Love is in the Air!

I love February! I love Valentine's Day with it's sweet little cupids, candy conversation hearts and cards made from lace doilies. I love just finding special ways to say "I love you!" I realize that celebrating love should occur each and every day, and it does. But I really do just love that we actually have a holiday that celebrates love too. It's only February 2ND, but "LOVE" is definitely in the air!

" I love you!" PBJ with goldfish and strawberries. The girls love when I write on their sandwiches with cake icing!

Sweet heart topiary and the girls' finished Valentine's Day Mailboxes. We are all ready to celebrate!

Snow Day, Take 2!

Today was a wonderful day for sledding and making snow angels as a well as an awesome way for saying good-bye 2 January!

Dolled up Snow Girl!
Ready for sledding!

EC's ready 2!

Sledding with Daddy

Now for The big Hill!

Gotta Love Target!

Today, after the disappointing realization that the much anticipated snow actually turned out to be a very wet slushy mix, I pulled out plan B, making Valentine's Day Mailboxes. We found these cute little boxes at Target for $4.99 each including all the decorations! It was a great way to spend an hour of our morning and now we are all ready for Valentine's Day cards. Make sure you see our video too, below the pictures.

Ready to craft.
Carefully placing decorations

Glitter makes everything prettier!

Becoming a "Kid"

It is hard to believe that our little Emma-Caroline is about to turn 5 years old on March 3rd of this year. Where has the past 5 years gone??? While I want to cling to the infant and toddler years of Emma-Caroline's life, I can't help but be delighted at the sweet and wonderful little "kid" she has become. It seems that in the past several months her little personality has really started to blossom and she keeps Howie and I rolling with laughter with her new phrases and expressions that make us realize, she really is stepping into her own. Here are a few of her most recent new phrases that have left us laughing and enjoying our little girl.

One of Emma-Caroline's newest phrase is, "Now that's what I'm talking about, that's . . . (insert anything) fast running!" At the dinner table, our dog Barkley was panting heavily wanting a scrap of food when Emma-Caroline blurts out rather seriously, "Now that's what I'm talking about, that's breathing!" Howie and I could not stop laughing.

Today when we were going into the store, Emma-Caroline looked at me and said, "Mommy, you are freaking me out!" To which I replied, "Freaking you out, what do you mean?" Emma-Caroline calmly said, "Um Mommy, you're freaking me out because you didn't look both ways before you crossed the road!" Yep! That would "freak me out" too if she didn't look both ways before she crossed the road.

Before Christmas, Emma-Caroline told me very frankly, "Mommy, I just don't know how you expect me to take these babies (dolls) anywhere with this little stroller! It's not like I have 8 arms and can do it all!" Hmmm, I think I know where she got that one. This was her way of telling me that she wanted a double stroller for her baby dolls as well as more "fashionable" clothes for them to wear. Thankfully Mimi and G-Daddy took care of that little problem with a new stroller and clothes.

I just love my sweet daughter and the little girl she is becoming! It's definitely an adventure!

Silly Faces!

Emma-Caroline and her Daddy have the best time being silly with each other. Enjoy these silly faces.

Please Help Haiti

It is heart wrenching to see the devastation of our neighbors to the South in Haiti. As I watched some coverage from the recent earthquake there, I saw in one scene a pile of bodies with a baby the age of Sophie placed on top. It broke my heart and I realized how urgent it is to help our fellow neighbors in Haiti. If you have helped in some way, awesome! If you have not had the chance to help, like I had not, I urge you to give whatever is comfortable. Every little bit helps these poor people in such great need. May God bless you and Haiti! http://www.redcross.org/

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful . . .

But inside it's so delightful . . . Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow!

What do you do on a cold winter's day when it's too cold to play outside and there are snow flurries about? You have a play date with your friends inside. Emma-Caroline and Sophie had their friends Karley and Abby over for a few hours of indoor fun playing with dolls, coloring, making necklaces, and just being silly. It was a great way to spend some time when the winter weather is a little bit frightful

Karley and Emma-Caroline

Silly girls Abby and Sophie

Sophie and Abby with their Bitty Babies. We have a similar picture of Emma-Caroline and Karley holding their real "Bitty" sisters when they were first born.

All the girls!

Speed Racer

Howie finally received his present from Santa, a professional racer radio control car. It is the car of his boyhood dreams and he has had a blast playing with it since it came out of the box. It can go as fast as 60 miles per hour and is able to drive on any type of surface. Howie has returned to being a kid again, and although the car somewhat scares Sophie, we are all enjoying watching that car go.

Getting Ready to Race!
Moving at high speeds!

Being a kid again!

Getting ready to burn rubber!

"Ring" ing in the New Year!

For the New Year, Howie gave me a new ring. I simply LOVE it! The picture here does not reveal it's true sparkle. It really does shine brightly, which I take as a good luck symbol for the new year and new decade.

Happy 2010!

The Avery Family 2010 by Emma-Caroline age 4

Wow! It's hard to believe that we have started yet another decade. I remember being anxious about the millennium back in 1999, only to have it pass on to the year 2000 without a hitch, at least to me it seemed that way. I am sure to all the people behind the scenes at that time, it was not without much effort for us to move into not only a new decade, but also a new millennium without any major catastrophes. The first decade of the new millennium was quite spectacular in so many ways for us, most notably with each birth of our two daughters. We look forward to the new year and new decade. Happy New Year!

Milestones

It seems that overnight our little Sophie has changed from being a 2 year old toddler to a 2 year old "big girl" who can climb out of her crib (yes we are now on the hunt for a "big girl" bed) all by herself and is starting to wear big girl panties and tell us when she needs to use the bathroom. Howie and I are amazed daily at her ever increasing vocabulary and her ability to carry on conversations with us. I am certain that she is no different from any other two year old accomplishing these mile stones, but as our "baby" we feel like she is pretty spectacular!

Showing off her big girl panties
They are pretty cool!

Scaling the crib

The Princess and the Frog

We took Sophie to see her first movie in the theater, "The Princess and the Frog." It was an awesome movie and I recommend it to everyone young and "old" alike. The movie features a return to hand drawn animation as opposed to computer animation. It gives it a more human quality in my opinion. The drawings are exquisite, the music is catchy, and the story is both funny and captivating. I give it two thumbs up!

Regal Cinemas Turkey Creek

Getting ready to go into the theater.

Watching the previews

Christmas Day 2009!

We had a wonderful Christmas Day celebrating the birth of Jesus together at home in the coziness of our house. The girls were thrilled with their presents from Santa as well as relatives. My most favorite gift was an original oil painting of Emma-Caroline and Sophie done by one of our neighbors, Mike Berry, who is a recognized local artist. The painting is AMAZING and I was so very surprised. Howie is receiving a remote control car from Santa. The elves had to put some finishing touches on it so it will arrive after Christmas. We are so happy to be together, healthy and blessed. It is a wonderful Christmas!

Barkley snoozing!
Seeing Santa's gifts for the first time!

My favorite gift, an oil painting of my sweet girls by Mike Berry

Playing with toys.

Helping Daddy open gifts.

Playing Hungry, Hungry Hippo!

I love this pic! Sophie was very determined to open all her gifts by herself.

Sophie loving on her new Fancy Nancy doll.

Opening gifts.

Emma-Caroline was so excited to have a matching dress to her American Girl Doll.

A Visit From Santa!

Santa was very busy at the Avery House Christmas Eve! Here is a look at the wonderful surprises he left under the tree for Emma-Caroline and Sophie.

The tree before Santa's Arrival
Posing with Barkley before Santa's Visit
Christmas Morning Presents from Santa!

A Christmas Eve Tradition

We spent Christmas Eve going to the beautiful services at our church and then having dinner at the Pearsons, our next door neighbors and very dear friends. We have been celebrating Christmas Eve with the Pearsons now for seven years and it is one of our most favorite things to do during the year. We are so blessed to have extended "family" here in Knoxville.

Christmas at the Grove Park Inn

The Grove Park Inn is such a wonderful cozy place to be on Christmas Eve. We enjoyed sitting by the fire, eating breakfast overlooking the snow covered mountains and seeing all of the amazing gingerbread house on display for the National Gingerbread Competition.

Driving the sleigh in front of one of he large fireplaces at Grove Park Inn

Sleigh Ride!

In front of the large lobby Christmas tree at Grove Park Inn

In the lobby of Grove Park Inn

Emma-Caroline with the Entrance Christmas Nutcracker at Grove Park Inn