The Craziness of Christmas!

It never fails that the day after Thanksgiving I start thinking about Christmas and how I can't believe it's only a few weeks away. Actually I think about Christmas starting in about July and holding true to my past I already have gifts bought and lists made out. I'm already thinking about what to bake and what's left to buy. It's such a crazy time of year but I love it. This year is going to be extra special since we'll be celebrating with Avery. I've already bought her two Christmas dresses and Grandma Kari bought her another outfit so she's all ready for the big day. Jeff and I went and chopped down a tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Avery slept in the car the whole time, which was actually really nice since it was freezing out. Butte's been getting below zero at night and it's not much warmer during the day. I started decorating the house so I thought I'd post a couple shots to show you what's been done (obviously I haven't gotten around to doing that yet but they're coming). The plan is to get the decorating finished and the lights up this weekend. For me these few weeks before Christmas are best part of winter (probably because I'm not sick of it yet.) Enjoy the next four weeks because they're going to fly by and before you know it we'll be into the bleak months of freezing cold that never seem to end. I want to wish all my blog readers a fantastic and hopefully low stress holiday season (yeah right huh). I'll get those pictures up soon. 26 DAYS AND COUNTING.

Thanksgiving in Butte

It was Avery's first Thanksgiving and we were lucky enough to have Grandma Lori, Grandpa Dave and her cousin's the Dalton's (Chris, Tonya, Ronnie and Rhiannon) eat with us. It was such a nice day. Avery with Grandma Lori before dinner. (note that she's still clean) She's also shoe and sockless. The kid has figured out how to take her shoes and socks off. Since we had a fire going and it was a holiday I decided it wasn't worth the fight to try and keep them on :)
Avery shoving her face with dinner. The broccoli was a big hit.

Me with Ronnie and Rhiannon. Rhiannon had the cutest sweater on.
On Friday Jeff and Chris took the kids sledding in our backyard. Our yard has a small hill in it that works great for sledding. Ronnie had a blast and Jeff even took Avery down a couple of times. She laughed when they got to the bottom of the hill. Here's a picture of us outside. It was pretty cold so we didn't stay out long but the guys sledded for a couple of hours. Thanks again everyone for making the drive to Butte to eat with us!

For Grandpa Lucero

When I had Avery last March, her Grandpa Lucero was in Las Vegas at the Nascar races. He bought her this outfit to give to her when he got back. She's just fitting into it so I thought I'd post a picture for him.

New Tooth

This was not an easy picture to get!

You can almost see it :)

The Meaning of Excitement

I’ve decided what the most exciting thing is in the world. There was a time in my life, roughly a year and a half ago, when asked this question I’d probably have said, “going on vacation, having reservations at a nice restaurant, riding a roller coaster,” but a lot has changed in the last year and my entire view of what constitutes excitement has changed as well.

Now I’m excited if my child takes more then a 30 minute nap or sleeps in until 7 a.m. I’m excited when my kid eats a new food that she’s never tried before or sits up by herself for an extended period of time. Heck I’m even excited when she wakes up in the morning and hasn’t peed through her diaper, sleeper and bedding. But this last weekend I discovered the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life! Avie started saying da da and ma ma!

Da da came first. The little runt woke Daddy up Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m. yelling it. Usually we can at least get her to play in bed until 7 but that morning (it was Jeff’s weekend morning to get up with her) Daddy jumped right out of bed. How can you not go play with a kid who has just made your day.

Then yesterday she started saying ma ma ma ma! She’s being saying Mom for awhile, but it usually only comes out when she’s fussy and pissed about something. She’d wine and then say Mum at the end. But now she truly says ma ma. It might be the cutest and it’s definitely the most exciting thing I’ve ever heard in my life. She’s a genius and I now truly and firmly believe that.

It’s crazy how much one little person can change your life. My life must have been so boring a year and a half ago. I just need to remember that the next time she’s teething or throwing up in the back of my car. Avie makes every day an exciting adventure and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!