The Living Christmas Tree

Nana and Papa Carter sing in a large, beautiful, Christmas concert every year at their church called The Living Christmas Tree. So we always head over to Montgomery to watch the performance and as usual, it was wonderful. We are so proud of Nana and Papa for all of their hard work! We also had a great time visiting with the extended Carter family who also came to watch the Tree.

Cousins!

More cousins: Kenley, Avery, Harrison, and Hadley Carter

Hadley and Harrison love to give each other hugs! They are buddies!

Kenley and Avery are buddies too, and loved holding hands.

Our sweet girl had a ball climbing up and down the church stairs!

Playing games with Nana.

This is a random picture I stuck in.....we went to the mall last week to ride the big choo choo and sit on Santa's lap! It was a fun day!

Are We Ready for Broadway?

Starting this past summer, every Wednesday afternoon, we head up to the church for Harrison's choir practice. All of his efforts paid off because he did a wonderful job singing in the church Christmas pageant this Saturday. Even if he doesn't end up inheriting the lovely singing pipes of his grandparents/aunts/uncles, we are so proud of him for standing up in front of a large group of people and having fun singing!

Thanksgiving in Florida

We spent several days at Poppy and Car Car's house in Florida over the Thanksgiving holiday and were so blessed to spend valuable time with many family members and friends. The California Eschens even came in for a few days, it was so wonderful to see them! We did most of our usual activities there, a visit to the Homossassa Wildlife Park and lots and lots of football, eating, and playing outside.

Harrison and Avery love the Wildlife Park!

Waving hi to a lizard!

She's always the cutest manatee!

Relaxing with Car Car for a minute.

Harrison played games with Aunt Nancy, Sarah, and Brian.

Yep, watching football.

Thanksgiving dinner is about to be served, the crowd couldn't wait!

Two pretty girls.

Watching Backyardigans with Mandy and Owen.

Game night!

Cheering on the Gators!

Poppy and Car Car in their element with all the grandchildren.

It was so great to get a picture of the whole family, it doesn't happen very often!

One of their favorite activities, "wrestling" with Poppy.

Avery's First School Party

Our big girl had a fall feast at her school on Wednesday. Since she loves to eat (and Mommy was there) she had a great time!

Head of the table, of course.



Hey, where's my plate?



Mmmmm, Chick Fil A. I wish all parties had a nugget tray.



A Rice Krispie treat for dessert! What a way to end the party!

What Should We Do On A Rainy Day?

How about paint?



Even the littlest one likes it. She likes it so much, she wants to paint her hands.



Harrison says most of the pictures he paints are chickens, and they are almost always for Daddy. Aw!



I asked her to say cheese, and I got an extreme closeup!!

Halloween X 2

Having two trick-or-treaters this year made for a very fun Halloween for us all. Harrison wanted to dress up as Thomas (for the second year in a row) and when I asked him what Avery should be for Halloween, he said, "a butterfly"! Perfect. So our little train and little butterfly had a great time at the neighborhood Halloween party and trick-or-treating at a couple of houses afterwards.

This was Harrison's fall party at his school, his first taste of Halloween 2009!



All dressed up for the big block party!



All lined up for the costume contest. Notice Thomas and Darth Vader checking each other out.



Once Avery noticed a doggie sitting in a truck at the party, she was pretty much uninterested in anything else. They became very good friends.



The first house had a "take what you want" basket out front - awesome!

Our favorite neighbor, Mr. Kurt.

They LOVED all their candy and had a great time looking at all the kids who came to our house for candy! What a fun Halloween, see you next year!

A Quick Look Back

Avery is 18 months old today! What a big girl she is. Her vocabulary and memory amaze us every day. She can say almost every word she hears and knows hundreds of words. She's putting them together into short sentences too! Avery started a Mother's Morning Out program in September and while the first month was tough for her with a lot of separation anxiety, now she is an old pro and enjoys herself at school with no crying at all.

Her favorite things are animals (specifically, dogs and cows), reading, drawing, dancing, singing, and anything her brother is playing with (specifically, trains, cars, and trucks). Her favorite song is "Old McDonald" and she can do the E-I-E-I-O very well. Other favorites are "Twinkle Twinkle" and Mommy's favorite ABBA/Mamma Mia songs (specifically, "Honey Honey" and "I Do I Do I Do"). She is very outgoing and friendly, always saying and waving hi and bye-bye to people unprompted. We love her laugh and her smile, she is the happiest girl in the whole wide world!

A look back at two months old.....



......six months old......



.....one year old......

......and today, eighteen months old!