Happy Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday Avery! We ended up having a few celebrations, a few cakes and

alot of fun! Ayla, Poe, Kamryn, Gavyn, Katie and Elsa came to play with us on Sunday

morning. Wow does Avery love Party's! I think she just stopped singing Happy Birthday to

her self now, only to replace it with Merry Christmas ;)

We had a yummy fruit crumble to share with our friends and she blew out the candles like a pro! On Tuesday the 20th we had some Family, best friend/Cousin Cole, helped eat some

yummy Carob Zucchini Cake and ice-cream, that was a hit! We received many beautiful gifts as well, thank-you.

Avery is so lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends and family to share her special day with. And of course the TuTu had to be worn. Just ask her its not a dress its a TuTu!

Happy Birthday Beautiful Girl you make us so proud!

Fall Beauty

Dear Avery,

Where do I start, you have grown into this beautiful being.

You are so confident and comfortable with the earth.

You light up a room, with your smile and loud personality.

You have this amazing energy around you, wherever we go,

people must stop to share it with you. I love it, and I love learning

how to be a better person from you. Your so innocent and fresh.

Thank-you for sharing the best Halloween with us, Life is so great

with you right now! We love you so much!

Oh one more thing, Thanks for sleeping through the night!

ps....Almost 2! (your favorite phrase)

Love Forever, Mommy

Ukluelet in October

Beautiful Sunny weather is not the norm in October on the westcoast, so we got very lucky.
The Strong's invited us to stay the weekend at their family Beachfront condo,
we felt spoiled! It was a weekend full of good food, good company and some nice
R&R. Avery had a nice time, Saturday we had some typical 2 year old challenges but we worked them out in the end, thank-goodness! We are so spoiled with the good behaviour and manners Avery has, that when she is having a moment we forget it's normal!

Speaking of Manners, Avery's are so cute! She says thank-you Mommy everytime I give her something even if it's her jammies to put on before bed, and she say's excuse me when she burbs or cough's and Bless you me when someone sneezes ;) I love it! And I love that she is dressing herself now! (Almost) down to perfection... Still a very good eater, even loving salads, and raw kale! This is so important to us and we try so hard to keep her eating well, so thankful she is not picky at all! Well looks like the BC rains have started, time to get out our puddle boots and rain hats!

So in Love!

Since I have started working casually Avery and Jason have done alot of fun things together! They went skating! And had a great time. I'm sure this time next year she will be holding a hockey stick ;) She is learning so much right now, in the last week she has learned to count to 10, do a sommersault, and she is starting to dress and undress herself really well. She is constantly putting on hats, helmets and rubber boots, carrying purses and bags, she is really going to love a dressup box! She still amazes me with the potty learning, we hardly have to remind her she never has accidents anymore it's a dream! It's amazing how motherly little baby girls can be, Remi and Shannon welcomed their new little Annika a few weeks ago as well as Shane and Kristina and Kamryn had little Gavyn. Avery is like her Mama baby crazy!

I feel so blessed right now to have my little girl ;)

Avery and Poe

Not a Baby Anymore

We really cannot believe how much of a little girl Avery is now.She definitely is no longer a baby. We bought her a new bed, a very comfortable pillow top bed that was even made to order in Vancouver! She is pretty excited about her new bed and even had a great first nap in it, however bed time didn't go so well, she just get out and that's that. So 2 hours later she finally gave in geesh! But I guess like everything in life, she will adjust, we just have to work together. Avery has a best friend, Poe. We have realized they play so well together, they really are silly girls together yet they can communicate so well. They are both so kind to eachother always willing to share and listen to eachother, truly remarkable for 2 year olds! Avery and I looked after Poe yesterday for a few hours it was really alot of fun, just as much fun I bet as Rebecca has when she looks after Avery for me! We are so fortunate to have such loving friends.

Stretching 123

Avery is at the total Monkey see Monkey doo stage it's super cute! She loves to stretch with her dad, do yoga and dance with her mommy.

The other night we were giving Avery her bath and she was "swimming" in the tub on her belly, doing the front crawl..hehe in slow motion and she even had her mouth wide open! So we realized she really picks up everything we do! She must have watched us at the river, and I love how she pays such close attention to detail and opens he mouth for air! Super cute :) She is watching every move we make, without us even noticing, she is a learning sponge!

A Visit to Nana

We had a really nice time visitng Avery's Nana in Vancouver.

It was action packed; We went to the Aquarium, the highlight for Avery was the Stellar Sea Lion named Tag, he was 1200 lbs and so beautiful, I am still in shock at how large and peaceful they are.

Granville Island was alot of fun, we did the usual fed the birds shopped for toys and

ate some good food. I got to reunite with an old friend Crystal which felt really good.

Avery's Nana bought her the famous tutu it is now a favorite. I cannot wait until

next fall when Avery can join a dance class!

TuTu

Hornby Island 2007

Beautiful weather and happy families! We had such

a great time :) It was great to spend some time with

good friends Ocean, Shane, Brenna, Marley and Baby Van.

Speaking of baby Van, Avery loves him! I think she is

telling us she wants to be a big sister..hmmm.

Anyways we stayed at the Tribune Bay campsite, it was

not so good, we were packed in like sardines with zero privacy

but it was nice and close to the beach. The beach...ahhhh

We love Hornby, it was perfect, nice white sand the kids

had a blast we learned to skim board, and of course Jason is

a pro already and wanting to buy one..me eh too hard! Avery

is better than me! Ocean had a party with us all at their cabin

near Ford's Cove it was so nice, Tara, Derek and Cole joined us

as well, super fun time and Shane makes the most kick ass

Oysters ever! I actually like oysters now! Brenna, Marley's

big sister pained Avery's toe nails for the first time it's so

adorable! And she loves them :) I just have to say we are having

the best summer full of adventures! We plan to make a tradition

out of this by picking a new island to visit for a week every summer!

Next year Cortez!

Adventures!

Camping in Tofino, Music Fest, River, Lakes, Guests and Backyard Fun,

is what our beautiful summer is starting off as...Bliss...

Avery has been along for the ride and lovin' it! Her schedule has been a little off

due to all the adventures but it's been well worth it for all of us. It is extra great

that she has both parents home right now with her, since Jason is laid off from work.

We are pretty lucky to live in such a beautiful place!

Potty Training Update; Perfection! No accidents even camping and at music fest
So its been about 3 weeks of no diapers! Thanks Avery!

We have a summer filled with Wedding, Swimming, Camping, Surfing and

relaxing...Can't wait!

We are Potty Trained!

Good-Bye Diapers!! What a remarkable milestone Avery! All your hard work paid off!

We are so proud and happy to give our washing machine a rest. For now we will stick to using

diapers at night, they are pretty full in the morning.. 1 more big step-peeing outside!

Which sounds gross but when there's no toilet in sight or we are outside playing it really helps!

Thanks for that girl!

CopyCat

Everything we do and everything we say, she is listening, watching and learning.

(bottom picture, she's nursing her monkey...)

We're Having Fun!

It's been a very fun-filled 2 weeks since our last update!

We had a nice visit from Uncle Ryan and oh my god

They look so similar! But she's my baby I swear!

Auntie Tara had her birthday Cole and Avery had

alot of fun playing on the slip and slide and goofin'

around I love that Avery has a cousin so close in age

to grow up with. They really are best buds.

The other night I had made a relly wicked Vegetarian

Indian Soup, Avery liked it but she didn't "love" it until

she was eating it on the counter out of the pot! The funny

thing is, she kept asking me to take pictures of her eating it!

She was saying "cheese"..my little movie star!

The filberg petting zoo is open! That was pretty cool, Avery was

Amazed and unsure of all the animals there. She did manage to

say "boo" to the chickens and brush the baby cow. I just love

watching her take everything in, she's a little sponge!

*Potty Training Update- We bought undies!!! She has been

wearing then for about 4 days now! We do use diapers as well,

I'm unsure what to do when we aren't near a toilet, she can't

hold it! The only time she has accidents is when we don't hear

yelling POTTY! I am proud I have only changed 1 poopy

diaper in the last week! My beef....they don't make undies

small enough! But they are still cute. For my sentimental

thoughts this week, Avery and Jason have a very strong bond

lately, she is easily comforted by him now and she loves to snuggle

him to sleep. I think him being off work so much lately has

really strengthened that! Till next week.....

Summer is finally here!

Sunny Sunny Days! We are having such a great time in this weather. We have been keeping the back door open and Avery comes and goes as she pleases, which means she is outside most of the time. We set up her pool, that's a blast!

She is a water baby all the way. She also had her first swim in the lake of the season. We went to stay with the Harmison's at their cabin on Comox Lake it was a really nice time. Daddy even caught trout for us! Avery loved having a barebum all day and she has mastered peeing in the outdoors! Too cute!

Rhubarb is in plenty thanks to Grandma and grandpa Dish, our neighbours we sure ate alot of pie's! And of course like all food Avery loves it! I tell you this little girl is a talker...she is just saying everything and anything, repeating it all. Her newest phrase that melts our hearts.."Love You!" It's just too sweet! And on the potty traing front...she is a champ, she is starting to tell us when she has to pee pee and its really a great breakthrough, we are so proud!

It's bittersweet having babies, on one hand you want them to grow and learn on the other, you want to freeze time and cherish every single moment. They just change and learn so fast. We sure do love this life!