It's Football Time In Tennessee! (2009)

Yes, it's that time of year again! Time to break out the orange and time to play "Rocky Top" at the loudest volume you can stand. Time to watch "College GameDay" on ESPN, time to tailgate, and time to watch the Vols be it in Neyland Stadium or on the TV in your own living room. It's all good and it's all tradition. Tradition which I love and tradition which still gives me chills for each and every opening game of football season as the Vols run through the Power T and onto the field to start the game. Simply put, "It's football time in Tennessee!" Go Vols!

Singing Rocky Top to get Ready for the Game and of course wearing UT Orange!

Follow the Yellow Brick Road!

One of Howie's mom, Beverly's favorite things is "The Wizard of Oz." She collects all sorts of memorabilia and I feel certain that if she were given the chance, she would don a pair of ruby slippers, click her heels three times and say, "There's no place like home!" Grandma Beverly, Aunt Rhonda and Ellen came for a visit this weekend, so I decided it was a perfect opportunity to have pictures made. I found two sweet little smocked Wizard of Oz dresses and of course ruby slippers for the girls to have their pictures made with Grandma Beverly. I think they turned out just splendid!

First Day of Preschool!

It's hard to believe that Emma-Caroline has started her last year of Preschool before she goes to kindergarten next year. She's such a "big girl" now! Emma-Caroline and Sophie both had their first day of Preschool last Friday. They are both excited about school and love their new teachers.

Miss Jennifer with Emma-Caroline

Miss Nancy and Emma-Caroline

Miss Karen and Miss Donna with Sophie

Partying like a Princess!

The girls were invited to a super fun Princess Birthday Party for their friend Janie. They had the BEST time wearing their princess dresses to an actual event besides make-believe. All the little girls, I mean princesses, looked so sweet in their gowns while they dined on princess cake, sipped pink lemonade, and played "Princess, Princess, Frog" aka Duck, Duck, Goose. It was a little girly girl's dream party come true and one I will be copying for one of my little princesses.

On the way to the "Castle"
Princess cake

Princess Sophie

Princess Janie with her big sister Princess Daisy

My sweet little princesses, Emma-Caroline and Sophie.

All bejeweled!

Princess Emma-Caroline had a wonderful time!

The Dunbarton Oaks Summer Olympics II

Last Saturday our wonderful neighborhood had it's 2nd annual Summer Olympics for the kids of Dunbarton Oaks. The children competed in bike races, tricycle races, scooter races, lawn mower races, car races and foot races as well as swimming and other sporting events. Emma-Caroline and Sophie did well in their events of the bike race and car race, but most importantly they had an awesome time. All the children left the events with a medal and a smile. It was a great day!

Opening Ceremonies- There was Olympic themed music and all!

Bike Race-Look at Emma-Caroline's determined face.

Car Races - Sophie's was a "motorcycle"

Proud medal earners!

Busy Days, Updates, the Beach and Baseball

I can't believe it is almost mid August and I have not even glanced at the Avery House blog site once this month. Life with Josie-Bea Originals has monopolized my time and I have neglected our first blog home site. So sorry! As I mentioned, Josie-Bea Originals is growing daily and rapidly. My new website is now exactly what I want in design, so you'll have to stop in for a visit to see the new design at http://www.josie-bea.com/. At home, the girls are ever growing and will start back to preschool in a little over a week. In the baseball world, Howie and his best friend Raymond from New York just spent a fabulous week in San Diego going to see the Mets play the Padres, kayaking, jet skiing in the Bay and more. The Mets lost all but one game, but hopefully they will be back on track for next year. Howie and Ray still had a wonderful time seeing the sights in San Diego. Howie is convinced we need to move there now. Ummm no! But it would make a great place to go on a family vacation some day. Hopefully I will be keeping you posted with new things from the Avery House more frequently for the rest of August. If not, you'll know we're still here!

Howie and Ray enjoying lunch in San Diego

I'm not sure, but I think Hotel Del Coranado

Beautiful San Diego Beaches

The Mets VS Padres

Little Miss Sassy!

Sophie went for her 2 year old check up today which went very well. She weighed in at a whopping 22lbs and measured 31 and a half inches tall. That puts her at 4% for weight and 20% for height on the national growth chart. As you know, she has always been on the small side, but has followed a steady curve, so she is as healthy as can be. She also had her iron levels tested and as stated by Dr. Shults, "Sophie has completely turned around" and is no longer anemic.Yay! I'm so glad the feeding classes as well as my sneakiness at hiding veggies in her food has paid off. When she had her finger pricked and blood drawn for the sample, she sat as calm as could be and said, "Wook mommy, my finga red!" Pretty brave little bit. Oh, and I titled this post, "Little Miss Sassy" because she refers to herself as "Sassy" when you ask her what her name is. Sophie is a sassy little sweet girl and we are so happy she had such a good doctor's visit!

Dropping of the Face of the Earth and Other News!

Well, The Avery's have been on vacation with a trip off the face of the Earth. Actually, I have been SUPER BUSY catching up on orders from Josie-Bea Originals, and I am still not finished. Josie-Bea Originals has become very popular since I created a fan page for it on Facebook. Who would have known that Facebook would be such an amazing marketing tool, but it has been for me. I am definitely not complaining, but rather feeling overjoyed at the business that has come my way. I am so blessed! With that, Josie-Bea Originals now actually does have an official web site at http://www.josie-bea.com/. I have been working on it for just a few days now, so it is a work in progress, but it is up and ready for business. Come and visit and watch my daily progress. It's very simple for now and is far from listing all I have to offer, but it is a start and I am excited about it. In family news, We recently returned from an awesome trip to visit with my Dad, Pam and sister's Katie and Kelly. I will be posting pictures soon. Emma-Caroline is wrapping up summer tennis and will begin a new fall session. Sophie is going in for her 2 year check-up on Friday, so I will post about that soon. For all of you who have not received a thank you card for the gifts you sent Sophie in the mail or brought to the party, it's coming. I have just gotten a little behind with my new "boom" in Josie-Bea Originals orders. We hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the last days of summer.

Sleeping Beauties!

This morning we awoke to kind two little beauties in the same bed! Emma-Caroline had climbed into Sophie's crib to keep her company. Such sweet little sisters!

Is Daddy a Tennis Star????

I turned the TV on briefly this morning. It was already set to ESPN and tennis just so happened to be to topic of the moment. Emma-Caroline was intrigued by the coverage of Roger Federer's 15th grand slam, especially when they flashed a picture of Pete Sampras, of whom she asked, "Is that Daddy?"
There is a slight resemblance, especially when you see Sampras's picture for a split second like Emma-Caroline did. Now she's all pumped up to be a tennis star "just like Daddy" LOL!

Red, White and Blue and the Zoo!

We spent our 4th of July afternoon at the zoo today. The weather was perfect and it was not crowded. We saw a Red Panda which we had never seen before and some exotic birds. Howie and Emma-Caroline again rode the camels and we visited the butterfly garden. Of course we saw the elephants, zebra, penguins, black bears, and giraffe too. We ended a wonderful day by riding the carousel. It was an awesome 4th of July at the zoo!

Patriotic at the zoo!
The Red Panda

Looks like a red raccoon

Red, White and Blue girls

Sweet sisters

Sweet Sophie!

Smiling with Daddy

Getting a close up of the turtle

Loving the butterflies

Beautiful Monarchs

Looking for Emma-Caroline

Pretending to be a prairie dog

Riding high with Daddy

Camel Ride!

Checking out the elephants

And the giraffes

Roughing it on the nature trail. Emma-Caroline always had her map to tell us where to go next. So much like her Daddy!

Carousel ride.

Having fun!

Taking a break with Daddy

It's impossible to get these three to all smile at the same time!

On our way to the car. We had a great day! Happy 4th of July everyone!