The Anti-TV night

So not too long ago, Avery was begging to watch Mickey Mouse for the umteenth time.  I was feeling the mommy-guilt for letting Avery watch TV (something I swore I'd never do until she was at least 10) and was looking for something else to do to keep us occupied until it was time for our bedtime ritual. Some days I'm super mom and think of awesome things to do, other times all my brain power was sucked out at work and I've got nothing. Tonight was one of those night.  I had just about succombed the the cries for Mickey Mouse.

Enter these cars.

We got that giraffe car at a baby store in Dallas.  It's pretty cool because it's fuzzy and rubbery.  It has a brother, an orange monkey, but it's been living at our church nursery for some time now.  We may never see it again.

Anyway, I pulled out these cars and we started racing them.  Broozer thought it would be fun to be tortured get in on the action so he joined us.  Who knew that such basic little toys could be so fun?



It was so nice to turn the TV off and turn the record player on.  I'm sure we had something awesome like the Beatles or She & Him on the stereo.  Nothing like some good old fashion music and toys to make you thankful for the little things!

Never a dull moment

There's really never a dull moment when you have a child.  Or at least not when you have our child.

Example:
The other day as I was just about to doze off for a much deserved nap, R comes to me a says "Come here. I have to show you something."
Now then, I have to admit, I wasn't real happy about having to get up. He led me to the kitchen only to see my car keys stuck in an electrical outlet.  Yep.  Avery had stuck one of my keys in the electrical out.

Parent of the year awards being handed out over at our house.

Every morning when Avery gets out of bed her first words are "I want to be a Pwincess." I'm not lying. Every. single. morning.

Avery practically refuses to wear pants. When we went on vacation, Avery wore the same denim skirt 3 times and the same dress twice.

Avery has an aversion to shirts that aren't pink.  Thankfully, it's not as strong as her aversion to pants.

Avery has her own opinion about what shoes to wear.  Tennis shoes?  Forget it.  The new pink Converse shoes I bought? Don't even try to put those on her feet.  Shoes must be "beautiful" and "sparkly". 

Avery get sweaty in the car and must have every vent pointed at her full blast.
So, you see, there's never a dull moment at our house.
I'm not sure why I was surprised when I went to check on Avery this evening after a few moments of silence to find this:

And although you can see R in the background of that last picture, that was AFTER we found that she had climbed up on the bathroom vanity and was gazing at herself in her "princess" dress.

I know why she was up there.  Most mornings that we dress Avery at home (on the weekdays she gets dressed at my cousins house) R takes Avery into the bathroom, sets her on the vanity, and they gaze upon her beauty. He tells her how pretty she is and she basically agrees. When she puts on a princess dress, she will sway her hips back and forth, smooth down the front and say "I a pwincess mommy." Normally R will do their routine and go to the bathroom and let Avery look at herself. 

Not tonight. There was no time for gazing on Avery's beauty.  Dinner needed to be cooked.  This momma was hungry!

Not a problem for Avery. She took matters into her own hands.

I'm extremely slightly concerned for what this may mean for the future.  Help me!

More adventures to come!

Halloween

Halloween was especially fun this year.  As I keep saying, Avery is to the age when she "gets" stuff.  And this year, she "got" that she was going to get to dress up.  We let her decide what she wanted to be for Halloween with a little bit of parental leading.

Me: Avery, don't you want to be Minnie Mouse for Halloween?
A: Yes! Minnie Mouse!
Me: What do you want to be for Halloween?
A: Minnie Mouse!

See how that works?

Trickery. We picked up Avery's costume at a huge children's consignment sale.  I love the JBF Sale.  But that is a whole other post.  As R and I were looking at costumes I asked Avery again what she wanted to be for Halloween.
A: Pink Pwincess
What happened to my trickery?!
Me: What? Minnie Mouse?
A: No, mommy. Pink Pwincess.

I'm not going to lie. I had a moment of panic.  I spotted the pink Minnie Mouse dress and ears and showed it to Avery.  She was sold! 
A: Pwincess Minnie!

That my friends is how this parenting thing is done!

Our Halloween festivities started with a Halloween party at Avery's Children's Day Out program.  It was a little chilly and I had picked up this faux fur shawl that worked perfectly for my little Minnie Mouse!

There just happened to be 3 Minnie's in Avery's class that day.  I knew I wasn't winning any awards for creativity or originality but I knew Avery would LOVE being Minnie so it worked!

R: Avery, how many Minnie's were there in your class?
A: Twee (Three)
R: Who was the prettiest.
A: Me!
Hmmm, she hasn't heard that too much huh?

On Halloween, Avery asked to wear her costume about every 5 seconds.  The girl could have lived in that thing!

Halloween Decorating

We don't decorate much for Halloween around our house.  I always have big plans to decorate for the holidays but then life happens and all of a sudden it's a week before Halloween and we've barely purchased a pumpkin.  Although, this year, R had pumpkins purchased ready to be carved in plenty of time.

However, on a shopping trip to Target (imagine that!) we picked up some of those clingy things you stick on the door.  We thought Avery would enjoy decorating the front door.

$1 at Target.  Yep.  That's why I heart that place.

Pumpkin Patch

 Last weekend (my birthday weekend) we went to the Pumpkin Patch.  We decided to go to Chesters Party Barn.  We had wantedto go the the Barn on Friday but Mother Nature decided to send a rain storm so we had to change plans and go on Saturday.  I'm not going to lie-I may have had a small tantrum when I woke up on Friday and it was raining.  Apparently Avery woke up on the wrong side of the bed too because she was a little cranky Friday.  It was probably best we waited until Saturday. AND we got to talk up riding a pony.  Avery couldn't wait! 

 Avery LOVED the ponies!

 She wasn't scared one bit of getting on the ponies.

 In fact, she even gave it a few "Yee haws"! 

Next up was the Petting Zoo. We bought a bucket of food and went to town.  Again, Avery wasn't scared one bit of sticking her hands out with food to hungry animals.

R got in on the action to feed a cow.  The cow's tongue was huge!  I think R may be related!

 There wasnt' a hay ride but there was a tractor ride. That basically took you to this huge slide.  We did have to trek though a muddy maze but we finally made it!

 Avery couldn't wait to go down the slide.  Again, not scare one bit!

 This picture cracks me up. It looks like she is about to face plant in the mud but she didn't!  She stayed on her feet!  She's got ninja-like balance like her dad!  I have the balance of a pogo stick.  Pogo stick balance=not good.  Ninja balance=excellent!
We even caught a glimpse of this guy.  Pretty cool at a distance.  Not cool up close.

 Finally we got to the pumpkin picking!  About this time the wind picked up and the temperature dropped a little.  Rain was in the air.  Avery was taking her time.

 "This pumpkin is heaby!"

Finally!  A pumpkin.

Avery is in the stage that everything is an adventure and fun.  She's not too cool to do anything and we can really talk up an activity like riding a pony, and she can't wait to do them! It's so fun to see things through her eyes. I can't hardly stand it!

There's so much more to come and I can't wait!

More adventures to come!

Misc ABQ Adventures

On our vacation we did some misc "stuff" over the couple of days that I did get a chance to share.

First, if you see Avery wearing the same outfit or skirt it's probably because she wore the same skirt 3 times and the same dress twice.  My child is in a princess phase.  She has an aversion to pants and shirts that aren't pink.  The pink shirt thing is fairly new and luckily wasn't an issue during vacation however, it was quite a battle to get her to wear pants. 

Balloon Fiesta Park
Anyway, the first time we headed out to Balloon Fiesta park, we went for a Night Glow.  However, the wind was too high so no balloons got blown up.  We got to the park late afternoon/early evening so the girls had a chance to play before we found out the festivities were cancelled.

Hannah and Avery we brave enough to get their picture taken with the big cows. 

The girls had a grand time doing their gymnastic tricks on the big lawn.

Hannah tried to teach the girls to do cartwheels. 

I don't think Avery got the gist.

Chloe gave it her best shot.


Old Town
Have you been to Old Town in Sante Fe?  Well, the ABQ has their version too.  It's not as cool but its a great place to spend a few hours. 

Avery got to pick out a bracelet from a street vendor.  She's so stylish.

Silly bands and turquoise.  New fashion trend.  Watch for it on the runways next spring!

There's even an old Catholic church.  Don't you love the beauty of Catholic churches.  This church was built in the 1700's I think.  Someonegot for to charge their camera battery so this is the last picture she took in Old Town.  Vacation tip: Never, ever think that your battery doesn't need to be charged!

I love the color of this old truck. 

In front of one of the little shops, there was a big Noah's Ark blow up.  The girls had a grand time playing with all the animals.

I love this picture of Hannah.  First, i'm pretty sure Hannah took more pictures than me on this vacation.  She had her camera with her wherever we went!  Second, R pointed out the guy behind Hannah...see him?  We're pretty sure he's a zombie.  WATCH OUT HANNAH!

Balloon Museum
In front of Balloon Fiesta Park is the Hot Air Balloon museum.  We had some time to kill so we decided to check it out. 

Hannah was such a big helper on our trip.  Avery wanted to be doing anything that Hannah was doing and holding her hand at all times. 

Such a big girl!

My child's mouth and a hot air balloon basket. She's weird.

Up, up and Away!

The girls loved this "fire". I think it was the best thing about the museum.

I won't bore you with pictures of the hot air balloon museum exhibits.  I mean really, who cares unless you are there right? Well, if you are ever there, take some time and check it out.  It's pretty cool!

Kites!
The last night we were in the ABQ, we were going to the Glowdeo. Since we had some time to kill, we picked up a few kites and took advantage of the wind.