Smelly socks

Avery and her Daddy have the best time together doing the silliest (is that a word?) things. Tonight after church they were taking turns smelling Avery's socks then "fainting" because they smelled so bad. It was hilarious and Avery could just do it over and over again. I have been meaning to put a video up on the blog again and thought this was a cute one.

Cowgirl Avery

Avery got these new pink leggins for Christmas and every time she sees them she wants to put them on whether she has on pants or not. The other day I thought the weather was relatively nice and I would take her down to the barn in her leggins to ride horses with Daddy.... well the wind had picked up and when it blows in the Panhandle like that it is miserable. As you can see from the first pic, Avery could barely keep her eyes open for the because of the wind and dirt blowing around. Her allergies were already acting up and so we didn't ride any horses that day. She still wore her "Cowgirl clothes" around the house the rest of the afternoon.

My New Job

Well, I decided to take a part-time job at a school district as a speech pathologist. Next week I will begin working on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the remainder of this semester. Avery will be staying with a babysitter that lives only 5 minutes from my school. We are looking forward to this new opportunity and hope everything goes smoothly. Although these random pictures of Avery have nothing to do with my new job, I just had to include them because she is so funny.

Avery loves her new baby doll and stroller that she got for Christmas and plays with them daily.
This is the face that Avery makes when either I tell her to do something and she doesn't want to do it, or when she is about to get in trouble.

This adorable facial expression often arises when I tell her not to open the cabinet and she is planning to do it anyway! She is a mess.

Boone and "Aves"

This week our nephew Boone, who is 4, is staying with us. He lives in Albany with his parents and a baby sister on the way. We enjoy getting to see him and Avery absolutely adores him. Boone is so sweet to his little cousin "Aves" and so patient. He has been going to work with Casey and entertaining Avery the rest of the day. This morning he went with Avery to her library time. Then he asked if they could play at the park on the way home. It wasn't too cold today, so we got out and played for a while. Avery cried the whole way to the car because she didn't want to leave. Hopefully tomorrow we can go again if the weather isn't bad.

Boone ventured down the slide first. Then I looked over and Avery was climbing the steps herself. I stood behind her, but she could have done it all alone. We went down the slide together as she was yelling "weeee" the whole way down, then "more" as soon as my feet hit the ground!

Avery had to do everything that Boone did of course. She actually has pretty good balance too.

18 Months

Today we went to the doctor for Avery's 18 month checkup. She passed as a healthy, growing toddler and we are so thankful for her great health. These were her stats:

Weight: 23.6 pounds - 25th percentile

Height: 33 inches - 75th percentile

Everything checked out and we made it out of the doctor's office with no shots which I think was more of a relief to me than Avery since she doesn't know the difference - yet. She did seem more apprehensive than ever before as if she remembered being there from her 15 month visit. Thankfully we have not had to go to the doctor repeatedly for illness so she isn't scared of the doctor yet.

Here are my 5 favorite things about her at 18 months:
1. She is always happy to wake up.
2. She loves shoes, makeup, purses, babies, and anything girly.
3. She has the most intoxicating, silly laugh.
4. She is like a sponge and learning SOOOO much everyday.
5. She wants all of our attention and to be around us all the time.

Holidays

Here are some pictures from Christmas and the holidays. We had a wonderful Christmas week in Abilene that went by way too fast. Casey and I headed off for Red River to go snow skiing New Year's Eve. Of course I left my camera in Abilene so there are no pics from the trip... sorry. We just got back and I am taking advantage of finally getting the internet at my new house. I know, hooray for me!!! I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas at my Pop's house with my brother Lance, his fiance Kallie, Pop, Me, Avery, and Casey.

Getting golf lessons from Uncle David with his new Christmas present! Little miss priss HAD to try on all her new stuff! Aren't the pink leggings adorable.

Here she goes again trying on her new vest at my parent's house.

My brother and his new fiance Kallie. Aren't they so cute???

Our old rocking horse that Avery loves to ride at Nona and Papa's house.

She loves her new chair and is very possessive of who sits in it!

New frog boots from Casey's parents.

Her red car from Santa. She drives her baby and puppy around everywhere in it.

Back at home playing dress up in her new pink chaps, boots, and silly hat that she loves to wear around the house. Casey thinks she looks like Lane Frost in this picture because of the way she is waving her hands.