More Fall Excitement

Once again, I'm a bad bad blogger and have failed to upload pics (or even take them). We celebrated the beginning of fall by visiting a pumpkin patch at the church nearby, where Avery ran around and touched every pumpkin possible. She tried to run off with a couple of them, but we left them there for other people.

We also celebrated the first fruits of our garden...green bell peppers. Our tomato plants are flourishing, but I need to get tomato cages pronto, because the weight of them is making the stems split without proper support. Oops!

We also spent a lot of time in bed due to colds - Luke never caught it, thank goodness, but Avery and I were out for almost a week.

We played a little game of peek-a-boo ("pee-bo"). Avery is so funny when she tries to play without a blanket to hide under - she likes to just poke her fingers in her eyes or ball her fists up, and she'll wait and wait and wait as long as she can before popping her eyes open.

And a little fall cleaning to get the season off to a good start.

Happy Halloween!

getting stuffed - these came out 20 minutes later because it was hot and the costume kept riding up over her diaper

trick or treat!

the crew at home base

riding in style

on the road again

she carried this mini pumpkin that she got at the first house almost the whole time

Aunt Bri taking a turn

this house had a guy waiting to scare people just beyond that curtain - Luke announced that a little baby was coming in, so the guy just sat there and wouldn't give any candy...what a grinch!

Daddy's turn - he struck out 5 houses in a row - no one home

Check out my face - it's because the old lady to my left had just flashed her old lady hiney. Yikes!

This was Avery's first trick-or-treat-ing Halloween, so we took full advantage of it, although all of the candy will make it's way to work with Luke this week, hopefully. We started a tradition last year of camping out at my sister's house with my other sister and her fiance, handing out candy to the kids in her neighborhood. This year my parents drove in as well, and we ordered pizza and set up shop on the driveway.

Details on her costume: I wanted to make it, but needed something easy because I'm no master seamstress. I found a pattern for a bubble suit for a bumblebee or ladybug and adapted it for this costume, and the total cost for it all came in under $10 for the brown flannel, the purse, and some costume jewelry. We had everything else at home already. I sewed the face pieces out of felt, glued earring backs on two buttons for "pearl earrings", sewed felt high heel shoe covers, and stuffed her with plastic bags. All face pieces were safety pinned onto the costume so I could move them about if I wanted to. We tried gloves, to complete the look of Mrs. Potato Head's hands, but they were too bulky, and we also ditched the shoe covers because they kept spinning around.

Avery didn't quite understand what was going on, but it didn't take long for her to figure out that people were giving her things to put in her purse, and then she just started helping herself. She was very polite at each house, telling everyone "thank you" and "bye-bye". One older gentleman scared her a little bit, but once he held the candy out, she was ready to make nice - let's hope that doesn't become a habit!

We spent the previous night at a Trunk or Treat at an area high school where she quickly won over the cheerleaders. She is quite the charmer. Plus, her pic should show up in the local newspaper this week!

A Shameless Plug

My hubby thinks I'm weird for using Swagbucks, but he seems to forget that I've gotten almost $75 in Amazon gift cards from it, so I'm going to just ignore his comments. :) You can sign up through the Swidget on the right hand side of the blog if you want to try it yourself. Yes, I get points if you sign up, but then you can get other people to sign up and you get points too, everytime they get points! Everybody wins. :) I only use it as a search engine - I don't do all the special offers they have. And today they are offering an extra 20 swagbucks (click on the SwagCodes button on the Swidget), and then click on Sign Up and copy it into the codes box on the sign up form. Or click here: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/mollyfantastic

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

We celebrated Avery's 1/2 birthday with some new friends, enjoying cake and 1 1/2 candles (and no pictures on our own camera). This is Avery at 18 months:

-22 lbs 14.5 oz (25-50%), 32.65" tall (75-90%)...she's taking after her Daddy. Dr. B says she's a "really healthy toddler!!"

-loves shoes of any kind, but especially Mommy's heels. They are usually on the wrong feet, and she only wears one at a time.
-still fascinated by books, and is often found reading to herself in her room
-says anywhere from 20-30 words, with new ones popping up daily. Sometimes I can hear a word that no one else would, so does it really count? At least I know what she's trying to tell me. This month we added: toash (toast), fish (for goldfish crackers), cookie (for graham crackers...not sure I've ever said cookie around her, and I think she's only ever had a couple bites of one in her entire life) fau-wa (flower), button (or a variation of it), kiki (kitty), meow, bath, Nana, pease (please), toes, boom!, moo, pee-bo (peekaboo), choo-choo + short phrases - Hi Mommy, Hi Daddy, Bye-Bye Mommy, Bye-Bye Daddy, no no no no
-is trying really hard to say bracelet and necklace and breakfast (almost got it!)
-recognizes chin and belly (as opposed to just the bellybutton)
-signs "eat" regularly now
-is fully taking one nap a day, from about 1 to 3 or 4 pm.
-recognizes friends and family and playmates, and is super excited to see them and very sad to leave them
-is really into her babydoll, and pushes her in the stroller more, instead of those chip clips
-has started sucking her finger at non-sleepy times, which is a little frustrating
-still cries when we drop her off at the nursery, but calms down quickly and even seems to have fun while she's there
-is still a cheese and fruit lover, and that's about it.
-is very girly, loving anything jewelry, purse, or shoe related. She has a bracelet of mine that she puts on while we're in the car
-recognizes objects and says the word when she sees something or hears the noise
-gives kisses anytime you ask, but will tell you "no" if she's not in the mood

Big Helper

Avery loves to help with dishes and laundry. She decided to add a little something extra to the mix today. I found this when I went to load the dishes after breakfast.

Random Pics, or The Goofiest Girl Around

Going to the Chapel

We traveled to Houston last weekend for my dad's wedding, in which I did a reading and each of my sisters sang. Just to brag on them a bit - they are incredible singers - it's so great to see the gifts God has given them and how they are using them well. Love those girls.


Congrats Dad and Angela!

We had a blast at the reception, and Avery charmed everybody with her sense of style by sporting her latest fashion trend, the headband, and her amazing dancing skills. She also tried to catch the lights on the floor from the disco ball. Luke wowed everybody with his "superman" - turns out white boys can dance, sort of. :) They at least have fun trying.

Aunt Victoria and Avery

dancing with Daddy

she carried Aunt Michelle's purse around ALL night

staring at the disco ball

Dad and Mam-maw

I also made the groom's cake - I'm hyper-critical of my work, especially since I don't tend to do highly decorated cakes. Makes me all kinds of nervous. I prefer a good homestyle goopy-frosting cake. But, people have been requesting pictures, so I'm going to be vulnerable and put a couple on here.

Christmas

Did you know there are only 94 days left til Christmas?! I know. Panic time.

After Christmas last year, I was browsing and came across this. Luke and I had been talking about how to make Christmas meaningful for our children, and how to not make presents the emphasis of the holiday. Presents are fun, we all love them, but we wanted our kids to grow up with a healthier perspective on the holiday. And we both are trying to simplify life in general, focusing less on the material things (which is a daily battle for me sometimes). We want to implement traditions that celebrate Christ, and while I am still brainstorming how to best do that, I have at least decided that I want to start doing what the above link suggests as far as gift-giving goes.

So, I'm coming up with 4 things for Avery.
Want
Need
Wear
Read

We will still do stockings, because that's our favorite part (or at least my favorite part). I'm still debating whether or not to do a Santa gift. We'll probably lean that way, but I might lump it in with the Want category. Christmas Eve we always give pajamas, a tradition that started when I was a kid because my mom wanted us to have nice looking pjs for pictures on Christmas morning.

So off I go on my hunt for the perfect little gifts for my Avery girl. I've got a few ideas brewing.

A quiet book for Read - I'll be sewing this over the next couple months
New fluffy diapers for Need (although we could be potty training not too long after Christmas, so I might change this).
Felt food (made by me, hopefully) and dishes for her play kitchen for Want
A darling modern dollhouse found at a children's resale shop months ago - Santa gift (because I already had it)

I'm excited about this new challenge - I think it will be good for all of us as the years go by.

Potty

Somebody thinks that feet go in the hole of the toilet. We'll have to work on that when we're ready to start potty training.

Piggies

17 Months

Avery turned 17 months old this week. This has been my favorite age so far, from about 15 months to now, but especially this past month. She is talking and signing and trying to make us laugh on purpose. I love that she's understanding humor now.

We're transitioning to one nap a day now, as of this past week. Honestly, I thought I'd be sad to see that morning nap go, but I actually get more done now, because errands aren't limited to a two-hour time frame, and we're able to make more plans with friends in the morning finally. She's been happy all week, eager to play games with me and then entertain herself in her room a lot. I frequently find her reading to herself or playing with her baby.

Some new things:

• She loves to bring her baby to me, to show her off, and then she gives her baby a kiss.
• She pushes her baby in the stroller, but more often she will push other toys, her lovey, her cup, whatever she pulls from the dishwasher....
• New words: no, break-fuss (breakfast), thank you, uh-oh (sometimes), bye daddy, hi daddy, cheese, be-beeee (baby)
• New signs: thank you, eat
• Dances in circles when music is playing
• Brings her shoes to me and sits in my lap when she wants to go outside
• Gets all kinds of crazy excited when Daddy comes home from work. She hears the beep when the door opens and comes RUNNING. Or, I'll tell her Daddy is home, and she stops whatever she is doing and runs yelling Hi Daddy Hi Daddy Hi Daddy!
• Is on a pea kick again - one night she asked for more peas six or seven times.
• Visited friends in Dallas - her first extended visit with kids her own age
• Loves loves loves real babies and very gently pats them on the head or hand
• Daddy taught her how to wake Mommy up nicely, by stroking her hair, instead of hitting her face. And now Avery will come up and stroke my hair gently anytime I'm laying down. 
• Favorite foods: goldfish crackers (she helps herself anytime she can snatch them from the pantry), cheese, eggs, toast with jam, berries, oranges, bananas, tomatoes, spaghetti, bites of my salads, loves to dip fish sticks in ketchup, peas, acorn squash, oatmeal, quesadillas. I wish she would eat more greens! We're working on that.
• She loves to brush her teeth, and she'll say "ch, ch, ch, ch" (you know, the brushing sound!) so that I will hand her the toothbrush. 
• Rode her first rollercoasters
• Gives lots of kisses and hugs
• Brings books to us so we can read them to her - today it was her Bible. Yay!
• She loves bedtime prayers - she cuddles her lovey and smiles at me when I say amen. 
• Throws water out of the bathtub, thanks to a fun new shovel. Time to teach her proper usage of it!
• Learned how to climb off of couches and chairs, although still asks for help most of the time. 
• Likes to put her sunglasses on by herself. 
• Drags purses EVERYWHERE. She loves mine and will drag it all over the house.
• Is a huge fan of showing off her bellybutton (her new body part) and will lift her shirt or dress anywhere, all the time, to get a laugh out of us. 
• Knows eye, ear, nose, mouth, hair, head, where a hat goes, bellybutton, and just recently - chin. 

So many fun things about this girl! It keeps getting better and better. 

Thank You!

Thank You from Luke Presley on Vimeo.