Turning Three

Summer is just beginning and already we are busy busy!

Avery celebrated her birthday in true princess fashion. She had a nice little tea party and all the girls got their nails "done" - if you can call it that with 3 yr. olds.

A few days later Avery and I were off to California for my cousins wedding. Ok, for a place I've never wanted to visit, California is gorgeous. I could live there.

A little funny from our trip - Avery got some Gatoraide with her lunch one day. After eating I put her drink up and she was looking for it. She wanted to know where her "crocodile" was. Huh? It took me awhile - GATORaide - Crocodile. Silly kid!

We are still plugging away at the house. The progress is slow right now, because so much of what we are doing is structural. I promise to post pictures soon. I honeslty haven't been to the house myself in weeks, since they were reinforcing the floors - made me nervous!

Back to the center of our attention, the fabulous Avery. She is just blowing me away. So grown up, I'm telling you. She hadn't been showing any interest in the alphabet, or learning her numbers (by sight) she's counted and been able ot recite for some time. Well, lately it is all she wants to do. She will see a letter "J" and look at me and say, "Mommy, 'J' says 'jah' - JUMP!" She really is getting it. The water is still a hit! She is swimming like a fish. In fact this week she took her arm swimmies off and walked right in. Being the good mom that I am, did I immediately rush to her aide as she glug, glug, glugged to the bottom - trying as hard as she could to swim mind you, NO, I waited ot see what she'd do. The girl did nothing, so I swooped her up out of the water, to which she replied, "Hey, why'd you do that, I was 'wimmin'" I said, "No, honey you were drowning, weren't you scared", "Nope! Can I do it again?". Ugh! fearless and it does not do good things for a mommy's heart.

Stay tuned for more summer adventures!

We're Flipping a House

So, to fund our next adoption, we decided to get creative instead of going into debt. Ryan thought it would be good to do a project together and we are flipping a house, along with my parents.

Avery calls it her house, but the only person (thing) suited to live there now was the dog sized racoon family that inhabited it when we took possession. (gasp!)

I don't know how often I'll be updating since we are knee deep in demolition, but I thought a few pictures of our disaster, um, I mean house, would be fun for you all to see.

And BTW - I've never hurt so bad in all my life. I've trimmed bushes, hauled bricks, knocked out walls, and pulled out more nails than I ever care to count. Now I need a manicure, bubble bath and some aromatherapy to calm my nerves. Oops - about 10 weeks to go...

The Palace

Lovely Shed - see the vines growing from the roof - That's Class!

That's SUPPOSED to be a Gutter

The Dining Room

How Do You Like My LIving Room Color Choice

pepto pink not working for ya? - how 'bout the curtains?

Where Did My Baby Go?

It's official, there are no remaining traces of babyhood in our home.

Diapers - check
Highchair, bottles, formula - check
Changing Table - check

Crib - check

That's right she's in a big girl bed (well she thinks so). After a week of Avery climbing out of bed, escaping her room and wandering into ours, we made the switch. Oh, did I mention, the wandering was at 2 a.m. and was accompanied by the sounds of barking. Nothing like scaring the pants off mom and dad. So here she is - her first night out of the "cell".

So now to the barking. Yep, I swear, she thinks she is a dog. Oh and has an imaginary puppy friend that I have to let out to potty. And yes, we has an ice storm and a foot of snow - you'd think an imaginary puppy would be easier. At least I'm not cleaning up accidents, but wait, I am... She also has a bar of soap in the tub that is a puppy. As I type this puppy is sleeping in its "house" under a washcloth. The soap puppy is the messy one. He splashes and makes a mess in the tub, never the toddler, always "My puppy spashed you Mommy" "It funny". For mommy, not so much.

And to what do we attribute the new fascination with puppy power? Ah, now that is the kicker, it's all my fault. I offered to keep my aunt's dog overnight. Riley is Avery's surrogate dog and he came for a visit. Well, my wild monkey decided, it wasn't enough to play with Riley, she wanted to BE Riley.

So, yes, that is my little lipstick queen IN the dog crate with her furry friend. You'd think we'd just get her a dog, but alas - not gonna happen. I'll stick wit letting the imaginary puppy out for potty breaks.