Yaaaayyyyyy Summer!!!!

We're freeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :) Avaree and I were soooo excited on Friday! :)

Avaree's last day with Mrs. Donna before summer break! :) We're going to go see her a few times this summer, though, and Mrs. Donna is going to keep her a couple of days too so that August isn't such a hard transition. :) (We LOVE Mrs. Donna!)

Last day of school (for Mommy) celebration lunch with Daddy! One of my kiddos gave me a gift card, so we were celebrating at Chili's for lunch!! :)

She is soooo happy! :)

Uncle Spencer and beautiful Shannon came by to visit on Sunday! We loooove their visits! :)

 Ave sporting her yellow bathing suit on Tuesday! Too bad we never actually made it to the pool, but she sure was a cutie! :)

I caught her reading sideways and upside down!!! :) (But the point is that she was READING and it was her idea!)

She caught me! :)

and then her face lit up when I moved the camera and she saw my face... :) I must say that it sure is nice to have someone's face LIGHT UP every time they see you. Even if it has only been seconds since she saw me, she just warms my whole heart!

Daddy and Mama had a DATE NIGHT! This was our first real date night since Avaree was born! :) It was hard to even get ready though, b/c Avaree KNEW something was up. She was clinging to me and then even started clinging to Brandon! They are big buddies, but she doesn't cuddle with him often, so for her to lay her head on him and cuddle for ten minutes was a real testament to her little perceptive personality!

But, thankfully, we had a WONDERFUL babysitter. I think I only texted her 6 or 7 times and she was very gracious to listen to all of my directions, even though she has done this many times before for Dane, Paige and many other little ones! :) Thanks, Soney! You're the best!

Daddy took Mama to a precious Italian resturant in uptown! It was sooo cute--even the water glasses were goblets, and our outifts happened to match the decor! :) After that, we went to see WICKED at Dallas Fair Park! It was a-ma-ziiiiiinnnng! :) Brandon mentioned several times how nice it was to get out and have adult conversation with one another! We sure were glad to get home to our little pumpkin doodle--who woke up at midnight when she heard us come in--but it was sooo nice to have Mama/Daddy time! :)

A few Avaree-isms as of late! :)
--She has started stringing sounds together to where it sounds like she is really talking--and using several unintelligible words to express her ideas!! :) She even adds inflection to her voice and really seems to have a lot to say. I can't imagine where she gets that? :)
--She can go from lying flat on her belly to sitting up straight!!!
--She can (really) crawl from one side of the room to the other. Especially if Mama turns the blow dryer on. This is another story, but Avaree is so very afraid of the blow dryer! If I even turn it on she immediately panics, starts screaming, and crawls straight to me. I (of course) didn't mean to figure this out, but it has happened twice now. Poor baby! She is also scared of loud noises (i.e. Daddy's sudden loud laughter to "Who's Line is it Anyway?"), the ice machine in our fridge, and large crowds of people.

I am soooooooooo happy to be home with Avaree right now. We also are getting to see a lot more of Daddy lately--which makes us all happy! :)
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