It's Heaven to Be Seven!

 I truly enjoy celebrating both of my girls' birthdays each year. I am not a parent who bemoans their child turning one year older. Yes, I remember the birthdays that have come and gone and think of how cute they were on their first birthdays, but really, every birthday and year that passes is just another opportunity for us to celebrate and enjoy a whole new adventure together. I love each new age and look forward to being a part of all the new things that my girls will experience as they grow each year. Today, Emma-Caroline turns seven. We celebrated with 24 friends from all areas of her life including school, neighborhood, church, ballet, and friends from old. Everyone had a wonderful time together, and it was awesome to watch my little girl enjoying herself independently with her friends at her party. I will post more about her party later, but just wanted to say for now, Happy Birthday sweet Emma-Caroline. You are a blessing to all of us and I look forward to the adventures you will have in this next year while you enjoy being seven. Here's a little preview of our morning celebrating Emma-Caroline turning seven.

 Anxiously waiting to open her presents from family.

 Excited about her present from Grandma Beverly and Aunt Rhonda!

 Reading Aunt Kelly's card.

 Blowing the horn Aunt Kelly attached to her present.

 New sewing kit from Auntie Kells!

 Sophie looking on at the Barbie Pet Vet she picked out herself for Emma-Caroline. Sophie was so excited to give it to her!

 Cool crafts from Mimi and G-Daddy!

And a new sewing machine from Nana! Wow  . . .

It is Heaven to be Seven! More to come on her party at the Strike and Spare Family Bowling Alley!

The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot about That!

Seven years ago, before Emma-Caroline made her grand entrance into the world, I sat and read several Dr. Seuss books to Emma-Caroline while she was still in utero. I secretly hoped that she might actually decide to come on March 2nd which is Dr. Seuss' birthday. She waited though, but only one more day, to make her grand entrance.  

  I guess she decided that both she and Dr. Seuss deserved to have their own day of celebration in our house. Today, Emma-Caroline and Dr. Seuss will be celebrated together in Emma-Caroline's first grade classroom.

 We took in a healthy. Knox County friendly treat for her friends to share, Goldfish crackers.

 On the outside, we placed a Cat in the Hat hat that reads. "One fish, two fish, red fish . . . Goldfish?" to Paley of of Dr. Sueuss' book One Fish. Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.You just gotta love Dr. Seuss!

 Today begins our celebration of Emma-Caroline almost being seven. Wow! I can't believe my sweet girl is turning seven!

We are super excited around The Avery House to get this party started!

Grandparents Day 2012

Bearden Elementary hosted it's annual Grandparent's Day just recently.

 We were so happy that Nana is in town to celebrate Emma-Caroline's birthday and that she was here to come to Grandparent's Day too.

 Although not all of Emma-Caroline's Grandparents were able to attend this special day, she wrote a very special paragraph for all of them.

 Emma-Caroline was able to take a photo with Nana show her the first grade classroom and introduce her to Ms. Ellison. You know we love Ms. Ellison and we are excited that she won Elementary Teacher of the Year for all of Knox County. She is truly awesome and we have been blessed to have Emma-Caroline in Ms. Ellison's class this year!

Emma-Caroline also picked out a special book to be dedicated in her honor for the library. Now we are gearing up to celebrate one little special first grader who will be turning 7 very soon!

One Week after Mardi Gras

On Tuesday of last week, our church held it's annual Mardi Gras silent auction and dinner to benefit our mission trip to Bolivia. I was in charge of the children's activities which involved setting up a mini Mardi Gras and auction just for the kiddos. After setting up crafts, food tables, balloons, beads, and all the festiveness of Mardi Gras, the children's Mardi Gras room really did look fun! At 6:00pm little friends began to arrive and the fun times got started! The children enjoyed making their own masks, crowns, musical instruments and buying Jazzy Jard from the children's auction table. Our fun times culminated with a parade through the parish hall for all of the adults. I truly enjoy working with the children of our church! Their little smiles makes all of the effort worth it and then some. I look forward to our next fun time adventures with Easter coming up as well as Vacation Bible School!

 Making Crowns!

 Face Painting!

 Sophie the Mardi Graas Princess

 Making Masks!

 Look eho the leader is, Miss Sophie!

 When the Saints go Marching In!

 Marching!

The Parade End!

New Heights!

       When I was a little girl, I remember the day my mom and my older cousin Al carried the large steel A-frame swing across the street from my Great Aunt Carolyn and Great Uncle George Edwin's back yard to our back yard. The swing was very old, but sturdy and had been my mom and aunts and then Carolyn and George Edwin's daughters' swing. It was huge and sturdy and did not need to set in concrete like the newer aluminum swing sets of the time of my childhood. My mom spray painted the swing a beautiful shade of yellow and ordered two swings and a glider from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. I could hardly wait to get to swing on my very own swing set! The day finally came when we got a call from Sears. My swings had arrived! My mom and I hopped in her red  1977 Honda CVCC (the very first model before the Civic) and drove over to Sears. The swings were packaged in large bags, but I could see they were the same beautiful yellow as my swing set. After the swings were hung, I spent many hours in our back yard swinging and having fun with my friends and even at times by myself. My mom still has the same original A-frame  that is now over 50 years old. It is painted a different color and holds a single bench swing, but it still exists and is as sturdy as ever.
        One week ago today, Emma-Caroline and Sophie got a new swing in our back yard. We had had a beautiful Rainbow set in our old house, but it was too large to move to our new home. Howie was skeptical that we could have a swing in our current back yard, but with some convincing and consultation with an expert swing builder, we decided an A-frame swing would indeed fit.

 The girls waited patiently as Mr. John and his daughter built their new swing set last Saturday. On President's Day, they hit the swings early before even getting dressed.

  They have had such a wonderful time playing on their new swing set and I know they will enjoy it for years to come. I doubt that it will stand the test of time as the old A frame in my mom's back yard, but this new one is sure to bring it's own fun in the days ahead.

A Little Kid Art

The past several weeks I have been working with the children at our church to create two original canvases to be auctioned in our annual Mardi Gras dinner and silent auction to benefit our mission trip to Bolivia. I had lofty hopes of getting four canvases completed; however, after the first canvas, I learned quickly that two canvases was a more achievable goal. The children did such a wonderful job helping me to create their original artwork. Each turned out much better than I could have ever anticipated. I actually wish I could just buy them both myself! I took some photos of the finished canvases, but the photos are not great with indoor lighting. I will be taking more photos out doors with better lighting. I plan on turning these into coffee mugs or tote bags or maybe even note cards for my volunteers at the church. I still wanted to share these sweet little canvases, just in case you might be attending the Mardi Gras Auction on Tuesday evening and want to get your bid in ;-)!

 The above canvas was done by the Kindergarten, First, Second and Third grade children. Each of their little faces actually does look like the person who drew it!

This painting was done by our nursery, 3 year old, and Pre-K children. I apologize again for the lighting quality in both of these photographs. I will post these again later when I have had the opportunity to photograph these in out door lighting. But I just had to go ahead and share these adorable pieces! The children really did an awesome job!

Intentionality

The Avery House blog has been a place I have avoided like the plague in recent days. I am not actually sure what it is that has left me less than feeling like writing or for that matter posting photos. Perhaps it is the very fact that I needed to take a short break from both the blog and photography worlds. I have not touched my camera in weeks opting instead to use my new iPhone camera. My love for photography has not waned, but my desire to photograph every little thing around me has diminished, at least for the present time. I recently entered a photography contest along with my very dear friend Vaiden. Both of our entered photographs received an Honorable Mention.

 In my opinion, I feel that Vaiden's photograph above should have won a first, second or third place prize. You can view the prize winners on the contest web site here. The photography contest was the first ever for the East Tennessee Episcopal Diocese. The theme was "To seek and serve Christ in others." The photographs that were entered all displayed some variance on the theme. In viewing the beautiful photographs that were a part of the competition, I began to think of how amazing it is that we have a device that can capture a moment in time such as the ones on display at the competition. The ability to take photographs and capture a moment is a gift not only for the photographer but also for the viewer of the photograph. One of the judges of the photography contest had this to say, "It seems appropriate that the 2012 Diocesan Convention competition should focus on photography -- an art medium often defined by illumination, human bonds, and faith. Illumination in that light is the "brush" the photographer uses to reveal a view of the world. Human bonds in the relationship and trust between artist and subject. Faith in the fact that many aspects of photography are dependent on factors beyond the artist's control." No matter what skill level a photographer possesses, the intentional act of capturing a moment of time on "film" is a gift for posterity. I will eventually regain my desire to photograph the world around me with frequency and intentionality.However, in this reflective rest from the world I love, I feel blessed to have been given the gift of taking and viewing life captured in the art of photography.

Happy Sweet 16!

Today is the actual birthday of a very special somebody in the Avery House. In actuality, this special someone preceded the Avery House beginnings by two years. I am referring to this special young lady below, Lucy, our Adopt-A-Pet Cocker Spaniel.

 For the past 16 years, Lucy has been my constant companion from my final days in undergrad and grad school when I would sometimes carry her in my back pack to class, to living briefly in the dorms, to planning a wedding, to getting married and moving to Phoenix, Arizona, Salem, Oregon, Austin, Texas, and back to Knoxville in the course of a five year span. She is a barker amd loves to let EVERYONE know she is the alpha dog. We love our dear Lucy and feel blessed to have had her in our lives over the past 16 years. She is still very spry even at a mature age and we hope to celebrate may more birthdays with her. Happy Birthday Lucy! We love you!

I Heart February-Project 52:3/4/5/6

January just rolled on by and here we are on the 2nd of February already! Time really is speeding by at warp speed it seems these days! We are all happy, healthy and super energized as we continue into our 2nd month of 2012. Emma-Caroline and Sophie continue to enjoy their ballet and tap, tennis, choir and church activities while Howie and I seem to find ourselves buzzing along in our respective work places. We are already thinking ahead to summer vacations plans, but also want to enjoy the time in between. Emma-Caroline has a birthday coming up in March which is sure to be a "strike" as we celebrate turning 7 in the bowling alley. It's a wonderful time here at The Avery House! Today I am posting some more photos from Emma-Caroline's Jump Rope For Heart. Ms. Ellison kindly copied all of the photos I took to a disc for me and I have finally edited some of them. I want to wish Ms. Ellison "Get Well Soon" wishes as she has been very ill with bronchitis this past week. We all hope you feel much better soon!

 One of Emma-Caroline's classmates (J) could really work the jump rope!

 Another little friend (A) was pouring buckets of tears while she jumped. She kept looking up at the ceiling while she jumped because she said she didn't want to cry. Sweet little thing!

 Look at these little first grade jumpers go!

John jumping high!