Merry Christmas Eve

You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth

Luke 1:14

Wishing you all a VERY Merry Christmas!

Love- The Winston Family

exhausting

"All this waiting is getting exhausting. I think the next 2 days are going to be the LONGEST of my short 21 month old life! Hurry up! I can't wait until Christmas and for everyone to get here!!!!!"

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Matt was out of town this past weekend and Avery and I had a nice little Sunday together, cleaning, cooking and getting things ready for Christmas.

Look what Avery found while we were cleaning up the office (so my parents can sleep in there when they get here in THREE DAYS-yay!). Do you remember this adorable red and green Christmas tutu? Let me refresh your memory.........

This was Avery sporting the same tutu last Christmas

I guess it was a little big a year ago but.........

.....it seems to fit pretty nicely now! She wanted to wear it all day long- even in the bathtub! Haha! And in case any of you thought that your Christmas cards were a waste of time, think again because Avery and I look at all of them almost daily and point out all the pictures, naming everyone over and over, which is what she is doing in the picture above.

Avery helped me to make some Rice Krispy treats, which was such a good activity for her because Rice Krispys are pretty hard to mess up..........

......and it didn't matter if she ate it while we were making it!

We are getting SO excited for Christmas and have lots of fun things lined up when my mom, Steve and Allison get here on Friday!!!!!!! We can't wait!

Twenty-One

One beautiful little girl

with two fabulously proud parents

is patiently counting down the four days we have left until Christmas, but before then

she is proud to tell you that she is twenty-one months old today!

21 of the best months of my life! I love you sweet girl!

Happy Feet

This video makes me laugh so hard because:
1 she is wearing her Dorthy shoes
2. When she falls onto the floor she is trying to breakdance- which the nanny's grandson, who is 6, is trying to teach her
3. This was like the 10th time i had rewound this part for her and she busts a move every single time! You can hear her at the end saying "Again!"

This girl seriously loves music! She always has loved it because when she was a very little baby she LOVED listening to those Baby Einstein musical CDs in the car- and they ALWAYS made her stop crying when we would play them. Now she has lots of favorite songs- mostly Hannah Montanta songs (thanks to the nanny's 10 year old daughter who introduced her to Avery), and she knows some of the words to "Party in the USA" which is hilarious! But one of her favorite things to listen to is this

www.nameyourtune.com

Avery got it as a gift for her 1st birthday and it has been one of the best gifts we have received! It is of course personalized just for her and her name is sprinkled throughout all of the songs- and they sound great- not at all like they have been dubbed in or anything. The first song is called "Hello, Goodbye" and as SOON as we get in the car she say "Hello, Goodbye" over and over until I press play! She just sings and sings and sings- its so funny! She also LOVES to dance and LOVES to watch the Ellen show because they dance so much. She will say "Mommy, watch Ellen. Dance" and then go "doo doo doo" and start to sway back and forth like she is dancing- hilarious! And don't get me started on the fact that she tries to play everything like its a drum- her dinner plate (after she has dumped all the food out and turned it upside down, on the back of her dolls, on the table, the cribs, seriously anything she can get her hands on. And then she will play her "drum" and sing a little ditty about Elmo. Hilarious!

Maybe this all means she will have a career in music someday! Or maybe it just means I have an imaginative little 20 month old! :-)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Only 7 more shopping days left until X-mas!

Cuteness Overload

Here are the some of the rest of our fabulous pictures that we took for our Christmas cards. If this little cutie pie doesn't brighten your day I'm not sure what will! Enjoy!

Top 5 trends of 2009

#1. Wear your "door-tea wed shoos" (aka Dorthea red shoes) any time you are awake

#2. Wearing your head-band low on your head, reminiscent of Star-Trek, and insist on putting it on all by yourself.

#3. Wearing your glasses upside down and with the sides actually on top of your ears, instead of behind them.


#4. Smother whatever you are having for dinner onto your hair, face, neck arms- anywhere your arms can reach. Its really good for your skin...........and the carpet underneath your chair.

#5. You always look good with a SMILE! :-)

I Heart New York

Last weekend Avery and I went to New York to visit Robin, Dave and Jake, and I have not had sufficient time to write a post detailing all the wonderful fun things we did while we were there...until now! :-)

This was my first time to meet sweet baby Jake, and although Robin kept saying he was "not acting like his normal happy self" because he was recovering from a cold, I still think he was such an amazingly well-behaved baby that I can't even imagine him being any happier! Seriously this kid smiles all day long! The best part is I felt like I already knew him because of Robin's blog- i LOVE keeping up with everyone's kids on their blogs!

We had fantastic weather. We arrived to NYC late Thursday night, and woke up bright and early Friday morning(thanks to Avery who was sharing a bed with me and woke me up at 5:45ish by leaning very close to my face and saying "Hi! Whatcha doin?" over and over again until i woke up). So Friday i think the temperature was in the low 50's, which is perfect for walkin' all over NYC! So we bundled the kids up and off we went, but of course I made Robin stop at Starbucks first, which is where this picture was taken. This was the first time Avery had ever worn a hat or gloves so she was super confused at what the heck was going on, which you can tell by her face in the above picture!

Our first stop was at Macy's in NYC to see THE Santa. Let me tell you I had no idea and could not even imagine the amazing Santa's Village that they have there. It takes about 30 minutes to get through the whole thing and every last inch of this place is decorated so beautifully. We were all amazed and tried so hard to take it all in, but we had no idea where to even look first. It was so well organized and truly epitomized the word Winter Wonderland. Now I know why the NYC Macy's Santa is so highly regarded!

Avery did OK with Santa. Not great, but she didn't cry. She had a death-grip on me though so for the 2009 Santa picture Mommy got to make an appearance with Santa and Avery. He asked her what she wanted for Christmas, and I wasn't sure she understood him, or would even answer him, but she turned, looked him right in the eye and said "bi-kick-el" (aka bicycle). It was priceless.

This picture was taken just after both the kids got to see Santa. I have no idea why Jake was crying but I thought this picture was pretty hilarious so I had to post it!

Here is my little Miami-baby all bundled up on the streets of NYC. She didn't seem to mind the cold at all, but I am ashamed to admit that my blood has gotten mighty thin living in Miami for almost 4 years, and I was pretty darn cold!

The next stop for us was the Rockefeller Christmas Tree and it was truly stunning. Of course we went in the daytime so I did not get to see it all lit up but it was still beautiful.

We also went to the Toys R' Us in time square that has a huge ferris wheel inside of it which was really cool, but it was sort of a madhouse and both kids were getting a little sleepy at that point so we started to walk home, with the best part being that both Jake and Avery slept the entire walk home, so Robin and I got to take a nice leisurely walk along the beautifully decorated, buzzing streets of NYC.

Robin got a gingerbread house to do with Avery and she actually did a pretty good job on it. Although I am sure it would have looked much better had Avery not eaten half of the candy, but it was still cute!

Overall we had a blast just hanging out in a new fun city with such an easy-going, adorable family. I got in all the kisses I could from Jake and Avery loved talking both Robin and Dave's ears off, as well as playing at the playground that is conveniently located about 100 feet from their apartment.

We had such a fun time and such an enjoyable weekend and miss you guys so much! Thanks again for letting up come visit! Next time we want to see some snow :-)

Merry Christmas From The Winstons

Happy Birthday Times Two

Happy Birthday to two of the most important people in our lives!

Happy Birthday to Matt!!!!!!!

Babe you are such an amazing husband and father and you take such good care of us. You help keep me sane, make me laugh, and give me unconditional love and I could not be more grateful for such a loving husband. You make me so happy and we hope you have a fantastic birthday! Now hurry home tonight so we can eat some cake :-)

Happy Birthday to my little sister Allison (on the far left)!!!

Al you have grown and matured into such an amazingly brave and strong young woman. You make me proud daily and I thank God daily for allowing me to have such amazing sisters. We love you so much and hope you have a fabulous birthday!!!!!

LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!

Ho Ho Ho

It's Snowing!!!!

Avery and I went to Christmas on Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale tonight and it was so much fun. There were tons of children's choirs singing songs, free food, Santa and even fake snow! It was so cool to see it "snow" because I don't think I have seen it snow in over 6 years.

Avery had a blast pointing out all the lights, candy canes, Santa, and dancing and singing to all the cute Christmas carols!

Avery and Mommy

One of the best parts (OK let's be honest, the absolute best part!) was that Kilwin's was giving out scoops of their free peppermint-chunk ice cream- so Avery got to have ice cream (and french fries) as her dinner. I know its not the best dinner but we had such a fun time just seeing all the lights and embracing the wonderful holiday season, and isn't that what it's all about after all! :-)

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Sneak Peak

Here is just a few of the pictures we took for our Christmas-card photo-shoot. They turned out SO cute! I don't want to post all of them yet because i still want you all to be amazed when you get our Christmas card, but I thought I would give you a little taste :-)

Speaking of taste, we are SO ready for Thanksgiving. Actually I am mostly looking forward to the long weekend, and Matt is even off tomorrow- yay! A day full of football, food and family- what is better than that????

On a more serious note, I just wanted to say that this year I am so thankful for all of our friends and family who have been SO supportive of us this year. It has been a very trying year and I could not have made it through without all of your support and prayers. God is good everyday and we are so blessed! I hope you all enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving! XOXO

My cup runneth over

Already

WOW I can't believe my sweet baby is 20 months already!!!!!!

Avery is now

- talking constantly! She is forming sentences and repeating everything we say. She uses English with us, and Spanish with the nanny. Her little voice is the cutest thing ever!

- LOVES to sing! Loves listening to Miley Cyrus and Black Eyed Peas in the car and sings along- so funny! She is able to sing Happy Birthday, Old MacDonald, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

- such a monkey- she climbs on everything! She is so physical and so strong so she is climbing up on top of everything- couch, tables, jungle gym, anything!

- is still such a Mommy's girl and always wants me in her sights, although she thinks her Daddy is hilarious!

- able to name all her body parts, all the animals and their sounds, and count to 10- ALL in both English and Spanish!!!

- She likes to put her shoes on all by herself

- Such a happy girl and is so loving- always giving out hugs and kisses!

-Had her very first experience with time-out today because she constantly tests the limits and often does not stop when we say NO, although she knows exactly what it means

- still sleeping in her crib (she hasn't tried to climb out yet but its only a matter of time!) and takes 1 nap a day for about 30 min to an hour, and the goes to sleep around 7Pm until 7AM.

- LOVES the dogs and loves to give them hugs

- still loving Elmo. She doesn't seem to really like any other cartoon, but we don't watch too much TV

- loves to play outside all day long- playing with chalk, blowing bubbles, going for walks, jumping, playing in water

- remembers everything! She is still talking about Halloween!!!!

~We are so blessed to have such an amazing toddler who makes us smile every day! LOVE YOU AVERY K!~

Smile!

Having this precious girl around me, makes even the most boring dinner-times SO much more fun! Thank you GOD for such an amazing blessing!

My Bilingual Baby

Avery is completely and totally bilingual now. She knows when to use Spanish (at the nanny's) and when to use English (with us). She will say "mano" to the nanny and then i will say "Avery what did you say?" and she looks at me and says "hand." Its so amazing and so interesting to watch her languages develop. She can easily go between both languages without any problems. It is truly remarkable and I am so grateful that she gets this amazing experience to learn 2 languages. I wish I understood as much Spanish as she does! Maybe one day she can teach us!

Random Texas Trip Pics from Halloween Weekend

These are the last of my pics from our wonderful weekend in Texas. Actually i have about 150 more but I will spare you :-)

Avery LOVED my parent's dog Cooper, who is a huge 200 pound mastiff. She was constantly talking to "koo-doo" and following him everywhere. He was a good sport though and tolerated her pretty well

Papa and Avery

The beautiful girls playing the "ee-ano"

This is one of my most favorite memories from the weekend. Papa took the girls for a nice long walk in the wagon and taught them how to throw rocks in the pond, which they thought was hilarious- so of course he threw rock after rock until he completely ran out of rocks! Such a sweet and loving Papa!

Adorable Eme Kay

Avery and her aunt Jess, aka "eee-ca-ca"

Again we had a BLAST in Texas and miss you all so much already!!!!!!!!!