Party Time!

Last Thursday we celebrated Miss Avery's First Birthday!  We kept it simple and just had a party with our little family of four.  Avery celebrated by only napping for one hour for her morning nap (as opposed to her normal 1.5-2 hours) and then refusing to go down for a second nap. Luckily she was not too cranky.  That morning we snapped some pictures of Avery as soon as she woke up.  Hayden wanted to know "can she walk now?"  I told him not just yet :)  After that we joined some friends for a splash party at their church.  Avery was all dressed up and adorable with her flower in her hair but unfortunately too tired to give me a smile.  That afternoon the kids and I went around town collecting cupcakes and balloons and streamers and Hayden and I did some minor decorating.  He had been helping me wrap the presents that had arrived during the week from family.  More cards and money and gifts trickled in later in the day; she is one very loved little lady!

Matt brought home pizza after work and we declared indepence from healthy food for one night and had nothing but pizza and cupcakes for dinner.  Avery ate her whole cupake!  After daintily tasting the icing, she picked the whole thing up and shoved it under her nose and just held it there for a while, breathing in the yumminess.  Finally Matt went to help her put it down and he had to pry it out of her hands as she was wide-eyed, red-faced and shaking from the death grip she had on the thing.  That gave us all a good laugh.

Hayden "helped" her open the presents, which she really enjoyed, and he also gave her a card that he picked out and signed himself. 

Even though we did not have a big party, we all had a great time celebrating Avery and I think she really enjoyed her special day. 

As I said I took lots of pictures and they are in random order here, but you'll get the idea!

She loved the new kitchen and food and dishes from Grandma and Grandpa Shirley; she sat on the floor and tried to eat all of the food.

Also loved her first baby doll from Aunt Beth, Uncle Jason, Kensie and Zoe.

Her pretty outfit is from GG.

Waiting not-so-patiently for Daddy to open the glowing seahorse from GG.  Another big hit.

Full belly and tuckered out from a big day!

Hayden's Latest Project and Independence Day

Hayden has really been enjoying all of the birds we have around our house this spring and summer.  We live in an older neighborhood surrounded by trees so we see (and hear birds) all day long.  Sometimes he will sigh and say "I just love all the birds."  Recently he got it in his head that he wanted to build a bird house.  Neither Matt nor I are what you would call the crafty type, but he kept asking about it so I tried to come up with something easy.  Lowes has a Build and Grow program on Saturdays for kids to go with their parents and build small projects for free.  Hayden has done this a couple of times when visiting friends in Knoxville and he really liked it.  I found out that they sell the kits in the store for a few dollars, so Hayden and I made a trip there this past week and found a bird feeder kit.  He had fun putting it together; he hammered all the nails in himself and then I let him paint it afterwards.  He picked the colors :)  He was very proud of his project and when Matt got home from work they added some bird seed and hung it on a tree in the front yard.  It hung there untouched for two days but this morning Hayden finally saw a bird take some seed from it and yelled for Matt and I to come see.  

This year our family celebrated fourth of July by meeting up with friends at the local parade and then heading back to our house together for a cookout.  Hayden was excited to spend the afternoon and evening with his friend, Nora:

Nora's little brother Evan was quite the patriotic stud, and was way too busy having fun to pose for a picture:

We filled some water balloons for the kids to play with, although they did not last very long.  Maybe a water balloon toss would have been a better idea than a water balloon fight.  Good thing Nora is a tough girl and had no problem retaliating.  Don't worry, all explosions were friendly :)

Later that evening my friend and Nora's mom Misti and I took Nora and Hayden to see the town fireworks while the dads stayed home with the little ones.  We did sparklers while waiting for the fireworks to start:

It wasn't a bad show for a small town:

The next day Matt and Hayden got in some more water balloon action by taking turns chucking them over the deck railing at each other.  Nothing like good cheap fun to stay cool and happy.

                            

Recently...

It has been a busy and fun last couple of months kicking off the summer.  We started the season with a trip to Columbus to buy a pop-up camper (more on that later!) While we were there we visited the Columbus zoo where we got this sweet picture of me and my favorite little guy:   

Speaking of that handsome guy, he is becoming quite the ham lately, wouldn't you say?

He wrapped up his first-ever soccer season by scoring two goals in the last game and declaring himself the winner because he "had the most fun."  

Big throw-in:

Getting in there:

During an earlier game he played goalie.  That yellow night gown he is wearing is actually the mesh shirt that is worn by whichever player is goalie during that quarter.  The pose is because Coach John told him once when the ball was heading his direction to get his hands out and ready and, well...at least we don't have to worry about his listening skills :)

Everyone in our family loves being outside, especially Hayden, and we spend a lot of time out there every day!

The sand box is a new addition to the back deck and Avery loves to stand and watch while Hayden is playing.  

By the way...Avery is pulling up to a stand now!  She pulls herself up on anything she can reach and is getting very close to standing alone.  She recently started taking a few steps while holding on to our hands, so she may take her first steps soon!

She has been very slow transitioning to solid foods but is finally making some slow progress.  She can do cheerios and tiny pieces of strawberry and banana, as well as small pieces of muffins if we hand feed them to her.  Other than that she is still doing the jarred stuff, which she is not crazy about.  Makes meal time interesting!

More recently we made a trip down to Knoxville, Tennessee for a reunion of our small group bible study from high school.  Ten years ago Kevin and Cherise, the couple who had led the group moved away from Tampa and most of us have kept in touch over the years.  It may surprise some people that we all made such long trips- from Florida, Ohio, California and even Hawaii- but it truly was a uniquely special group.  Great friendships were forged and over the years Kevin and Cherise remained mentors but also became friends.  It was a wonderful time and we were so excited to see everyone again. 

Temperatures around here have been high 90's pretty consistently and even over 100 degrees at times.  Combine that with the stifling humidity and it makes us feel like we are back in Florida.  We are looking for ways to stay cool.  This past weekend we tried nearby Orchardly Park for the first time and loved it!  It had a splash area, a sand pit with a water table, awesome play ground equipment and just enough grassy area to play baseball.  We will be frequenting it this summer for sure!

So far, our summer has also included two family visits, one visit from an old friend, our first family camping trip, trips to the pool and back yard cook-outs.  Hayden starts t-ball next week and we are excited to have good friends from Mountain Home stop by the week after that.  It is shaping up to be a great summer!