Our Lil Cheerleader

So Avery definately had fun at the NC State game, but it was a blast to watch her have fun.  As the crowd thinned out during the second half she had a little more room to be able to see and to stand up on her own.  She took this opportunity to do some cheering and dancing with the band.

Grins from ear to ear!

She would take her hands like this and say "GO WOLFPACK!"  The great part about it is that we weren't encouraging her to do it.  She just started to do it.  I am sure we had brainwashed her at a previous time, but it was still cool to see.

Clapping and stomping trying to get everyone to cheer.  Notice the score in the background.  No one really felt like cheering at that point.

First NC State Game

This past weekend with a lot of help from Mimi and Papa, Avery was able to come to her first NC State game.  We have watched a lot of them on tv, been to a few high school games, but never been to one in person.  When it looked like the weather was going to clear up on Friday to make it work, we started talking about it and she got real happy, real quick.  I think this led to her not sleeping very well and getting up around 4:30~5am.  After that we thought the day might not go very well, but we were very wrong.  Avery ended up having a blast and we had a ton of fun watching her have fun.

Laura, Stephanie, and I went up a little before Avery, Mimi, and Papa to set up the tailgating spot.  When Avery got there it was pretty hard to get the grin off of her face.  She loved being around all the people wearing red and was doing the wolf symbol pretty good.

 Thanks to Mimi and Papa for driving her up to the game and home afterwards. (and spoiling her as ususal)

 She had a great time leading Papa and Mimi through the parking lot looking at all the NC State stuff.  A few cars down from us there was a stuffed Mr. Wolf on top of a car that she had to check out.

 You can't have tailgating without food.  She pigged out on pretzels and hotdogs (her usual diet) before the game.

 Once we were inside the stadium, it took a while for things to sink in.

 Our happy family at Avery's first NC State game.

 After a while the grin came back despite how the game went.

 Some goofy pictures with Daddy-bo.

A picture from the ride home after the game.

Birthday Party

This past weekend, we went to a friend of Avery's at school birthday party.  I was not to pysced about hanging out with a bunch of adults that I didn't know, but we decided to go because Avery was excited about it.  It turned out to be a good time watching Avery run around and interact with other kids her age.

There were some farm animals for all of the kids to pet and play with.

 Luckily, Avery's Bestest Best Friend from School, Lilly (aka "Lily Bear") was there to hang out and play with Avery.

 A bubble machine... and in the background....

 A bouncy house!!! We didn't get a great picture of her grinning, but trust me it was ear-to-ear.

 More hang time!

At some point there was a mention of cake...  It was time to blow out the candles...  After the candles were blown out, Avery and one of her little friends followed the cake around waiting on it to be cut and served.  I don't think they ever took their eyes off that cake.  They were relentless.  There was no hope of getting any real lunch in her until after that first piece of cake. You can see the eagerness and sadness in this picture as she is waiting on someone to give her a piece of cake.

And somehow she got a sucker out of the goodie bag and opened it in my car...

Future Engineer

We met one of Avery's classmate's parents at a birthday party (more on that later).  She asked us if we read to Avery...we said "several books a day." She told us that when she would drop her daughter off, she would have to read her books to get her to calm down.  Avery would run over and sit beside them to listen.  When the book was over, Avery would run over and grab another one and ask for it to be read.  She said that she would have to read 4 books before she could sneak out.

So Avery's most recent fascination is with drawing ladders.  You can always identify her work in class because it will contain a ladder.  I don't know if it is that she will be an engineer or a by product of her OCD and having everything organized, but it is cute.  She has even started drawing them on birthday cards that we send out for her.

 My shopping buddy at Target.

Air Show

"Your hair is not wet mommy... Did you not take a shower?" - Avery 

I am running a bit behind on the blog, but we took Avery to the Monroe Airshow about a week and half ago.  She has been skipping some of her naps on the weekends recently so we thought it might work out pretty good since the show started at noon.

First up some Mexican food where she only ate the chips.

Once we were at the air show, Avery was in heaven.  You can see her walking away from us straight away to go explore the airplanes.

 It was tough to get a smile out of her because she was always running off to go see the next airplane.

 Here she is looking in amazement at the planes flying over the airfield.

 However, her favorite part may have been the motorsports dealer that had motorcycles, ATVs, and other fun toys set up for people to look at.  She immediately took to this motorcycle with training wheels....that's right...a motor cycle with training wheels.

 She isn't going for a tricycle...she is going straight up to the big leagues.  2027 Motorcoss champion....AVERY MARSHALL!!

Charger and Me

Caught a few picture of Avery playing with Charger the other day.  They have taken to each other pretty well recently.  Charger has started snuggling with Avery on the couch and Avery does a good job feeding him and throwing the toy for him.

That's our Avery

School keeps them on a schedule and you have to have rules when you spend all day with 18 toddlers, so some of that rubs off on us at home, but we also know Avery has OCD.  When I come to pick her up, she has to finish what she playing with (usually a puzzle) and put it back on the shelf where it belongs.  Good training.  Lately it's been dark when we leave school so Avery tells me "Mommy its dark outside.  That means it's time to go home, eat dinner, take a bath, and go to bed."  Throw in some Dora cartoons and iPad time and that's basically our evening on the weekdays.

Avery also teaches us things she learns in school.  She knows her colors and can count to 8 in Spanish.  I say 8 because for some reason the number 9 comes out as "eleven." and I don't remember what she says for 10...

She is getting real close to being potty-trained....she will tell me when she's already done the deed and needs to be changed, so we just have to get her to tell me before she needs to be changed.  She will yell at me from her crib (I'm downstairs) - "MOMMY CHANGE ME!".  This past weekend she didn't want to nap so she would yell at us downstairs - "Mommy, what did you say?  I can't hear you! Mommy!!... Come get me!"  At least she will talk to her puppy and baby Tips for a while.

Silly Toddlers

They cut open a pumpkin at school and had the kids feel inside of it and tell the teacher what they felt.  The responses are hilarious.

Just think....one of these kids could grow up to be president.

Reading Letters

The day after Halloween, Laura took Avery to the doctor because she was still feeling a little sick.  When they arrived at the doctor, the nurse asked for the patient's name.  Laura said, "Avery Jean Marshall."  Avery then added, "A-V-E-R-Y!"  The lady was surprised that Avery could spell her name and asked her to do it again, which she did.

Here she is opening a Halloween card.  It is hilarious to see what is important to her...reading her name, the money, and most importantly picking up the trash....



A happy little sick toddler at the doctor with her horse.

 Being spoiled by Papa with a giant pancake.

Weekend at the Farm (Part 2)

On Sunday, Easton came over with his parents to ride Bucky.  We had been coaching Avery for a few days that she was going to have to share "Her Bucky" with Easton.  Saturday evening she was pretty excited about it.  Sunday morning when it came time to share, she felt completely different.

First as always, you have to brush Bucky.

 Showing her good friend Easton how to brush Bucky.

 Easton wasn't too excited at first to get on Bucky.  It may have had something to do with the purple helmet and Avery crying.

 Even Laura took a turn on Bucky.  This made Avery the maddest.  She had walked back to the house to get something and saw Laura on Bucky and started running and crying at the same time.  "GET OFF BUCKY!!!!"

 Easton eventually warmed up to Bucky and kept asking for more rides.

 Avery warmed up to the situation and did a good job taking turns with Easton after the initial meltdown.

Easton also enjoyed watching his parents feed the big horses treats.

 This was our best effort at getting them both on the horse at the same time.  It was not a winner.

Weekend at the Farm (Part 1)

"The leaves fell off of that tree.  We can't put them back on." - Avery, noted dendrologist

This past weekend was another weekend in Vass on the way to a football game.  Avery got to spend some quality time with "Her Bucky" and the Gibson's took a lot of good pictures while we were off at the football game.

Brushing her Bucky before riding.

 Shoveling Poop out of his stall.

 Giving Aunt Stefamie a high five.  Best Horse Buddies!!

 The Gibsons also taught Avery how to do a thumbs up.  She seemed pretty proud of her self showing this off.

 Mimi and her two horse buddies.

 This was right after Avery gave a big thumbs up.  Lots of laughs for our little chatterbug.

A great picture of Papa playing with the little princess.