Avery's December

Avery in her PJ's for Polar Express/Pajama Day

I feel like a lot of my recent posts are about Kendall and Avery has only gotten a brief mention, so I decided to do a post solely about what my older daughter has been up to lately. This is a good month to do it because she has actually had a lot going on. Monday she had Polar Express/Pajama Day at school. Last year she didn't get to participate in this event because she was only going to school once a week, so she was really excited to do it today. I'm not sure what the two year olds did that was actually related to Polar Express because Avery said they didn't read the book or watch the movie. She said they watched Frosty the Snowman. . . hmmmm. she did come home with a Polar Express ticket in her backpack though. While I'm on the topic of school, I have to mention that last week she received the good helper award during music class and also got some special praise from her teachers for being the only child that followed their directions when they went to play on the Playscape. Way to go Avery! A couple of weekends ago, Avery go to go out to the stable to see Kola (my sister's horse) w/ Amy and my parents. She has ridden Kola once before, but this time was really special because she actually rode Kola by herself! She was so excited and proud of herself when she got back home. She couldn't wait to tell us about it and to show us the pictures. Tomorrow they have their Christmas party at school and then I guess she will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of Santa next week! Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Little Cupcake

My little "cupcake" is now 10 months old. Wow, that's hard to believe! She is becoming such a big girl. She points at things, initiates peek-a-boo, signs "more"(especially for Ritz crackers and goldfish), is cruising on the furniture, and even stands alone for a few seconds. She says "bye-bye" when she waves and she also points at Scott and says "dada". Occasionally she'll imitate things I say and get pretty close--but it's hard to tell at this point if it's just an accident or what. We can definitely tell that she is understanding more of what we say now though. She is developing a little sense of humor and is just becoming a little person now rather than just a baby. Every time I take a picture of her recently, she really hams it up and makes this scrunchy smiley face. Although she remains somewhat opinionated and feisty at times, she is such a sweet baby(my children have the oddest combinations of personality traits!). She loves to give smiles,hugs, and open mouth kisses. Even though it isn't one of her actual nicknames, I guess she really is sweet enough to be my little "cupcake!" Here are a few more pictures of Kendall as well as some of my other "cupcake".

Turkey Day

This year we had Thanksgiving with Scott's family at his brother's house in Coppell, TX. It was nice to just make the short drive over there, spend the day, and then come home and sleep in our own beds. When there are 11 adults and 5 kids in one house, albeit a large house, the day is always busy since it is 3-ring circus of sorts. But this year Scott and I both felt like it went by especially fast, partly becasue this year we had 2 children to keep up with and take care of amid the chaos, and partly because we had our Bedichek Christmas on Thanksgiving evening. This year we decided that all the "adult" kids would do a dirty Santa gift card exchange instead of drawing names or buying couples' gifts. Since Scott's sister and her husband were in from San Diego and we all had to be present to play the dirty Santa game, we just went ahead and gave Scott's parents and the neices presents too. The dirty Santa game was a lot of fun and sure simplified my shopping. I would highly recommend it to anyone with a large family. Scott and I both walked away with the gift cards we purchased to begin with: $50 to Amazon.com for Scott and $50 to Kohls for me--yay! Avery and Kendall racked up a pile of great toys that they are thoroughly enjoying too. I decided that opening some of their gifts early was a really good thing, because honestly I think all those toys all at once is a little overwhelming to such small children. I almost had to force Avery to open them as it was because she just wanted to start playing. And to close, a list of each of our favorite things about Thanksgiving Day: Avery- getting a pedicure from 5 yr. old cousin Brooklyn, Kendall- bouncing on the trampoline, Heather-spending time with family , Scott- "watching my daughters and neices play". Priceless!
Avery liked watching her cousins play their DS games and depleting Aunt Sheila's stock of M&Ms

Cousins Bailey, Braden, and Brooklyn ganging up on their DadAvery, Scott, Kendall, Mike and Tom were watching the action

Scott and Kendall jumping on the trampoline
Kendall the trampoline baby
Avery and cousin Brooklyn in action Kendall checking out one of her presentsAvery's new tea set