playing with her friends and not even worried about me leaving! That has been very nice! Naps are still hit or miss. Some days she takes a good nap and others not so much. When she takes a good nap, she seems to be happy when I get there, but if not, the afternoons are kind of rough on her and on the teachers! Maybe she will get it down pat soon and it won't be a problem. That is my prayer for her right now...that and that she gets in a better sleep pattern at night. She is a great sleeper...always has been at night. For the longest, probably since she was about 4 months old, she has been going to bed around 6:30 and getting up anywhere between 6 and 8 (varying over time with different phase). However, lately she has been waking up a lot earlier. Now, I don't mean to complain by any means because as I said, she is a great sleeper. However, she went through a phase for several weeks where she was waking up at 4, 5 and then finally 6 (going back to sleep in between most of the time, and I didn't have to go in there or anything), which meant that I was also waking up at those hours. Then she finally quit doing that, but now she is waking up really for good sometime between 5 and 6:15. Now, I know that it could be a lot worse, but I would really love for her to sleep until about 6:30. Yesterday morning she woke up at 4:40 and I am not sure she actually went back to sleep until around 6 for a short nap before having to get up for good. This morning she woke up at 5 and fell back asleep around 6:15 before waking up for good about 6:45. We are trying to put her to bed around 7 or so to push back that wake up time, but so far it has NOT helped!! Anyway, all is well, and again, I don't mean to complain. I guess if I had a perfect world she would wake up when I wanted her to!! No worries, though. I just praise God every day that she is a happy, healthy, sweet child. That was my prayer for her when I was carrying her and really before she was even conceived, and I still thank God for that blessing every day.

Daycare

Well, Avi Grace started daycare two weeks ago at the Creative Learning Center, which is at our church, First Baptist. The first week was pretty rough...for both of us!! There were a lot of tears...again from both of us! However, I must report that last week (the second week) went a lot better. It has been a huge adjustment for Avi Grace. Before starting daycare, she was taking 2 good naps a day. Sometimes on the weekends she would take 3 naps to get us through the day. At daycare, they only take one nap a day as one year olds. She really could still use 2 naps, but I guess you've got to do what you've got to do! On Friday she took her longest nap yet--an hour and 45 minutes! Woo Hoo! Most days it has been 45 minutes or so, so a longer nap will definitely help with her moods!

Judy Coffey, the wonderful person who has been keeping Avi Grace 3 days a week since January, took a part time job outside of her home. So, that is why we started daycare. We really miss Miss Judy! She was SUPER with Avi Grace, and AG loved her. I never thought twice about leaving her in the mornings. She was happy there, and we miss it. We also miss seeing Emma, Judy's granddaughter. Judy also kept Emma 2 days a week, and Emma and Avi Grace played well together! (The 2 pictures above are of Emma and Avi Grace and Judy and Avi Grace on AG's last day at Judy's house.) We miss you Miss Judy and Emma!

Avi Grace is a very social child, so she really enjoys playing with the other children in her class. She is the ONLY girl in her class! There are 4 boys and her! She will be bossing them around in no time, I am sure. She loves to take pacifiers out of Emma's mouth and the mouths of children that she sees at church! One of the kids at daycare took her blanket from her the other day when I was picking her up, and she didn't like that too much! I guess the boys will teach her a lesson on taking their pacifiers! 

So, for now we are still getting used to daycare. She was happy every day when I picked her up last week, and she only cried one morning when I dropped her off. So, I think we are doing pretty well! 

More Birthday Party Pictures!

Jack, Emily & Zach had a lot of fun playing in the big orange pool. It had a lot of water in it, and it was a lot of fun to splash in and jump into!

After having lots of fun in the pools, Avi Grace decided she wanted to go exploring out in the yard. You can only imagine how dirty and grassy she got!

After Riley got out of the frog pool, Jack had a fun time playing with the water spraying out of the front of the pool! He would put his hands over the spout so the water wouldn't come out and then let it go and it would spray everywhere!

This is Avi Grace's birthday hat that Bob, Judy & AnnaClaire gave her. She wasn't too fond of it being on her head, so it didn't stay on too long during the party! It is adorable, though! 

Did anyone get a better picture of her in the hat? Maybe one from straight on instead of from the side? I'd love to have a copy if you did!

Avi Grace and Laura Leigh both enjoyed playing in the water! Yes, I know my child doesn't have a swimsuit on, but I decided it was too much trouble to get her suit on (it is tight and takes some maneuvering to get it on her!). So, we just put the swim diaper on and enjoyed the water!

I have no idea what Avi Grace was telling Emily here, but I thought this was a sweet picture! 

Riley loved the frog pool (he has this pool at home, too, so he is probably used to it)! I'm not sure he got out of the frog pool the whole time he was in the water! It is a fun pool, though. As you can see from the picture, it squirts water out the front!

1st Birthday Party

We had Avi Grace's birthday party on Saturday. Her birthday is not until September 12th, but we decided that this past weekend would be the best time to go ahead and have her party. We had so much fun! 

She ate some of the icing on her cake, but she didn't much care for it after a few bites. She never even ate a bite of the actual cake! She had had enough before she got to that part!

We had baby pools for the kiddos. They loved it. Avi Grace LOVED the spraying water, and she enjoyed going from pool to pool as usual! She also enjoyed venturing out into the mud and into the grass! She had a blast!

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate Avi Grace's birthday. We are so thankful to have such wonderful family and friends!

More pictures to come...these are from Abbi's camera, and I still need to get the ones from my mom's camera. So, enjoy this preview! I'll post more as soon as I get them. It will be later in the week!