Thanksgiving 2010

We spent Thanksgiving in Odessa this year. It was a fun week filled with food (lots and lots of food), family, fun and friends. Cheesy, I know. :) Sadly I don't have any pics from our actual Thanksgiving meal. Bruce took pictures and having a 6 month old kept my hands occupied. Bruce did make an awesome slide show DVD, but I can't upload it here. It would take FOREVER to load. So here are the pictures I did get:

1.  Bella and Avery in their matching shirts Kristi had made. They were too cute!

2.  Avery and Bella in the recliner. Bella loved to hold Avery and most of the time Avery didn't mind it either.

3.  Avery with Uncle Steve and eating prunes with Daddy

4.  Bella's birthday falls on or around Thanksgiving most years, so we celebrated it and Bryan's with a pajama party. Can't you tell who was more excited?

 

5.  Bella opening her gifts



The most wonderful time of the year...

It's that time again - time to start thinking about Christmas. If you are like me, you probably have some core traditions you do every year. Things like putting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving, decorating the tree while listening to your favorite Christmas music, reading the Christmas story together while snuggled together in your Christmas pj's. One tradition I love is sending and receiveing Christmas cards. It is one of my favorite times of the year to check the mail box. I love getting cards from friends who I haven't seen in a while, seeing how their family has grown or changed. Since we've been married, I've tried to send out photo Christmas cards each year. Last year, though, it just didn't happen. I was in the middle of my pregnancy, we were in the middle of house hunting, and honestly I just didn't have time. And I hated it. I so wanted to be able to send out a cute card and let our friends and family know how we were doing.

Fast forward to this year and as you all know, we've had a lot happen. I'm really excited to send out our cards this year, mainly because we have a smiling little girl who gets to make her debut on them. :) I just got an email from Shutterfly showcasing their Christmas cards this year. So of course, I had to go check them out. And I found so many that I just LOVE!!!

Here are a few of them:

As you can tell I love the photo collages that give me the opportunity to share photos with our family and friends.

Shutterfly also has many other cool photo gifts such as calendars, stationary, mugs, collages, and photo prints.  You can check them out here.  I made a calendar of our first year here and loved it!

So if you are looking for some unique, special Christmas cards this year try out Shutterfly. I know you won't be disappointed!

Avery's First Pumpkin Patch

Since this is Avery's year of firsts, we couldn't leave out her first trip to the pumpkin patch. I had wanted to take her to the pumpkin patch this year, but wasn't sure we would be able to squeeze it in. Daniel and April had planned to come visit us on their fall break and we were thinking of things for the 5 of us to do together. I found out about this pumpkin patch that had a corn maze.  Some of our friends had been there before and so we decided we would make the trip.  You can check out the patch's site here - http://www.hallspumpkinfarm.net/.  And I have to say thank you to Angela for taking all the pictures. I had one of those "Mom" moments and my battery went dead right as we took the first picture. I had even emptied my card so we had enough room on it. I didn't charge the battery though since I had done that earlier in the week. I guess I accidently left it on or something, because it was dead as could be.

It was a little windy.

Mommy & Avery

What are these round, orange things?

Daddy, Avery, & Mommy

Driving with Daddy

Aunt April, Avery, & Uncle Daniel

Family pic

Avery & Aunt Angela

Ashley, Avery & Angela

Little cowgirl (notice the tongue)

This looks yummy!

Seriously?!

Sweet baby girl

Avery's pumpkin

Cute little pumpkin

Driving the tractor

I've got this driving thing down.

Uncle Daniel, Aunt April, Avery, Mommy & Daddy

Angela, Avery, & Daniel

Avery loves her Uncle & Auntie!

 

Avery's 6th Month

6th Month Milestones - 11/4/10

Height - 26 inches (The doctor thought you had your toe stretched out to have "grown" 2 inches in 2 months.)

Weight - 13 lbs. 12 oz.

Sleeping - You usually go to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 depending on what we have going on that day. You still wake up once a night, usually, to eat. Your naps have started getting longer though. 2 hours in the morning and 1 to 1.5 hours in the afternoon.

Eating - You eat every 3 to 4 hours during the day, about 4 to 6 oz. or so, and usually only wake once to eat at night. You were eating cereal and 1 or 2 veggies and fruit a day for most of the month, but then suddenly stopped wanting to take your bottles while I was at work. This went on for a week, until we cut out all solids. You were super cranky, fussy and just wanted to be held for most of that week. Once we went to just milk you started being your self again. We'll just have to see how it goes and re-introduce solids again in a few weeks.

New discoveries - You can get up on all fours now and can sit up on your own for a little while. All of the sudden you started pushing up on all fours this month and it is the cutest thing ever! You look like you are doing mini-push ups. This new movement allows you to move around a little more than rolling does. You've figured out that your legs can move and your arms can move, but just can't quite get them to move at the same time to crawl. :) That's ok, cause we know that will happen soon enough. You also love to sit up on your own - and can do it for quite a bit until you see that toy that you can't reach and reach too far and topple over.

New accomplishments - Getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. Sitting up unassisted for quite a while. Napping for 2 hours at a time in the morning and afternoon!

Places you went - The pumpkin patch with Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Daniel, Aunt April, Angela and Ashley. Trick or treating with Elli, Mason and Gatlin. To visit Nonna in OK for her birthday.

Special Memories - Getting to take you to the pumpkin patch for the first time. You were in awe of the orange, round things. You also liked the goats when Daddy fed them popcorn. Dressing you up as a bumblebee for your first Halloween. Daddy and I don't like the dark side of Halloween but our Community Group decided to get together, cook out and take the kiddos from the group trick or treating together. It was fun and I know you will enjoy it even more next year. Getting to celebrate your 1/2 birthday with Nonna and to see Peyton on her 1st birthday.

You had your 1/2 birthday this month and wow! We can't believe it has gone by so fast. I wish we could slow down time, but I know that isn't going to happen. So I am trying to cherish each day, each cuddle, each cranky time, each sweet smile. You are growing up and as fun as it is, it is all new to us. We're learning different ways to soothe you, different ways to play with you, different ways to get you to eat. Please be patient with us baby girl as we figure this parent/child thing out together. We are so excited about the next 6 months. Keep on growing and exploring your world. We love you sweet girl. We are praying for you each day that God will protect and guide you and that you'll know how much he loves you.

Love you baby girl!

~Mommy & Daddy

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Whatcha doing to my shoe Uncle Daniel?

Stare down - who is gonna win?

Something is funny.

Not so sure about this guy.

Help! I don't like this. :)

Bumble bee

Daddy and Avery

Mommy & Avery

Cheered on our Rangers until the end!

Grandad & Grandmama West with Avery

4 generations of West's

Peyton shared her cake with you.

We are all actually looking at the camera! Thank goodness for auto-timer!

Nonna with her candles and you with your 0 for your 1/2 birthday!

I want to help blow them out!

Avery's first crush - she loved Isaac!

Not sure - but she does this when really excited!

I like your hat, Isaac!

Playing piano with Katie