Happy Birthday Averi!

So this post is a week late but c'mon...who has time to blog when the Olympics are on?! I love it!

Anyways, Averi's birthday party last weekend was so much fun. We kept it low key and just had a BBQ with friends at the pool. Most of Averi's friends were able to come (with their families) and they all had fun swimming and eating.

Averi enjoying her cake. I just got it from Costco but it was SOOO yummy!

 We decided since Averi already has so many toys that we were going to do a "no gifts" party and just accept donations on behalf of Los Ninos Childrens Hospital. Well, some people are just too nice and can't help but to bring a gift so Averi lucked out ;) She is a great gift-opener. She always gives a very satisfying response. Here she is giving her "I can't believe it. I have always wanted one of these!" face.

We were able to get quite a stash together to take to the hospital and the staff was really appreciative. Thank you to all of our friends that donated!

Kadence was a good girl during the party. And by "good girl" I mean she slept most of the time. Then she woke up and partied with us for a bit. Then here she is again konked out on the couch. Yep she is still a thumb sucker.  When I put her to bed every night, I rock her and feed her. Then when she is done eating, her thumb goes right in her mouth and she's out like a light! I love love love it!

 Sunday was her actual birthday so we had some more left-over cake and opened her presents from the family. My parents sent her this gorgeous painting of Christ. It is seriously so beautiful and precious. Averi will cherish it forever, I'm sure.

Cousin Kenley sent her some princess lip glosses which she dove right in to. She puts them on about 10 times a day. :) She also gave her a super fun sticker activity book and Strawberry Shortcake movie.

She also got an adorable dress from Nammy and Papa along with a super cute doll. She got books, squinkies, and a mini kids computer thing (we call it her iPad) from Doug and me. Grandma and Grandpa also gave her tons of fun bath toys. She never wants to gets out of the bath now...which is quite the contrast from her never wanting to get in!

Just the cutest picture of Kadence enjoying Averi's special day. :) She is so smiley, I love it. I always just wanna eat her up!

Some noteworthy facts about Averi:

She LOVEs to sing and dance. Sometimes she will be doing her own thing and will just start singing while she is playing or while sitting in the car. Lately she usually sings Twinkle Twinkle or I am a Child of God. She also will prance around the house at least once a day and just sing/dance and be crazy. She is pretty shy in general but at times she thoroughly enjoys it when all eyes are on her.

She speaks well but enjoys making up her own words and occasionally her own entire language. Example: (at the pool playing pretend)

Averi: Mommy I'm making you some juice!

Me: Oh yummy, what kind of juice?

Averi: It's Pete juice!

Another Example: (at home doing nothing in particular)

Averi: Mommy, I have a great idea!

Me: You do? What is it?

Averi: Cada sigh dee donna seedu beet!

It is so funny because it sounds like she should be making sense but she definately is not!

She says "crum" instead of "from".

Says "Kay-nence" instead of "Kadence". Sometimes I even find myself calling her that since I hear Averi saying it all day long.

Says "Duh-got" instead of "forgot".

If I ask her if she is something in particular (like a dog, a boy or just cute or something), she will say, "I not a doggie, I a good girl!"

Anything past-tense to her happened "yesterday". She will occasionally tell me that Kadence came out of my tummy yesterday.

Anything future tense will happen "next time". When she sees kids swimming at the pool across the street, she will say "Mommy, I wanna go swimming next time". It makes it pretty easy because I can always reply with "Okay! Let's go swimmming next time!"

Averi is a pretty picky eater. The only vegetable she will eat are tomatoes and occasionally cucumbers. Her favorite foods are tomatoes, applesauce (which she calls "ah-paws"), frozen go-gurts (which we call "yogurt-pops". I think it makes her like them more because she associates them with otter-pops), mac and cheese, chicken, and spaghetti.

Averi is a great big sis to Kadence and always likes to give her toys to play with and make her happy. She always gets excited when Kadence smiles at her. So fun. They will be great play mates pretty soon!



Josue and more!

Josue was a fifteen year old boy when Doug taught him about the church on his mission in Brazil. He has since been baptized as well as his whole family. He now serves in the bishopric in his ward in Brazil. He came to the states to visit a friend in Idaho last week and flew home through phoenix. Luckily for Doug, he missed his connecting flight so he stayed with us last Friday night. It was really amazing to meet him and for Doug to see him again after all these years. He is about the nicest guy I've ever met and such a great example. Hopefully one day we will be able to see him again in HIS home town!

 Averi holding Meiko. Meiko is really thrilled about this if you can't tell.

 Averi has learned how to use scissors reently and had since become obsessed with cutting paper. She will make one cut with the scissors and then put them down and rip the paper where she made the cut. I finally went and at least bought her some "pre-school" scissors that aren't so threatening. Averi is really quite obedient and wouldn't cut anything that she knew she wasn't supposed to (knock on wood!). But the other day she woke up really early and came into my room. I wanted to keep sleeping so I told her to go play with her scissors (great parenting, huh?!) and that she could get some paper out of the printer. When I came downstairs, this is what I found:

Hey, I told her to do it so I guess I can't be mad :)

With monsoon season upon us we have had some good wind lately. The other day we busted out the kite I got for Averi's birthday and we flew it just outside our house. The neighbor kids loved our barbie kite and Doug loved showing it off. :)

 Averi was really interested for the first five minutes or so. :)

 Kadence is becoming a little more social every day. She is learning to "play" with her toys more lately and it is so fun to watch. Of course she will only self-entertain for about five minutes and then she absolutely HAS to be held or the world as she knows it will surely end.

 Averi had a play date with her friend Tommy the other day. He has a baby sister too so consequently Kadence had her first play date too. They had the time of their lives as you can see! :)

Look Who's Rolling Over!

Kadence rolled over for the first time on Tuesday (4 months 1 day old). Ever since then she can't stop showing off her newfound skill and is rolling over constantly. Then she whines until I flip her back over or pick her up. She just loves the challenge I guess!

I happened to see her trying to do it the first time so I got some progression pictures:

 agh!...

...a little help??...

 Ta da!!

 Piece of cake!

Fourth of July

For the Fourth of July we went to our friends the Saraiva's house and celebrated Ezra's birthday as well as our country's independence. We played water games (even though it rained all day and was unseasonably cold for Phoenix), ate yummy food, and lit some fireworks. It was super fun to get together with friends and just play!

Averi looking all festive wearing the outfit Aunt Kristy gave her.

Here is Kadence in her onsie that she got from Kristy as well. As I have mentioned before, Kadence loves to be held and generally hates any alternatives. She demonstrates it below. The two pictures are taken seconds apart. :)

 Of course when the water balloon fight broke out, Doug was right there in the middle of it. Not sure what he is doing in this pic!

 Kadence tends to look like this a lot... annoyed??

 Averi with her sparkler. She had fun but unfortunately her tummy started hurting so we left a little early. Turns out she had a stomach bug that gave her a fever for 2 days. Pretty much over it now though, yay!

 Here's a pic of Kadence hanging out with her best friend, the vacuum. Sometimes if she is particularly grumpy and won't stop crying, I will put her in her swing and turn on the vacuum next to her. Averi hates it and runs to the other room but aparently it is just music to Kadence's ears because it always calms her down and usually lulls her to sleep :)

BFFs, Thumb Sucking, and a Little Mischeif

Averi loves her baby sister. She loves to "hold her" like this with her head resting on her lap.

Averi always needs help getting the toilet paper and the soap when she uses the restroom. In an effort to increase her independence (and MY freedom), I bought her a box of tissues to put on the floor to use as TP and an automatic soap dispenser. They both work great but I had to get on her a couple times for having a little too much fun with the unlimited soap at her disposal! see below:

Cute little buddies

I am pleased to inform you that Kadnece has found her thumb! She has been doing it for a few weeks now and for a while I would freak out every time about how darn cute it was. Doug finally asked me (being completely sincere) "So, why is it such a big deal that she sucks her thumb?" Haha. It is just cute I guess, that's all. I know some people won't let their kids do it but there is no way I could get myself to pull that little hand out of her mouth.

Another one of Averi's favorite things to do is help me in the kitchen. More specifically, she likes to help me make brownies and cookies so she can lick the beater :)

Swim and Play!

I had been taking Averi to a "mom's day out" group at a community church nearby for the past year. We met once every Tuesday morning and dropped off our kids for 3 hours. It was really great but then the church owners needed the room back so we couldn't do it anymore. Anyways, there was money left in the treasury so we had one last hoorah back in May. We took the kids to Estrella Gymnastics and they tumbled and played for an hour then we took them to Chick Fil-A to eat and play some more :) Averi had a blast and I think she felt pretty cool since she had been to Estrella Gymnastics before and knew where everything was!

 Mike and Maria gave this super cute childrens tent when they came to visit in April. We busted in out a few weeks ago and had a "campout" in our backyard while we watched The Muppets movie.

The girls in their matching onsie pajamas. Not sure why Averi thought it the best time to get out her sequin headband.

 Averi took her first swimming lessons a couple weeks ago and is now a total pro. She did really well the first ten minutes of her first lesson until she noticed that other kids were freaking out and crying. Then of course she started doing the same. I was hoping the next day would be better but NOPE! the first 5 days of swim lessons she cried. Then on the sixth and LAST day, she had tons of fun and was asking to go back. Of course!

 Her first swim:

 Both our pets are outside pets now. Can you tell they love it?! ;)  they always end up laying here on the grass in the evening because it is shaded as the sun goes down. Our grass looks gross here but it's getting better!

Kadence's first swim! I am absolutely in love with this swimming suit my mom got her. Not only is it the cutest thing ever but it covers her up from the scorching Phoenix sun!

 

Big Sis + Lil Sis

 Getting ready to get in the pool. This girl is the snugggliest little thing. She would be in heaven if I could just carry her around like thing all day.

 She was SUPER relaxed and loved the water. She didn't even tense up at all when she got further in the water.

 All tuckered out.

Utah - 2nd heat

Of course the day we came back to Utah, Sophie rolled in something nasty. Dogs are so disgusting! Luckily Payton and Macy were willing to take her out and give her a bath with the powere hose. Averi pretended to help :)

 Nammy and Averi taking Baby K on a walk. The weather there was great so I took advantage by going on a couple walks too.

 One of my favorite parts was getting to see the new Mill Creek Mall. We went and watched their water and fire fountain show which was way cool. There literally was fire amidst the fountains and you could feel the heat and everything. The water moved to the beat of the music too. Way cool.

 Off to the food court for a snack and play. Averi was in heaven if you can't tell from the picture!

 Averi playing with Nammy. That was probably her favorite thing to do there since Nammy let's her have/do anything she wants :) She loves her Nammy!

 Macy bonding with Kadence

 One last picture before we head back to the land of the sun! We had SO much fun and were so sad to leave.