It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I'd originally planned to hold off on putting up my tree until we moved. But when it became clear that we had no definite moving day, I decided I wouldn't deprive our girl of at least having a Christmas tree up for all of December!

We came home Saturday after Thanksgiving. Can you tell this is a tired girl?
 
In case you missed it, check out the big hole in Avery Claire's tights. At least she did this on the way home from church and not on the way to church. We were heading down the road towards home and we heard, "Wook, I can get my hand in dis hole!" I had a helper putting up the tree this year and loved every minute of it!
 
Dusty laughed because he said our heads looked alike from above.
She spent most of Sunday night admiring the tree.
We read our Elf on the Shelf book so we'd be ready for when Jack showed up!

Thanksgiving 2012

I don't have many pictures to show for Thanksgiving...traveling and visiting is so busy and time gets away from us before I realize I have no pictures to show for our time!

I managed a picture of Avery Claire in her turkey shirt before we loaded up to leave.
We stopped in Birmingham and met the Lawrence's Wednesday. We got to spend an hour or so with them at CFA and loved every second. We loved seeing you guys and miss you so much!!!

We had awesome weather while we were home and spent lots of time outside.

We also got to visit with fun cousins! Avery Claire and Blair could play for hours, I think, and be pretty self-sufficient!

We may not have a lot of pictures to show for it this weekend, but we are so blessed by and so thankful for our sweet family and the time we get to spend with them.

Thankful

Today, I'm thankful for a little girl who loves to play with her babies.
I'm thankful for times that I get to snuggle with that busy little girl.
I'm thankful for a healthy little girl and that coughs and breathing treatments are our worries.
 
I'm thankful for the silly, smart, funny little personality that she has.
 
I'm thankful that she likes things "just so," and that she's fiesty enough to demand that things go her way. That doesn't mean she always gets her way. But I hope it means she won't ever be a push over.
I'm thankful that I get to watch her grow and learn. Her little mind amazes me every single day.
 
I'm thankful for her sweet cheese face.

And I'm so thankful for her Daddy. He is such an amazing husband and Daddy to our sweet girl. I love that he'll get down in the floor and play puzzles or teach her how to play "basketball" by throwing a ball into her bed. I'm thankful that he is such an involved Daddy. And I'm so glad God sent him to be my husband.
 
I'm a lucky girl to have such a sweet little family of my own. And I'm so thankful for my sweet parents. I couldn't ask for better. I'm thankful for my little brother, who has grown into such an amazing man and gave me such a sweet, thoughtful sister.  
I am thankful for my extended family. I grew up with such loving, involved grandparents and aunts and uncles. I married into the very best family of in-laws I could have ever dreamed of. I know I don't deserve it all, but I thank God every single day for all that I've been blessed with.  

Big Girl Panties

This is the face of a girl who just wore big girl panties to "Wapple House."

Thursday night, Avery Claire decided she wanted to poop in the potty. Friday night, she asked to do it again at a restaurant. Saturday morning when she woke up, I told her she could wear her big girl panties.

She even wore them to church Sunday. She was so proud of herself! Her Mommy and Daddy are so proud of her, too!


She's been peeing in the potty for awhile. She's had very few "accidents" in her pull-up for the last few weeks. We've been telling her she could wear her big girl panties when she pooped in the potty. She finally decided she was ready. I thought I'd probably make her sleep in a pull-up for awhile, but she was so upset when I mentioned it, I figured we'd try it. She's always dry when I wake her up, and she's even woke up and called us in there because she needed to pee a few times.

She's really done so good! She had one accident. It just so happened she was with her Daddy. At the new house. Where there is no potty.
He sent me a message (I worked the after school program Monday) and I could hear the panic even through the text! But I was proud of him. He took her home, cleaned her up, and went back and cleaned up the puddle.

I'm sure that won't be the last accident, but I think that comes with the territory. Our baby is officially a "big girl."
Sniff, sniff.

House Update

So much has been done on the house since I last updated. I'm not sure I can even remember what all I have and haven't posted. I do try to post pictures on Facebook every few days.

The walls have been painted. I don't feel like the pictures are a true depiction of the colors. I chose all Benjamin Moore colors.

The dining room, our bedroom, and the "playroom" are all Weimeraner.
 

The other rooms are Hush.

Avery Claire's room is Iceberg.

The light fixtures have been hung. That took me 3-4 trips to the lighting store and lots of looking online. I had a fixture from Restoration Hardware in my cart and almost ordered it one night. I just couldn't find what I wanted at the store here. I decided to make one more trip. I showed the lady a picture of what I wanted. She pointed to a similar fixture that was hundreds less than the one I had picked out at RH. My husband was so happy and proud of me. Dining Room

Foyer

Breakfast Area

Appliances are all sitting in the kitchen waiting on cabinets. Who knew you could be so excited to see ceiling fans put up?

And to see light switches!

This was our driveway Monday:

This was our driveway Tuesday:
All of the doors were blocked by wet concrete. Only the neighbors dogs saw me climb through the window (after dark) to see the progress of the floor.

 

Yesterday, I met with the cabinet man. I'm so excited about my cabinets.

This weekend, our to do list includes: -picking out granite - get a couple of light fixtures that were overlooked - picking out hood for the above the oven - picking out door handles.

And we must make a decision about the front door. I know what I want. All of the men in my life (Dusty, my Dad, and the painter) keep telling me not to put paint on that door! But I think I'll wish I had if I don't.

Floors should be finished by the end of this week. Next week, cabinets should be in progress and landscaping should start.

Our builder told me yesterday that if things go smoothly, the house should be move-in ready in 4 weeks! Yikes!! We love everything about our house so far and are so excited that our move is so close! We'll probably start packing in about 3 weeks! ;)

Crazy Busy (and a Happy Birthday)

I can't even give my blog posts proper titles lately because they are so few and far between. Eventually, I will get it all together. Right?

Today is Nana's birthday!! We hope you have a wonderful day today and we're so glad we got to spend last weekend with you! I thank God for such a wonderful mom every day. I couldn't have been blessed with a more supportive, loving, generous, selfless mother. I hope to be half the mom to Avery Claire that you've always been to me. We love you much!!

This week is week 1 of the playoffs. The Falcons play Huntsville. I feel like I've hardly blogged about football season and it's a huge part of our lives right now! Avery Claire loves to go to the games! We've only missed a couple because it was too far to drive by ourselves. This week the game is at home and it looks like it's going to warm up enough for us to go!

One of the weeks we didn't go, we had a nice, laid back evening at home. I introduced Avery Claire to The Little Mermaid and it was a hit! She now asks to watch 'the girl swimming.'

And I snapped a picture to send to her Daddy on his way home after that game. The last 2-3 weeks have been crazy busy. I LOVE my new job. Really, really LOVE it. But it's insanely so much busier than I thought it would be. I know you people who teach in the classroom are rolling your eyes and saying "yeah, right!" I know so because I would have done the same thing. I would never, ever say that my job is as stressful or as busy as yours. It's not, at all. But there is so much more involved with being in the library than I ever dreamed - however, I do love it. Have I mentioned that?
For 2 of the last 3 Mondays, we had to stay at school until 6 for conference days. I had a helper one of those nights.


During the last 2 weeks, we had awards day, Reader Leader Celebration, and a very important meeting for our elementary librarians. All of that required a lot of preparation and planning. The last week, we had the book fair. Folks, let me tell you, it's not just simply rolling in some carts and opening them up. Wow. There's a lot to a book fair. I had no idea. But it made it all worth it when I heard a little boy say "This is so much more awesomer than last year."

Here's the finished "trophy." The book fair was an "All Star Book Fair."


I finished up the book fair Friday and then had a yard sale Saturday. I must have been crazy when I thought I could do those two things in the same week. I did pretty well, though, so it was worth my time and effort. Thank God Papa and Nana came up to help out.

We have managed to spend a couple of nights relaxing lately. Those nights are rare and very cherished!

Notice this little brown blanket? This is Avery Claire's lovey. Keep in mind, she has never had a lovey. Another kid in her class has a lovey and one day she said she wanted one. We've had this one I bought way before I ever got pregnant. I intended to give it as a gift and never did and just held on to it for when I had kids. Now, she has to take this lovey to school with her for nap time and will not go to bed without it. We had to instate a "lovey has to stay in your bed" rule because she wanted to carry it every where. The other day, Dusty said, "I'd like 5 minutes with the kid who told her about a lovey."

Again with the glasses that are adult size and have no lenses. We did get a few stares in Target. But I just pretended like I didn't notice. Apparently, those people don't have kids and aren't familiar with the term "you pick your battles."

Avery Claire has had major constipation issues lately. They called me from school one day last week because she was pitiful. Grunting with every breath she took. She even had a fever. We used two suppositories that day. We're really trying to up her fiber intake. If that doesn't work, we will be seeing someone about this problem. We cannot handle any more days like that one.

We're playing lots of school around here. Guess who's the teacher?

House update coming soon!! Today, our builder said the house should be move-in ready in 4 weeks or less!