Monkey Joes

Avery's Aunt Lisa wanted to take her to Monkey Joes for her birthday last weekend.  The only thing better than a bouncy house in your backyard is going to a place that has 7 bouncy houses all together.  We also invited her cousins Grayson and Harper so they could bounce together (and I didn't have to get in there).

Grayson just turned 8 so I knew she look after our little blondie.  Harper is just 5 weeks younger than Avery, but much braver.  She immediately went for the biggest, tallest slide in the building, while Avery was content in the "toddler" area with Mickey Mouse and friends.

The other part of this adventure involves potty training.  I put Avery in a pull-up before we left, knowing it would be hard to coax her away to go to the potty.  She did try to hide behind Minnie one time, but Rebecca (cousin) caught her and I'm happy to say the majority of the deed was done in the potty.

"Where are my cousins?" -- she really did say that, it was precious.

Harper convinced Avery to go down the "medium" size slide.  They held hands and screamed the whole way down.  Then with a big smile said "Let's do it again!!"  This process repeated several times.

Avery really had fun with her family.  Thanks so much to Aunt Lisa for making it happen.

Soccer Shots

Avery has "Soccer Shots" on Thursday with her friends at school and Avery has talked a lot about it, so Mary and Jimmy got her a soccer ball for her birthday.  The weather was nice last weekend so we spend an afternoon in the backyard playing soccer with Avery.

Dribbling really really slowly.

 Ready for a power kick!

 It looks like she is dribbling really fast, but is likely chasing the ball ready to pick it up with her hands.  She likes for it to be still when she does her kicks.

 Practicing her "Airplane" move.

 When I was juggling the ball, she kept on saying "You are really good at this, Daddy!"  I think it was the first time in 10 years I had touched a soccer ball.  I see that changing as I can see Avery saying soon, "I don't want to go to the football game, I want to join a soccer team."

Birthday Presents

We actually got Avery out of the bouncy house for about 5 minutes to open Sara's present.  You can see the pink crocs on one foot as she reads the Dora the Explorer book that has her as one of the characters. 

The rest of the presents had to wait until the next day because as soon as we pulled her out of the bouncy house, she crashed hard.

She was pretty excited about these lights that attach to your fingers.  Mostly because Papa showed her how to play with them the day before.

 Showing off her "Airplane" move that she learned in her soccer shots class at school.

Of course Mommy and Daddy got to cheat when getting her a birthday present and got her a purple bicycle.  Here she is helping me put it together. 

It was raining on Sunday after a great day of weather for her birthday, so we had to clear out the garage and learn to ride the bike inside.

 Mommy teaching Avery how to pedal.

Big smiles for a purple bike.

Birthday Party Part 3

Once the other kids left, Avery refused to get out of the bouncy house, so the party moved into it.  

Jumping with Mimi.

 Getting tickled by papa.

 You can see the sun going down when she was jumping with Ru.

 Anna Kate had a great time in the bouncy house as well.

Watching Avery is a ton of fun!

 Playing peek-a-boo with the entire party.

 And the best part....cupcakes for Dinner!

The next morning....looking for her bouncy house.

Birthday Party Part 2 - Bestest Friends

If you ask Avery who her best friend is, she will quickly say "LILY!"  She was pretty excited that Lily was coming over to her house to play and while there were other kids and she played with them some, the party would have been a success if just Lilly had come.  The two of them were pretty much inseparable during the party.

Hanging out with Lily-bear in the tunnel

Walking around holding hands.

 Jumping in the bouncy house screaming at the top of their lungs.

 Lily had to sit beside Avery when it came time for cupcakes.  Lily is a vegan, so she even brought her own cupcake and avoided the temptation of eating one of the other cupcakes.

 A hug for her best friend.

 As the party winded down, the girls decided they wanted to go upstairs and have a tea party....at the top of their lungs...

 Cutest Tea party ever...

Birthday Party Part 1

So this past weekend we had Avery's Birthday party at the house.  We took about 400 pictures, so I will have to pick and choose the best few over the next day or two.  This was the first time we invited other kids to the party other than our friends kids.  We decided to rent a bouncy house and let the kids run wild outside rather than having to do a party at Chucky Cheese or something like that.  The weather turned out great and everyone had a pretty good time.

She was pretty excited to have everyone bow at the throne of Princess Avery and sing her Happy Birthday.

 The first jump on the bouncy house.

This was the face she had on the rest of the day.

 Here are her little friends other than Jayde who was a bit camera shy.  What you can't gather from this picture is the deafening sound of 5 little girls screaming cheese all at one.  The look on Easton's face is priceless as well.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the happiest, funniest, most amazing person I have ever met.  The past 3 years have been amazing and I can't wait to see what you learn in the next year.  We love the way you smile, the way you manage to make us laugh everyday, and how happy you are to see us everyday.  I know you had a blast at your party yesterday, but we had twice as much fun watching you enjoy it all.

Happy Birthday Boogie Bear!!

What Does the Fox Say?

This story is way way too funny to not put on here.  Yesterday during school, Avery was teaching the class about animals.  I don't know if it is something where they get the kids to rotate leading the class or Avery is especially smart (I know what her grandparents would say).  The kids are all sitting on their named spot on the rug and Avery would hold up the picture and say "What animal is this?" and "What does the xxx say?"

So the following pictures are a reenactment of what happened because the teacher was doing something else (which is why Avery was teaching).  Avery held up the picture and asked "What animal is this?"  The kids all responded, "A fox!"  Avery then asked, "What does the fox say?" and without allowing for an answer said "Ring a ding ding ding ding".

For those that don't know, "What does the fox say?" is one of the biggest hits on YouTube last year.  It is an incredibly stupid and annoying song.  We hadn't played her the video, because it is so dumb, but Uncle Mark had asked her a couple times "What does the fox say?", but this was several months ago.  Somehow that stuck in Avery's mind and came out yesterday.

Here is Avery's re-enactment of that scene for the teacher who thought it was the funniest thing ever.


And the original video that got so popular on YouTube.

Happy Birthday Anna

So a few pictures of the actual Birthday girl.

Eating her first piece of cake.  The was a bit cautious to begin with and didn't really dig in.  When Sara laid it out in front of her she didn't have a problem with it and had quite a few pieces.

 Cute little stinker.

 Another sly smile.

 Later on in the evening after an outfit change and opening presents, the crowd cleared out a little bit and the girls could play together.  Here is Avery reading Anna a book.  Anna clearly thinks this is the greatest thing in the world and was laughing her head off.

 Big smiles for books.

 A hug for Baby Anna

 And even gave her a kiss when Anna turned around.