Avery's 4th birthday!

Avery had her 4th birthday party at Jumping With Joy in Paragould. All of the kids and parents (especially Amy Reed who braved the slide with Berkley) had so much fun. Avery loved being around all of her friends and family who came to help her celebrate her big day. I can't believe our little girl has turned four. It seems like yesterday that I was . . . looking into her eyes for the first time whenever they placed her in a tightly wrapped blanket by my head in the hospital, watching her take her first steps, hearing her say "momma" for the first time, even better - hearing her say, "I love you, momma!" for the first time, watching her being so independent in her first year of preschool and now she seems so grown up. Now she is a beautiful, entertaining, dancing, horse loving, big sister, with a huge amount of determination and a very strong will who is so brave, so loving and so smart. No matter how big you are, Avery, you will ALWAYS be my little girl! I will cherish every minute of our walk together along the way!

Happy Early Birthday, Avery!

Avery's birthday is August 25th. She will be the big 4! We are so excited! Joe has been talking about getting Avery her own four-wheeler for quite some time now. He decided a few weeks ago that her 4th birthday would be the perfect opportunity to get her one. Her researched several different kinds online and finally decided on a Kawasaki 50. I was really wanting to get her a green one (they didn't have pink) so I was thrilled whenever Joe brought it home the other day and discovered I had gotten my wish. Now to see if Avery liked it. She came home from her Nana's today and Joe was chompin' at the bit to give it to her. There is no way that he could've waited until the 25th to give it to her. So, whenever we were all ready, I armed myself with the camera and we all went outside and waited for Avery to see her birthday present. As you can tell by the video (hopefully coming soon), she was pretty excited. Joe and I were so excited as we watched her eagerness to ride it and learn all about it. Of course, Joe had to tell her numerous times to slow down. I rode on the back with her which was really strange having my almost 4 year old as my chauffeur! Addison and I loved watching big sis and daddy riding four-wheelers together! Now, all we need to complete the picture is a helmet. Yes, all you safety people out there in blogger land - she will have one soon!

Hot Trip Pics

One Hot Trip!

This past weekend, our family joined Joe's parents, his brother's family, and his sister's family in Branson. Our first stop was the Dixie Stampede. Of course, Avery was thrilled to be there! She loved pointing out all the horses and telling us was kind they were. She was even chosen to do a rope trick during the show! The next day, it was off to Silver Dollar City. Avery loved riding the small roller coaster, the flying Dumbos, the underground mine, and the teacups. She did not, I repeat, did not, like the large ship that swung back and forth (neither did her daddy). Addison was such a trooper as she braved the heat in her stroller with her own personal fan. We could only handle about 4 hours of the fun in the sun. We were all very hot, worn out and ready to go (as you can see Avery is in the picture of her with the straws). Over all it was a wonderful family trip that I look forward to taking again sometime in the winter!