Wednesday, April 29, 2015

52 Weeks of Avery

I plan to post Avery's 12 month post just as soon as we go to the doctor next month and get her stats. In the mean time, I have all of her 52 weeks worth of pictures done so I thought I'd go ahead and post them here for you to see them all together! It was harder this time around, to make time for this once a week. It wasn't easy with Jackson, (you can see all 52 weeks of Jackson here) but it was even harder with Avery. Nonetheless, I did it for Jackson and was determined to do it for Avery. Some weeks kind of ran together and weren't taken right when they were supposed to be, but we got it done and that's all that matters.

So without further adieu...

52 Weeks of Avery. 
A picture a week of my sweet girl for the first year of her life!


Tuesday, April 28, 2015

A Letter to my Daughter on her First Birthday

My Sweet Avery,

Just like that, a year has gone by and you are now one year old! Even though you'll always be my baby, you're technically a toddler now. Cue the tears! Your birthday is a little emotional for me. Last night I rocked you to sleep, just as I always do, but it was hard to put you in your crib knowing that you would be one the next day! You were so sweet sleeping in my arms and sucking fiercely on your binky. Turning one is just another reminder of how fast you're growing. I love each stage that you grow to, but of course I miss the stage you leave behind as well. It's a very bittersweet moment for me.


It happens in the blink of an eye. It's so true what they say... "the days are long but the years are short". I know that won't change either. Before long you'll be starting Kindergarten, getting your drivers license, going to your Senior prom and then going off to college. Everyone tells me how fast it goes and I'm beginning to realize they aren't joking. So, I try to savor these moments with you, my sweet princess.


You are a momma's girl for sure and don't like me to be out of your sight. Some days that drives me crazy, but I know before long you'll want your independence and I'll miss you holding on to my legs as I try to put dishes away and get stuff done around the house.


 Your birthday makes me think back to a year ago. I was so excited to be meeting my sweet girl and when I saw you for the first time, I couldn't help but fall instantly in love with you. You were the most beautiful baby I had ever seen and when they laid you on my chest and your crying ceased, well, it still makes me tear up just thinking about it. Those first few days spent in the hospital, holding you in my arms and having you sleep on my chest are moments I will never forget.


 Though, this day makes me realize how fast time truly flies, I am also so filled with joy to see you growing healthy and more beautiful every day. This last year has been amazing with you. You are such a sweet and spunky little girl and my heart just about explodes when I go into your room in the morning and you smile so big when you see me. Or when I get home from work in the evening and you come running as fast as your little legs will take you, waving and saying hi to me! You have no idea how happy that makes me!


As much as I want you to stay little forever, a part of me can't wait til you start dance class, til we take you on your first trip to Disney World and I can't wait to take you to get your little nails done. I can't wait til you to start loving princess movies, tea parties and dress-up! As much as I will miss my sweet baby Avery, I am really looking forward to sweet little girl Avery. I hope and pray you and I will have an amazing relationship like I have with my mom and I can't wait to see the beautiful woman you become. But for now, I'm holding on tight to you, my sweet little girl, and celebrating this last year. I pray that you continue to grow healthy and strong and that you always know how loved you are. I pray that God continues to watch over you and keep you safe and that one day you will feel him close to you and know He is with you always.

So today, I celebrate you Avery. You are a dream come true and I love you to pieces!
Happy Birthday beautiful girl!
-Love Mommy
xoxo

Happy First Birthday Avery!

Happy Birthday to the most amazing...


adorable...


smart...


funny...


sweet...


 spunky...


curious...


 loveable...


 and extraordinary little girl!!


Avery, 
You stole my heart a year ago today, and I've only grown to love you more and more with every passing day! You bring me unmeasurable joy and I feel incredibly blessed to be your mommy!

I love you with all of my heart.
-Mommy xoxo

Monday, April 27, 2015

52 Project 2015: Week 17

"A portrait of each of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015."

 Jackson: I just love his long eye lashes.

 Avery: Giving Daisy some love. ♥

 (Linking up here at Practising Simplicity)

Friday, April 24, 2015

5 on Friday

I'm linking up with Darci, Natasha, April and Christina for Five on Friday!


 I am in full party-planning mode. Avery's 1st birthday party is two weeks from tomorrow and her actual birthday is this coming Tuesday! How is that even possible? I feel like it was just yesterday that they were placing my sweet newborn on my chest! It's so true what they say, "the days are long but the years are short."

I loved this blog post by Julie at The Girl in the Red Shoes earlier this week. She hit the nail on the head.

 And as if that post above didn't bring on the tears, this video surely will.


This past Saturday was a super nice day, so we spent a majority of the day outside. Jake mowed the grass and did some yard work and the kids and I played with bubbles, took a wagon ride and played in the back yard on our swing set. We were having so much fun that Avery went past nap time and ended up falling asleep in her swing. It was so sweet!

Happy Friday!! 
It will be a fun but fairly busy weekend for me. I have two photo sessions and a birthday party, plus church on Sunday morning. Thankfully I'm off work on Monday, so I plan to spend lots of time with my babies!
 

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Jackson is 3 1/2!

Jackson,

This past Monday, April 20th, you turned 3 1/2 and I really cannot believe it. You are starting to look so old. Your baby face and chub are gone and a tall, skinny little big boy have replaced it. You are so sweet and hilarious! You amaze me with all that you know and can do. You can count to 12 and are really close to being able to count to 20, you can spell your first name (you do this first thing when we drop you off at pre-school), you can sing all of your abc's and can pick out a few letters and numbers and you know all of your colors. You are very polite and almost always say please and thank you. You are shy around people you don't know, but usually warm up to them quickly. You are brave and you are loyal. Your daddy and I just love you to pieces and we're so very proud of you!!


Some of your favorite things:
-Peanut Butter Sandwiches (cut in shapes like Mickey Mouse, a star or heart)
-Cinnamon Rolls, Nutty Bars and Donuts
-Pizza
-Downloading apps on the ipac (also known as an ipad)
-Running and playing outside and at the park
-Going for walks in the wagon or stroller
-Riding your bike or driving your Lightening McQueen car
-Paw Patrol, Team Umizoomi and Blaze and the Monster Machines are your "Favorite shows in the World!"
-Pickles
-Playing with cars and Disney action figures
-Cake Pops from "Star-box" (aka Starbucks) We've started a Friday evening trip through the Starbucks drive-thru for cake-pops (and a White Chocolate Mocha latte for Mommy)


Some funny things you've said recently:

After waking up in our bed one morning...
Me: Why did you come and get in our bed last night?
Jackson: I didn't, I disappeared from my bed and then was in your bed.

On our way to some friends of ours house...
Me: We are going to Natalie and Alivia's house tonight.
Jackson: My gonna be shy.
Me: You don't need to be shy, they are nice.
Jackson: Yeah my do.

While playing hide and go seek (before you really learned to count)...
Jackson: You go hide and I will count.
Me: Okay
Jackson counting: One, Two, Free, Eleven, Klelve... Ready or not, here MY come!

 Me: Jackson, can you pick up your toys?
Jackson: Mommy, what you said?


After spending a lot of time with a few of your cousins one weekend, I took you and Avery to a park on my Monday off and when we got there you didn't really want to play by yourself so you said, "I need a cousin to play with." :-)

Our Bradford Pear Trees bloomed a few weeks ago and when Jackson woke up that morning he saw the white flowers out of the little window on our front door. It's up high so he could only see that there was white on the tree. So when he saw this he told my mom it had snowed outside! Ha. She had to open the door to show him that in fact, it was just flowers on the tree, not snow.

If you're asking Daddy a question and mommy answers it instead, you'll say, "No mommy, I'm talking at Daddy". Ha!

You are very protective of Avery, (when you're not the one bothering her). She likes to stand up in the bathtub and not lay still for diaper changes, so I have to tell her no and of course she cries and when this happens you always say, "don't make my baby cry"!


You say, "I told you" if we say something won't work and then it does.

"Sunder Storm" = Thunder Storm
"I did that last day" = I did that yesterday, or a month ago... ha!

You say living room with y's like... "yiving yoom" and kitchen is "chichen".

Your best friend (in the whole world) is Gabe at pre-school and it's so cute how much you love him. We were at your school for your art fair this past Friday night and you were being shy when we first got there. But when you saw Gabe, that all changed and you went running over to him. :-)


We've got you all signed up for pee-wee baseball this Spring/Summer. I can't wait to see you out there playing!

So I think that about covers you at 3 1/2 Jackson! You are so much fun right now (despite the few tantrums and whiny moments) and I absolutely love being your mommy!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

What to do with the 52 Project Weekly Pictures

So a couple years ago, I started doing Project Life digitally. I loved it, but unfortunately got too busy and I never finished the year and never got back to it. :-(  I make a photo book for both Jackson and Avery every year for their birthday but still knew I wanted to do some kind of family album for me. So when I started doing the 52 Project this year, I thought about starting Project Life again, but I just really don't have time to do it.

 So I decided to use the concept for Project Life but simplify it some and make it more of a monthly thing rather than a weekly thing. Here's what I came up with using picmonkey.com and many of my 52 Project pictures of the kids, plus a few others that I've taken throughout the month. I decided to do 4 pages a month, plus an iPhone picture page.

I have Jan.-Mar. done and plan to complete these pages monthly to keep up-to-date rather than waiting til the end of the year.

Jan. 2015 Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

January iPhone Page

 February 2015 Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

February iPhone Page

March 2015 Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

March iPhone Page


I am making a square book using mixbook.com to put them in and will just print it at the end of the year! It's not as cute and fun as I'd like it to be, but it's simple and easy and it will assure I get pictures printed to have them to look at in hand instead of just on my hard drive.

Monday, April 20, 2015

52 Project 2015: Week 16

"A portrait of each of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015."

 Jackson: Playing with his new Mickey Mouse Bubble Machine Saturday morning.


 Avery: Playing outside Saturday as well. It was so nice out, so we spent a majority of the day outside playing with bubbles, going for a wagon ride and swinging in the back yard. :-)


 (Linking up here at Practising Simplicity)