Ballerina

In addition to the princess dress, Avery also got a Ballerina outfit to play with for Christmas.  She has been taking dance class at school so she showed off the different positions they are learning.

Dora...

"Do you want hot meatball lemonade or cold meatball lemonade?" - Avery, worst meatball lemonade salesperson ever.

So Avery's obessesion with Dora the Explorer continues....  We spent the weekend re-enacting her favorite episodes around the house as she wore the purple backpack.  "We need to go to the gooey geyser!  How do we get there?  Say MAP DADDY!!"

Laura shot this video the other day in the bath as Avery sang the intro tune from start to finish.  I like how she says "You CAN'T lead the way, hey"

Our Princess

Avery (while tooting): "That sounded like a quack.  I got a duck in my pants."

Sorry for the lack of blogs recently, but due to travel and work, I haven't been motivated to sit in front of a computer more than necessary.  As I have mentioned before, Avery got a few princess outfits for Christmas and being a princess is now in her regular play rotation.  (Ipad, build a giant lego airplane for daddy, jump on the couch, push the shopping cart around, play with her baby dolls, help mommy clean/laundry ,and read books are the the other ones that jump to mind)

Showing off her jeweled high heels.

 Pulling up her bracelets, because they should be worn at bicep/elbow level.

 Laura added these enhancements, but you can see her rocking the earrings in this one.

Artist Avery

Robert is in Atlanta this week for a work trip so it's my turn to blog.  A few weeks ago Avery and I were shopping at our favorite place (aka Target) and bought this little case of watercolors.  It pretty much hasn't left the kitchen counter because Avery wants to paint every night.  She of course is very systematic about it and starts with the color on the right end and works her way across.  She asks "who likes <insert color>?" and expects an answer for each one.  So far, Daddy likes red, Mommy likes green, Charger likes orange, and The Count likes black (referring to the character from Sesame Street).  The other colors vary.  We working on using the brush gently.  The bristles on this one aren't going to last long, but hey we will back in Target soon I'm sure :)

Our Little Princess

Avery was at Old Navy with Laura and saw a sign that said "75% off" and said, "Mommy, that says 7 - 5.  It should be 4 - 5." as if it was a list of numbers.

Avery recently has been focusing on her appearance a lot recently.  She got a ton of new clothes for Christmas and has started picking her own out sometimes.  She wanted to paint her fingernails last weekend and was pretty excited about it.

 Concentration.  I think we can say that she is right handed now.  She couldn't do the opposite side.

 Mostly staying within the lines...

Cousin Fun

On New Years Day, my sister and brother in law came over for lunch with Baby Anna.  My parents were already there from watching Avery while Laura and I went out with friends on New Year's Eve.  

Gigi and Ru took the kids on a rocket ride around the neighborhood while I did my best to fight off a hangover and cook lunch for everyone.

 The were both pretty happy to go on a ride.

 Anna's blanket kept falling off her lap, but Avery kept on reaching out and putting it back on.

When everyone got up the little ones decided to have a tea party.  

 Anna seemed pretty happy to drink and eat imaginary food from Avery.

 "Anna, do you want some cake?"

 Anna is getting pretty quick around the house.

 Avery had to show off her favorite Christmas present to everyone again.

Other Christmas Number 6

Chirstmas Number 6 was also at our house with Laura's parents and her sister.  

Avery had gotten the hang of opening presents and attacked each one with ferocity.

 Papa kept the presents at the end of the hall and Avery was responsible for bringing them in to everyone.

 "THIS ONE IS FOR ME!!" - She knows how to read her own name, but not other peoples.

"Daddy, stop taking pictures...this one is for you!!!"

She had been asking for scarfs ever since mommy started wearing them and was pretty excited that Stephanie found some kid sized ones.

A purple cowboy hat?

 I think it looks better on Papa.

Other Christmas's Number 5

After a couple days off, Christmas number 5 kicked off with about 15 or so Gibson's in our house for their annual gathering of present opening.  We had a HUGE meal again and there were a ton of presents for Avery to open.  She enjoyed being the center of attention and all of the opportunities to open presents.

She got a Dora pillow!  She pretty much loaded up on Dora stuff throughout Christmas.  Hopefully her next attachment will be to golf or to motorcycles.

 Studying a Barbie dressup set.  She wasn't really sure what it was, but she liked it for some random genetic reason.

 More jewelry, but this time it was candy jewelry.

 Then she got some dress up costume jewelry.  The pictures were hilarious all of the different faces she was making.  She was super excited to dress up like a princess and be the center of attention.  You can see she has on her tutu.  We later added butterfly wings and her magic wand...

 She wasn't sure how to hold her hands, but had to keep them up so the rings and bracelets wouldn't fall off.

 Look at the high heels....