Mom and Dad visit!

My friend Poiette is super nice and threw me a baby shower a couple weeks ago. It was SO fun! I got to go to Olive Garden and have lunch with all my good friends and open tons of presents! What can be better than that?! :) What great friends I have. 

I am getting so excited for baby to come now that I am a little more prepared. Any day now would be great, baby!

 Doug and I were cleaning out the garage and getting down the rest of the baby stuff when Averi decided she wanted to be the baby still. She just climbed right into the baby car seat and got herself all buckled and ready to go :) What a nut.

 Doug's flag football league started up again recently so it had been fun to see them in action. Averi has a blast playing at the park while he plays. She could have played on this horse all night. She looked like she was going to rock the poor horse off it's hinges!

 My dad had a conference to go to in Vegas this week so we were SO glad to hear that they were going to drive the rest of the way down to Phoenix and see us beforehand! It was SOOOO fun having them around. Doug and my dad spent most of their time shooting and golfing and also fixed some household malfunctions (the patio fan, the bathroom fan, and a few baseboards). My mom and I hung out and played with Averi and of course went shopping!

Here is a pic of Averi having fun with Grandma ("Ga-ma") She didn't take any time at all warming up to either of them and had a blast doing all sorts of fun crafts with Grandma.

 Wouldn't ya know it, it was my week to teach preschool the week that they were here! It actually went really well, though, thanks to my sister Kristy for some genius ideas. I think Averi liked having it on her own turf this time. She took advantage by being a little extra bossy!

 My dad made this adorable horse tire swing for Averi and hung it up on the patio for us. It is so cute and of course Averi loves it!

 My dad's brother Vard and his wife Jan drove up from Yuma to spend some time with them since they were so close. It was great to see them again. Doug went golfing with the guys and me and the girls went out to lunch to Mimi's when I was done with preschool. Yum!

 Saturday night we all went out to dinner to Margaritaville at West Gate. Averi loved riding on Grandpa's shoulders from the car to the restaurant. The food was delicious and we had tons of fun (...minus a few meltdowns from Averi and bed time came and went).

I recently enrolled Averi in a gymnastics class that meets once a week. The first week she did pretty well and only refused to do a few things. The second week, unfortunately was a big step in the wrong direction! I think she was feeling stage fright with Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa all watching her. Plus the room was freezing! She only did a few things (like hang from this bar and kick the blocks over, and hang from the rings, and she walked on the balance beam a few times). Hopefully next week will be better. Either way, she sure looks cute!

 My mom and I took Averi shopping with us On Saturday. I was a little worried since I forgot to bring the stroller but Averi actually had tons of fun trying on shoes (as pictured) and sifting through clothes on the racks. We shopped for almost 4 hours and we didn't have any meltdowns or anything! It was awesome! :)

 We went into this really expensive kids store (just to look!) and Averi was having so much fun riding the dog statues outside the store that she didn't even come in.

 Another one of her favorites while shopping was throwing pennies into the fountain. Or as she says it: "wa-wa fall". I have noticed that she can actually say the word "water" but still chooses to say "wa-wa". Oh well, I think it's cute :)

We were sad to see my parents leave but lucky for me my mom is coming back in less than a month to help with the baby!

First day of Pre-school / Visit from Porters!

 

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Some friends and I have decided to take turns hosting  a preschool session once a week as of January. We have loved it so far and I think Averi has too. There are about 8 kids in the class and of course Averi is the only girl :(   Her first day was a little rough (for me probably more than her). Once she realized that I was leaving her at a house she had never been before she started to cry. It was so sad for me because she usually has no problem with things like that (after the first time anyway). By the time I actually left, though, she was fine and pretty content. While she was there I went and got her a very girlie Hello Kitty backpack so as not to get confused with all those Cars and Buzz Light Year backpacks! She also got a set of Eric Carle books and a sucker for being so brave :)

Here she is walking home from school. On the first day it was at a house just down the street. 

I was SO lucky that my sisters family had a wedding to go to in Mesa a couple weeks ago! They stayed  with us for 3 nights and there was never a dull moment. Averi loved getting re-acquainted with everyone and of course loved all the attention she got too :)

 While Jody, Brett, and Brooke were at the wedding festivities all day on Saturday, the rest of us kept busy by checking out some shops, playing Frisbee, eating out at Panda Express, and since they were so in love with Goodyear's most famous tourist attraction (or detraction?) the "giant baby" we had to pay it a visit :)

 This was probably Averi's favorite part of their visit... getting pulled around the house (and brought down the stairs after waking up) like a princess.

 

They brought TONS of awesome stuff for all of us which was just an added bonus to their company! Here we all are checking out some of the cool stuff they brought Averi. 

 

They even brought Sophie a new outfit which she loves! okay maybe she actually hates it but we sure loved watching her wear it! So funny!

Here are the CRAZIES after doing the polar bear plunge! They swam across the length of the pool in freezing cold water and the outside temp was prob in the forties...like I said, they are crazy! 

 Brooke and Brenna taught her how to play London Bridge. I seem to get a lot of shots of her almost naked. I guess she just looks cuter that way :)