Giving Thanks

Andy and I have so much to be thankful for this year.  We have a beautiful, spunky little 2 1/2 year old that fills our life with laughter, love and keeps us on our toes.  After a hard day, sometimes all you need is a sweet hug & kiss from our little stinker to make it all better.  We have each other, 12 years and counting!  We have another sweet baby girl on the way who we get to meet and snuggle in 2 months.  God has blessed us with the easy ability to make little girls. :)  And though it comes with additional stress, we were able to purchase a house for our family in Snoqualmie Ridge!  We are so excited to be able to provide our girls with a safe, stable community to grow up in and a yard to play in.  We have loved living in Bellevue/Kirkland for the last 6 1/2 years and will surely miss having everything at our finger tips but are looking forward to our next adventure in the suburbs.

Here's what we've been up to:

Avery had a week or 2 of rough sleep - didn't want to be in her crib.  She ended up taking a few naps in Mommy's arms.  (Can't lie, I love to snuggle with my sleeping beauty)

Avery is a die-hard park fan, even if it's dark and cold outside. 

She has to take her own clothes off before bathtime.  This night she was striking poses for Daddy.

Mommy has been fighting a nasty cold for 2 weeks, and one of those days Avery was a sick baby too.  Luckily Nana was there to snuggle with.

We went to the first official Husky basketball home opener.

We spent Thanksgiving with the Hunt family.  Avery loves going to Papa & Grandma's house and playing with her cousins.  Avery and Braden are good buddies, chasing each other around getting quite a kick out of one another.  They even shared a dance.  And they thought Cousin Brian was pretty cool wrestling with them.

More pics to come from the Hunt Cousin Ping-Pong Championship...

And finally and most significantly, we are thankful to have such loving and supportinve family and friends!

Baby Hunt Shower

I am so blessed to have such great best friends who are not only fun to be around, supportive and loyal, they also truly care about me and my little family. Since we are having baby girl #2 I didn't think a baby shower was totally necessary, but these 3 ladies not only insisted I have one, but put together a beautiful, fun shower for our baby girl. Thank you KK, Di, and Margie, you are the best Aunties ever!



The decor - all in lavender & sage - nursery colors.

Mom's Diaper cake. So beautiful!

KK joined us via Skype.

Thank you to all the ladies who came and celebrated baby girl #2 with us!  We love you.

Cara, Jen & Baby Grey

Auntie Boni & Mom

Jess, Sue, Cindy & Sarah

Avery & Baby Cole

Auntie Nan, Avery, Nana & Mom's friend Sarahjane

The 2 preggos: Di & Jenn

My girls: Tammy, Erin, Margie, Di, (& KK)

The Hermans ladies: Mom, Kristin, Avery & I and Oma

Grandma (& KK peaking in the corner) ;)

My Mommy & KK's Mommy - Stephanie

Thank you all for the beautiful shower & thoughtful gifts.  Now let's get this baby girl out!

Daddy

There is nothing I adore more than the sweet bond between Avery and her Daddy. Avery is still very much a Mommy's girl, but there's something special between the bond she and Andy have and it makes my heart melt. Sundays and Mondays Andy works later and doesn't get home until Avery's long asleep. But she always asks to wait for Daddy so she can give him kisses. As promised Daddy always kisses her goodnight upon arrival. Last night, out of instinct she reached up in her sleep and gave him a hug. This morning as I was heading to the gym, Avery woke up, asking to "night-night Daddy" and cuddled up right next to him in bed. Seeing the love they have for each other makes me fall for my husband all over again.

There's something very special about the Father-Daughter bond.  I hope both my girls are close to their Dad throughout their lives.  I still value the bond with my Dad.  Here's to great Dads and their Daughters.

"Trick-A-Treat!"



We had such a fun Halloween this year!  We started off the weekend before at Nannie's & Opie's house to show them our little peacock.  Avery wasn't a fan of the hat, but I got one picture of her with it after Opie modeled it first.  She practiced her "Trick-A-Treat" pose. 

We carved a pumpkin a few weeks before.  Mickey Mouse is one of Avery's favorites.  She wasn't into carving the pumpkin at all this year, she thought the pumpkin guts were "ew, yucky!"

On Halloween Nana picked Avery up from daycare and brought her to Starbucks so she could participate in the fun kids activities and trick-or-treating they do there.

And then we came home to get Daddy and hit one of the hot neighborhoods in downtown Bellevue for some real trick-or-treating.  We weren't sure how she'd do since it had been raining all day and she wasn't excited to put on her costume again.  (I had to let her paint my face to re-paint hers).  But she put on her costume and rain boots, the skies opened up for us, and we had a BLAST going house to house.  In fact, I didn't want to stop!  She had so much fun, it was so fun to see her go house to house, saying "trick-a-treat", hold out her bag, and then "thank you."  This was definitely my favorite Halloween.  This is what it's all about.

That night as I was getting Avery ready for bed, she gave me a huge hug and said "I had fun trick-a-treat Mommy."  So sweet.  Best Halloween ever!