Boots!

I want to write a bunch of things today, but I don't know where to start.  I should have posted on Avery's birthday about her, but it's two days later.  That doesn't change how we feel about her, so I guess it's okay.

Avery turned 2 on Friday!!  2.  Where Avery is now is so great compared to when she was born.  Her first 6 months were difficult, I'll be honest, but now she acts like a little girl should act and we just love her.  She has a little ear infection and had a little temp this last week, but she's doing much better.  She was supposed to have a procedure done (to get accurate pressures in her heart) tomorrow morning, but we're going to post pone it.  Which means it'll be a little longer before we have a surgery date.

Avery looooves Dora and her monkey pal, Boots.  She got a Dora house and accessories, passed down to her from cousins (thank you!).  Avery had woken up crabby, but when I showed her the Dora doll, oh she got this "hew-hew" smile on her face and loves it all.

Avery can say momma, tissue, boots, cracker, apple, sleep, dad, and I can tell though it's not clear, Zachery, drink and "love you" and "'men" for amen.

We had a family party for Ave and had a nice time, despite Avery falling asleep after Zach helped her blow out her candle.  Zach was very excited for Avery's party and even got a couple of things too.  Zach was eying a little art set Avery got and said, "Oh, don't worry Mommy, I will share with Avery."

 In this picture, Zach had made a super-ball-laucher and was explaining it to me.  The duck in the picture was placed there by Zach to observe the launching.  The marbles were launched into the cup, if you want to make one for yourself later.

I feel like the older we get, the better we become.  And in better I mean more gray hairs.  Someday I'll be totally better. :)

We went bowling for Eric's birthday with the family and the kids loved it.  Eric bowled well and I scored low.  I do blame 1/2 of it on not finding a lighter weight bowling ball.  Although I did get 2 strikes and a spare, I also blame to heavy ball on my other 3 gutters, okay 5.

Zach was wearing a sport headband on his forehead in this picture.  I had one out and he asked what it was and when I told him he wore it like an indian for the rest of the day.  Zach said, "Oh, I look beautiful."

Decorations, Avery and Happy Birthday Eric!

 

Avery and her great grandma Marie

 

Avery's aunt Andrea gave her some cute sunglasses - rose colored, perfect!

Eric's sister came to Toledo to visit her grandma's and we all got together for dinner one night.

 

A little Valentine decor to liven up our white walls.  Thank you Julie for letting me use your cricut (love that thing).

 

Here it is!  I finished my heart wreath and I love it!  It's made of felt circles folded and pinned to a styrofoam heart.  That's my kind of sewing.

 

This is how Avery hugs her toys, in the crook of her neck.  When she walks around "hugging" her toys, it reminds me of someone holding a boombox on their shoulder.

Tomorrow is Eric's birthday!  

Here is a list of 10 things we love about Eric:

1. He is a great dad!  

2. I love that he takes Zach primary each Sunday.  Zach will go and meet him so they can go together.

3. He cleans our driveway of snow before he goes to work.

4. He works hard to provide for his family.

5. He usually is the calming influence of the two of us.  (Occasionally I'm the one.) That has saved us (me) from saying things I would regret.

6. He full head of hair.  We'd love him bald too.

7. He overlooks my clutter, even when I don't his. :)

8. He likes things organized.

9. He changes the oil in our cars and can fix a lot of things on our cars.

10. He will do whatever he says he'll do, as long as he remembers to. ;)

That's just a few reasons why we love Eric.  Where would we be without him?

Happy Birthday!

A wreath

I found the perfect Valentine wreath for me to make.  Here is the LINK to it.  Just one thing to make life more colorful.  Cold February with snow on the ground, looks pretty good inside the house with red all over.

Pizza Box Art

Zachery's preschool class decorated pizza boxes and today we could order a pizza and get it in his special box.  I love this idea and, obviously so did he!

I asked him who the people were on the box.  The four people are our family, but the little person at the bottom was a "serious person"?  I asked him again and he said it was just a person who wanted to talk to all of us.  Funny kid and very cheesy smile.:)

 

We are enjoying having a friend, Caden, stay with us this week while his parents are on a lovely trip.  Zach and Caden have been having a blast playing with nerf dart guns, running, hiding, eating, laughing and whatever else they can  find to do.  Today Caden said, "My mom isn't coming to pick me up."  Then I said, "Maybe your dad will then."  To which Caden replied, "No they're not coming."  Oh, "so you're staying here", and he said "yes."  :)

Avery's new starve-her-til-she-eats-during-the-day thing is working out.  She is a little scrounger and has been looking for food all day pretty much!  She took this slice of pizza and was working on it until she gagged on a bigger piece and spit up a little.  Overall it's going well.:)

Bakerella presents Macaroons

I just came across this tutorial on how to make macaroons; not the coconut kind, but the yummy french kind.  About 8 years ago a friend and I went on a trip and while we were in Paris, she showed me this awesome patisserie that specialized in making yummy macaroons.  Yummy doesn't quite do it justice, they were fancy delicious, and my favorite was the pistacio ones.  I'm excited to try to make them and I 'd love for others to try to.  Come over or try it yourself and let me know!
So, are you in?  Will you make macaroons and tell me how it went and if they're delicious?  Here is a link to the site Bakerella.  I'm going to try it next week.  It doesn't look difficult, but there is some prep (egg whites sit out for 24 hours).

C'mon you can do it.

I did it!

I just finished a decoration for Valentine's Day!  I like how it turned out, and I can use it not just for V-day. 

Zach picked out a Z to put in his room and so we made it together, kind of. 

I'm feeling crafty and could modge podge anything right now.  I think completing something is good for the soul.

Eat, girl eat!

I'm getting excited for Valentine's Day.  Not so much for the cards, treats and my Valentine (although these are all great) but I'm missing the Christmas decorations in my house and I want to put some color back in here!  I just came across this tutorial for Valentine's decoration (or you could use it for another holiday, ect.). anyhoo, check it out here.  A friend, Beth, heart attacks her house covering the living spaces with cut out hearts.  I love seeing those hearts all over!  I want to make a wreath to put up, but I'm not sure yet what I want it to look like.  Fun stuff, I need to get cracking!

When I was a little girl, on Valentine's Day evening, we'd get a knock at the front door and when we'd open it there would just be a valentine card to one of us kids from "Tom Thumb" or "Mother Goose" or something like that.  It would continue til all of us received one.  My grandma Christensen lived with us, well in a cottage in our back yard, and she would give us those Valentines.   It was fun and once I caught a glimpse of her running around the house, and that was fun to see. :) 

On a different note, Avery just got switched to a continuous nighttime feed through her g-tube so she gets most of her daily intake at night.  Now, while she's up during the day, she'll get hungry and want to eat orally.  So far, she does seem to be more focused on food!  I'm hopeful that this will help her to eat.  Cross your fingers!  The only lament is I have to get up during the night to add more food to the feeding bag.  The first few nights were rough because she kept waking up and wanted to play with the machine.  Now she's sleeping through it.  Another bonus is she doesn't spit up!!!  She was spitting up (and sometimes it was a lot) if she cried hard shortly after being fed- gravity bag.  Now she can cry and I'm not reaching for a bag or a "chum bucket", not that she was crying a lot, but dear Avery can be sensitive.  So, lots of positives in this arrangement.  2010 is a promising year. :)  I know we're blessed and I don't want to appear ungrateful or insensitive to others.  We have much to be grateful for, and we are! 

Avery is going to have her last planned heart surgery this spring.  We don't have a date yet, but I'm hoping it'll be around the beginning of April.  I'm hopeful that her recovery will be quicker than the last two.  Avery is doing well, she is full of energy and stays busy!  You can't really tell she needs surgery right now, but when she's sick or cries a lot, she gets pale and a little blue around the mouth.  After the next surgery, that won't be the case!!  She will be pink (they tell us).  I'm almost excited for this surgery, it means we're done- well, okay not really, but done having UofM surgery stays!  knock on wood.  I don't want to jinx myself.  When I think about being with Avery up at the hospital my stomach gets in knots.  I have my thoughts/concerns with Avery, but all around you, there are other situations more/less critical and just as anxious.  I've seen parents have to leave without their little ones and that makes it hard to be casual or cheerful when you don't know what kind of day your fellow hall mates are having.

Well, all you can do is be positive and sympathetic (that's not the word I want to use, but I can't think of the one I want right now).

So I know I've made some grammatical errors here in this post, but that's how I think.  Here's to Valentine wreath making and happy days ahead!