Makel And Greg

We got back some of the professional photos from Aunt Makel and Uncle Greg's wedding in July. They turned out so nice! I love the pictures of the girls jumping on the trampoline and Avery running around with treats in her hand:) 

I'm TWO Cute!

Our Avery Mae turned TWO! Dave took the day off of work and it was a fun filled day of celebrating. We started the day off with sprinkle pancakes with whip cream. Avery woke up wanting to go pet a dog so we granted her simple wish. We headed to the mall to the pet store. If you pay a dollar you can pick a dog and they put you in a little stall and let you play away. The girls picked a puppy that liked to nip so Avery didn't last very long. Addison would have stayed in there all day if we would of let her. We ate a quick lunch at the mall with Grammie and Papa before heading home. Avery got to open her gifts when we got home and boy was she happy. She was spoiled by her Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents. Her favorite gift was a little flower purse that she insisted on carrying around the rest of the day. Addison had picked her out a book about owls that she wrapped carefully. Addison did a really good job letting the day be about Avery. Avery shared a lot of her toys and Addison was happy to play with what she was given:) Avery took a good long birthday nap with made us all happy. Sadly I wasn't feel good at all and had thrown up at the beginning of the day. After naps Dave and I gave her our gift which was a mini trampoline. Her new phrase is, "Watch this!" as she jumps her way up and down. Avery picked macaroni and cheese and fruit for dinner. Avery's party theme was Milk & Cookies. The girls played a game with finding cookies hidden all over the house. We sang happy birthday and dug into a giant double layer cookie cake with pink frosting. We topped it off with mini milk jugs full of pink strawberry milk. We jumped in the car after our bellies were full and the girls were hyped up on sugar. We told the girl that we had a surprise for them. We took them to an indoor trampoline place and they LOVED it. Addison even made a few baskets in the basketball hood area. She was able to jump pretty high and got it in a few times. Both girls ran over and over into the foam pit. We were all worn out by the end of the night. Avery had a great day and is loved by so many people!

Avery's Favorites:
Food: Fruit snacks (she begs for them every second of the day!), Macaroni and Cheese and apple juice
Toy: Cinderella Baby doll and the shopping cart ( she runs it all over the house and crashes it mostly into the table and cabinets)
Words: Her language has exploded since we finished speech therapy about a month ago. She'll repeat everything and anything you say!
Favorites: Kitty Binky (it's so gross and we'll be lucky if she doesn't go to kindergarten with it!), a soft blanket wrapped over her while rocking her to sleep (I love that she still lets us rock her to sleep everynight), Swinging in the back yard (She could sit and swing for hours. Addison is getting pretty good and pushing her as well:), Getting into my makeup EVERY time I turn around.

We love you Avery Mae! This year has been a challenging one in learning who you are and how to communicate with you. We love your cheesy grin and how you swing your arm back and force and waddle when you run. I treasure the cuddles that you give me each and every day and hope that they continue for a long time!!

Social Media Split

Way back in February.....We've been blessed since moving to Ohio to have lots of opportunities with the Sister missionaries. Sadly they just got transferred out of our ward, but I have high hopes that we'll get a new set soon. Our stake does what's called, "Social Media Splits." You pair up with the missionaries throughout the whole day and take pictures of what you are doing and then post on social media. The idea is to get knowledge out about the church and what missionaries do. We went in the morning and braved a snow blizzard to bake cookies with the sisters at their apartment. I brought Addison with me and she was pretty shy, but warmed up by the end. We cut out some hearts to put little notes on with the plates of cookies. It was a great experience and I really enjoyed being able to serve in a small way with Addison. 

Lets Go Reds!

I am really back tracking here...all the way back to April. This year we braved the crowds and the girls and my parents and I went down to the opening day parade for the Reds. Sadly Dave had to work so he missed out on the fun festivities. It was a great parade and I was really surprised at how long it was. We were able to scoot our way into a good spot and the girls got to sit down in the front. We got lots of free samples and Addison's favorite was the fuzzy mustache. I have never been to an opening day parade so it was fun to finally go. We snacked on a soft pretzel during the parade and cheered on our favorite baseball team! GO REDS! 

Lots of Visitors

As I'm recapping the summer I'm realizing that we got to see a lot of old friends! Earlier in the Summer our friends the Andersen's stopped through for a few days. Dave went to nursing school with  Marshall and then they moved down by us for a couple of years in El Paso. We've been lucky enough to be their stopping point to and from Boston where they went to grad school. Funny enough they are on their way back to El Paso for a CRNA job. We love spending time together and a lot of different memories always flood back. They have been there for our family through some happy and rough times. We lived in the same apartment complex for a while in El Paso. We spent a lot of meal times together and late night fun. We took them up to the Air Force Museum and the kids loved running around and pretending that the manikins were real. They would say that they saw them blink or wave their hands. The kids ran wild and had a lot of fun. We took them to get some Greater's Ice cream and then enjoyed a cookout outside. Addison is still asking if her friends Lexi, Reve and Court can come and play! 

Back Yard Camping

We wanted to go camping sometime this summer, but it never happened. Dave didn't have any Saturday obligations so we decided to have a campout in our back yard. I think we'll have to make it a tradition every year. Both girls had a blast and we made a lot of fun memories. We planned a typical  dinner menu of roasted hot dogs, watermelon, chips and s'mores. Addison was a big help in holding the hotdog sticks over the fire. Dave let Addison help start the fire which created a ginormous fire interest problem. She now wants to use the lighter to have a candlelit dinner at least once a week. We tried something different where we stuffed waffle cones with marshmallows and chocolate chips wrapped in tinfoil. We got it right by the last one that we attempted. Avery enjoyed her first roasted marshmallow like a champ. We set up the tent and sat around the campfire until it got dark. We got the bug catchers out and chased fireflies. We were able to catch a few and Avery loved opening the lid really fast and then shutting it squealing. Addison is really into telling "scary" stores lately so when it was finally dark...by like 9:30... she told some. They are really funny and usually end with a mean witch and a muddy hand. We're not too sure where it all came from, but it's funny to listen to her imagination. Avery and I said goodnight and tucked Dave and Addison in outside. Hopefully next summer Avery will learn to not run wild inside the tent and can join the nighttime fun:)

Great Wolf Lodge

Our good friends, the Smiths from Buffalo were moving across country and stopped in our direction. We decided to meet them at The Great Wolf Lodge down in Cincinnati. It was a fun day and a half and Addison is STILL talking about the Wolf Den:) We went down in the afternoon and checked into our room. It had a separate little room that had bunk beds and a tv. Addison was on cloud nine. We fit Avery's pack and play in the room and the evening went really well. Both girls loved going down the slide and running around in the water. Avery was especially brave and would go up the stairs by herself and go down the slide with one of us at the bottom. The Smiths came after we had eaten dinner and we had a great reunion. Addison remembered her favorite friend Will. We all went to bed early and then met at the water park bright and early. We swam all day and I loved spending time with good friends. We even tag teamed with Kait and Eric and went on the adult water slides. They had one called, "The Toilet Bowl" and it was crazy. I think Kait and I were the only ones screaming, but it was a blast. The day ended way too soon, but it was a happy reminder of what good friends the Smith's have been to us:)