New House!

Our future home!
2140 Charmion Ln, Ft. Worth, TX 76131

Looking into dining room and kitchen from living room

Dining or breakfast room- this bay window is one of my favorite things

Kitchen- minus the stainless steel appliances we negotiated

I mentioned at some point that we would be house-hunting over spring break. We did find a home, brand-new as you can see, in North Fort Worth (off I-35W and Western Center Blvd for anyone who's familiar with the area). It is about 10-12 minutes from Scott's practice and is in an area that is rapidly growing. We got a really good deal with lots of costs paid, upgrades, and extras added in. Really, it turned out to be too good to pass up even though the house was a little smaller and further from the practice than some of the other homes we were considering. The builder wanted us to close within 30 days, so it will be mid-late April when we do that. We are getting more excited now that we have a house and a moving date, but it will be difficult to leave when the time comes. We have been here for 7 years now and have made great friends and earned degrees and had our first child-- a lot has changed for the Bedicheks since April 2000 when we moved from Abilene to OKC. What I'm realizing now more than anything is how much STUFF we have accumulated! I have already packed about 10 boxes and it looks like I haven't even made a dent in it! Scary! I'm stressing a little because this is my last weekend to be here before we move, so my packing time is drastically cut. This weekend Avery and I are going to Dallas, and then going from there with my parents to Brownwood, TX to see my grandparents (that's a mouthful!) Then I think the next weekend we will have to go to Dallas to do the final walk-through on the house before we close the weekend after that. And then it will be moving day!

The Big One

Avery's 1st Birthday cake, "smash" cake that
she definitely didn't smash, and ice-cream pinata

"You want me to do what with this thing?"

Although she didn't care for the cake, she did eat
LOTS of ice cream

Enjoying all the party "loot"

So, the pictures kind of tell the story, but we had Avery's 1st Birthday party a week early at my parents' house in Dallas so all the family could come. It was a "polka dot party". I was a little disappointed, but not too surprised, that she poked one finger in her cake and she was done. As you can see in the pics, we even took her dress off in preparation for the mess. She did, however, eat lots and lots of ice cream. We should have just plopped a few scoops on her tray and watched her make a mess with that. But almost all of our family members were able to come, and that was what really mattered. They bought her way too many presents, but she is really enjoying them all and I guess you only have one 1st birthday!

She is beginning to hit all the traditional one-year milestones, which is a lot of fun. She can say several words now-- dog, ball, duck, uh-oh, whoa or wow, ba-ba (bottle), dada, mama, and makes a variety of animal noises including boo (moo), ah-ah or oof-oof (dog barking- depending on size of dog she hears) and ah-ah-ah (rooster crowing). She is also beginning to copy things we do like patting things night-night and panting like a dog (don't ask). This past Tuesday she started walking-- sort-of. The most consecutive steps she has taken so far is about 10, but she is getting braver and more confident every day. As the saying goes, one is fun!

House and Hippo

This past weekend Scott had a conference in San Antonio so Avery and I went to Dallas for the weekend. My Dad was nice enough to arrange some business in the area so he could come get us and take us to Dallas so we didn't have to make the trip alone. Unfortunately we hit a little snag on our trip down Thursday. We're driving down I-35 just coming into Norman and my Dad's van starts having electrical problems and dies. One guy was nice enough to stop and give us a jump and then he led us to a garage he knew of up at the next intersection. My Dad had to get his alternator replaced but luckily it didn't take too long and there was a La Baguette bakery/restaurant right across the street. So by the time we ate some lunch and relaxed a little while the van was done and we were back on the road. I think it took us about 6 hrs to make the 3 hr trip, but at least it wasn't my car that died and I wasn't alone.

We had a good weekend though. We did a little a shopping (as always), Avery played a lot, and Saturday my sister came over for a visit. My parents got Avery the "house" in the pictures above at a consignment sale and she absolutely loved it. She hardly played with anything else-- inside at least. She is really into going outside right now, and since the weather was so warm, we spent quite a bit of time outdoors. She liked sitting on her hippo and watching the dogs and also swinging in the porch swing. We are all headed back down to Dallas tomorrow to spend a week house-hunting, delivering goodies to general dentists, and then to have Avery's birthday party on Saturday the 24th. In some ways it's hard to believe that she's almost 1!! But when you consider that she says a few words now and is getting ready to walk (she takes one step and then lunges for you), I guess it's time! I'm sure we'll have plenty of pics to post of the birthday party when we get back.

Visit from Memaw and Dedaw

The first weekend in March Scott's parents, aka Memaw and Dedaw, came for a little visit. Unfortunatley, the night they got here Avery had started throwing up. Luckily, she was over the worst part by the next morning but she still was not back to her usual self for a while. As always, Jan brought a quilt to work on. Avery had a great time playing with the quilting squares, mostly hading them back and forth to her Memaw. She also got plenty of time with her Memaw in the rocking chair. I would've taken a picture of them napping together in the rocker, but i didn't want to disturb them! Even though she was sick Avery showed off her latest "skills" to impress her grandparents. Then after they left she decided to make her loving parents and grandfather suffer by getting us all sick the following week-- yuck! Luckily it was a fairly short little stomach virus-- at least for Scott and I.