A Breath of (Much Needed) Fresh Air

We finally got our break from winter and we took full advantage!  Thursday and Friday were the most beautiful days we've had since probably before Thanksgiving, and Avery seemed to know exactly what that meant for her.  As soon as she woke up from her afternoon nap both days she ran straight for her shoes and socks, acted like she was going to put them on, brought them to me to actually have them put on, then ran to the backdoor saying "Ow?" (out!)  Thursday our main activity was gathering rocks from the rock garden and carrying them over to the bench.  Friday was spent as some quality time with the dogs, chasing Bentley with the plastic ball thrower thing and following Bo out to areas of the yard that should have been made off limits by Mommy.  We almost stepped in a couple of landmines, but thankfully she has small feet. 

Thursday was a bit cooler than Friday, so she still needed a jacket.  The Friday pics are of her just in the t-shirt.

Busy gathering her rocks.

Here we are examining our weapon of choice.

 What you don't see in this picture is Bentley about to take one on the noggin from our beautiful little girl.

Practicing for senior pictures.

 Tired after playing so hard. (Please disregard the stains on the pants; I think it was from a milkshake possibly.)

So happy to finally be outside again.

Now all we have to do is wait for the snow to come in the next few days again.  Good grief!  Maybe the groundhog will tell us that spring is almost here.  Here's hoping...

Cabin Fever

Could Spring please hurry up?  Due to the extremely cold and snowy weather that is not going away any time soon, Avery and I are experiencing some extreme cabin fever.  She has always been an outside girl anyway, and so for her to not only have to stay inside, but to also not really take any outings in the car during the day is driving her nuts!  She sometimes just stands at the backdoor watching while the dogs are outside and screams at the top of her lungs.  She wants to be out so badly-we had a teaser on Monday when the temperature got to the mid-40s.  We were outside for a while, but everything was so muddy from the snow melting we really couldn't enjoy being out. 

Coming up with indoor activities that she's not already tired of has become a little exhausting also.  It's a good thing she enjoys her Legos so much because that is the one toy I can count on to buy me some time.  This morning before we ran to the store Avery refused to get dressed so I let her play for a while running freely.  (Or as freely as I'm willing to allow!)



Please note the purse.  Its contents are scattered down the hallway, but I did not capture that sight on camera.  I also missed catching a pic of her wearing all of her bracelets and necklaces with pigtails.  By the time I grabbed the camera, she had already pulled her hair out and jewelry off. :(  Hopefully within the next few days, the weather will have warmed up enough to leave the house again.  Until then, Legos here we come!

Snow Day!

Waking up this morning, I knew we had a pretty good chance of finding some snow outside.  Little did I know that school would be canceled (which didn't directly affect us, however, it meant we have some grandmothers at loose ends today).  Avery woke up early, around 6:15, which turned out to be a good thing because Chris was able to get the driveway completely shoveled before heading off to work.  As I write this, it is still snowing a bit, and there is a chance of getting even more later on today.  After breakfast and playing inside for a bit, Avery decided she wanted to check out this white stuff that the dogs were so excited about playing in.  Though we don't have snowboots (yet!) we piled on the layers the best we could and headed out back to check out the conditions.  She wasn't too adventurous, sticking mostly to the shoveled off patio but loved watching Bo and Bentley romp around.  Needless to say, she did not want to come in when Mommy started getting cold.  Here's some pics:

Showing off a classic Avery look.

Notice the snow on the jacket.  We did have a little falling accident over by the bench but no tears!

I don't plan on having Avery get out today, but go figure, the one day when there's snow down, I have an eye appointment to go to this afternoon.  At least it's here in town.  In the meantime we will do our best to stay warm!

Not So Great Start to 2011

I apologize for the lack of posts lately.  The new year has not been going so well so far; we have had a sick household.  Chris was not feeling very well last week and weekend, and I caught his cold last weekend and have had a very rough week.  I went to the doctor Wednesday and got the grand diagnosis that yes, it is just a cold.  I don't remember a cold ever kicking my tail so bad, but then again, I've never had a toddler running up and down the halls while I'm trying to figure out how to breathe through my nose.  Miraculously, Avery seems to be 100% still, knock on wood.  It would be a complete miracle if she somehow gets through the next few days and doesn't manage to catch anything from us.  Chris has been an absolute lifesaver when he gets home from work; he's been taking Avery so I can attempt to catch up on some rest.  He and Avery went to Ron and Pam's last night, and that's where they went again this morning.  Because I've been feeling so lousy, I haven't taken any pictures or have anything exciting to write about.  Hopefully in the next few days I'll start feeling a little more like myself.  Hope everyone else is staying healthy!