Easter

We had a great Easter weekend in Clinton.  Despite not being at home, the Easter Bunny was able to locate Avery and deliver some goodies...a Mickey Mouse Easter basket and various Mickey paraphernalia of course!

After Easter morning at Nana and Papa's, we had lunch with Grandpa and Grandma Cover.  Avery had a chance to meet the Easter Bunny and thank him for her goodies.  She loved him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of the stark contrast between Avery at this point and Skyler.  He is sitting at the opposite end of the table from Avery, and therefore the Easter Bunny as well, but he was petrified of the bunny.  It was so cute and sad at the same time.  As soon as the bunny got within eyesight, Avery got so excited, and Skyler became extremely scared.  The polar opposite reactions was very interesting to me.

Little did Avery know, but the Easter Bunny had found her at Grandpa and Grandma's as well and left another treat for her.

After a thorough inventory of the loot, Avery and Skyler went outside to tackle the egg hunt.  This was another first for Avery this Easter.  She was so excited to find the eggs and add them to her collection from the Easter Bunny.

Avery and Skyler were so cute hunting together, and I wish I had gotten a picture of the two of them.  However, it seemed that they each stayed on their own side of the yard picking up the eggs as fast as their little arms would go.  That meant no picture of the two of them on my camera.  Despite the cool, they had a fantastic time.

Posing for a little shot with the grandparents after the egg hunt.

After all of the excitement of the morning and afternoon, Avery fell asleep immediately upon departure from Clinton.  There was so much activity that she was just exhausted, as evident by the photo.  It amazes me how cute she can be even while she's sleeping!

Coloring Easter Eggs

While this was not Avery's first Easter, it was the first year that we colored eggs with her.  We weren't sure how it would go, but, as usual, Avery did a fantastic job and made it so fun.  I just love creating new family traditions with her and for her.  Jeremy and I each take pieces from our own childhood traditions and make an entire new set of traditions for our own family that typically is some sort of a combination of the two.  I know that I've been an adult for some time now, but it's these times that really make me feel like a "grown-up."  I feel as though I'm actually living life the way I dreamed about as a child.  I know that is so cliche, but it's also so true!

Avery really enjoyed picking the colors that she wanted to use, and we enjoy having a chance to make learning (about colors at this particular time) a fun and enjoyable thing.

Avery showing off her favorite egg, a blue one because she seems to be very fond of that color.

We had stickers to put on the eggs once they were colored, but that required the eggs to be dry, not something Avery was very keen on waiting for.  So, we used my blow dryer to speed up the process a little bit, getting us to the best part a little faster.

Putting the eggs in an egg carton to put on stickers.

It's hard to choose which stickers go on which eggs.  I think Avery spent more time making her sticker choices than she did actually putting the stickers on.  

Showing off her creations!

Preparing for Mother's Day

We decided that for Mother's Day, Avery would give all the mothers in her life a little something that she personally created.  I know how special it is to get personal gifts like this, so we wanted to make it special for all the other mothers in her life.  We decided that Avery would plant little flower "gardens" for all of her grandparents and great grandparents.  We went outside to plant all the seeds and had a lot of fun watching Avery actually do the planting.  While she's not exactly what I would call a girly girl, Avery doesn't like having dirt on her hands, so it was nice to see her forget about the dirty hands and just enjoy planting the seeds.

Here she is showing off one of her creations.  It will be fun to help her water them and watch them grow.

Avery's Second Birthday Party!

We had such a great time at Avery's birthday party.  There was fun had by all, and we really appreciate everyone who helped to make it such a special day.  Thanks to everyone who made the journey to Columbia to help us celebrate and everyone who treated Avery to such great gifts.  It's so touching to see just how many people love Avery.  Thank you all!

Here's a glimpse of the party girl just before the party started.  She managed to get in a little nap, so she was in a great mood.  Her little dress was a great compliment to the party theme. (She actually had a little pink sweater to add some color, but typical to Missouri, the weather gave us a surprise, and it was 85+ degrees on Sunday).

Avery and I before the party got started.  

Jackie and Jason...our only non-relatives at the party.  While they may not technically be related to us, they are our family!

 G.G. and Great Grandpa sporting Mickey ears.

Avery got the first chance at the piñata.  After she took a couple of whacks at it, all the other kids got a chance.  They had a great time with it.

All the kids got little bags to gather up their candy to take home.  I'm sure there were some kids who didn't eat dinner after all the treats at the party.

After the piñata, we moved on to gifts...there were so many!  Avery started strong, but quickly got distracted by the new things and didn't want to continue opening.

 I think that this gift is in Avery's top 3...a pair of Minnie Mouse Crocs!  Thanks Aunt Susi!

Also probably on the top 3 list is Avery's bike.  She doesn't quite understand about pedaling, but it's a perfect size for her, and I'm sure she'll get that hand of it quickly.

After presents, it was cake time.  Avery loved her Minnie Mouse cake...Thanks again Deana!

"How old are you, Avery?"   "I'm two!"

 

A quick photo-op with "Baby Jack" after the party was over.  I think they both liked it.  This pair could be trouble some day!

We did manage to get a family picture that turned out pretty well.  I'm so glad we remembered.  It always amazes me that we forget to have someone take a picture of the 3 of us on special occasions.

All in all, we had an excellent day.  Fun was had by all, and we had a chance to celebrate with all of the people who love Avery.  I don't think we could have asked for a better party.  It's so hard to believe that we've had Avery in our lives for two years.  It just seems like yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital, but at the same time, it's hard to remember what life was like without her!  We are so grateful for all that she has given us and look forward to the years ahead!

Happy Birthday Avery!
We love you!

Birthday Party Decor and Food

I spent about a month preparing for this birthday party and have loved every minute of it.  Starting early gave me the time to manage every detail of the party to help make it special.  We wanted it to be evident that there was a party going on at this house.  We started with the outside of the house...balloons on the mailbox, an giant Minnie head on the garage door, and a Minnie Mouse wreath on the front door.  I'm not sure how it happened, but we managed to miss getting pictures of everything.  I really thought that we had a handle on the picture-taking, but I guess not.  Maybe we'll do better next year.

The decorations inside were mainly in the living room which we dubbed the "party room."  We had two tables set up for the food and associated tableware.  They were covered in black, pink, and zebra print fabrics.  In the background was a slideshow with pictures of Avery from the last two years playing on the TV.  I think that I'll try to make this a tradition for her birthday.

Minnie Mouse heads were distributed throughout the room.

The main food table with two kinds of cupcakes, Minnie Mouse shaped sandwiches, Minnie pineapple, Minnie watermelon, Minnie Rice Crispie treats, and a vegetable platter.

A hand-made birthday banner.

Minnie Mouse piñata...handmade also

The drink station...Minnie Mouse and zebra print water bottles and juice boxes.

 

A closer look at some of the decorations.

A closer look at the cupcakes...I loved the smaller ones with chocolate butter cream and Minnie ears!  This is also an example of the treat bags that I made for the kids.  They were Chinese food containers (left over from our wedding) that I covered in tissue paper, pink for the girls and black for the boys, with a Minnie head on the front.  Inside was Minnie stickers, Minnie candy necklace, Playdoh, bubbles, an applesause squeeze tube and a set of Mickey/Minnie Mouse ears.

A special thank you to Deana (GG) for the Minnie Mouse cake.  She did such a great job making this, and I really appreciated her help!  It matched the party perfectly too!

Avery is TWO!!

I can't count the number of people who advised me before Avery was born to pay attention to each moment and treasure them because they go by so quickly.  While I always listened and believed them, I never realized how true that was until recently.  Every day with her is so much fun, and I look forward to every new experience with her.  It's hard to believe that we have had two years worth of those experiences with her!

We had such a great time with her birthday this year...I think that she understood that it was her day, making it even more fun for us.  This year we decided on a theme for Avery's birthday since she has more preferences and opinions...Mickey Mouse (or rather Minnie Mouse) was our chosen theme.  The theme was more for the party on Sunday, but some of it cam through on her actual birthday.  The shirt she's wearing below is a Minnie Mouse silhouette that I made from buttons and ribbon.  She loved it, and I loved making it for her.

We decided to take Avery out to dinner...she loves doing this.  The restaurant was her choice, and she chose Applebee's.  I know it's hard to believe that she actually made a choice, but she did.  The actual choice wasn't much of a surprise though, because she constantly talks about Applebee's, despite only having gone there one other time.

After dinner, we went back to the house for presents and cake with Jackie and Jason.  They are the best friends we could ever ask for...always sharing in the special moments in our lives.  I can't wait to do the same for them!

Minnie Mouse sunglasses and markers...she loved those things and is so cute in them!

Jeremy and I gave her this Minnie Mouse birthday card that plays music.  When you open it, Minnie sings "Happy Birthday!"  I think that this might have been Avery's favorite thing that she got.

Avery's birthday cake and a peek at the party decor...pink and zebra stripes.  The cake was actually striped chocolate and vanilla cake as well...too bad I didn't get a picture of it.

Avery blowing out her candles.  She did a great job, but was too busy playing with her new things to eat any of the cake.

                                                   

What a great day.  We just love celebrating all of Avery's milestones.  She brings so much joy to our lives.  We are so grateful to have her and consider ourselves the luckiest people in the world to have been blessed with such a fantastic little girl.  We love you, Avery!