Avery Turns Three!

Avery turned 3 June 6th! I can't believe how time flies. In honor of her birthday, we had her first big birthday party! We chose a princess theme, of course, and though it was a lot of work (we had to get the outside of the house together, which was no small task), it was a success. The interesting part was, that though Avery loved her party, I think she could sense that we were all stressed about getting everything together, so she wasn't actually as big as a party girl as I thought. She woke up with a giant splinter in her foot, which sort of set the tone for the day. However, after the kids arrived, all was well.

Grandma and Grandpa Miller helped a lot with the party! They delivered camping chairs, picnic tables, and umbrellas. Grandma Miller spent time helping me plant flowers, dig weeds, and do some necessary house touch ups. Justin actually really hurt his arm from doing all of the work he did on the tree hous,e and then working with the missionaries to spread our gravel all over our front driveway and back area.

The night before her party, we smelled a rotten stench coming from the neighbors yard. Justin found a giant rotting raccoon, and being the brave man he is (I cannot believe he didn't throw up...I would take sewage any day over rotting raccoon), he tromped threw the neighbors yard and triple bagged and boxed the animal (that had maggots crawling all over it). The next morning, he and Avery drove the raccoon out to the forest. Avery kept asking if his family would find him...yuck.

In any case, the party was a success. We had Disney music playing and wands and crowns for all of the royalty that arrived. A pink "carpet" led past our fence with castle decorations, and towards the back yard where the kids played in our tree house. We had a Princess and the Frog game (kids fished fake frogs out of the swimming pool with nets), a Cinderella game (pin Cinderella in her window), and a Little Mermaid game (kids blew bubbles and danced to "kiss the girl"). Some kids just played and some participated, but overall Avery had a good time!



























I don't want Avery to grow up. I love how our conversations have matured, but I want to keep her safe with me forever. I care for her more than words can explain, and her daddy is so in love with his little "mooch". She loves to snuggle him, and she really is his world. She really is our world. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful, spunky, strong willed, hilarious, brilliant little girl. She has such a good heart. We love you Avery-you are everything we hoped you would be.







Aric is back to his happy little self. About a month ago he started to go through the teething thing again, and about two weeks ago, he came out of it and is such a happy little man. AND...he's sleeping through the night again (thank goodness). He is walking so well now. He will crawl half way down the hallway, and walk the rest. He can walk our kitchen, and loves to walk at church (flat carpet). He is starting to wave when we say "hi", and every once in awhile, he will nod his head back and forth when you say, "no, no, no". He loves when Sissy and I wrestle and get crazy. He stands up and claps his hands...grinning and giggling. As I write this, he is standing up and bobbing up and down at the top of our carpeted steps. I swear he just taunts me...it's like, he just want to be dangerous:) Aric has just grown more and more beautiful. His big blue eyes are enough to anyone's heart melt, and his white (from summer sun) blonde hair with a little curl at the back, makes him look like the Gerber baby. These light genes seem to come in pretty strong. With such a dark daddy, I'm surprised we have had these blondies! His smile and giggles bring so much joy to our home.