Happy 3rd Birthday, Avery!!!

Oh what a fun day yet at the same time it was a bit sad and hard to realize that our baby girl was turning 3. Where has the time gone? ...... But enough of the sadness and on with the goodness ...... This years party theme wasn't hard to choose because we have watched Tangled at least 4 times a week since receiving it on Easter from Aunt Ashley. Avery asks for it by saying, "Let's watch princess got long hair." She usually follows that sentence with this one, "Her's mommys mean?" Anyhoo, we had most of our usual bunch of family in though Kaegen was the only cousin who was able to make it. (We sure missed the rest of you guys :) I took some ideas from various sites and was able to put some fun crafts and games together plus easy to make decor. I was proud of my inexpensive hand-made party decor! Anyhoo, back to Aves, that morning she was excited to see her banners and balloons and gifts from us already wrapped and sat out. She said, "Ah, that's Avery's prize!" So cute. We spent good quality time just the three of us letting her unwrap her gifts from us. She was so fun and happy and said a sweet "yank you!" for every one.

After her nap she was super excited when family started arriving. As soon as her Great-Granny and Peepaw walked in the door she unwrapped their gifts. We then had to explain to her to wait until everyone got there to do the others. Since princess was the theme, she was blessed with many dress-up princess dresses, shoes, purses, gloves, etc. Her and Kaegen spent the rest of the party switching dresses. It was a wonderful day and super special for a special little Avery.

Helping Nani prepare for the cupcake batter...

This girl has a quick draw when it comes to scooping up cake batter! Whether it's with her finger or a spoon she can reach that bowl of batter from across the kitchen. Aren't these the cutest matching aprons?! Miss Amy Jo made them for us and they are beautifully made....thanks Amy!

Opening gifts first thing that morning. She was such a sweet doll all morning.

Posing with Rapunzel's long hair. Not sure why Aves is fishing though?

Activity #1: Making Pascal blow-outs. This took help from Nana to keep the birthday girl focused!

Group effort...since we had a lack of kids, I asked the adults to make the extras to send back to all the other cousins...just look at the concentration! Everyone but the birthday girl hard at crafting!

After all that, she wasn't too sure about it...but didn't Pascal turn out cute?!

Love this picture!

One excited birthday girl!

Her super duper ride from the both of us. She didn't quite get the hang of it so she would slide over and ask Kaegen, "you drive?".

When I brought the cake out I wasn't sure if she would understand my abstract Tangled Tower. But I was so happy when her little face lit up and she said, "princess got long hair!". That's just what I wanted to hear!

That day she would sing, "Happy Dirtday for Avery." So cute, and yes she calls it dirtday! Ha!

A birds-eye view. That was sooo fun to make and the least stressful cake I've ever attempted!

Activity #2: Pinning the frying pan on Flynn Riders head (you have to see the movie to understand :). Kaegen led the way to show Aves what to do.....
She got the game but missed like the most of us!

Had to post this one, sorry dad! It's just so funny!

Nani's attempt ....Dads' is the one furthest to the left! Ha! It was actually harder than it would seem, especially after spinning ten times (those were the grownup rules).

Thank you to all of those who came and showered our sweet Avery with gifts! She had a wonderful time with you all! We love each and everyone of you and are blessed to have such a loving and supportive family!

Love, Stefanie

VBS!

No I didn't forget to post this from earlier this summer, we actually had our VBS this past weekend! Seems almost unscriptual, I know! We had a wonderful group of people put on a wonderful VBS for our kiddos and visitors. Skits were performed on this beautiful, "old west" stage created by some of our talented members. The skits contained lessons about a boom town that thought their only need was gold and plenty of it. The story ended up teaching the kids a lesson about what was truly important, God's Word and that it was the only thing worth holding on to in this world. I only got a few shots of the decor and activities but it was a fun fellowshipping day!

Bre and the Davids putting on a show.....doesn't she look like a true southern bell!

The Davids in action.....

The door leading out to the "pan for gold" activity.

The kids got to pan for 20 pieces of gold (or rocks spray painted gold).....she enjoyed getting dirty with this one!

Then the kids made small felt bags and added beads to the rope......this is where they placed the gold pieces they had found.

Focused on crafting with Cheri

Kids playing duck, duck, goose to kill time between activities. I'm sad to realize that my child does not know how to play this game.....shame on me!

Aves ran into the "bad guy" on our way out.....perfect role for the preacher man!

Great Wolf Lodge...

What a genius place this is especially when it's over 100 degrees most of the summer! We took a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge with Dave's family and had a blast! There weren't enough hours in the day to do all the activities that it offered. In a day and a half we swam and played in the huge indoor water park, did the Magi Quest opening clues with our magic wands (which Aves absolutely loved waving and pointing her wand at things), made a bear, colored a pillow case, got our arms painted (tried to call it that instead of a tattoo, but oh no, Aves wanted to call it her tattoo, yikes), played in the arcade, and of course ate...whew, what a vacation! We even made a stop at the Dallas Aquarium. Then we came home and slept til 10 three days in a row! Aves is usually up by 8 so this was a treat for this tired group! Thanks Nana for a great time!

4th of July!

I just love having large groups over to the house, especially when it's family! We did just that on the Fourth. We had my aunt and uncle from California, both my grandmothers, my parents, aunts, uncles, brother and family, cousins, nieces and nephew and one future in-law. What a group! Averi Addison helped me deck the halls with a Patriotic theme, we had lots of good food, the kids swam, went on a group walk so we could eat more, and since fireworks were banned the kids entertained us with glow sticks and boy were we entertained with their love for those things. Avery fell asleep with hers that night!

Church Camp in August? Sort of...

Well, it's August already and I'm just getting

around to writing about church camp! I suppose it's never too late to share our love for that extremely hot but oh so fun week of fellowship. Other than Dave's injury it was another great year of devotionals, visiting and watching our kids play!

Here's just a few of the many reasons why I love the Pecos River Encampment:

I love early morning Rec. except for when my husband tries to impress the 2-3 year olds with a back flip in the bounce house and ends up breaking his back! Obviously they were not impressed. Obviously this is the before picture. What a scary day!I love that we were still a part of camp even though Dave was not fully himself and in alot of pain.
I love that my mom and dad got to spend the week with us this year in their camper!

I love that Avery gets to spend time with her cousins. I love hearing this bell ring 100 times in the early morning. And I love these cousins and their matching dresses!

I love Gina and her Cantina and the sweet "freebie" Avery got from her.

I love going down to the river to see some one be baptized into Christ.

I love watching Aves play with her buddies. Her and Trine had some good laughs together.

I love that Aves finally learned to play well with others. Her and Emma Clair taught each other how to share after much squealing, tugging and pulling but see they are happy!

I love these silly faces and that Aves got to spend some time with her friend D'Laney.
I love having Pops there to share in the many trips to the river.

I love this boy but this is the only picture I got of him since he was off playing with the boys most of the time.

I love Avery's Bible class and the wonderful ladies who taught it. They did a great job teaching the kids about Peter, James and John casting their nets to the other side. Aves can still sing the song and talks about her catching fish her hands!

I love that my mom was able to take her to class everyday since she did not want to stay on her own. Therefor, I got some great pictures of her enjoying class! Thanks mom!

I love that Avery got to spend time with her Nana too! What a wonderful family-filled, fellowship-filled week!