Address?!... Conversations with Avery

During our bedtime routine last night...

Me:  Avery, you have a few things to open tomorrow.
Avery:  I do?!  What?
Me:  Some pieces of mail that have arrived over the past few days.
Avery:  Can I open them now?
Me:  No, tomorrow.  But, how fun is that?!  You have mail addressed to you!
Avery:  Someone sent me a dress???

Love this kid.

FPT

Going through some old Avery photos and getting REALLY excited to meet Baby Simpson #2!

Yankee Doodle

For note:

1. Avery was on a "performing" kick the 20 minutes prior to this video (and the 20 minutes after).  If you listen closely you'll hear my Dad say "Avery, you gotta have your own show."  Clearly, with this talent and endurance he's right!
2. Avery says "stuck a heather in his fat and called it macaroni..."  My parents and I kept telling her the correct words, but she kept innocently singing this hilarious version.

FPT

Avery and her buddy, Liam, taking a selfie.  More on Liam in a future post, but for now...

Terraza Mar

We moved into our neighborhood 18 months ago with the hope of meeting good neighbors and ::fingers crossed:: some kids Avery's age.  What we didn't expect was a neighborhood full of great people who have turned into more than just neighbors - they turned into lifelong friends.  Out of the 18 families in our cul-de-sac, 13 hang out on a social basis.  That's cool and very special, if you ask me.  The other five families just keep to themselves a little - I'm sure they're just as great.

So, why write this post about our neighborhood, you ask?  Well, I'm getting all sentimental, because one of the 13 just moved away..."away" as in "back to Pennsylvania."  That's far.  Like on the other side of the Country.  This family means a lot to us Simpsons and we are going to miss them dearly.  We already do.  Our whole neighborhood misses them dearly and there were a lot of tears shed Saturday during their sendoff.

In honor of the Cunningham family and our neighborhood, here are some of my favorite Terraza Mar photos that I want saved in this internet/iCloud world forever...

 

Bye, Cunninghams!

FPT

Belle.  'Nough said.

Mother's Day

All I wanted for Mother's Day was a brunch.  A big, fun brunch with food from wall to wall.  (Pregnant much?!)  Oh, and of course, time spent with my amazing moms and beautiful daughter!!

Me and my ladies at La Costa!

Group shot after brunch - full bellies all around!

Here are all the sweet (and hilarious) gifts Avery made me for Mother's Day...

Such a perfect flower face!

This is the "hilarious" I was talking about.

She even wrote her name!

Just in case you couldn't make out what was in the second to last picture above, it was a questionnaire Avery answered verbally while her teacher transcribed.  Brought tears to my eyes...both for being sweet and sentimental and also for making me laugh.  My mom's job is..."with Doctor Macena."  Who??  What??  I am also five years old and am really good at typing.  So great!

Since we ate ourselves silly at brunch, we decided on making a nice, big (but light) salad for dinner.  My little sous chef did a lot of the work and was happy to show off her final product!

FPT

As you know, San Diego went through some nasty fires in the middle of May.  Our neighborhood was pretty close to the San Marcos "Cocos Fire" and we were evacuated for 48 hours.  Pretty scary, but thankfully, we are all fine, and besides a decent layer of ash throughout our property, our home is fine.

We decided to stay as far away from the fires and smoke as possible the first night and went on a mini vacation in downtown San Diego.  It was fun staying a hotel room just the three of us and Belle!

Easter

Guess who came to our doorstep in the wee hours of Easter morning?!

The Easter bunny!

Pretty exciting stuff, right?!  Avery, being the ever-precocious child, wasn't completely buying it.  She asked, after seeing the footprints at our house, why none of the neighbors had footprints at theirs.  I explained that the Easter bunny must have stepped in something on his way to our house.  Okay?  A short time later, still obviously pondering the whole Easter bunny idea, she asked "if the Easter bunny didn't come in the house, how did he hide the Easter eggs everywhere inside?"  Oh, man.  Um.  Because he asked Mom and Dad to do him a favor and hide the eggs for him.  Capeesh?!

Side note: due to very unfortunate circumstances, my iPhone was stolen a few days after Easter and all my pictures (since mid-January) were lost.  No, I didn't have "iCloud," "find my phone" or even a lock on my phone, so really, everything for the past few months is gone.  I know, I know.  Lesson learned!  So, all the pictures on this blog are from Jeff's phone or my Dad's.

Despite her intense questioning, Avery enjoyed the holiday and loved helping Jeff and I entertain our 16 family members and serve a nice dinner.  We had three special little "bunnies" in attendance and thankfully, we have a picture of them!

The littlest bunny of all was Tyler Bunny.  I mean Tyler Wade, and what a sweet little guy he is!

FPT

Since I'm lacking (due to the phone snafu) in the "Funny Picture Time" pictures, I will call this edition of FPT "Easter Picture Time" and include one from last year.  That'll do just fine!

Avery and the iPhone

Avery likes iPhones.  From what I hear, a lot of kids like iPhones.  Avery likes taking pictures with iPhones…and from what I hear, that is also common as I’ve seen some funny blog posts on the ‘net about littles and their mad photog skills.  Here are some of Avery’s more impressive iPhone photographs:

The last five were taken recently at a get together with some friends.  It was a great day and everyone got a kick out of Avery’s “affection” for her friend, Cody (see the cutie in the green shirt above).   Love is in the air!

Performing our dance together.  It's pretty fun.

Apparently "our dance" is also what Avery performs solo for boys she thinks are cute.  =)

FPT

Momma's got the camera now and I've got the cutest subject!