Our Pitcher

Anyone who knows Paul knows he loves baseball. I think he would have bought Adam a bat, ball and glove the day he was born if he thought it would do any good. Adam seems to have caught the bug of baseball from his dad and loves to throw....all day long. He also loves to imitate pitchers and their windup. I think he's going to love this baseball season. If only he could learn to catch...

Christmas 2010

I thought I'd post my small amount of Christmas pictures before February. Looks like I'll just make it. We had a great time for the entire month of December. I thought about what we could do to create a sense of expectation for Christmas this year, and though I don't have a lot of pictures of every event, I felt like both kids, especially Avery were excited about Christmas as well as the true meaning of Christmas. She seemed to have a great time sharing about the Nativity with her friends and decorating gingerbread houses and cookies throughout the month. It made Christmas morning that more special, because we had all made a point to get excited about the day for weeks.

I inherited some pretty amazing friends when I married Paul. While at Regent, Paul met a group of people who are still close to this day. We invited them and their kids to decorate Christmas cookies with us.

The finished products. They did not last very long!

My parents came up for Christmas, so we waited to put our big gingerbread house together until Christmas Eve. Avery had so much fun with Nana. I wish I had the complete house picture, but it looks like I never took one. Oops!

My brother and I played carols on Christmas Eve. The kids loved listening to the songs

Avery in her tutu and slippers, both Christmas presents

a "new' tricycle

Adam loves sitting in Avery's chair and reading or jumping around in it. Nana Judd gave him his own this year, and he loves it!

Snow Days

We had the privilege of experiencing three snow days (as in the snow actually fell and there was real accumulation) in the Hampton Roads area this past December. This was Adam's first experience with snow, and he approached it with his usual enthusiasm. He started laughing at the snowflakes, ran accross the yard and laughed even harder when he fell down. My kids couldn't be more different. Avery didn't want to have anything to do with the snow when she was his age. Fortunately, she's older now and also loved each snowstorm. And those of you who know Paul know my husband is the biggest fan of snow that ever lived on earth. No exaggeration. Paul actually woke Avery up when the first snow started so she could see the flakes for herself. It was so much fun to watch them share that special moment together. Our final snowfall started on Christmas night and didn't stop until 14 inches covered the ground. Paul was the biggest kid of all, making a snowman at the height of the storm. Here are a few pics of all three days, which were always followed by a warm fire in the family room and hot chocolate for all. We love snow!!

Seeking shelter underneath the magnolia tree

The snow was falling pretty hard most of the day on the 26th. Adam lasted about 15 minutes outside.

Dance Party

The kids were supposed to be in bed but were clearly not tired enough to go down yet. We put the Elmo Hokey Pokey on and let the kids go crazy. I love that both of them seemed to have so much fun dancing and jumping around.

Costumes!

Our friend Vara, who was a skeleton butterfly

Woof!

We had a great time on Halloween this year. Friend of ours usually trick-or-treat in their parents' neighborhood, so we and several other friends joined them for Avery's first trick-or-treating experience. She had so much fun, though it took her a few houses to realize she actually was allowed to take candy from the people who offered it to her. She had a blast! Adam joined in the costume wearing, but we held him for most of the walk around the neighborhood. I think both kids had a ton of fun getting dressed up. Adam also enjoyed seeing me dressed as a cat (Avery asked if I would be a cat like her, so how could I resist?). He laughed every time he noticed the whiskers on my face.

Three Year Old

I can't believe Avery is three! We had a pretty low-key day on October 12th, but I tried to make the day about her and what she would like to do. We spent the morning at the Botanical Gardens and then had lunch with Paul at Chick-Fil-A. We had quesadillas for dinner (one of her favorites) and then tried to go to the park for a little bit of swingtime. Avery LOVES swinging at the park. She could sit in the swing the whole time and not feel a bit disappointed. Unfortunately, we arrived at the park right when they were closing down, so Avery was devastated. The family quickly rallied and headed to Barnes and Noble and all was right with the world again. Playing with the toy section and the train table will do that for a three-year-old. We loved the gifts that several of you sent from far away places! Thank you notes are in the mail soon, I promise, dear family!

Here's a few pictures of my three year old (and her 16 month old little brother).

This might be my favorite one of all. This is a pretty typical Avery expression.

This is what Avery did when I told her to look up. Apparently I told Adam to look really tired.

Adam saying, "Cheese". He's one of the funniest people I've ever met.

Walking Man

Adam has been walking for a few months now, but I came across this little video of his first few steps. Little guy went about learning how to walk in a very different way from Avery (big surprise). He never wanted to hold our hands until he knew he could walk on his own. He fell all the time, but he always seemed eager to try again. He's very steady on his feet these days, so it's fun to watch him toddle. I must say one of the things I love in this video is his long hair. It's so much shorter now.