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!

Pumpkin Time

It's about that time of year, to don our orange, buy some overpriced gourds, and take dozens of pictures, hoping that at least one turns out with both kids smiling.

Success!



Look what I found!



Just chillin'.



Caught smiling AGAIN!



Aw, showing some love for once. No hitting, pushing, or shoving?? I'll take it!

Catching up on Fall

So my plan is to buy a new camera tomorrow, finally. All of these pictures were taken with my iPhone! Here are some things we've been doing so far this fall.

I've been cleaning out our closets, and found some hand-me-down toys from my aunt and her family. One popular one has been this castle set with lots of knights, horses, and dragons. It's a big hit with the kids, and even mommy likes it because of her previous obsession with the legends of King Arthur (love you, Lancelot!).



One of Avery's favorite things to do is to delicately place and arrange things, like her little farm animals, tea set accessories, and now the knights. It's cute how serious she is setting up treacherous scenarios with these sword-wielding and fire-breathing toys.



I thought this was so sweet, my two girls!



Miss Hip Hop Girl.....Jason loves this photo! Her new thing is wearing other people's shoes around the house, so she put on Harrison's tennis shoes and then I put her cute little hat on.....look out, Beyonce.



Making new friends at Caitlin's softball game.

Celebrating Caitlin's big win!

Harrison and I took a weekend trip to NC for Wake Forest Homecoming. Avery was ill, so she and Jason stayed behind. Harrison ended up being kind of under the weather while we were there, but we still had a great time staying with the Gallimores and seeing my old friends from school.

Go Deacs! It was fun to see a big win!

The Big Apple

So I am still without a camera. I don't know what I'm waiting for, but I better get moving quick as Halloween is coming up. I've been eyeing sales and coupons at my fave stores, but nothing has motivated me yet from my slump!

But I digress. Since I have been sans camera since July, I had to buy a (gasp!) disposable one when Jason and I went to NYC in September. You should have seen people's reactions when I whipped that thing out. I thought my friend Dave was going to bust a gut laughing at us. Speaking of Dave, he works for the USTA and gave us FREE tickets to the US Open! So Jason and I took a wonderful vacation to my most fave city in the world. Even more importantly, we had wonderful babysitters who took excellent, loving care of our children while we were gone.....thank you Nana and Papa!

At the Williams' sisters quarterfinal match.



Federer's quarterfinal match.



We saw Matt Damon on the Dave Letterman show!



Dave hooked us up with courtside seats for the Williams sisters. We were unprepared to get an autograph from Miss S, but watched her sign them right in front of us.



It was actually a tough match for them for once, went 3 sets.



In the press room during our VIP tour of the stadium. We walked right past Billie Jean King outside.



We spent many hours at Arthur Ashe.



One rainy evening we had drinks at the revolving bar at the top of our hotel, then dinner with my friend Carla, and then......Mamma Mia on Broadway! It was great, I am officially obsessed with that musical.

Out of the Loop

So my camera broke while we were at Neverland Ranch in July. I think it was the curse of Michael Jackson, I must have disappointed him with my poor dance moves while touring his studio. Well, I took the camera back a month later, and I still have not gotten around to buying a new one. Hence, it's been a long time since I've updated the blog. So here are a few that I have taken over the past couple of months with my iPhone!

Two long legged blondes, having snacks at the park.



Dressed in their Deacon and Hokie gear for the first college football Saturday of the season!

Avery outgrew her highchair, so we got them both new booster seats at the kitchen table. They love their new set up.

Gracie broke her foot, so we've been taking her to the vet to get checked on every couple of weeks. The kids love to play under the vet's table, and I love it because it keeps them entertained while Gracie's getting bandaged or X-rayed.

I couldn't resist this last one, Jason took it with his phone this afternoon after Avery woke up from her nap. She was very fussy when she got up so we guessed she didn't get her nap out, and to prove it, she laid down on the floor and went back to sleep for another 20 minutes!

Our Latest Obsessions

Are you asking yourself, you mean, besides choo choos? Yes, we have new obsessions!

First, Avery's is dogs. Doggies. Doggies. Doggies. She says it all the time, and she LOVES them. She is not afraid of them AT ALL. She made best friends with Will and Megan's two labs, and there are dogs everywhere in California so she was in heaven. Then at Sam Kuehn's birthday party there was a little dog there, and she played with it for TWO hours straight and did not touch a single toy while we were there. She wasn't even interested in cupcakes. Just throwing the ball to the dog.

Avery actually is in love with all animals, but she calls them all doggies. She can say "kitty," "duckie," and "bird" so she'll call those by their right names, but every other animal is a doggie, whether it's a horse, sheep, elephant, monkey, pig, or alligator.

Here is Avery acting like, well, a doggie! Imitation is the most sincerest form of flattery.



Harrison's new obsession is puzzles. And I am happy to stoke the fires on that one. We are so proud of him, I have bought lots of puzzles (thank goodness for $2.99 24-piece ones at Target) and he can do them all by himself on the first try. He exhibits so much patience while doing them, and really concentrates hard. Then when he his finished, my heart melts because he is so proud of himself!

Here he is, surrounded by some of his new puzzles.

California Dreamin'

The kids and I took a week-long hiatus to visit Will and Megan out in lovely Santa Ynez, California. The land of great hair weather and In and Out burgers. Poppy and Car Car were wonderful to let us tag along with them and we really appreciate everything they did for us. We are also so grateful to Will and Megan for hosting the whole gang in their gorgeous home. I was so glad Harrison and Avery got to spend some time with their aunt and uncle, and their two sweet doggies! Avery fell in love with Maggie and Bailey. She and Maggie were best buds the entire trip.

We watched Will play softball the evening we arrived. The sunny sky fooled the kids into getting on Pacific time right away!



Walking around Solvang is a true joy. It's so picturesque, and it even has a wooden shoe a child can fit inside.



Enjoying more of beautiful Solvang!



Megan's parents' gorgeous backyard.



Avery loves Uncle Willy and Aunt Meg!

Walking around beautiful Santa Barbara. Have I mentioned that California is beautiful?

Walking on the beach.

We ate lunch on the beach and it was perfect, because all of the kids got to play in the sand while we ate!

Uh oh, I think Maggie won that wrestling match!

One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to Neverland! He we are in front of one of the iconic images, the train station. No surprise, it was Harrison's favorite part.

Hmmm, we think we could live here!

Walking the grounds around the Neverland pool. Such a wonderful opportunity and great memories!