santa claus is coming to town...

we're getting ready for Christmas! avery is very excited about presents, she got one from uncle dennis and auntie april last night at our annual christmas dinner. i don't think she quite gets the concept of santa ;) but we have gone to visit 2 of them...here are some pictures from one:


she wouldn't sit with santa by herself :)


santa gave her a candy cane and a "magic elf"


she was way more into the candy cane than into santa, but she did tell him she wanted presents for christmas, that she was a good girl, thank you and merry christmas!

then lanie & merri wanted in:



a little blurry, but the excitement is almost tangible :)


avery's in the dog house...

this was at yankee candle in deerfield, ma. what a cool place to visit right before christmas with an almost 2 year old :) the santa was wonderful - friendly, patient and telling jokes! avery got such a kick out of santa's workshop, the train room, the villages and the waterfalls, the trees with snow falling...it was magical ;) it was even more fun because we had nana, auntie lanie and auntie merri with us!

enter your guess

since we're keeping it a suprise, we thought this might be fun :)

thanksgiving

we had a wonderful thanksgiving! it was a pretty relaxed day, although we did have to go to 4 gas stations to find a newspaper, and bailee took off for a little neighborhod jaunt (peter found her and brought her back)...we still had time to go for a nice long walk and watch some of the parade.

we hosted for my family, so we had 14 people in our little house, but it was nice and cozy. avery was such a good eater...she ate her turkey and green beans and stuffing and mashed potatoes...she really likes cranberry sauce, but does not like butternut squash. she was pretty vocal about it, too..she pointed to everything else on her plate, and said "i like it, i like it, i like it"..and when she got to the squash, "i no like it" and covered it up with her hands.

we hope all of you had a great thanksgiving too!

Max's Story

Every day, I thank God for Avery. I thank God that the worst thing that happened to us as a result of the few vaccines she received was three days on the pediatric floor of the hospital with no explanation as to why we had to bring our 2 month old daughter into the ER the day after she received her vaccinations. And even though those were the worst days of our lives, I thank God for them...because it made us better parents, and we are some of the lucky ones with no long-term effects.

winter soup

this is a little off topic, but i made a delicious winter soup the other day, and i just wanted to share the recipe:

2 tbs olive oil
6 cloves minced garlic
1 small minced onion
saute until brown

4 stalks minced celery
1 large minced green pepper
add to pot with salt and pepper, cook until soft.

2 large minced carrots
2 medium minced sweet potatoes
1 cup chicken broth
add to pot, cook until very mushy, then puree.

i chicken breast, cut into small pieces
cook in pot with a little bit of water/olive oil.
add pureed mix, add equal parts water
and chicken broth until you get the consistency you want.
add seasonings to taste. I used:
a pinch red pepper flakes
1 tsp crushed rosemary
1/2 tsp crushed thyme
2 bay leaves
salt & pepper

3 large diced russet potatoes
add to pot, simmer 10 minutes

2 cups peas (i used frozen)
3 cups cut green beans (i used fresh)
add to pot, cook until all veggies are tender.

Served with oven-warmed ciabatta bread - yummy!
avery ate a whole bowl of it! i was really happy to get all those veggies in her.

first tattoo

we went over uncle mike & auntie heather's for dinner - they fed us yummy meatball grinders and gave avery a present :



yay for tattoos!




mommy & avery compare artwork....

avery had a great time dancing in the living room to the christmas music, and playing with their tree -yes, their tree is already up :)- and she loved nora!

bad puppy

so, i'm in the room with avery, but we're each doing our own thing, not really paying attention to each other. she's playing with her puppy that sings the abc's, and i look over to see her put the puppy in her little time-out chair, back up a few steps, point to it and say "okay puppy? one minute. okay?" she leaves the room, then pokes her head back in and says "no puppy, not done, one minute, okay?"
this is exactly the conversation avery and i have when she goes in time out, so it was hilarious to me :)