More PIctures...

I wish I knew how to add several pictures into one post, but I'm not that computer literate. Here is some more fun pictures taken of Avery. She seriously finds something new each day to "climb" into, literally!! She has figured out how to climb on things and stack things to climb on. She now has figured out how to get in the fridge. What's next...??

You guessed it the dog crate! She also loves to give kisses and blow kisses, I think that is what she was doing to Kyle while he was snapping the picture. What else could she possibly get into...??

Now the dishwasher...she definitley keeps us busy to say the least.

Avery now has 11 teeth. It's crazy how fast those babies came in. She has 6 on the top (2 are molars) and 5 on the bottom (1 is a molar). So she can eat a lot more things now with all those chompers. One of her favorites is tortillini and ravioli, and she devours itas you can see.

Here she is in her Easter dress her Grandma Jones bought for her. She didn't actually wear it on Easter because of all our car drama but eventually she did and doesn't she look adorable!! Man I love this girl!!

Picture Update...

So much has been going on I just thought I would put a few pictures up of my baby girl!! I can't believe how FAST she's growing. She has such a cute personality and is already a drama queen, but we still love her. Gangsta Avery

She loves to put my heels on, but gets a little frustrated when she can't get them to stay on. And if your putting the heels on you gotta have the BLING too.

Gotta LOVE that smile. Still not sure who she looks like...Kyle or me??

Loves to play in her sandbox we had done for her at our new house. She screams bloody murder when you bring her inside.

She also LOVES the phone. She knows just what to do when she sees one. So if you get a call from me and all you here is heavy breathing...Avery's got the phone. We have already had to apologize to several random people she has called on the land line.

The Blogging Funk...

I apologize to all my family and friends (my dad) who look to my blog for updates/pictures of my cute family. I've got a case of the blogging funk. I guess I'm still trying to figure out the balance between work, motherhood, and everything else. We have had things going on (Avery is now walking, crazy stories of clients that I work with, and illnesses to boot) so I can't lie and say nothing is happening I just caught a case of the funk. I promise I will pull out of this and get back to my blogging ways and post some updates and pictures of my family, although I haven't been taking a ton of pictures either. What is up with me?? I've seen other friends go through the blogging funk too so I know I will pull out of it, I just can't tell you when. I guess at least posting this crazy message is a step in the right direction. Wish me luck out of this FUNK!!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY AVERY!!

I can't believe my baby is 1! It seems just like yesterday I brought her home from the hospital. Avery truly is our little miracle baby. It wasn't easy getting her here (concieving & pregnancy) but we don't know where we would be without her. She is such an amazing little baby and we love her with all our hearts. She has brought so much joy and happiness into our lives and I truly know she was meant for our family. I hope one day to have more children just like her, but if I never did I feel so incredibly lucky that our Heavenly Father chose me to be her mom. I feel so privelegded to call myself "Avery's Mommy". It hasn't always been easy with the endless poopy diapers, sleepless nights, and crying but I wouldn't change it for the world. I hope she never forgets how much her dad and I love her. Happy Birthday Avery, we love you so much!!



We had Avery's party the day after her birthday and she had so much fun...well until the cake part (scroll down to see what I'm talking about). She had so much fun playing with her grandpas, grandmas, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. Obviously we had a princess party because she is our little princess and what little girl doesn't pretend to be a princess at one time or another in there life, so we made her princess for the day (really it's everyday). We had family and friends over for dinner and then cake and ice cream. My parents and sister even came from Utah to be here for this special occasion. My family is amazing, but they LOVE to spoil her!! Here she is showing off her lion walker and jewlery case.

In her new wagon Grandma and Grandpa Meenderink gave her.

Showing off the princess cake with her cousin Kayli.

Deciding if she wants to dig in or not.

Guess she didn't like it after all. She is definetly my girl if she doesn't like to get dirty. But she also had a ton of people in her face, which she wasn't really fond of.

Happy Birthday Honey!!

Today Kyle celebrated his 32nd Birthday and Avery and I just wanted to wish him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! And in honor of his birthday I am posting pictures of Avery in his favorite "outfit" on her, the Aggie hat. We all know how much he loves his Utah State Aggies even after they got there butts kicked by Boise State in Basketball. He's a die hard fan, through and through. We love him very much and hope he has a fabulous birthday!When she can't get the aggie hat off her head.......and when she can!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

New Job

I have decided to go back to work part time, we need a little extra cash as Kyle was laid off in October, but also because it is a great opportunity and they are paying me quite well. I will be working as a Social Worker for a Transitional Home in Nampa. It's only 20-25 hours a week with half the hours being on site and in the office and the other half in the comfort of my home on my laptop doing paperwork. It's also not a set schedule either, I set the schedule with the clients so it's really flexible. My husbands friend is the controller for the company and I guess he thought I would be great for the job, so here I am going back into the work field.
Kyle has been doing mortgage loans from home and keeps looking for a job (but what bank is hiring right now for a Constuction Loan Officer!) and so he will stay with Avery when I am working. The job is temporary right now as it is program that runs off of a grant from the State which is renewed every June, so then I find out if I will continue to work or not. But for now I am at least working until the end of May and I am super excited. Although I will miss being home with my little girl I know she is in good hands with her dad and maybe it will give him an idea of what I do everyday.
So wish me luck on my new adventure!

Happy Valentines Day!!

We hope everyone had a Happy Valentines Day, we sure did! We actually celebrated it the night before since the big game (USU vs. BSU, basketball) was on Saturday night. We went over to a friends house and had our annual heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's, but I forgot to take my camera over there. We just ate our "elegant" dinner and hung out while the kids played, it was actually very nice! Below are some pictures of Avery with her gift from her dad and my gift from him too. Avery wasn't really in to posing, so I just snapped some as quick as I could. Here she is with her gift from her dad. He got her a cute little stuffed animal. She loves to play with her dogs, the live and fake ones.Here is another one of Avery with her gift and mine. I love rose bushes. In fact when we moved to our new house I was so sad I had to leave my yellow rose bush behind (it doesn't look like this one I'm just trying to explain) , it was given to me on my 1st mothers day from my mother in-law and it was so beautiful in the spring and summer. So this is my new "rose bush". Let's see how long I can keep it alive.

And here is just a picture of Avery's cute Valentine shoes. A friend gave those to Avery and they are just so adorable.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

Avery update

Avery is getting soooo big!! She is now almost 11 months old and such a handful. Avery has now mastered crawling and is pulling herself up on everything. As you can see from the picture Avery pulled herself up on the baby gate at my parents house and it looks like she is in baby jail. She is now also climbing our stairs and falling down them (I only looked away for a minute and she came tumbling down). I guess thats part of learning, for me and her I have to keep my eyes on her ALL the time. You can also see her teeth in the picture. Yes that's right she now has 6 teeth, 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. At the end of November her 1st tooth on the bottom came in and then they all started coming after that. So needless to say she's been a little cranky, but it doesn't seem to bother her much anymore. We've also had to baby proof our house. As you can see she likes to open the cupboards and pull everything out. Good thing this time it was only the tupperware and not the glass dishes.

In this picture you can see her hair is finally growing and getting darker. The other day I was finally able to put her hair in 2 pigtails. They aren't very long, but I was excited I can't wait until it gets longer so I can really start doing it. From this picture you can also kind of see she is now drinking from a sippy cup. She still gets a bottle at nap and bedtime, but for most of the day she likes water from her sippy cup, a sure sign of a big girl!!

In this picture you can see Avery eating her 1st dish of Mac N Cheese. She loves the baby food Mac N Cheese, but she didn't really like the regular stuff. She does however like mashed potatoes, grilled cheese sandwiches and Little Puffs baby snacks. She even feeds herself, it's fun to watch her try to find her mouth. What a cutie!!

In this picture you see Avery looking silly in her hat and gloves. She is getting ready to attend her 1st Winter Carnival at the end of the month in McCall. It will be so fun pulling her around in the sled and letting her play in the snow. We never seem to get much here in Boise so McCall should be a new experience for her.

I hope everyone is doing well I apologize for being such a blog slacker, but it gets busy chasing Avery around all day. How do you do it with more then 1 kid?? I will post some pictures of the house soon now that we're all moved in and settled. I do love all the extra space, but hate the cleaning that comes along with it!

Happy Anniversary!!

I am such a blogging slacker, things are just so busy these days and by things I mean Avery she is into everything, but I will talk about that later.
Kyle and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Sunday while we were in Utah visiting our families. We got to go to dinner at the Praire Scooner on Saturday night and it was so delicious, I hadn't been there in a long time and had forgotten how good there au grautin potatoes are!! It wasn't anything to excititng, but for us a night out without the baby is good enough for us!! I just want Kyle to know how much I love him and how incredibly grateful I am for him. He is such a wonderful husband and father, I couldn't have asked for better. He works so hard for our family so I can stay home with Avery and I truly appreciate that because not all mothers get to do that. He is so amazing with Avery and she has him wrapped around her little finger. She is such a daddy's girl and loves to play with him. I am so blessed to have him as my husband and love him with all my heart!
HAPPY 6th ANNIVERSARY!!

MeRrY ChRiStMaS!!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, I know we did. Here are just a few pictures of our Christmas day. Avery didn't care to much about opening her gifts, more with playing with the paper that was coming off the packages. She did like the little toy train we got her though. It is suppose to encourage crawling, although she basically is crawling. It's more of an army scoot and crawl combined. I'm just glad she isn't crawling on her back and pushing with her head anymore, we thought she was going to break her neck doing it that way. I apologize for not blogging much lately, but we have been really busy with moving into our new house and getting things ready for Christmas. I will post soon about our family and my little Avery that is just growing like a weed. She already has a tooth and 3 more breaking through, it's crazy how time flys. Avery with her toy train, mommy and daddy gave her.

Avery on Christmas night eating her dessert from her Aunt Lindsay.

VERY, VERY MESSY!!!

In Memory of Grandpa Thompson

My Great Grandpa Thompson died yesterday at the great age of 100. He wasn't suppose to even make it through November let alone until his 100th birthday on December 2nd. What a trooper! And he truly was during the past little while as his health had been declining. He was doing fair until he suffered a mild stroke in November and lost control of his left side, something he feared deeply. But we all knew he really wanted to make it to 100. In October he had began to plan the big birthday party to celebrate his 100 great years of life, but it had to be canceled after he had the stroke. But that stroke wasn't going to stop him from making it to the big day and so he did. Truly a man of his word. I have such fond memories of my Grandpa and I am so glad that my daughter got to meet him. My grandpa told my dad that this was the 5 generation picture he was looking forward to the most (see the bottom picture). I can't remember a time when my dad wasn't working for or helping my grandpa whether it was taking care of the horses, fixing things at his house, or in the last days getting him into bed at night. My dad had such a great bond with him and loved to take care of his grandpa. I will miss my visits to his house each time I came to town. But he was such a great man and I will never forget that. If your ever in Roy and are by the Aerospace Museum look for the Thompson Gardens right there by it, it's dedicated to my Grandpa. You will be missed by all!! Avery with her Great Grandma Meenderink and Great Great Grandpa Thompson.

5 Generation picture. Me, my dad, my grandma Meenderink, Avery, and my great Grandpa Thompson.

HaPpY HaLlOwEeN!!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween, I know we did. As you can see Avery was a pretty ballerina for her very 1st Halloween. We went to our ward party and had soup for dinner and then did a trunk or treat in the parking lot, then after we ran out of candy it was off to Nampa to visit Kyle's parents and neighbors to show off our beautiful ballerina!! Isn't she a cutie!! We got lots of compliments on her cute costume!!

This is my favorite picture. She is soooooo cute!!

Happy 50th Mom!!

This weekend my mom celebrated her 50th birthday!! We decided we would surprise her with a trip down to Utah to visit and celebrate with her. Me and my dad worked out a plan so that when we got there I would put Avery on the door step and my dad would tell her a "special package" had arrived for her. Well when she opened the door and saw Avery she started to scream she was so excited to see us, but mostly Avery!! It was so fun to visit with all my family and to be together to celebrate such a wonderful mother!! I love my mom with all my heart and am so grateful God sent me to her. She is so good to me and Kyle and even better to my little Avery. She loves that little girl to pieces and spoils her to death. She is such a wonderful grandmother and mother. I love you mom and I hope you had a fabulous 50th birthday!! Here is picture of my dad and Avery on my mom's birthday. We had such a great day just hanging out and doing a little shopping. What a great weekend!!

Here is a picture of my brother Lynn and his wife Tory and there niece Braylyn and nephew Denton and Avery in the middle of them. They feel like my niece and nephews some times because they love to come and visit my parents with them. They are the cutest and I'm glad they were all able to come and visit us while we were there.

Here is the birthday girl and her "special delivery". Avery loves her Grandma and her Grandma's yellow dog. We always love to go to Utah and visit. I LOVE YOU MOM!!!

House Update...

Sorry it has been so long since I've blogged, but things are getting busy with the house getting finished up and trying to get packed up for the big move. So this will be short, but I thought I would show you some pictures of how the house is coming along. Hope you enjoy, we really love how it is turning out, it's better then we expected.
This is a picture of the front door and the windows to the nursery. The stone turned out really good. Notice the speakers at the top left of the pictures. We had the electrician install into the whole house including the courtyard a high tech sound system so you can plug in your Ipod and listen wherever you are in the house. I 'm sure I will have a hard time learning how to use this. Here is a picture of the backyard and the covered patio. Avery already has a sand box to play in (not pictured), I can't wait for her to be big enough to play in it.

This is a picture of the living room. They were still working on putting the granite and mantle on the fireplace when I took the picture. We just bought a 46" flat screen to put above the mantle. It should look really nice after it gets finished and installed. The door on the side is going to be Avery's playroom/toy box under the stairs.

Here is a picture of my kithcen. This is probably my favorite room in the house. It turned out so good with the different color of cabinets. I LOVE IT!!

Tahdah...this is the front. We still haven't got a rod iron gate for the front, but we love how it has all turned out. In our subdivision they require you to have 18 shrubs/trees in the front yard. I think that is a little much since I don't have much of a green thumb, but let's just hope they make it through the winter.

Fun Trip

We had such a fun trip to Utah last weekend. We got to see all my family and visit with them while we were there. The trip down was very nice, especially because I didn't have to drive. I got to sit in the back seat and take care of the 2 babies who either slept or played most of the time and watch Disney movies with the older girls. Seriously FUN!! We did a lot of shopping while in Utah, my parents spoil Avery to death!! I guess thats what grandparents are for. Avery got a lot of cute outfits for the fall and winter and even I got a few things for myself. We also went shopping for a Halloween costume for Avery. We found a really cute princess outfit at Babies R Us that I thought was cute, but she kind of looked like a cone head with the hat on, so we decided she would be a ballerina. We found a really cute tutu and crown for her to wear. Thanks Mom and Dad for all you do for Avery and I. We had so much fun staying and visiting with you, hopefully we can come again soon!!! WE LOVE YOU!!Here is Avery and my sister at Babies R Us trying on the princess costume. What do you think does she look like a cone head?? Those cheeks are so big I had a hard time tying it around her head.Here she is in her tutu and crown. Not the best picture but these were taken with my phone. She is gonna look so cute on Halloween night.

Quick Trip To Utah...

I am making a quick trip out to Utah tomorrow through Sunday. My friend Kristen Bice is from Utah and is taking her 3 kids out there to visit her family and invited Avery and I to come along so she wouldn't have to drive alone. And of course I said yes, because it's always nice to come and visit the family. Hope to see some or all of you while I'm there!!

6 Month Appointment at 7 Months

Avery had her 6 month appointment on Monday, yes I know she is 7 months. I'm not really sure how we got that far behind on her appointments, but at least I'm taking her right(I think it was the receptionists fault anyway, she scheduled it wrong)!! Well Avery is now 17 lbs 12 oz. which is the 65th percentile for her weight, she is 25 & 3/4 inches long which is the 25th percentile for her height and her head is the 55th percentile. All and all she looks good, just has a little runny nose and cough but that could be from her teething, so we just keep her propped up at night and the humidifer running. The doctor said if it is a cold it should pass in the next week then I am going to have to make her cry it out again at night, because whenever she gets sick it throws her nighttime sleeping off, but her naps during the day have improved so that's good!! Can't complain there I have been getting much more done throughout the day!!

Fun Pics

Sorry I have been neglecting my blog these past few weeks, I haven't been feeling well. Avery and I both got the stomach flu two weekends ago and then this past weekend I ended up in the Emergency Room with a kidney stone that won't move. So needless to say it's been an interesting couple of weeks. Kyle has been helping out a ton with Avery while I haven't felt good and I'm glad that when I have gotten sick it happened on the weekend when he can be home to help.
So the other day after resting I came out of the bedroom to find Avery with a new toy on her head. Dad gave her a cereal bowl to play with and somehow it ended up on her head!! Too cute, and now it's her favorite toy. Avery is such a daddy's girl and I love it!! It's so fun to see them play and bond and it gives me a break from time to time. She does love her mom too!!
Another shot of Avery and her "hat" in her exersaucer. She also loves to play in her exersaucer.
Avery already loves chocolate like her mommy. It's fun to feed her new foods to try and I know I probably shouldn't feed her chocolate, but she was basically grabbing the spoon out of my hand. So we shared a chocolate brownie...mmmm good!!!

Project...

I love putting cute bows in Avery's hair and now I know how to make them. A lady in my ward makes them for her daughter and was willing to show me how to do it. It is pretty hard if you don't know how to tie a ribbon or bow, but it was fun to learn. I made 2 of all of these one set for Avery and the other for a friend of mine who is having a little girl in a few weeks and is having a hard time getting into "girly" mode because she only has boys. So I hope these bows for her help her start thinking "girly"!! I know I don't have a hard time. Part of what is so fun about making these bows is picking the ribbons. It's so fun to put 2 and 3 of them together. I still need to make a blue one that is about the only color I left out.

I also made this cute binkie clip at another of my neighbors/friends house. I have some super crafty friends!! She has made 2 for Avery so I went over to her house and put this one together for my friend. They are super cute and fun for little girls and boys. Everybody needs a little bling even babies!!
It was picture day at the Jones home on Sunday before church. Avery was being such a ham for the camera and I thought I would show off one of the bows I had made. I can't believe Avery is already 6 months old, she is getting sooooo big!!! I miss my tiny baby!!

So here is the new do. It's not a great shot, but I love the cut and color. My cousin always does such a fabulous job!! She is about the only one I let touch my hair, I still haven't found anyone in Idaho that does it just like she does, so just about every trip to Utah I get my hair done. This last time I waited 4 months to get my hair done, but when you find someone you love it's hard to go anywhere else!! Thanks Buffie your the best!!