Sneak Peak: Avaree's First Birthday Party!!!!!!!!!!

*These are pictures from my camera. The sweet and talented Kerri O'Neal took pictures during the party and I will share those later. :)

The party was wonderful. I can't believe we have already had her first birthday party. There couldn't be a sweeter baby girl in the whole wide world. Enjoy the pics...more to come! :)

The decor for our little princess party... :)

Avaree's cake and personal smash cake!

A picture from every month...

A picture from every month + the real thing on top... :)

Family pic... :)

:)

Uncle D, Aunt J and Avaree!

Practicing "Shake, Shake, Shake..." with Shannon! :)

Sweet Uncle Spencer.. :)

Ave with GiGi and G-Pops!

Ave with Granmama and Pop Pop!

Avaree with Popa and Niecey!

After everyone left, I gave Avaree a quick bath and a few bites of chicken before bed. She was soooooooo tired, she was acting delirious. (just like her Mama!) :)

The next day...Avaree pulled a book out of her very own bookshelf and read it! It made my heart soooo proud! :)

*If you LOVE Avaree's outfit, check out Kristal Parrish at "Couture Blessings" on Facebook! She is a precious Christian lady that makes "couture clothing for your little blessings" and this allows her to stay home with her precious ones.

*More to come... :)

11 months, 4 weeks and WALKING!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a crazy week this week! Mama was sick and ended up having a double ear infection and a respirtory infection, but two steroids shots, antibiotics and several days later, I was all better! :) I took Friday off to get over my illness, spend time with my baby girl and my hubby, and get ready for somebody's first birthday--I am sooo glad that I did! :)

What is Avaree's favorite new trick?? WALKING!!!!! She loves to walk between Brandon and me, and she has taken several steps at a time! Her best so far has been 8 consecutive steps! She just giggles and gets so proud of herself! Of course it doesn't help that she loves the "falling" feeling. Luckily, I am usually there to catch her for now! I can't believe how quickly all of her "firsts" have come and gone. It seems like just yesterday I was clapping for her rolling over....

Enjoy the pictures!

Reading her favorite book...

Mad that she has closed her favorite book... (even though she knows how to open it, ha!)

Happy that Mommy is now reciting her favorite book from memory... :)

Avaree with her little friend Trista (at Mrs. Donna's house one afternoon)

My beautiful baby girl... :)

Avaree in her big girl car seat!!!!!! YAY! This has been a WONDERFUL change in our lives! I can see Ave when I'm driving and (more importantly for her) she can see me! Also, she doesn't come out of her car seat dripping with sweat b/c she can feel the air now--yay!!!!!! :)

Avaree holding Daddy's hand...

For her birthday, GiGi, G-Pops, Mema, PawPaw and Mimi got Avaree flooring, toy bins and a bookshelf for her playroom!!! (We just converted our office into a playroom--or at least 3/4 of it!) This is Avaree's first time to see it on Saturday morning! Thank you to GiGi and G-Pops for buying it, bringing it, AND helping us set it all up. She definitely LOVES it!!! :)

Checking it all out... :)

"I like this floor..."

"Ooooh, look at all of this. It's the same, old toys, but it all seems new!" :)

Playing with Popa before her party started....

Brandon and I were just discussing today that we always thought we would have a cute kid, but never thought that she would be so beautiful. Avaree gets sweeter, smarter and more beautiful every single day. We are so blessed. :)

Stay Tuned: the next post is THE BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!!!!

Mama's little girl...

I wish that I had the time to blog every day, but even that couldn't tell you all of the precious things that our sweet baby does every day. :)

She is eleven months and three weeks old now. When I think about her turning a year old...I cry. This year has been wonderful, amazing, challenging, emotional, joyous, difficult, precious, priceless, perfect...and the list goes on. :)

We have spent this week trying to get better at our little routine. Because of our drive to Mrs. Donna's and the fact that I start teaching at 7:25 am, we have to leave the house around 6:25 am every morning. So, that means I have to wake Avaree at 5:50 am. It makes me feel like such a bad mommy to do so, but it allows for about five minutes of cuddle time, eating mama milk and breakfast, getting dressed, and maybe five minutes of play time before we get in the car. :( But, the most precious part of all of that is that as soon as Avaree hears my voice in the mornings, she gets to a sitting position and lifts her little arms up to me WITH HER EYES STILL CLOSED. It is beyond the most precious thing ever. Then we sit in the rocking chair and cuddle while I sing "Good Morning to You" until she wakes up completely. You couldn't pay me a million dollars to sleep through that. ever.

Avaree did much better at Mrs. Donna's this week. (Still so thankful for a precious, Godly lady that loves my child and treats us like family.) We are also starting to settle into our afternoon/evening routines. Daddy is gone on Wednesdays and Thursdays, so we miss him VERY much, but I am trying to call it our girls' night and make it fun. If I wish those days to go by faster then that means that I would be wishing her to grow up even faster that she already is...so we just treasure every moment.

We are also getting a better Sunday routine, of course now it is changing again with Daddy staying in Hurst all afternoon, but we are sooooooo excited for all of the things the Lord will do through his ministry. Tonight, Brandon had his first youth choir practice and NINETY-FOUR youth came! PTL!!!!! Their theme this year is "Till the Whole World Hears!" If only we could all live with that at the forefront of our minds on a daily basis. Speaking of that...our Lord has been so good to us. I cannot tell you the hundreds of "small" things that He has orchestrated in our lives lately. Even as Brandon and I are beginning to tire of our seemingly endless driving, He shows his hand at work in our lives. Please continue to pray for us, though, as we seek his direction for our family.

Have I mentioned that Avaree likes to take her pony tail out and be naked? It's cute...for now. :)

Avaree has started eating more table food. :) Some of her favorites are cheese, plain spaghetti noodles, tortillas, green beans, and chicken. Here she is eating her cheese... (Yes, the table is clean. I am crazy about making sure she has a clean environment--promise!!)

Of course I couldn't get them both to smile at the same time. Alas, this picture is funny. Avaree is whining because she wants me and Brandon has just finished whining because I am making him take another picture. Ha. We all wore our red/white/blue in honor of September 11!

Avaree's pink penguin that we bought her this weekend....she LOVES her.

And gives her LOTS of kisses. Can you see her little grin? :)

She wants the penguin with her all the time... :) We call her Paz, even though Paz on "Ready, Set, Learn" is a boy. I'm pretty sure she just thinks Paz=Penguin, so we're sticking with that. :)

We love the Cowboys! :)

:) Love this little face...

This week, Avaree has LOVED singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and the "ABC" song. :) She is my little buddy and I love her so. We laugh and play and sing silly songs all the time. She is amazing. I can't imagine being any prouder of her, and she isn't even one yet!

My cup overflows.

Our family trip to the Dallas World Aquarium!!!!

Mommy and Ave in the rainforest!

Our experience at the "aquarium" was very positive. Although "aquarium" is a bit of a misnomer as it is more of a rainforest/indoor zoo! Avaree lasted a little over two hours though, so we think she did very well! Many of the exhibits (animals) were too small for her to focus on, but she certainly enjoyed all the noises of the wildlife and rainforest! Our favorite animals were definitely the monkeys, the alligator, the sloth (soooo cute!), the penguins and the jaguar! Of course my camera died soon upon our arrival, but we were able to snatch a few pictures with Daddy's phone! Hope you enjoy!

Daddy and Avaree at the cafe!

Avaree's favorite "perch" during our tour of the aquarium.

Mama and Avaree...

The beautiful jaguar--Avaree's favorite!

Daddy and Ave watching the Mayan performers. Ave thought they were hilarious!

The following video was taken at the Jaguar exhibit! This was (BY FAR) Avaree's favorite part of the whole day! The video is a little quirky, so when it stops just let it load a bit then move it back to where you started. Be sure your volume is up! Avaree LOVED this "Big Kitty!" Hopefully you can hear her sweet voice and see the HUGE grin on her face. She was sad when he went on the other side of his "home." :) We now know that she would LOVE the zoo and we can't wait to take her! We're going to wait until it is a little cooler and then we will have soooo much fun! P.S. Brandon says to tell the grandparents not to freak out...the "kitty" is behind the glass, even though he doesn't appear to be! :) Enjoy!

 

11.5 months and growing!!!

This week brought a little more of a routine into our lives, though we're still struggling (both baby and mama) with the drop off in the mornings. But, Mrs. Donna and I think we have a plan to help. If you haven't seen the video yet, we have loooooved asking Avaree: "Where's Precious?" and watching her sweet little answer to the question. :) We have also been working on "obeying" since June. Avaree definintely knows what "no, no" means and is capable of obeying; however, one of her latest tricks is pretty funny. Lately, when I say "No, No" she will not even look at me (like usual), but will instead pretend that she wasn't interested in doing that action anyway and just move on. It never ceases to amaze me how observant and sponge-like she has become. :)

This weekend we realllllllllly enjoyed our time together as a family! Friday afternoon Ave and I came home to a clean house and dinner (thank you, DADDY!!!!!!!!) and then we visited with Uncle Spencer and Shannon. Saturday we played and played and played and went to our favorite store--Target! On Sunday, I ended up taking Ave to the doctor--and then we enjoyed having Daddy home for his last Sunday afternoon with us!!!

Avaree has had a runny nose for the last two weeks, but I had finally attributed it to teething; however, her mucus started turning colors and she was running a little fever, as well as having difficulty sleeping and eating. But, the doctor attributed it to allergies and advised that we have her tested soon. As usual, though, I am not convinced that this is all it is. So...I'm just giving her lots of liquids and love and we're playing the waiting game again! If you think about it, please say a quick prayer for her. It is always hard for her when Mama leaves, but it is especially worse when she isn't feeling well (and it breaks my whole heart in a million pieces)--and it will be harder than usual to adjust after having been home with us for a long weekend! We so appreciate your prayers!

Don't think that we were sick and feverish all weekend: we had WONDERFUL family time and took a trip to the Dallas World Aquarium!!! :) I'll share pics of that in my next post!

Enjoy!

"Mama....do we really have to leave?" :)

Avaree reached over and grabbed a Chinese noodle off of Uncle Spencer's plate. She decided that she didn't care for Chinese food. Then, she decided that fortune cookie wrappers were awesome. :) hehe.

One early morning...it was our yellow day! :)

She is VERY serious when she is pushing her walker. AND...she does not like to wear pants. :)

We had Lois kitty this past week. Poor Lois kitty...she was always on the run from the baby girl.

One of Avaree's favorite things is to lay on the floor like this and kick her feet. We think it is adorable!

 

"Where's Precious?"

Mrs. Donna started teaching Avaree this and we've been reinforcing it at home. It is my absolute favorite trick ever. :)

Get ready for pure cuteness... :)



(Sorry, you have to have a FB account to watch it. Family, if you don't have a FB account, email me and I'll give you my info so that you can watch it. It's so worth it!)