I have been so excited lately to teach Avery some new things as she is getting older. I praise God that I have the privilege to stay home with her, but also as a full time Mommy I feel it's my duty to also teach her things. I have been working with her daily for about 30 minutes on a few letters, numbers, & her name. She has been doing great so far recognizing the numbers with the sounds & pointing at them. I write them out on paper each day in front of her & she points at them & repeats. I have found that writing them out gets her attention & she loves getting in my lap to learn. I always say, "Go get me the "blue" crayon"... and she gets excited.
I am so proud that she is also learning her colors. I try to not overwhelm her with to much information so when she colors I will just point out the color she is coloring with & say it. She has learned to repeat after me & can now identify red, blue, & green. After a few weeks I hope to have a routine down of going through her numbers, letters, shapes, & colors every few days.
By the way, I just love these Melissa & Doug crayons that my Mother in-law gave her in her Easter basket, they are amazing!
She loves to color all day long. I have to be careful or else she tries to color on the windows, walls, & everything else. I love how I started coloring this puppy today for fun & she repeated exactly what I did in the same spot on the other ear. She was so determined to do exactly what I did & worked hard to stay in the lines. I can tell she will always try to pay attention to the detail of things. I am surprised how hard she tries at her small age.
She is really into books right now too! How do you like the rain get up that she put on herself this afternoon? It cracked me up how she went into her room & came out wearing this. I of course added the bow for cuteness! She will say, "Mommy, read".
Besides staying in & learning today, this evening we watched our friends boys so they could enjoy their 8 year Anniversary together at dinner. Chad & I have been so blessed by Heath & Lane's friendship. They are 2 people that love each other dearly, love their kids, & have such a good head on their shoulders. They always are happy & their bright smiles always shine in on our lives when we are with them. We are so blessed with great friends!
Sterling colored an Anniversary card for them tonight. He is so smart!
While Judson & Avery kissed on each other, so cute!
If you live in Arkansas, I don't need to go much further. We are experiencing some major down poor in our neck of the woods that is just unlike anything I have ever seen. There is flooding going on like crazy and tons of roads, (even schools), are closed. I was late picking up Ave from MDO because I got stranded on a road.
This is how I feel today.
I thought it was a good day to pile on some rain gear for Avery, how cute are these boots that my friend Kim got her? I love rain gear & any excuse to be cute in it! We have to make the most of what's given to us, right! So lets soak up this rain!
Um, excuse me cuteness where were you today when I needed you? It's like they say, "April showers brings May flowers". I think I need you for next April, thanks!
This evening Chad & I drove around the golf courses & took some pictures. Unfortunate for him, he won't be golfing for awhile. The courses were horrible! We just couldn't believe the amount of water flowing through local parks up to the bridges.
With all of this rain comes tons of indoor time. I have a few activities lined up for Ave & some laundry & gym time for me! Besides a rainy day, I spent some time getting the house cleaned today. It never fails. You clean, they mess. UGG!
I just love Ave at bath time. Smelling a clean baby with lotion is my favorite! She always looks so cute after bath in her little towel over her head! I want to always remember these special moments while I can still pick her up. She is a whopping 28 lbs!
Easter weekend as always is a full weekend for our entire family with lots of good food, company, laughs, & festivities. I think it's SO important for us to each take a moment to reflect & remember the true meaning of Easter. It isn't all about getting dressed up for church, cooking, & hiding eggs. It's about our Lord raising from the grave so that we can have this amazing everlasting life. I love that Easter Sunday always puts me in my place & plants that seed I need in my heart to remind me once again of all my blessings & why I am actually put on this earth.
I love this video. They show it at our church from time to time & I thought it was perfect to share for Easter weekend. It gives me chills. I hope you will watch it.
Our Easter weekend started Friday with rain, rain, & rain. We had dinner plans with some friends & met up to enjoy a nice relaxing meal together; until the storms hit. It got so bad that they were spotting funnel clouds in the area & right before we were about to get our meal they told us to take cover. Us girls ran to get our kids out of the daycare upstairs & took off down to the basement. Thank goodness we were safe, the storms ended up passing & everyone was okay. I hate storms, we were all a nervous mess!
This is what it looked like out the window while we were waiting for our meal.
Then we had to take cover...
At least Georgia Kelly's boots were stinkin' cute to look at & perfect for the rainy night out!
When we made our way back upstairs, the sky was starting to clear so we took a picture to remember the madness!
By the time we got our meal, everything was just bliss! WHEW!
The girls gave me some sweet treats since my Birthday was the night before!
After dinner we made our way to Amy's house so the kids could play & enjoy some Easter crafts! We had so much fun making rice crispy treats for the kiddo's hiding little eggs inside of them so they could find it as a surprise.
We molded little nests for them & they put all kinds of Easter candies in them. They had so much fun!
Saturday was gloomy & again so we stayed inside pretty much all day. We always celebrate Easter with my parents on Saturday evening & Chad's on Sunday. Our church offers a service that night so we usually go Saturday & then out to dinner with my brothers in-laws & their family, who come into town to visit.
I just loved Avery's Easter dress this year. I wanted something cute, but decided to not do pink since I always dress her in pink. This dress was the perfect match for her. I have always wanted to have a little girl so I could dress her in little white shoes & ruffle socks on Easter!
After church we all had dinner! Our friends Chad & Melissa, (& Grayson), & my friend Amy came with us to church & dinner. It was such a great night with everyone!
Sunday was another rainy day. It always seems to rain on Easter, ugg! We had to get up super early & it was so dreary & dark. Avery didn't want to wake up but boy when she saw this...
She got so excited... & fell to her sweet knees to look through it. It brought tears to my eyes as I remembered my Mom & Dad making my brother & I look through the entire house for our Easter baskets. We always had fun scavenger hunts. I can't wait to play those games with Avery.
After our special morning together we got ready for church & went with Chad's family. It was a great service!
We came home to get some goodies I made... my friend Amy made this a few weeks ago & shared the recipe. It is delish!
I put together an Easter basket for my neice Stella!
We spend Easter with Chad's entire family at his parents house. I always look forward to those gatherings because his family is so much like mine & it's fun!
This is my older neice Kelsey! She is just precious & loves her sweet cousins.
The girls loved opening their Easter stuff from Mamee & their Aunts & Uncles!
We had a yummy meal & spent the afternoon sipping coffee & hiding eggs, (inside because of the RAIN), with all the kids!
Sunday evening was dinner with my family! Everyone celebrated at my sister in law Tiffany's sisters house! We were all so tired & full that we didn't even take a picture. Avery fell asleep in the car before each stop & was in bed by 7:00 tonight! AMEN!
It was such a great memorable Easter weekend with my family!!! I hope you all had a blessed weekend as well! I can't wait to read everyones blogs & see pretty Easter pictures!
