Merry Christmas

It's been a busy two months since Avery turned two!

1. We welcomed a new cousin, Ariana, into the world just a few days after Avery's party. It's been fun walking the 7 blocks over to her house to "play" with her (aka watch her sleep and sometimes pat her head).

2. Avery and I joined my parents and Becka during their first week in Florida, and we also attended my cousin Brie's wedding in the Keys.

3. Tim was awarded with Manager of the Quarter for Starbucks (yay for hard work!) and asked (again) to consider becoming a District Manager, plunging us into the possibility of staying in Colorado for a couple more years after he graduates in June.

4. We hosted Thanksgiving and Jaya's visiting family

5.  We've celebrated 6 of 8 family birthdays so far (if you count Jesus' birthday, of course), including cousin Livvy turning one!

6. Somewhere in there we found out we're expecting Baby #2 in late June!

A few favorite notes about the fun toddler these days:

she calls marshmallows 'commercials'
the side head tilt and nod while she explains things to people
"That sounds great, mama!"
"What a fun day!!"
she's a book-reading fiend! Can't get enough.
she knows her letters and can spell her name out loud
suddenly into hopping, marching, jumping, somersaults, etc
not so into sitting on Santa's lap, or loud ocean waves, but a brave girl.
she'll only zip or button her coat if she "feels cold"
loves saying multiple times a day, "mama, you look beauuuuuutiful!"
"that Mine's!"
super into tea parties
lately clanking two similar things together - cups, or bagels, etc - proclaiming "cheeers!"
holding her fist out to daddy (and occasionally to others) yelling, "POUND!"

What an incredible end to 2012. Blessings to you and yours in the New Year!

the Big 2.

Someone turned 2 last week! And immediately flung herself into a world of high expectations and tantrums (and a cold, which I'm affirming must have been the reason for the tantrums, not the new age).   She is a whirlwind communicator, has begun throwing in time-sensitive phrases like "yesterday," "Last week" and "next week" in story telling, finishing with, "remember that?" Ok, kid! You're getting there!

We celebrated in serious style - mad hatter style, sporting items from the dress-up closet I knew growing up. It was a crazy tea party birthday, with costumes, funny layer cake that was waaaaay too much effort to every repeat, balloons, mismatched tea cups, a couple songs, and presents. She's good to go until next year! See all our pics here.

Her favorite new toys are definitely the stroller, pack and play and high chair for her babies. She rocks them to sleep and sings lullabies almost perfectly:) Too sweet, really. She takes them for "walks" around the house to the park and "Whole Foods?" And she LOVES a certain squirrel book given by her Mimi and Grandpa!

At her Dr. appt, she weighed in at 26.2 lbs (60%), with a 70% height and 90% head circumference. What a noggin. No wonder I can't get some of her 24 mo shirts over her head!!!

 Goals for this year: figure out how to get her to poop in the potty (now it's only while sleeping)! Let's get diaper-free during sleep time. OK and maybe some other goals, but that seems to be at the top of my list:)

Happy Fall, Y'all

Well, we thought we might be a bit late grabbing the rich fall colors in the mountains, and although peak was over, we still got our fix:) Aspen leaves just smell wonderful. Not as much color as a Northeast experience, but so lovely. Making great memories!

We headed out on part of the Colorado Trail on Kenosha Pass last month.

 This weekend we left Avery with my parents and explored Salida and Buena Vista. GOT TO GET BACK THERE! Not enough time for hiking amazing spots!!

Super Trooper

She loved our camping adventure this summer! Can't wait for more next year. We hiked Brainard Lake and then camped at Golden Gate Canyon...next to MOOSE! We saw several and she STILL talks about it, nearly two months later. What a rad kid. See pics here.

My Girl

Had some fun with the camera lately, enjoy the ham (more here)!

Holla Updates

Whewey, we've been busy this summer! But also relaxed having Tim home after work instead of having to study for school. We love daddy!

Avery knows where daddy works!

Avery is 22 months, potty trained most days, and a singing maniac. She loooves singing to herself and picks up new songs and words so easily. Here are a few snippets:

("Hosanna, hosanna, shout unto God with the voice of triumph, Praise Him, Praise Him, shout unto God with the voice of praise!")

(This is what I get for asking her to sing during breakfast).

And here's a final medley of several combined (these all tend to trail off incompletely...).

She's into copying phrases that we say (as opposed to answering questions), playing kitchen, cleaning/sweeping anything, saying "P.U." to us, and "Oh NO!", dressing herself, runningrunningrunning, and saying "Silly [enter name]!"

She spends a lot lot lot of time with her super aunts and Yoyo and PopPop so I can help schools expand their breakfast programs. Again, so nice to work from home part time, whatever hours I can muster! Thank you Jesus!

We've had a good share of outdoor adventures as well. Tim and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary by going to Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain National Park, a favorite! We even left Avery with the g-parents.

I love my man!

This where we got lost. Not bad.

mooooooose!

Continental Divide trail to Mt Ida

Then we spent a wonderful week in the great Northwest!! ahh, how we have missed you! Highlights were simply seeing good friends and family, and meeting our nephew Griffin and new buddy Henry! And weather that was 20-degrees cooler than Colorado! See all the photos here.

 

Tim and I also spent the summer training for my first half marathon. I'm proud to have finished under 2 hours, (and to have been running mostly downhill through the mountains)! Part of my training, I claim, was running the Survivor Mud Run with a couple of friends in 95 degree heat, during a drought. Needless to say, not sure I need to do either of those ever again, though we had fun!

The next weekend I joined a couple of friends for a 4-day backpacking trip to the Crestones in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, again leaving Avery, and this time Tim, behind. We climbed 2 fourteeners (and almost summited both). Enough exercise for me, for the rest of the year! :) See all pics here.

One more camping trip before Tim heads back to classes. Besides beating the heat, we've been getting involved a little more at our Vineyard church and enjoying our typical zoo, library, park and grocery store adventures. Next time posting won't take so long, and I'll have more exciting details to share!

Clicking?

Hey, I think she might be getting it!

At least, days 11 and 12 are drastically different than the others of our potty training experiment. No accidents (and 7 pees in the potty) until 5pm yesterday, and today so far she took herself again to the potty 5 times PLUS her first poop in the potty!! So exciting to be sharing on the www. This gives me hope that we might not need to quit. You "go girl, go potty!" (a book we have about it all).  We'll see how this translates in public places or friends' houses...

In other news, recent trips to a water park and various creeks to cool down have been saving us from the heat a bit. Luckily temps are predicted to dip by 20 degrees into the 70s. crazy! sounds so refreshing! And we had a lovely 4th of July at a parade with Avery's first tricycle, then bbq with family. This summer is ALL about taking it easy, and working hard growing up.

It's Getting Hot

Wow I sure don't remember this kind of heat growing up. Never lived in Denver either, which is about 2,000 lower in elevation than what I was used to, which makes a difference! It's only June and we've had weeks straight of 95-105 tempts: TOO HOT! Our apartment is on the first level and our fans help, so not overwhelming, but hot!

And trapped - too hot to really go out (no pools nearby that I've found yet, I need to get on that!), plus we decided to try potty training while I have the summer off from work. No big trips planned for a good month window. However, I'm skeptical!

looking at "pictures" (herself included) is a favorite past time

smoothie treat on the potty!

 Day 4 so far, and I suppose we're making SLOW progress, but not so sure she's going to get this thing within a few weeks. She's got the concept and understands what is supposed to happen, but physically is not making it to the potty in time. And not quite sure when she has the feeling to go, I don't think. We'll keep at it, but accidents are pretty much guaranteed unless I deprive her of liquids - not a good idea on this heat! Reassessing as we go. Hey, progress either way toward the ultimate goal whenever if happens, right? Even if we stop and try in months, hopefully it will all contribute positively...anyway lots of learning happening around here!

shopping after she put on her own skirt by herself (inside out)

popsicle!