Fall Festival

Last night we went to our church's Fall Festival. Avery had a busy day and actually fell asleep on the way there. You can tell how drowsy she is in most of the pictures, but I think she did have a good time. She was all over the place and loved watching all the other kids. We had to work on waiting our turn and not grabbing handfuls of candy, but other than that, she did great.

Me, Avery, Shawna, and Hazen entered the cake walk, but didn't win :(Avery is so funny about these holes... after she threw her bean bags in, she walked around and stuck her head through the other side. Everyone just laughed!

Hegan, Scooby-Doo (Hazen), our little witch, and Casey.

This was Avery's favorite game. She could splash all night. While Casey was holding her hand to leave she stepped in the pool. Casey's pants were wet the rest of the night from holding her until her shoe dried out.

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday I took Avery to a pumpkin patch nearby with a couple ladies from our Sunday School class and their children. The weather was nice and it wasn't too crowded so I basically just followed Avery around while she explored the place. There were some bunnies, ducks, and geese to look at (which Avery loved), tons of pumpkins, corn to play in, bean bag toss, and even a big and small maze for the kids. Avery had a blast and I enjoyed watching her play. Here are some pictures to show her fun day.

Apparently she thought she would just pick the pumpkin herself! She got tripped up alot in the actual pumpkin patch because of all the vines.

The "mini maze." Avery went over several of the hay bales which eliminated the actual point of the maze, but oh well - she was having fun.

Taking a break.

Throwing the corn (after trying to taste it)!

Playing peak-a-BOO! She's so cute :)

Library Day

On Wednesdays we go to the library for story time. There is only one story time for Borger so there are all age groups there. Avery loves to watch the other children, pull books off the shelves, climb on the kid-sized furniture, and has recently began interacting more with the other children. They start with musical instruments and an "ABC" song which Avery has mastered walking around the rug like the others. Now she's not much for sitting through the story... she LOVES to read books at home, but there are far too many distractions for her to attend to the entire book at the library. Here are some moments from today.

They made foot prints today with paint that we will turn into ghosts next week. I did not get a pic while Avery's feet were painted since I was holding her, but here she is watching her friend get his feet painted. She cringed a little when the cold feet touched her feet, but handled the activity really well.

Leaving the library she always wants to climb on the bench outside. It is cold here today and very windy. Isn't she cute in her little jacket?

The 6666 Ranch

As most of you know, we moved to Borger for Casey to accept a job working on the 6666 Ranch. He absolutely loves his job and he is so talented at what he does - from training horses, branding calves, roping, doctoring sick yearlings, and even feeding and checking his part of the ranch. Personally, I would have no concept of a "real" ranch or what it consisted of except for the fact that I married a cowboy and moved to one :) So for all you "city folk" I thought I would give you a glimpse of where we live on the ranch. The 6666 Ranch in Borger is about 130,000 acres large. Avery and I went with Casey yesterday to put out mineral for the cows. I took some pics along the way.

Helping Daddy drive. No carseats required on the ranch!





Yes, the windmills really are used to pump water into these troughs for the cattle and horses to drink out of. The water is stored underground and is crystal clear. Casey made me taste it to prove it was clean and sure enough, it tasted fine. We passed about 6 windmills yesterday while Casey was putting out mineral.

The blocks of mineral weigh 50 pounds each. The cows lick the nutrients off of the blocks until they are gone. Sounds strange, doesn't it?
This is our new house. Obviously it is not finished, but we have been told that we might hopefully move in 2 weeks from now. We are excited as our time in the duplex has become more and more cramped. I will take more pics of the house when we get moved in for everyone to see.

We would love to have visitors if anyone wants to see the ranch or ride a horse! We are loving living here and so blessed to experience God's beautiful creation on a daily basis.

Nona visits

This past weekend my mom came to visit us. We had a wonderful time with her and even got to go on a date Saturday since the babysitter was in town. We were sad to see her leave on Sunday as we love it when family comes to see us in Borger. I know Avery was sad too as she was perfectly spoiled by Nona! Here are some pics from Sunday.

Since my camera is not working, my mom left hers for me to use until I get a new one. I don't think she wanted to go weeks without getting pics of Avery! I uploaded some cute pics from her camera to my computer that she had taken over the past few months and wanted to share them.

My best friend Courtney and her precious newborn Brookelynn.
My dad and brother at his fire station.
My Aunt Karla at Pioneer Drive.

Uncle Lance again.

It seems that there are no actual pictures of Nona on here! Funny how the grandma is always taking the pictures and not in them!

Monday

Today the high in Borger is 50. Our first "cold" day, although I hesitate to call this temperature cold as I hear it gets MUCH colder in the Panhandle than we are used to. We usually go for a walk every morning in the stroller to check the mail down the street and look for birds, rabbits, cows, turtles, caterpillars, and snakes. All of which we have seen at least once! We went out all bundled up determined to get a little time outside. However, when we started walking I noticed that there was a little drizzle in the air too so we just went to the mailbox and came back inside. Avery's nose runs enough with allergies and I didn't want to make it worse. Here is a picture of her in her warm hat this morning.
As you can see, Avery is wearing "cowboy boots" in this picture. She brings them to me periodically and says "boot" then holds up her foot. She loves them. I bought them at Dittos for Kiddos and they are 2 sizes too big, but she can keep them on and wears them everywhere. When she is finished with them she comes to me and says "mama boot out (off)" We are still working on that "f" sound :) Then she places them by the front door next to her Daddy's boots. So cute. Below is a closer picture of her boots and then one of her the other day in her boots and PJ's.
Ok, so since it is cold outside I thought it would be fun if I made playdough and we played with it. Avery has not ever been introduced to playdough. I had a few edible playdough recipes from a Focus on the Family magazine. The one I wanted to make on the stovetop called for cream of tarter which I did not have in the cabinet so I opted for the "Flavored" recipe that follows:

Pour 1 cup water & 2 tablespoons veg oil into bowl. Microwave on high 2 min. Add 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar and package of flavored drink powder to the mixture. Stir until well combined. Knead until desired consistency is reached.

Sounds easy right? Haha. Needless to say it didn't work out quite so well for me. I'm sure it was my fault, but how hard could it really be? After I combined the ingredients and stirred it up, the mixture was still a liquid consistency... so I added more flour... then more flour thinking that it would thicken up. Well it did thicken a little. So on the the kneading. Ummm, how are you supposed to knead a sticky mess? It was all over my hands. So I tried to knead it with the spatula. Still no success. I even let it sit there thinking it would thicken by itself. This was my final result. So if anyone has a suggestion, feel free to let me know. Otherwise I will go buy some cream of tarter and try the other recipe.

Oh, and if you're wondering why the bowl is on the table outside, it is because my camera is broken and does not work inside (must be the flash). So to continue with the blogging I have to take all my pics outside until I get a new camera.

15 months old

Avery went to the doctor for her 15 month checkup today. She measured in at 31 inches and weighed 21 pounds. This puts her in the 75th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight. Dr. Fletcher said that she is long and lean, but perfectly healthy. Her eyes, ears, and nose were all clear and she got a clean bill of health. Only one shot was needed today since they have not gotten their supply of flu shots in, although that will come later. She was such a trooper and just screamed when the needle went in then stopped shortly. We are so proud of our little angel and how she is growing. God has blessed us beyond our expectations with Avery.