Avery Turns 2!

Shawn and I singing Happy Birthday to her.

She was more interested in the Elmo ring on top than the actual cupcake.

And that was about all she ate...still not into sweets.

Her present from Mommy and Daddy. Every time we are cleaning we hear a little voice saying, "I help" so now she can.

Loving the vacuum

Sweeping...we have already used this in the kitchen this morning to sweep up some crushed goldfish.

Ready to clean!

Sunday Morning

Avery is obsessed with shoes of all kinds but right now her favorites are her flip flops so it was only fitting that that be her theme.

The cake baker.

Wearing her flip flop dress made by Grandma Sue.

Sunday evening we had Avery's party. Matt, Christina, Phoenix, Gillis, Lindsey, Norman, Ellie, Eric, Shelly, Hatcher, Carson and Zoe helped celebrate!

Sleepy girl after everyone went home.

After having multiple hissy fits that she couldn't get her Build-a-Bear shoes on herself she is finally satisfied with the fit.

Some things I want to remember about Avery at age2:
1. Just this past weekend she added the "I" to her usual "love you." It's been so cute to hear her say, "I love you, Mommy. I love you, Daddy. I love you, Sasha."

2. The MOUSE! Avery has an imaginary mouse. She will say, "Mommy, the mouse!" Mommy..."Where?" "Outside" or "On Daddy's head" and then "Mouse ran away. It was scared of Avery." And we will repeat, over and over and over.

3. Her ever expanding vocabulary! Her first sentence a few months ago was, "I want some more chicken!" Now most of the time she talks in complete sentences and it's amazing the things she comprehends and picks up.

4. She has been free of her paci for one week now! Yay one success this summer!

5. Favorites: Foods - mac n cheese, hotdogs, cereal
Toys - new cleaning set, Sasha, any and all dolls, tea set
Band - the Avett Brother's - yes, she has been brainwashed since birth by her Daddy. She knows almost every song and sings along to many.
Nursery Ryhmes - Mac n cheese aka Yankee Doodle, the wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy spider, I'm a little tea pot
Place - the beach!

6. Avery counts to 10 in English, Spanish, and French...with help, of course. :-)

7. Avery loves to stomp ants out on the driveway.

8. When we were trying to show Avery how to hold up two fingers for two years old she kept saying "Peace!" Thanks to Mariah. :-)

Avery definitely has an independent streak and sometimes she can be a real stinker, like last week when I took her to have her portraits made, but overall she is such a sweet and vivacious little girl.

We love you, Avery Reagan!

First half of July

On July 9th the Avett Brother's were having a concert in Red Rocks, Colorado...but we got to see them too! They did a live broadcast of the concert at Charlotte Motor Speedway on their huge HD screen. So yes, we went to watch a concert on a huge TV but it was lots of fun! We met some of my co-workers, Steve and Michelle Rines and their daughter, Morgan, there and had a really fun night.

Avery, Morgan and Michelle

Avery and Morgan spent most of their energy rocking out to the opening act...Grace Potter.

I wanted to try pudding finger paint that I'd heard other people talk about. I was babysitting Malachi this day so I figured that'd be a fun activity for him and Avery. I made cheesecake flavored pudding and divided it up into little containers for each of them and added some food coloring. Avery loved it and dug right in. She loved eating it, painting the paper, and painting herself. Malachi, not so much. I made him at least try to paint with it but he thought it was pretty gross.

Mom and I have kind of a running joke about giant onesies and big onesie pajamas. Mind you, Avery wore a onesie almost daily until she was 18 months old and she does have some pretty cute 3T onesie pajamas. But for some reason whenever I see them in the store the giant onesies crack me up. Mom sent Avery this onesie a little while back and of course I thought it was cute with the elephants and Mommy and me. Today was a perfect day for Avery to wear it around the house after the pool and before getting dressed up for gospel meeting. Thank goodness 24 months is the biggest they make this type of onesie!

We had planned to take a day trip to the beach on Friday the 15th but Shawn found a good rate at the Hampton Inn right on the Isle of Palms Connector so we decided to make it an overnight. We hadn't even finished setting up and Avery was already playing in the sand.

There were storms out to sea so the waves and the wind were really fierce with a strong undertow. Shawn and I took turns boogie boarding but you couldn't just go out and relax in the water, you had to fight just to stand up. Avery loved playing in the surf and discovered the shells...at one point I was holding about 20 for her.

After getting cleaned up we headed downtown for the evening. We walked out on the pier and saw a dolphin only about 15 feet away...that was pretty spectacular!

Somehow without even trying we find something new in Charleston every time we go. This evening we found a new street with this parking area that basically had windows. Kind of hard to describe but it was really neat.

Back to the beach in the morning so we could get back and shower before check out time. Happy Birthday Avery!!

We were going to drive into downtown and walk around before heading home but Avery fell asleep in the car almost immediately. We drove around for a while and then made our way to the Mt. Pleasant Waterfront Park. Avery had just woken up and in a moment of spontaneity we decided to walk on the Ravenel Bridge. It was quite a hike for two out of shape people pushing a stroller but we made it to the top and it was totally worth it.

Shawn is scared to death right now and can't look down!

Charleston Harbor in the background

The birthday girl finally gets to get out and play!