Avery Meets the Colorado Warren's.....and Paula Deen

Last weekend Avery and I ventured to Dallas for her to meet her Great Aunt, Great Uncle, and second Cousin!  We made a pit stop in Waco for a few hours on Saturday to see Aunt Staci, Mrs. Brittany, and, well, Paula Deen.

Avery lasted in her stroller for a hot minute and decided she needed to stretch her legs and run for the next 2.5 hours.  In a furniture store.  Take all your mommy fears (sharp corners of coffee tables, rugs to trip on, furniture so expensive it would take 3 years to pay for, etc.) and multiply them by 500.  Paula's new furniture line is super cute...and pricey to boot.  That's ok though, meeting her was free!  Paula saw Avery coming and the first thing out of her mouth was "Oh my stars!  Will she let me hold her?" I didn't throw Avery at her, per say...just swiftly handed her off faster than she could say "no way".  Paula started running her hands through her hair and talking to her about life, playing, cooking, and such important things.  Avery lasted about a minute or so on the desk talking to Paula before she cut her eyes at me in such a way that could only convey a cry for help.  I told her it was ok, we love Paula and she proceeded to politely request to get down from the desk.  Paula signed the cookbook my MeMe gave me so needless to say, I'll cherish it forever.

After the Paula visit, Avery and I headed northbound on 35 to GiGi and Granddad's house.  She did awesome with the exception of not taking her normal 2 hour nap and settling for a 45 minute cat nap.  We payed for it later, trust me.  Uncle Darren, Aunt Lori, and cousin Nikki showed up about an hour after we arrived.  Avery immediately took to Aunt Lori....Uncle Darren took some time to warm up to.  He did eventually bribe her with M&Ms and that seemed to do the trick.

We had such a great time at Gigi and Granddad's house!  We can't wait to be back for our next adventure....Disney World!

All of our loot headed out to DFW for 4 days.  Heaven help us when we have to pack for 2 adults plus Avery for a week when we go to Disney...

Waiting in line for Paula!  Hey ya'll....

The official "handing off"

"Uhhhh momma?  Who is this."

Obviously Avery is as thrilled as Paula and myself.

Showing Aunt Lori her toys.

Aunt Lori and Uncle Darren brought us some fresh-from-the-orchard apples.  And they were massive.  Here's a little size comparison.

Colorado apple on the left, normal apple on the right.

The apple was about as big as Avery's torso.

Monday morning we went to see Avery's Meemaw as well as have lunch with her cousins Noah and Andrew:

With Noah!

With Andrew and Noah!  It was so good to get to see them together between lunch times!

Coloring with Granddad

Taking an M&M bribe from Uncle Darren

I love a little M&M face

Taking a walk with Uncle Darren

Grilling with Granddad

Playing in the park...

Recently...

Again, I know, it's been a while.  Here's *cough* brief *cough* re-cap of the past couple of weeks.

A couple of weekends ago, I left Avery with Jacob for the weekend to get away to Houston with my 5 bestest friends.  As per usual, we had a blast.

Group shot of the caravan headed to Houston.  We stopped at Starbucks in College Station...wearing as much Baylor gear as we could muster.  It.was.awesome.

Our welcome sign in Houston!

My best friends!  Distance means nothing with these ladies!  We always pick up right where we left off.

Goodbyes are always difficult....

We had such a blast in Houston.  I missed Avery and Jacob like crazy but it was so good to see my other favorite people for the weekend. 

The weekend after Houston Avery got to see her Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Valerie!  I had the bright idea to go downtown for breakfast and take fun pictures....although I should have done my research before we made that trek.  Come to find out, the Austin Triathlon was going on downtown and had just about every road within 10 blocks of where we wanted to be shut down.  We did a lot of walking...and a lot of sweating....all before noon.

She blended into the wall perfectly.  

Someone said, "Where's Avery?" being totally serious because she blended in so well and this was the picture result...

Instant game of peek-a-boo.

After Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Valerie left, the fun continued....

Our new favorite way to brush our teeth.  Fluorescent lights really do hurt your eyes.  Really.

A "melt your heart with cuteness" picture that was sent to me from Avery's school.

Headed out to a friends birthday party...

We watched "Air-eee-oool" on TV last Saturday.  Avery identifies with her...it's the hair.  Got to be the hair.

I caught SOMEONE cheesing it in the mirror at HEB.  No shame.

Before church last Sunday

I may or may not have sent this to GAP a few times asking them to hire her as a model.

Walking into church with Momma

Playing on the stage while Momma does sound check.  We won't go into what happened when her daddy came to get her off of the stage.  It was ugly.  Apparently she feels as though the stage is her second home.

Out to lunch with our Sunday School class.  She was super excited about it.  She had a dance party with just herself.  And then not after 2 minutes in the car, this happens...

We've had an exhausting past few weeks!  

Avery's First Haircut...

I know I know...save the lecture...it's been a hot minute since I posted last.  We've been busy!

Avery got her first haircut tonight!  We didn't take any off the length....just got her bangs cut.  I kept trying to tell her that if she would just PUH-LEASE keep a bow in we wouldn't have to go through such shenanigans.

Either way, I'll let the picture illustrations speak for themselves.

"What is this..."

"Make it stop!!"

"Why are you doing this to me Aunt Kariss?!?"

"Mom- we WILL be having a talk about this later."

"Yay!!  We're done!  Oh wait, we're not?"

"Do whatever you want, Aunt Kariss....I've got momma's iPad."

"All done for real!!"

 

Avery's 4th of July...

I realized a couple of days ago that it's been over a month since my last post.  We've been a smidge busy over the past month....growing up...traveling to London....laughing......loving.....etc.  So, here's my pledge to you, I will be jumping back on the blog bandwagon and posting more regularly.  Admit it, you missed us.  :)

Avery had a BLAST (pun completely intended) at her second 4th of July.  I had to work Friday morning for a few hours at the hospital, however, when my little mini-shift was over, we loaded up the Tahoe and headed to Waco to spend the weekend with Staci and Chris.  Friday night we went to Staci's parent's house for a BBQ.  Avery got to play with Staci's nephews (Chandler, Harrison, and Jacob) and had so much fun!  Harrison is only a few days younger than Avery so she had someone there her own age.

Someone loved the microphone she found.  Hmmm....like mother like daughter??

She also spent no less than 3 hours in the Cozy Coupe while at Waco Poppa's house.  This is the only picture I could get of her -mid blink- because she was constantly on the move. I guess we will be in the market for a Cozy Coupe soon. Donations welcome.

Catastrophic meltdown occurred hours before fireworks even started.  Jacob stayed back with Avery at Staci's house while Staci, Chris, and I went to the country club to watch the fireworks.  

"Your hair is in my eye!"  Typical.  Absolutely typical.

By the way, don't trust Chris if he says he knows when the fireworks are supposed to start.  Sir, they started at 10:00, not 8:30.  :)

Saturday morning everyone got up and went to breakfast at a Waco staple, Harold Waites Pancake House.  Before we got to Harold's, the Terkelsen group stopped at Target.  (Side note, I should hold a record for the amount of Target stores I've been in that are in cities in which I do not reside.  It's talent, actually.)  Low and behold, look who I run into...

Miss Amanda.  Love you much, ma'am.

Finally eating pancakes at Harold Waite's.  After breakfast, we loaded up the car again and headed off to the Mayborn Museum on Baylor's campus.  They always have really cool exhibits and tons of things for little hands to get into.

3 minutes after getting into the car.  3 minutes.  Eating pancakes is exhausting.

Discussing future dates with Harrison

Riding in a green and gold Cozy Coupe.

Walking with Adda into different exhibits

Driving a fire truck.

The bus was her favorite, I think. :)

If there's a future in playing a walking piano for a living, Avery wants to sign up.

Playing with the duckies at the water table.

"Buh bye duckies"

Riding like a lady- side saddle.

We left Waco Saturday late afternoon and headed back home.  I sang at church on Sunday so Avery got to run around the sanctuary during sound check for a little bit.  One of her boyfriends, Jackson, came into sound check too!  They were both dressed in their 4th of July duds so naturally pictures were in order.