15 months!

My sweat little, Avery Cate, your growing so fast!  You had your 15 month appointment last week and your 19lbs 6oz (7%) and 30 inches tall (37%)!  Still little, but much better then before!  You have the prettiest shiny brown hair and creamy, tanable skin.  I'm jealous of it already :)  And those eyes!  Dark brown with long, dark lashes.  Your daddy is going to have his work cut out for him when you get older. Such a pretty girl!

You've been done with all the expensive formula for awhile now and down to just your night time bottle of milk. Hopefully, we'll get you to a night time sippy soon, but that would mean your getting older.  I don't think I want you to be older, just yet!

You love your food!  You'll pretty much eat most of what we offer you, but you aren't the best at chewing! You kind of just swallow things whole, not a good idea, little lady!

You've been walking full time for awhile now.  Its so cute!  You do not want to be in any sort of stroller anymore, little Miss Independent. We just chase after you. All. Day. Long.  You get into more things then Cameron ever tried to get into.  Up the stairs, down the stairs.  Behind the couches, under the tables, up onto shelves.  What ever you want to do, you try it.

 You climbed up here on your own, when daddy left the room for 20 seconds!  (Phone pic!)

Your not talking to much yet, but babbling up a storm.  You can say "Mama, bubba, papa, up" and your version of "that".  You can "moo" for a cow and can point to your hair, belly and feet when we ask you.  You'll point to most of our family members when we ask you, and I think you understand almost all of what we are saying to you.  Your obsessed with any sort of animal and freak out pointing when there is one in your view!  I tell daddy we need to get you a puppy.  Give him a pout and I bet you'll win :)

You have a really, really good attitude almost all of the time!  You are such a laugher and it is the best laugh! We thought Cam's laugh was contagious, but he couldn't come close to topping yours!  You'll laugh at anything,  but getting tickled gets you going anytime!  To the point that you walk up to us, lift up your shirt and start laughing before we even get our hands on that little belly of yours!

Oh, but don't think we haven't noticed that strong little attitude you're developing!  It's the funniest thing to see, coming from the cute little munchkin that you are!  But having a big brother to keep up with you need it! Your starting to hold your own with him a bit and will fight back when you need to.  Little Miss Sassy, your the perfect match of both worlds!

So there you have it, little girl!  That's some things that you are doing at 15 months.  I love to pieces and am so blessed that God gave you to me to make me into a better person.  Thank you for molding me into what I am today, and I hope I am doing as good of a job to you, as you are to me.  "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.  You make me happy, when skies are grey.  You don't know dear, how much I love you.  So please, don't take my sunshine away".

 Love, Your Mommy

Memorial Day Weekend (and a little more!)

I loooove me a long weekend and Memorial Day weekend is no different! Being the unofficial start to the summer, it may be my favorite Spring holiday. But of course, this years weekend was a little different. I had yet another surgery the Wednesday before the weekend and although I wasn't expecting the healing to be this long and sort of miserable, it was. I had a Vagal Nerve Stimulator ((VNS) put in (look it up if you want, to long to explain!) which gave me two incisions, one in my throat and one in my chest. The incisions only hurt for a few days, but the swelling of the inside of my throat has caused some breathing issues, numbness of my neck and some awful talking problems, like almost unable to talk problems. So that was me. But my kids got to have fun!! I forced Mark to take pictures with his phone throughout the weekend and he listened! So here are some!

Pretty incisions, no more gross pics, I promise!

Cameron had his first fishing trip!!  He loved it so much, they went twice this weekend!!  Avery slept in the car the first time and sat patiently in her stroller with some wheat thins the second time!  I hear Cam was super patient while waiting and kept thinking he had a fish on.  Mark said he kept saying, "This is some much fun, thanks for bringing me here!"  He caught his first fish, a puny little sunfish, but he was soooo proud of it!!  Just look:

Later in the day, the kiddos relaxed on the porch while dad grilled dinner.  Steak, mmmm!  Look, they were rocking and holding hands!  Well, for a second they were :)

This is Avery's "smile for the camera" face.  Her hair is getting so long!  It;s like a palm tree now!  

The next day they played outside and  broke out the pirate water table.  They liked it, but seemed to get sick of it quick!!  I can't get over the cuteness of Avery in her little bathing suit!  She's such a little ball of cuteness!  And the Crocs!  Even though I had said for as long as I can remember how much I wasn't a fan of them, they are AWESOME!  The best and cutest shoes for kids!  They can put them on so easily and surprisingly they don't fall off.  They are officially Croc Kids :)

This IS Cam.  All day, everyday.  A big ball of firey hyperness.  And this face says it all.

On the actually Memorial Day, Mark (the single dad for the weekend!) brought them to a parade a few towns over.  For some reason, Cam didn't want to go on the firetrucks.  What the?  He's funny cause he's obsessed with all trucks and motor things. Something scared him I guess. 

Cool kids!  The noise was apparently to loud for the babe.

Cam appreciating the talent of a good old marching band.

Avery, just chillin'

Swoon :)

Goof ball love :)

After dinner, Mark took them for a walk down town to get ice cream (amazing dad, right?) and even brought me some back!  They stopped at the common and Cameron wanted so badly to climb the flag pole.  

Cool perspective daddy.  

Fun weekend for Mark and the kids!  I so wish I wasn't out of commission for most of the time so I could have had the fun times that they had, but sometimes it is fun to spend time with one parent.  But I promise, Mark, not again until you want to :)  

See ya later, alligators! (But not for long!!)

We had the BEST weather this weekend!  It was warm, but not hot, a little breeze, but not windy. Seriously my favorite weather!  We went to a party on Saturday at my cousin Candy and her family's house.  We were celebrating the adventure another of our cousins family are soon to begin. My cousin, Wendy, along with her husband and two children are packing up there Massachusetts lives, driving cross country and setting up camp in the always beautiful Colorado.  I am soo happy for them and so proud of them for having the courage to go through with such an under taking!  I think about it all the time: what it would be like to pack up life in one spot and continue in another. Such an adventure!  But one I doubt I would ever have the guts to do!  It's a shame to say, that with this whole world surrounding us, I have only lived in two towns, within 5 miles of each other!  It's even more of a shame to say that I have only visited a handful of states in this huge country and only been to one other country in this whole world!  If I never get the bravery to move away, I at least have to provide my children the chance to take in the wealth of history, diversity and beauty that the world offers.  With another cousin already living in Colorado, I now have 5 reasons to start there!  So see you soon, VanKays!  You will be dearly missed while your away, but lovingly envied at the same time :)

Here are some photos of the day.  Not as many as I thought I took!

Will, Ryan, Sadie and Cameron, the "Big Kids"

 Ryan, attacking Sadie and Cam

 Avery, Sadie and Aubrey: The girls

 Can't keep them apart!

 The Colorado-bound family! Sadie, Connor, Wendy and Brian (There was no room for a head-on photo!  Everyone else was taking their pics!)

 Auntie getting a kiss from my Ave

 Cousins!!

 Some of the guys

 Candy and Avery

 Not a good picture (that's why its in BW) but they were having so much fun!

 Avery, chillin' out

Cape House!

So we have been down to the Cape House twice this season so far.  In those two visits, I haven't once made a trip down to the water!  How awful is that??  We've just hung out at the house!  Man, I have to remember to walk down to the beach next time!  That's pathetic!

The first time down was for my dad's birthday.  All the kids and grand kids were down, soooo it was a bit of a nut house, like always!  But it was beautiful weather, so we stayed out and let the kids run around most of the time.  Oh and there was cake.  Always need the cake.

With Ryan, showin' some love

 My little Tom Boy, well Mommy made Tom Boy.

 Auntie Tina

 Ave and Aubrey, having some drinks

 The bike.  Ugh, that bike....

Look how excited she is??  Camera happy!!

Birthday man, my dad!

The next time we went down, was last weekend, the day before Mother's Day.  My sister Michelle was having a cookout for Aubrey's dedication, which was held the next day.  Again, crazy nut house, but great weather so the kids just ran around, while we tried to visit as much as we could!  Cam was playing with Ryan and my cousin Alison's kids,  Summer and Starla (2nd cousins?) and having a BLAST!!  He's so funny, that boy.  Avery wouldn't stop running around, and had to be chased the whole time. She wants soooo badly to play with the big kids, but sooo can't hold her own yet!  Instead, she just ran around finding something funny in every thing and every person she saw. I think (knock on wood) she's over her anxiety phase.  She's sooo friendly with everyone now.  We need a big, enclosed fence down there!  Then I could relax!  More pics?  Glad you asked!

"Can I pleeease play with the big kids???"

Goofball.  You should have seen the others I had to choose from!  Scary!

Love

Trying, really, really hard!

Aubrey doing the caterpillar.

The girl cousins

Gellies!  They are back!

Soooo cool, don't you think?? :)