Six Word Post VIII

TWO THOUSAND TEN: YEAR IN REVIEW

Under Construction

On the 12th, Mom and I met Aunt Abby over at Grandma and Grandpa Herbert's to build our annual gingerbread house.
Building a GBH is an intricate procedure and involves a LOT of materials. GmaH was in charge of fabricating the walls and as you can see, they're pretty awesome. The challenge is taking those walls and connecting them so they're sturdy enough to withstand the decorating process. This is no small feat but every job is easier if you have the right tools. I'm not gonna tell you what our secret was, but I'll tell ya, this house will have no issues come tornado season, that's for sure.

While we waited for the glue frosting to cure, I was able to squeeze in some playing with G&G H.

GpaH decided to get down on my level and so some playing. And I cannot tell you how much I love that game. Dad's been spending a lot of time on the floor with me lately and we've been having a blast (check back in two weeks for those pics - HA!)I had a lot of fun helping with the GBH and can't wait to make one again next year though I hope Mom is more careful with our secret weapon (she burned both hands - oops!)

There's a mirror off to our left and I'm getting a sneak peak of what this pic would look like

I've got a few pics from the 13th as well. AA and G&G H both made separate visits which was VERY exciting. I LOVE HOUSE CALLS!

I'm very in to giving directions to people these days. I like to tell them where to go and where to sit and sometimes where not to sit. I especially like to make people sit on our stairs. I make M&D sit here a couple of times a week and on the 13th, I tricked G&G H into sitting there as well. So fun!

Remember, you can't take it with you, but you can lick it so no one else can take it when you're gone.

Until Later,
Avery

Claus I Said So

Last year Mom and Dad took me to see Santa at the Bass Pro Shop. This year, we classed it up a bit with a little help from Aunt Abby. She got us into a moderately exclusive Brunch with Santa at Nordstrom.
Naturally I wanted to look my best and to compete with hoity-toity people we expected to see, I sported my French sweater and for good measure M&D brought along the beret. I think if there's one thing the pic above tells us, it's that M&D don't know how to put on a beret. Thankfully they took it off before we proceeded.

If you've met my father I'm sure you'll be surprised to hear that we skipped the face painting station, the balloon animal station, the letters to Santa station and even Santa himself to go get in line to go eat. The food line was moving INCREDIBLY slow but then Mom noticed the Santa line was almost empty. So, even with visions of breakfast potatoes dancing in Dad's head, we got out of line and headed over to see Santa.
I hadn't been out of my stroller since we got to the store and I was just fine with that. And even though I gave M&D some warning that I didn't WANT to get out, they got me out anyway and I expressed my displeasure.

Needless to say, there was NO WAY I was going to go sit with Santa by myself and frankly I wasn't too happy to sit with him at all, even with M&D there.

Despite my crying, I was pretty entertained listening to Santa try to cajole Mom into sitting on his lap in lieu of me. Mom wasn't about it but that didn't stop Santa from making his move anyway.


After my meltdown we once again skipped right past the face painting, balloon animals and letters to Santa (which is probably how I should have let him know what I want) and got back in line for breakfast. We only lost one spot in line and to be honest, the people we were originally behind were pretty annoying so it was nice to have a little buffer.
Breakfast was really good and despite the restaurant being mostly empty, we still had some pretty good people watching. There was one table of eight or so that left around when we got there but then came back after about 20 minutes and were all mad that their table had been bussed while they were gone. To the point where they went and got MORE FOOD. Why would they get up from breakfast for 20 minutes if they weren't done? Crazy. Then there was the party of ten or so behind us. One man, three women and six or so kids. I'm sure it was something perfectly normal but Mom jumped directly to assuming it was a Big Love situation since that's so prevalent in KC.


When we left the Cafe we finally headed over to the balloon animal lady who was quick to let us know she was already 20 minutes late to her next gig and wouldn't be able to do any more after her last one.


No worries, we ran into Aunt Darcy and Grandma Davenport. I know what you're thinking, "what were THEY doing at Nordstrom." Crazy right?
I had a TON of fun playing with them, especially when they showed me how to shop for shoes!

Remember, you can't take it with you, but you can lick it so no one else can take it when you're gone.

Until Later,
Avery

Eternal Reflection

This picture is one of my recent faves. Dad thought it would be funny if this moose (a word I can say) rode my lion.
I did NOT think it was funny. It also made me suddenly want to play with my lion. Does it count as 'not sharing' if I'm not sharing with a stuffed animal? Hmm, probably.

Here's a picture of me sitting on Mom's lap looking at her computer.... on which is a picture of me siting on Mom's lap looking at her computer... which I assume has a picture of me sitting on Mom's lap looking at her computer. It's kind of like Stephen Colbert's eternal portrait. Also, there's a sticker on Mom's face.

I have no idea what was going on here but I'm pretty sure I wasn't "gonna take it anymore!" Network references, so topical!

Grandma & Grandpa Herbert came over on the 8th, I assume to play with me. It's hard to believe these two pictures were taken 12 minutes after the Network picture above. I guess G&Gs can just have that effect.


I LOVE climbing pretty much anything these days and that includes kitchen chairs. On this day I grabbed my sticker book and helped Mom make ornaments for her "hand-made international ornament exchange." Go ahead and let that one soak in.

My sisters are cute.

I got to play over at G&G H's on Friday the 10th. We stuck around a little later than usual because Dad was working late at home. More time with G&G H? Cha-ching! (cash register joke - so punny)

I got a TON of stickers in my Advent calendar and was having a lot of fun with them. I was even 'sharing' them with my sisters. Is there a pet equivalent to Child Protective Services? Do you think they'd frown on involuntary sticker wearing? Hmm, probably.

Aunt Abby came over after work to do some playing. I've been enjoying the fireplace lately and showed her how cool it is. I mean, it's been like a month since I've gashed my head open so I'm probably due right?

Stay tuned - I visit Santa tomorrow... or at least in tomorrow's recap of events from two weeks ago. So topical!

Remember, you can't take it with you, but you can lick it so no one else can take it when you're gone.

Until Later,
Avery

Yuletide Vlog

This is a Christmas Post
and as you will see
it's just a moving picture
but not of me

It's my first Christmas present
of two thousand ten
it's a video book
of a bear in his den

Dad did the video
but used Mom's voice
I think you'll agree
it was a good choice

Sit back and relax
it's no time to yawn
I hope you enjoy
Bear Snores On

For a larger version check out YouTube

Remember, you can't take it with you, but you can lick it so no one else can take it when you're gone.

Until Later,
Avery

Andale, Andale

More Pictures; less than a thousand words.

We had breakfast with Grandma & Grandpa Davenport on the fifth at First Watch Shoppes at Corporate Woods. We had more Christmas decorating to do so I needed to start the day with a good breakfast.

Since I "helped" Mom put up the lights the day before, I thought it appropriate to "help" hang some ornaments too. This is one of my fave's from last year. I just couldn't decided where to put it...

Here?	Or maybe here?
Oooh, over here?	Here's pretty good...
Mom decided to hang it up out of my reach instead. NOT COOL MOM!

I got over the ornament debacle pretty quick when Mom broke out this glitter encrusted, multi colored, snow globe man. Oooooohhhh!

When I can manage to corner Penny (which she's pretty good at avoiding now) I like to give her a big hug. I'm not too sure how SHE likes it though...

We had dinner with Aunt Darcy, Uncle Dave, G&G D at Salty Iguana. They have this giant stuffed mouse by the front door and while I don't know why, he seemed to be in quite a rush.

When we got home from dinner, Mom and I read the People magazine with Kate Middleton on the cover. Prior to posting this pic, I considered photoshopping my head on the mag above the title "A Perfect Princess" but I'm not THAT vain... or maybe I just didn't have time. You know, could be either.

Apparently we can add singing contests to the 'allowable TV' list along with parades and sports. Sweet.

More hugs for Penny. Is it just me or does Parker seem to be sleeping rather well knowing I'm not trying to hug HER.

Remember, you can't take it with you, but you can lick it so no one else can take it when you're gone.

Until Later,
Avery

A Picture Page, A Picture Page

Okay, straight to business. No fancy writin', just captions -- GO!
We started to get some Holiday Christmas cards and one of the first was a Christmas Card / Birth Announcement from the Steffens. Shameless plug: go check out my birth announcement from back in the day.

Oops, driving while on my phone and I ran into the ottoman. There should be a law or something.

Stickerrrrrrrrrsssssssss!!!!!!!

It certainly looks like we were watching TV but it was a Tuesday night at 7:30. No NFL, KSU played basketball the day before, baseball is over, no college football, NBA is awful... hmm, were M&D breaking their no TV rule? You can see in the previous pick that Pandora is playing so we'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Aunt Abby came over on December 2nd, apparently to read me a book. Hey, Baby Strawberry's First Halloween isn't gonna read itself.

For dinner Mom made me a smoothy but I was making a hefty mess so then she tried giving me a straw but straws are essentially toys so that wasn't too successful either. Nice try though Mom!

Friday the 3rd was Mom's day off and for breakfast she made me some cinnamon toast with RED SUGAR. AWESOME! Also, I am TERRIBLE at feeding myself yogurt but it's pretty funny watching M&D's face when I spill it all over the place!

Mom and I went over to Grandma & Grandpa Herbert's because Dad had conference calls and we had to get out of the house. G&G H's tree made me go, "Oooooohhh"

G&G H weren't home and I don't think Mom knew what to do with me so hey, why not have a snack of peanuts. I've had peanut butter before so I'm pretty sure I'm not allergic but I've never actually had whole peanuts. It took Mom a while to figure out that I wasn't chewing them and was just storing them in my mouth but eventually she figured it out... because I started to choke. I think we have a late "Parent of the Year" nominee!

Three half bananas? Man, I hope this isn't a genetic trait.

We were either singing pad-a-cake or Nelly's Just a Dream. It's a coin flip.

We were either playing Middle C or Nelly's Just a Dream. I tried zooming in and enhancing on the music sheet but it was a no go. Another coin flip!

Had dinner with Grandpa Davenport and Aunt Darcy. Chips and Salsa - Love it!

GpaD made a few donations to my Playskool Star Wars Potato Head - Spud Trooper college fund.

Animal Crackers at 9:10am? Breakfast of champions!

Mom put up the Christmas tree on the 4th (a record by about 15 days or so I believe) and I was VERY excited to see it. Oooooohhhhhh!!!!

G&G D stopped by to donate a better Christmas tree to us and while they were there, GpaD made a donation to my Fisher-Price My First Dollhouse college fund.

After Mom got the new tree set up, I helped her string the lights. Actually I think I "helped" her string the lights. I'm worried the first version implied I was adding value.

Later I "helped" Dad by handing him one remote after another giving me the opportunity to push as many buttons as possible before completing the transfer. HA - I'm so sneaky!

I read myself some Goodnight Moon but wanted Dad's help with Pop Warhol's Top. Hey, Modern Art is pretty sophisticated!

Okay, I hammered out like five days so if I do that four more times over the next four days, I'll cover 20 days and... I'll only be two days behind. Blurg!

Remember, you can't take it with you, but you can lick it so no one else can take it when you're gone.

Until Later,
Avery