4 Months

I can't believe that today marks 4 months since Avery came into our life and we became a family of four. Time sure does fly!

Avery, you are a precious child of God. Even though these first four months haven't been easy, we thank God for them and the blessing of you becoming a part of our family. We love you sweet girl!

Continuing the Tradition

We have a tradition that each year we attend the UA basketball Red & Blue srimmage. Unless friends take pity on us and offer us tickets to a game, this is the only game we go to each year. But we have attended this one every year since we returned to Tucson and this year marks 12 years. Camden's first time was when he was a mere 5 1/2 weeks old and this year we finally got to bring Avery who at nearly 16 months old did very well and wasn't at all fazed by all the buzzers, band etc. Quite unlike her big brother.

Camden & Wilbur:

Doug, Camden & Avery (& Obiwan):

Avery & I:

Avery & her Daddy:

Camden using Avery's shoe as a speeder for Obiwan. The Lego Star Wars fellas seem to go everywhere with us these days.

Halloween 2009 - Our Jedi Masters

This year we went with a Star Wars theme for Halloween. Camden's good buddy had a Star Wars birthday party last Spring and they had made cool Jedi robes for all the boys (Perry's...you guys rock!) So Camden wanted to be a Jedi Master (Kid Fisto to be exact) and wear his. For Avery...we debated. My thought was that for our precious daughter on her very first Halloween with us she should be something like a flower, a butterfly or perhaps a ladybug. But in the end we decided that Yoda was a better fit for our family this year. :) Camden was so excited that she would be a Jedi Master like him and Avery just loves the little mini light saber which is actually one end of Camden's double light saber. In fact (sadly) she is starting to throw little tantrums when she see's it because she wants to have it. It's pretty cute...she loves to dual with Camden and even tries to make the light saber noises. Too funny! Hopefully in 5 years she won't be unhappy with us for dressing her as Yoda. Besides, there is plenty of time for her to be flowers, ladybugs and other girl stuff, right? ;)

Our Jedi Masters:

Avery striking a pose.
It's pretty cute...she can't walk yet but she can stand up without holding on to anything and stand unassisted for quite awhile as she is doing here:

My handsome boy striking a pose:

The many looks of Yoda (aka Avery) or Yodissa as Camden called her. Sorry Star Wars purists...hopefully we aren't offending you with the bows!

Doug & Avery at our neighbors shindig. After the party we headed out with some neighbors for some trick or treating. It was a fun night!

How to Stay Young

1. Throw out nonessential numbers.

This includes age, weight, height, calories, etc.

Let the doctors worry about the numbers, that’s why you pay them

2. Keep only cheerful friends.

3. Keep learning.

Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, etc.

Never let the brain idle.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh

Often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath, start crying or fluid comes out of something it’s not supposed to come out of

6. The tears happen.

Endure, grieve and consider yourself fortunate to have cared enough to cry.

7. Surround yourself with what you love.

Family, friends, pets, hobbies, keepsakes, music, plants, again etc..
8. Value your health:

If it’s good, preserve it... if it’s unstable, improve it….if it’s beyond what you can improve, get help and trust the Lord to guide you.

9. Don't take guilt trips.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our sins from us, so take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
and

Worry about nothing, pray about everything!!!

Avery's First Photo Shoot

I took Avery to get some professional photos done today. Sadly we have had her for almost 3 months and this is the first "real" photos we have had taken of her. Anyway she did so great. I was very impressed. It amazes me...she seems to take such things in stride.

Here she is with her 100 Wishes Quilt as the background.

She sleeps

This is one of Avery's favorite sleeping positions. We find her with her leg through the slates quite often.
Oh and I do clean my floors even though her knees seem to tell a different story.

Avery's sleep issues have improved dramatically. She goes down easily at night in her crib which continues to be in our room. Sometimes she sleeps through the night but most of the time she wakes up once or twice a night but goes back down easily. It is wonderful to see that she is feeling more and more secure in our little family.

Cool Chick

A Favorite Position

Avery is so flexible. I know most kids at this age are but she seems to be more flexible then the average or at least more flexible than Camden ever was. This continues to be a favorite position of hers. She briefly had both feet up there the other day but I wasn't quick enough with the camera. I can't help but wonder if we have a little Chinese acrobat on our hands. :)

Family Visit

Doug's Mom and niece, Marissa came down to visit and meet Avery for the first time. We had a great time swimming and just hanging out and visiting.

It was neat to see Avery warm to Grandma so quickly.

Lego Birthday Party

Today we had nine of Camden's buddies over to celebrate his 8th birthday.

Camden has been all about Lego's for quite awhile now so it made perfect sense for that to be the theme for his party. Following is a photo of Cam and one of his creations. He calls it a futuristic bus station. It was so cute...he wanted us to take a picture so we could send it in to Brickmaster magazine as sometimes they put the photos in the magazine. We did just that but have yet to see it in the magazine but we did use it as the front of the birthday invitation.

Here is my attempt at a Lego birthday cake. Actually it's kind of a cross between regular Lego's and Lego Star Wars. Even though Camden has yet to see the last Star Wars movie he knows all about the battle between Annikan and Obiwan and asked if that could be on the cake. This cake didn't turn out quite as I had planned. I really didn't leave myself enough time (as usual) to do it properly but at least it resembled Lego bricks or at least Duplos! :)


The birthday boy:

An attempt at decorations and for the record those rectangles are supposed to look like Lego bricks:

Camden created some Lego centerpieces for the party:
We had only three planned games at the party. I find that boys (or at least my boy) enjoy being able to make their own fun and this time was no exception. As the boys waited for everyone to arrive, they played good guys and bad guys. At one point every boy had some kind of weapon in their hand. I'm embarrassed to say that we had enough weapons for every boy to have at least one.

The first game we had was guess how many bricks are in the jar. The other two games were timed Lego building games. The first one was who could build the tallest freestanding tower in 10 minutes and the last game was see how creative you can be in 15 minutes.

Lego candy...and amazingly they actually stack!


The boys hard at work on their creations:

The boys and their creations:

Here's me and my first attempt at a Pinata. It was fun creating it and the smell of the paper mache brought me back to Second Grade. Camden asked if the pinata brick could be gold as "Gold is a REALLY rare brick Mom!" :)

A party at our place isn't complete without a little swimming. Here's the boys enjoying our floating volcano.

Birthday Fun

We had a great day celebrating with Camden. Avery and I brought his treat of choice, ice cream bars to have with his class and then Doug brought McDonald's (Camden's lunch choice) to school and we all had lunch together. Late in the afternoon we met good Friends, the Lowell's at Chuck E Cheese for dinner and some over stimulation.

Here's the birthday boy with his class. Sadly 31 in all!

As his class filed out and took a seat at the table, Camden went right over to Avery to greet her. He then announced that he wanted to sit by his sister so everybody scooted down so he could have the seat next to her. He then preceded to feed her. This was a big step for Cam and it melted my heart to see it.

Camden with his best buddies, Rob & Ted.
This was Avery's first visit to such a place. I was a little nervous about how she would react but she did great and wasn't even scared of the dancing, singing characters. In fact, she really seemed to have a great time!

After Chuck's we gave Camden the gifts we had for him. Here's Camden doing a great job sharing his new (cheap) keyboard with his sister. Avery LOVES music and couldn't be kept away.

My baby is 8!!!

I can't believe that 8 years ago today (after 27 hours of labor I would like to mention) God blessed us with a beautiful baby boy. You are such a joy Camden..truly a blessing from God.

Happy Birthday Sweettart! Mom & Dad (Avery too) love you so very much!

P.S. Please stop growing so fast!

Shark & Duck

Ahh...aren't they cute??? Our friend, Robin makes these wonderful animal towels. Right before Camden was born 8 years ago she gave us the shark towel. He still loves it and uses it to this day even though he has nearly grown out of it. Before we brought Avery home just a few months ago she blessed us again, this time with a duck. Avery still has to grow into it a bit but we were thrilled to have another one of her creations. Thanks so much Robin!

We have a cub scout!

Camden starts Cub Scouts this year. He is so excited. Look how cute he is in his uniform...

Two Months Today

I can't believe that it's been two months since this special child was placed in our arms and we became a family of four. Time sure does fly by. You have changed so much in that short time beautiful girl. We love you so very much and look forward to seeing what God has planned for you.

Camden's version of our family: