Avery's Favorite Things- 3 Years Old!!!!

Avery's Favorite Things- 3 Year Old Edition

Avery is still hovering around 30-31 lbs and last time we got the tape measure out she was roughly 39 inches tall. We have her 3 year appointment with the doctor sometime in April so we will get exact measurements then, but one thing I am sure if is that this girl continues to be super tall for her age!

Avery is still such a well-behaved little girl. She really is such a people pleaser. She will push the limits at times but really not as much as she used to. She is at a really good stage right now where she behaves really well and doesn't question authority.....too much :-) She is very inquisitive and always asking me questions about how and why things work. She is able to spell her name, and we are working on learning to write it. She is very ready for school, which she will start this fall, and interacts really well with other children.

Avery will rarely take a nap anymore. The past two days she has because we have gone swimming in the mornings, which wear her out, but most of the time she will 'rest' for about 45 minutes while mommy regroups and then I let her up to have some Mommy & Avery time.

Avery recently finished her KinderDance class and she really liked it but when I asked her if she wants to do dance class or soccer she immediately screamed "SOCCER YEA!!!!!" so Mom & Steve were kind enough to pay for Avery to participate in Soccer starting in mid-April (that was their birthday present to her!). We can't wait! She also is going to start swim lessons next week. I am crazy paranoid about having Avery around water so I really want her to be a much better swimmer so that she is safer when we are swimming this summer. Cross your fingers that she does good because she really doesn't like to put her face in the water yet.

Avery is at such a fun age where she still has so much fun doing almost anything and she thinks her parents are the funniest people in the world (which we are!). One of my most favorite memories with Avery when we make carpet picnics to watch a movie and then at the end of the movie, when the credits start to roll, we have a dance party to the ending music. It's so much fun and she just laughs and laughs. I love this moment and hope its a memory I will never forget. Also I continue to be impressed at what a loving and gentle Big Sister Avery is. She often lets Gracyn sleep with Avery's prized possession, her pink polka-dot blanket, and easily shares with Gracyn. She will just come up to Gracyn, give her a kiss, and walk away like its the most natural thing in the world. Just melts my heart to see Avery take such good care of her sister.

At 3 years old Avery's Favorite:

Song: Anything and Everything she can sing to- she loves to sing, especially in the car!

Movie: Tangled- If you were not already aware we have definitely entered the 'Princess Phase" where all she wants to watch is princess movies, play with princess dolls, and dress up like a princess. Luckily I like the Tangled movie and don't mind watching it 3,425 times

Clothes: She is super easy to dress but if I leave it up to her she always wants to wear a skirt or dress of some kind, so she can "spin and twirl" in it

Foods: Avery is still a pretty good eater but I can see her starting to fall into the pre-school trap of preferring to eat PB&J, mac & cheese, or chicken nuggets most of the time. Luckily if I make foods or cassarole she will eat it......and I have been trying to be better at preparing meals for her to eat so that she has a little more variety in her diet.

Books: This girl is not particular about reading. She will read almost anything and could read for hours!

Hobbies: riding her new big girl bicycle, play pretend, swimming, singing, dancing, playing with friends

Avery- Mommy, Daddy and Gracyn thank God for you each and every single day. You are such a blessing and truly such a good girl. We could not be more grateful for what a special and amazing girl you have become and we love you more than words could ever express.

We love you to the moon and back.

Just Another Day.....

..... In Paradise......






My big girl! Who will start swim lessons next week and hopefully ditch those floaties!!!!


Look it's Matt in a bathing suit!!!! Oh wait it's just Gracyn.....:-). Could she look any more like him????


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Weekend Wrap Up.....Two Days Late

We had a really fun weekend! Matt was home both Saturday and Sunday so we had lots of family time to hang out and catch up on things around the house.


Gracyn is starting to become really entertaining. She is propping herself up in the sitting position a little bit and at the very beginnings of the army crawl when she is on her belly. It's only a matter of time before she is mobile.........I'm not sure I'm ready.

Sunday morning I got to take Avery on a morning breakfast date for donuts. Just me and her. It was so nice to just spoil her with all my attention and load her up on her favorite things- chocolate donuts with sprinkles and lots of kisses from Mommy!






Then we got to go down to Ft.Lauderdale and meet up with Mica who was in town for a little vacay. Sooooo nice to catch up with my bestie and she got to meet Gracyn for the first time!

Later on Sunday afternoon we went to Barnes and Noble to walk around for a little bit. I honestly love that place and could seriously spend a ton of money in there. I saw so many books I have been wanting to read! But this is what I walked out with.....

I know this book has been out forever and I have wanted it for a really long time but since I am now making Gracyn's baby food and I have a pretty good stuck of fruit and veggie purees in the freezer I thought it would be a super easy time to start trying out some of the recipes in this book. If you aren't familiar with this book its about adding fruit and veggie purees to some of the things your kids like to eat most, like chicken nuggets and pizza, so that they eat more healthy things throughout the day. The recipes all seem really easy with normal ingredients and all able to cook in less than 30 minutes. I tried out the applesauce muffins recipe yesterday which uses pureed carrots and apples instead of sugar and they turned out SO good! I am so anxious to try out all the other recipes! I'll keep you posted.

But I guess the most exciting thing is what came in the mail today..........

Tangled on DVD!!!!!! Yay!!!!! She was so excited to come home from school today and find a birthday present waiting for her. Thanks Uncle Drew & Aunt Katie for pre-ordering the best movie ever for our princess. Can you tell she was just a little bit excited?
We immediately made a picnic on the living room rug so that we could watch her "most favorite movie ever" while we ate lunch! I love this girl and how excited she gets about everything! She is at such a fun age!

Watching Cartoons

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Catching Up

Well we are getting back into the swing of things around here after our "vacation." Having all the family come into town over the past week and a half has been so much fun, but sadly they all left on Tuesday so we are trying to get back into our normal routine. Normal schedule, normal activities, normal diet etc.

Avery had an amazing birthday! Thank you all for the emails, texts, calls, and messages to wish her happy birthday- she said "Everybody love me on my birthday!" Ha! We are all blessed to have so many amazing people in our lives.

It has been beautiful weather here in South Florida. Like even slightly hot. But we have been enjoying playing outside. I love this time of year before it gets too hot where all you want to do is play outside.







I keep meaning to do an "Avery's Favorite Things- 3 year old Edition" post but haven't gotten around to it just yet so here is a little Avery update:

I'm pretty sure this big 3 year old is completely done with naps. She sort of has been for a few months. She will only nap like once every week or two. Luckily she will still rest for a little bit in the afternoon so Mommy can have a little bit of time to recoup.

Avery is full of imagination these days. She loves to play princesses, puppy, baby and is always creating little imaginary scenes with her dolls. It's really cute and funny to see her imitate people, mainly me, when she is playing mommy and baby with her dolls.

She is still loving being a big sister. She really still has not ever asked to send Gracyn back or anything. She always yells "Yay Gracyn your awake!" everytime she wakes up from a nap and is always getting down on the ground with Gracyn to play during tummy time. And she is SO good at sharing with her sister. Just last night she offered to let Gracyn sleep with her special pink blanket. Such a sweet sister! Watching these two together is the highlight of my day!

Although Avery will test the limits occasionally she is generally a pretty well-behaved girl. She does get a little whiny from time to time so we have been working on that but she hasn't had to do time out too much. I feel grateful that she has been such a well-behaved girl for so long........I hope it continues :-)



Gracyn Pie has been growing like a weed. I think she is going through a little growth spurt but she just seems to have grown over night. She is still such an amazing baby. So easy and goes with the flow all the time. She is loving eating all her solid foods and is still nursing 5-6 times a day too. She still seems like she sleeps a lot, taking about 3 naps a day. But she really is just the happiest girl in the world. She recently has started to blow raspberries and does it all the time- i think its hilarious. And she is starting to prop herself up in the sitting position a little bit. I think just a few more weeks and we will have an independent sitter on our hands!

Overall we are doing amazing! I am still at home with the girls full-time and loving it. Its definitely a challenge at times but I feel so grateful that I get to watch them and take care of them 100% of the time while they are so young. Matt is about to amp back up in preparation for the NFL draft so April may be a little busy but we are looking forward to when its over because he will have a month or so of down time where we are possibly going to try to take a little family vacation. Cross your fingers that the Dolphins get some good players this year so that we can have a wining 2011-2012 season (if the season even happens.....who knows what is going to happen with this NFL player lockout.......)

Avery's Birthday Party

We celebrated Avery's birthday on Saturday and it was such a fun day!

The day started with Mommy and Daddy surprising Avery with her big THREE year old girl present.....

Surprise Avery!!!! What could it be????????

A big girl bicycle!!!!!!

She seems so big riding this bike. She got on it and was a little apprehensive about how wobbly it was and she rode it a little bit the first day. Then she got up on Sunday morning and said "I want to ride my big girl bike all by myself." And she did just that! Ha! She got right on the bike the second day and rode it all by herself. She loves it now!

Then we all got ready for Avery's birthday party! Here is the big girl all dressed up and ready to P-A-R-T-Y!!!!

We had Avery's party at a place called Color Me Mine. Its one of the places where they get to paint pottery and it was a huge hit! Avery invited about 9 of her friends and the got to pick from a couple of different things to paint. Avery immediately pick a monkey-ha!

Painting with her pals

The birthday girl blowing out her birthday candles

Gracyn, Nana and Papa- a big THANK YOU again to Mom and Steve who came in for Avery's party. They have not missed one of Avery's birthday partys' yet and we could not be more grateful. We love you so much and can't thank you enough for helping us celebrate our big girl's third birthday!

An attempt at a family picture

Overall the party was a huge success! The kids loved painting and playing and Mommy loved how easy it was to just show up with the pizza and cupcakes! It was a blast!

Happy 3 Year Old Birthday Avery Kathryn!

Dear Avery Kathryn,

Happy Birthday my sweet girl! I honestly cannot believe that you are three years old today! Time has gone so quickly and I constantly find myself wishing I could freeze you just as you are right now, but also anxious to see what comes next.

You are so special, my first born girl. You have taught me so much. You taught me how to be a mother. You taught me how to give myself fully to someone so precious.

You are such am amazing girl. You are so intelligent, funny, loving, and beautiful. You never cease to amaze us with the things you say and do. You are constantly laughing and giggling, as well as cuddling up to Mommy and Daddy. You make us both so much happier than we could have ever expected.

You are so inquisitive. You are constantly wanting to read books, practice spelling, and always asking "why" and "what are you guys talking about?" You love riding your new bike and playing outside with the dogs and LOVE playing princesses with your friends.

You have been an amazing big sister to Gracyn since the first day. You are so sweet, gentle and caring to her. It melts my heart to see the two of you interact because I know you are going to be best friends for life. She is going to have such an amazing, strong, smart, beautiful big sister to go to for help, support and advice. It's a role I know you are going to love.

Avery, God created you just for us and you are the biggest blessing we could have asked for. Our family is so blessed and proud of you. You are my true angel.

We love you to the moon and back baby girl!

Happy Birthday Sweet Angel!

Mommy, Daddy, and Gracyn

Friday's Happenings

I am not sure why Avery's Bday invitation posted so little. I have no idea how to fix it but the point is that my little baby girl is celebrating her THREE year old birthday tomorrow! I don't know who is more excited, her or me??!!! We have a little homemade advent calendar hanging on the fridge and she has been ripping off pages every morning to see how many days she has left until her birthday. Today she said "Only one more day mommy!!!!!" So much fun!

My parents are in town but are relaxing a little bit at a beachside hotel before they enter the chaos that is our home. We went to see them on Wednesday and hang out by the beach and the pool for a little bit. Such an beautiful relaxing day.

The view from their hotel balcony

I know I already posted this but it's worth a re-post, dontcha think????

My big girl

Attempting to take a pic with my girls......

Beautiful view of the beach!

Gracyn is doing great with the baby food and I have to brag on myself and say so far I have been able to make all her baby food! Yay! I was so stressed about introducing foods to Avery "the right way" that it made it more stressful than it needed to be, but Gracyn has been so easy and so much fun! So far she has had rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, apples and just today I made her some pears so she will get to try that tonight!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I know we will!

One More Day!

I Heart Him

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Beach baby

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Simply Sweet Revisited

Since Avery's birthday is coming up in less than a week I have been thinking about her last 2 birthday parties. They were both so much fun and so different. I thought I'd take a little stroll down memory lane.......

Avery's first birthday was on her actual birthday of March 21, 2009. The theme was "Simply Sweet" and it was SO much fun to plan! There was every pink and green candy, cookie or cake imaginable.

The "main" dessert table. I made this huge cupcake as Avery's cake to smash up. It turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself!

Another view

The birthday girl cheesing it up before her party started. I can't believe how little she looks here! Seems like just yesterday.....

Mommy and Avery

Starting to dig into the cake. She wasn't so sure about it at first but caught on REALLY fast!

"Mom, is that whole cake for me??? This is so awesome!!!"

The birthday princess

We were so so SO blessed to have Nana and Papa here for Avery's first birthday!

This is how we all felt at the end of the party-hahahaha!

In hindsight I went a little crazy for a one year old's birthday party but it really was so much fun! I loved organizing it all and I think Avery will love looking back on the pictures and seeing how much we celebrated her first year!!!!!

Stay tuned for a look back at the 2nd birthday party pics- coming soon!