Lots of Things...

Yards and birthdays and babies, oh my!  Dentists and dancing and anniversaries, oh my! 

Too much?

Yard

Our yard is still 99% done.  We had to order special paint (“fog” is the correct term?!) for our courtyard wall from the builder, so we’ve been idle for a little while.  Hope to be done by this weekend.  Pictures forthcoming, but in the meantime, here are some teasers…

Sprinklers!

We frequently see some awesome sunsets...and some awesome Avery poses.  

Front courtyard...and Avery about to "BOO" one of our neighbors.

Avery’s 3^rd birthday party!

Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins came over to celebrate Avery’s 3^rd birthday and what a celebration it was!  Avery loved having everyone over to her house to play and help her eat cake!  Running around with cousin Helen and Uncle Brennan was a highlight.  At one point, Bren and the girls were in Avery’s room upstairs and a few of us downstairs heard screaming that sounded like one (or more) of them got hurt.  I ran upstairs and opened the door to find all three of them hysterically laughing.  Ha!

Avery wore her Minnie dress all day.  The Goad family bought it for her for her birthday.  They nailed it!

Ryan Goad

On September 1, 2013 the Goad family welcomed a beautiful baby boy, Ryan Michael Goad.  We’ve met him a few times, but have failed to take any pictures.  Come on!  However, I have held him and he is the sweetest little baby in the world!  Quinn is a great big sister and their family of four is just perfection.  In lieu of a picture of Ryan, here is a picture of Quinn and Avery watching a Disney movie (before Avery got frightened and decided that Curious George is more up her alley)…

BFFs!

Dentist time! 

Avery went to the dentist for the first time recently and did outstanding!  Before the hygienist could tell Avery where to sit and how the visit was going to go, she climbed in the chair and got comfy.  The hygienist was amazing with Avery... explained everything, let her play and investigate all of the tools, etc.  What a great visit…and yup, Avery got a clean bill of teeth health!

Anniversary

Happy SIX years to us!!

Love. Of. My. Life!

We've covered most of the "things" mentioned in the intro to this post, but will detail the "dancing" thing very soon.  Start getting excited.

FPT

Keep those boxes coming - we're going to make a mansion!

She's Three!

On my way to bed last night I went into Avery’s bedroom to kiss her goodnight.  I looked at her sleeping and saw something that surprised me.  I saw a little girl.  

I won’t laden this post with clichés about growing up, time flying, etc… (though tempting, because every one of them could easily apply)… instead, I am going to write a short note to my birthday girl and share her yearly “love” pictures.

Avery, you are incredibly clever and smart, and the things that come out of your mouth consistently wow me.  When you are comfortable in your environment and the people around you, your sense of humor, intelligence and nurturing nature are mesmerizing.  You can be reserved and cautious when you’re unsure or unfamiliar with your surroundings and that shows a sweet, innocent side of your personality.  Your honesty, confidence and desire for quality time with those you love are wonderful traits and it will be my effort to keep those strong within you throughout your life.  You crack me up on a daily basis and I like to remember those laughs when we are going through one of your "over-confident" or "Avery knows best" days (aka - hair pulling / hair graying days for me!).  Ahhh, the joys and frustrations of raising a human, but... I wouldn’t trade it for ANYTHING, because you're my EVERYTHING!  I love you, bushk!

I have a list of blog posts to write including, our yard progress (99% done!), Avery’s birthday party (such fun!), the new Goad addition (baby Ryan!) and Avery’s first trip to the dentist (the opposite of cryin’).  Soon enough, dear friends, soon enough.

FPT

They really do grow up before your eyes.
(Couldn't resist all the cliches!)

Happiest Place on Earth

Jeff and I took Avery to Disneyland this past Friday for her third birthday.  (She turns three on Tuesday.  Three?  THREE!!)

What a wonderful trip it was!  I knew it was going to be a great day when we first entered the park and spotted Goofy in the "town square."  Avery's reaction to seeing Goofy was priceless in all sense of the word.  She looked at him in complete awe, got teary eyed with joy and then smiled a sweet, innocent smile.  Her reaction almost made me cry!  She knows the Disney characters really well through books and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but seeing them live, in person was something she couldn't fathom or understand until we were there staring at these amazing characters from a few feet away.  

During this trip we learned that Avery loves roller coasters, but will pass on the "inside" rides.  You know, those rides where you sit in a little car, go in a dark building and watch fake, brightly colored and creepily told stories come to life.  In all honesty, they kind of freak me out, too!

Showing off her new Disneyland dress.  It's green and long (aka - it's perfect).

Can't even contain her excitement!

In line for Tea Cups - her very first ride at Disneyland.  Observing, processing and taking it all in.

Patiently listening to Jeff's Tea Cup instructions. 

The ride starts and she realizes this is pretty fun stuff.

Oh, yeah - it's fun!

Meeting Minnie.  Could hardly take her eyes off her!

We got her attention, folks!

Minnie's house was a favorite - for Avery and me!

Best tour guide in the whole park.  And, fancy, too!  Look at that jewelry!

After an afternoon rest at the hotel, back to Disneyland we go!

Balloons, the castle and a great view above the crowds.

Just her size.

Taken after the awesome parade.  Man, I wish this wasn't blurry.  She was posing and hamming it up - absolutely hyped off the parade vibe!

Big smiles and cotton candy at the end of the wonderful day - perfection!

The Happiest Place on Earth, indeed!

FPT

Came across this gem as I was perusing our phones tonight for some blog pictures.  No caption needed for this perfectly FPT photo.

Conversations with Avery...

Overheard between Avery and Jeff Sunday night:

Avery:  When is Santa coming to town?
Jeff:  Not for a while.  Do you want to see him again this year and tell him what you want for Christmas?
Avery:  Well, no, cause I don’t want to sit in his lap.  But, I’ll sit in Mommy’s lap and I can talk to him from there.

A conversation between Avery and my Mom a few months ago (she said it was really sweet and totally cracked her up): 

Avery:  Danda, where’s your Daddy?
Danda:  He lives in Heaven with my Mommy and Jesus.
Avery:  I know Jesus!  

Danda:  You do?!

Avery:  Yes, he's in my books at home!  (We love If Jesus Lived Inside My Heart and Jesus Loves Me!. Both are absolutely adorable and age appropriate.)

FVT (Dancing with the big girls and rocking it - she's the tiny one in the front of the group in the pink dress)

Oh, ya know...

Things are happening at the Simpson house!  As you know, we moved into a new house in February and with a new house (read: built in 2013) comes a lot of work.  Let me elaborate.  Lennar built our neighborhood of 18 homes (among zillions of other homes in zillions of other neighborhoods) and they do a great job building these homes.  The homes in our neighborhood all came with an upgraded granite kitchen (including most appliances), tank-less water heater, fancy alarm system and keyless entry and a cool irrigation system.  What Lennar does not give you is flooring, window treatments, fireplace (well, they can do that as an upgrade, but we bought our house too late in the construction process for that - gah!), a backyard and in the case of our particular home, a good front yard. 

So, little by little we have been doing all of the above and a few extras.  It’ll take a while before our house is complete (house warming party 2015?!), but we are making progress and currently underway is our backyard.  Being able to play, BBQ, entertain, enjoy s ‘mores and other such backyard activities await us and we cannot be more excited.  I will post the entire “before and after” story once it is completed, but here are a few pics of the recent progress! 

This is the "giant sandbox" phase.

In other home and neighborhood news, three babies were born this summer in our neighborhood, so the kid count goes to somewhere around 25.  Crazy, right?!  Here are a few recent pics of some of the neighborhood fun!

Want the kids to sit still?  Let them eat cake!

S 'mores!

This is Avery nailing the long jump at a birthday party.  Mad skills!

Waiting in line for the javelin...littlest in line really close to a friend.

And, finally, some more pictures (of shenanigans, of course).  Okay, I'm retiring "shenanigans."  I've typed it too much and now it's not fun.

Legoland on my lunch break to visit this sweet group.

The CUTENESS!

Look closely.  Avery is totally schooling Jeff on how to dig a hole.

FVT - Interview Edition
(note: when she says "eat in her playroom" she means play with her little kitchen and "make" and "eat" things.  She could do that for hours on end!)