Random Smiles

These are some random pictures over the past couple of weeks that I didn't use in the blog because they may have been out of focus, poor lighting, etc.  However, they have great smiles in them (like most pictures of Avery) that every time I flip by them I laugh thinking about what she was smiling about.

Here a couple extra ones from playing in the leaves.  This was about an hour or more after she should have gone down for her nap.  The fact that she doesn't melt down before naptime amazes me.

In these pictures she was playing on the couch, laughing at Mommy in the kitchen.  For whatever reason, she would yell out "Mama" or "Dada" and laugh uncontrollably.

Thanksgiving

So we had Thanksgiving at our house this year.  Only my parents were able to make it on Thanksgiving day, but they brought plenty of food to spoil us with.

On Thanksgiving day, the weather was nice enough to head uptown and watch the Charlotte parade.  We got there just in time as it was starting off.  Avery had a great time cheering on the bands and pointing out all the horses.  After each band would come by she would turn her head and follow it as far as she could see it.  Once it was out of sight, she would turn to me and say "More...more"

She ended up with a pretty good view on daddy's shoulders.

 A big smile for either a horse or a marching band.

 After the parade we went back to the house and made a shrimp boil.  While I was cooking outside, my parents raked leaves into a pile for Avery to play in.  Each handfull of leaves was accompanied with a smile and "more".

 Mommy even showed Avery how to run through a big pile of leaves and kick them.  If you notice her "Sheriff's deputy" sticker on her jacket from the parade.

Drummer Girl

"Give a kid a drum, annoy her parents forever."

We have a special box of toys that we bring out on tough days, rainy days, etc.  We learned this trick from daycare.  They have a special closet of new toys that have been hidden for a while when the kids are especially wound up or they can't go outside because it is raining.  We keep ours in a closed toy box that is hard for Avery to open.  Most of her toys with batteries and loud noises are in there.  As is the drum.  As you can see in the video, she isn't that bad at it.  Hopefully there is some musical talent in there somewhere from watching so many music videos.

Marching and playing at the same time!

Single Parenting

These pictures are a couple weeks old from when Laura was off visiting Colorado.  She left me to take care of Avery by myself and we had a ton of fun without her.  But we did miss her.

I did get her dressed completely for school and was even able to hold her down long enough to get a hair bow on her.

 We also went shopping for a cold weather hat.  If you haven't been shopping with Avery it is a lot of fun when she is in the right mood.  This is at Old Navy, her sprinting up and down the aisles laughing at the top of her lungs.

 This was her playing with one of the mannequins.  She thought it was super funny to point at the different body parts and name them.  "Foot"

 "Knee"

 "Hand"

 We also went out to dinner one night.  It is odd how she will chow down sometimes when we go out to dinner and not eat the same stuff at home.

Airplanes

This past weekend after a devastating loss in Raleigh, we decided to pick up our spirits by taking Avery to the Monroe Air show.  Her nap timed up perfectly so that we could go see planes fly real low and real fast right beside where we were sitting.  As you might imagine she was in awe the entire time we were there.

A picture of a plane.

 Avery pointing at where the airplane is.

Having mommy hold her up so she could see better.

 She didn't smile a ton, because she was too busy concentrating on where the airplanes were going and coming from, but here is one.

 Listening to daddy explain how airplanes work.

Halloween

Sorry it took a while to post pictures of Avery's Halloween costume, but sometimes they expect me to come into work and do actual work.  Not often, but often enough that it gets in the way of blogging.  Someday the 10 people that read this regularly will turn into 10 million and I won't have to go to work anymore.  Or one of you 10 will give me 10 million dollars.  Either way works for me.

Anyways...Halloween was a mixed bag for Avery, in the fact that we enjoyed it a lot more than she did.  However, she was pretty stinkin cute in her bear costume.  We only went to visit a few neighbors and hang out with some friends because Avery wasn't too keen on hanging out with other kids dressed up in weird outfits.  For some reason she was pretty shy about all the other kids and meeting people at their doorways.  For anyone that has hung out with Avery, she is pretty social and loves being a part of the party, even if there isn't a party going on.

Ready to get some candy!

 Getting her first candy bar.  Later on she managed to get to eat some of it.

 I was squatting down to take a picture, so of course she does what daddy does.