HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I for one am happy 2007 is over. It was a year of productivity, but it wore us out!

We are looking forward to many new adventures in 2008; celebrating Avery's 3rd birthday, a trip to Italy with our good friends, another IVF, more house projects, more relaxing times (somehow we ARE working this in!), a new president, a new vehicle (?), new babies from several of our friends, good times with friends and family, organizing our lives a little better, the proverbial losing weight (you know who this applies to), taking more dates with Scott & watching movies out in a theatre, potty training, finally moving into the big girl bed and redecorating her room, turing 39 and 34, starting a garden, perfecting my new photography projects, learning PhotoShop Elements, finding a new assistant at work and re-evaluating many aspects of our family life.

We went out to dinner with some friends (who also have an almost 3 year old).
When we got home, we cranked the music, put on the Cinderella dress and partied it up.
Although, quite different than what we used to. :)
Here they are running and dancing through the hallway.


Avery is really into swinging with daddy.


Except it wears Daddy out!

Avery takes a break to check out the blog progress.

But she is quckly back to dancing.


Ok, so this might be the CRAZIEST picture I have ever taken of Avery, but it was so wild, I had to share. She was dancing like crazy and I caught this expression perfectly.
Personally, I think it sums up our 2007 quite perfectly...

Holiday Visits

So much has happened since I last updated. We have had a whirlwind of Christmas and visitors. We have had such a nice time with everyone. Today has been our first day just us and we have really enjoyed ourselves. This has been the first time in several days that I have been able to sit down and concentrate on the blog - we need another week off to get organzized for the new year, but......

Oonie (Spring's mom) came the weekend before Cmas, Avery loved spending time with her Oonie. We have begun a tradition of picking citrus at a friends lake house each year on Cmas Eve. This year we went out right before naptime. I also think Avery was getting a cold, so she was a little cranky. You (at least I can) can see it in her eyes.









Christmas Eve - we made cookies for Santa.


Santa brought Scott and new coffee maker - the Mochamaster!

Santa brought Avery an orange in the top of her Cinderella stocking.

Santa ate some of the cookies and Avery finished the rest.



Checking out what Santa left for her - by far the favorite was Cinderella's pretty dress.

We had planned to do the stockings later in the evening, but Avery spotted the Cinderella cup and ANOTHER orange and she HAD to have it.

Digging in for more.

We decided to take a walk later in the day, so we walked up to the park, got some fresh air and exercise.

Avery found an air potato and was trying to bounce it like a ball.

Grandad and DD came to visit too and we got to open great gifts!

Here she is with her new easel. Being our Avery, she wanted it put together immediately. Thanks to Daddy it wasn't toooooo long.

Working on her first materpiece.

Daddy told her she couldn't go out without her shoes, so she put shoes on over her jommies.

She likes the blue colors - at least she matches, right?

Saturday evening in the front yard. I had her near the curb, trying to get the last of the great evening sun.

Art with Grandad.

The Nutcracker

We had the opportunity to go see the condensed version (for kids) of the Nutcracker today at the CPA. Just like I thought, Avery LOVED it. She sat in my lap and watched every move. When the dancers would exit off the stage, she would day, "where'd they go Momma?" over and over. She even cried at intermission. She thought it was over.

I'm not sure what she liked more - the dance or the music - probably both. She is a very musical child. You will find her singing a song, but rarely does she dance around.


We took a few photos of her in her pretty Christmas dress today.




Her 'cheesy' smile

Avery Day

Last Sunday we had what we like to call 'Avery Day'. This is where we try to spend as much time with her one-on-one as possible and try hard to incorporate chores with her and make it 'fun'. And with us trying to get ready for the tour, we really hadn't been able to give her as much attention as we wanted to.


Sunday morning we had a nice breakfast and cleaned up some on the inside, hung out on the back porch (it was a beautiful day). We had a little yard cleaning up to do as well, but Avery loved helping with the luminaries. Later in the day we went up to the park. Here are a few pictures from the day:


Youseff came over to say hi and she quickly directed him on how to help her clean up the bags. Here she is pouring the sand into the wheel barrow.






At the park




Sunday AM on the back porch

Playing Dr. to me - I think she is applying a band-aid aka a leaf.

The SE Historic Tour has come and gone!

I finally have a second to catch up. Last week was crazy trying to get the house together. The tour went well and the after party was so fun.

We are finally looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the house for the holidays.

Here are some pictures of the house right before the tour. I didn't get as many as I wanted and the inside ones turned out too dark. There are also a few pics of the back porch from Sunday - when we were just hanging out and relaxing. I had forgotten what that was!



Back Porch right before tour


Front porch with the sketch and description of the house


Front of the house - we put up luminaries and a burning basket this year


The kitchen - nothing too holiday decorated here


The back courtyard (the ladder was removed right after I took the picture)

The front room with the new curtains in

Only a few things just did not get done for the tour - you can see one here - the mirror is still leaning against the floor - I hope no one noticed!

The guest room - nothing special - we did have garland on the mantle (left of bed)

The back porch decor