Christmas 2010

What a busy and wonderful weekend.  After the weeks of preparation for Christmas, the time we actually spent celebrating just seemed to fly by.  We were lucky enough to have Chris home for a 3 day weekend; he had Christmas Eve off of work.  We spent Christmas Eve at his Uncle Scott's for the first Unruh Christmas.  Christmas morning, before Avery woke up, this is what we got to see.

About 2 minutes after those pictures were taken, we heard some noises from her room and the day officially began!  She beelined for her trike from Santa and really didn't want to do anything else for quite a while.  She had no qualms about climbing right on and going for a ride!

After about 20 minutes she was getting a little hungry so we took a timeout for some na-na (snack).

Now we are ready to get back into the action!

And here she is with her grand present from Mommy and Daddy, although she has known about it for quite some time.  A big playhouse is kind of hard to keep hidden in the basement family room for the weeks leading up to Christmas.

 After we finished presents at our house, we had breakfast, then headed over to Mom's to have Christmas with my side.  Dad, Sam, and Zach were all there.  It was the first Christmas in a few years that we were all there.  Here she is seeing her new piano from Gramps.

 And enjoying a new book.

 Modeling her Irish sweater from Uncle Sam.

 After presents and lunch over at Mom's, we were able to take a few more family pictures, then we got Avery home just in time for a nap.  The day had been awfully big so far, and we weren't quite done yet.  After her nap and a little more playing with some new toys, we headed over to Ron and Pam's for Christmas with Chris's side.  Avery got a new Radio Flyer wagon, and though I know she'll just love it when it's all put together, the box was very exciting to her to climb on and stand.

Checking out Charlie's new ride.

Probably feeling a little tired, but still having a great time.  We really had a wonderful Christmas.  We are looking forward to next year and making even more memories.  The only unfortunate thing about the weekend was that last night was Sunday; therefore, Chris had to return to work this morning.  BUT, it's another short week, so we'll just have to settle in and count down the days to a long weekend again!

Festive and TIRED!

Though Christmas is just around the corner, this week seemed to take forever to get to Friday.  I have not been sleeping well at all the last few days and I can't even let Avery take the blame for that.  She's been sleeping great, not waking up until 6 or later, with the exception of last night.  I find myself waking up at 2 or 3ish and just lie there in bed until 5 or 5:30.  I fall asleep just in time for her to wake up.  That being said, after lunch nap time is now OUR nap time, though I feel completely guilty for lying down in the middle of the day.  If I'm lucky enough to fall asleep, it's not for very long.  I usually just lie there and stew about everything I could be getting done.

This week was nothing too exciting.  We baked early in the week, I took some pictures of Avery in her Christmas dress, and took her to get a shot yesterday morning.  She didn't do too bad, just screamed for about a minute, then regained her composure.  She even calmed down enough to smile at the nurse who had just given her the shot.  Such a mature little thing.  Though I wonder if the shot had anything to do with her being up last night.  We gave her plenty of Tylenol, but apparently it did not get her through the night.  She's also working on a couple more teeth, so she's been tugging on her ear a little bit too.  We're not too concerned, but if it continues, we might need to make another trip to the doctor.   I'll leave you with a few of the pictures we took earlier in the week.

The Way to This Girl's Heart...

Well, it appears the apple does not fall too far from the tree.  As I had posted last week, Avery had been feeling pretty crummy over the weekend, and on into last week.  We went to the doctor Monday morning when he told us that it was only a cold and it would take a few days for her to feel a little more like herself.  We felt so bad for her; she couldn't breathe through her nose and wasn't really able to sleep at night.  Luckily by Wednesday the stuffiness had gone down, enough for Mommy to decide that Avery could try drinking out of a straw.  What better way to test out this theory than by getting a good, old-fashioned Braum's chocolate milkshake!  Boy was I the popular one that afternoon.  She carried that shake all over the house, drinking and grinning from ear to ear.  Here she is enjoying her special therapeutic treat:

A Little Holiday Baking

As the weather has gotten much, MUCH colder in the last week or so, (and as Christmas rapidly approaches), I decided last week that it was a great opportunity to start some holiday baking.  Avery cried and screamed loudly while my mixer was going helped me mix up the dough Tuesday morning and while she napped that afternoon, I baked up the four dozen cookies.  She must have smelled them baking while she slept because she woke up early from her nap and headed straight to the kitchen.  I know she's had cookies before, but this may have been her first experience with homemade from scratch ones.  I thought they had cooled enough by the time I gave one to her, but the chocolate was still a touch gooey.  Here are some pictures of her enjoying her snack!

Do NOT ask me how this mess got all over her face and hands and not a single drop got on her clothing.  It must have been my lucky day!

Thanksgiving

This past weekend was such a great one; not only did we get to see both of our families, but Chris had a extra long 4 day weekend. He does not get very many days off, so when he does, it's always extra special.

Nothing too exciting happened early in the week. Just the usual grocery shopping, laundry, etc. I should mention there was no Mother Goose Time at the library, hence the non-excitement. Well, I take that back. There was some excitement Tuesday night when Chris and I realized that the episode of Sons of Anarchy we were watching did NOT end up being the season finale as we had originally thought. Tonight is the night of the one and a half hour finale-I've been so excited all day!

On Thanksgiving day we started out lounging around the house. Zach, who had come to town the night before called to let us know that his friends Tom, Whitney, and their two children, Larson and Thomas, were on their way over. We had not seen them since last Thanksgiving, so we jumped at the chance to see them. Thomas could not quite figure out how to say Avery's name so he just called her "baby." It was sweet, it kind of sounded like a pet name. Here are some pics of the 3 of them:

Thomas had a puzzle piece of a rhino and kept showing it to Avery, saying "Rhino, baby!"

Again, "Rhino, baby!"

After we were done visiting with Tom and Whitney, we headed over to Ron and Pam's for lunch and to spend some time for a few hours. Avery got to hang out with Charlie quite a bit and she even ate all her mashed potatoes! After dessert, Avery was in desperate need of a nap, so we headed home to give her some much deserved rest. After her short little nap, we returned to Mom's house for dinner. Here are a few more pictures:

Resembling Uncle Zach here!

It was a very busy day, but a really great one. We are still recuperating from all the food we ate in one day, but hey, 'tis the season right?

A Walk in the Park (Literally)

Last Wednesday, after Mother Goose time (which was surprisingly uneventful), I decided to head over to Memorial Park (which is half a block away from the library) to try and take some 15 month pictures of Avery. It was a cold and windy day, so the weather was not ideal for her to play long; I ended up chasing her more than taking pictures. I got a few good ones though, and Avery had a fun time looking at all the flowers and even seeing some goldfish.

This was the main view I had the majority of the time there.

This was about 2 seconds before she fell face first into the marigolds. No tears though!

Our beautiful tree.

Sporting a New 'Do

We did a little experimenting the other night with Avery's hair. We have not taken her to get a haircut yet because we are just wanting to grow her hair out. During this process, her hair has started to look a little mulletish. It seems to be growing faster in the back than the front and sides. Sooo, Mommy decided to take matters into her own hands and get out the comb, spray bottle of water, and some rubber bands. This was the end result:

Yes, this might seem a little drastic, but it seems to have eliminated the mullet issue for now. As an added bonus, all the old men at Walmart now seem to finally understand that this child with a pink shirt, pink shoes, and ruffles and lace is now a GIRL!