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 :)

trick or treat

avery was a doctor for halloween...we went trick or treating with two of her friends and their families, and we all had a great time! avery tried to stop after each house, and would pull out the candy piece she just got, throw her bag on the ground, and start saying "open? open?" we managed to make it through the night without sugar overload by giving her one m&m after each house. of course, that apparently meant daddy had to help her eat all her candy!! :) after trick or treating, we went to the church for a "fat soul" concert where avery showed off what a great dancer she is! she was even head banging at one point - it was hilarious, and so much fun to spend this time with her.





avery, ambulance & patient










chloe, avery & elise = bff



















you just know she's saying "what? i don't know where all the candy went!"









and she's a singer :)





dance, baby, dance!

over the last month...

i can't believe it's been a month since i last posted anything! i'm starting to feel better, so hopefully we won't go that long again - but my camera is broken, so in the meantime, pictures from our phones will have to suffice :)




avery's job is to wake daddy up every morning...sometimes she does so with a back rub, sometimes with kisses, and sometimes by "decorating" :)




we brought avery's potty into the bathroom a little while ago, and although she would sit on it, she usually wouldn't "do" anything in it, save a few rare occasions. however, over the last few days, she's peed in it once every day - so exciting! we always jump up and down and make a big deal out of it, so hopefully this will continue...i'd love to have her out of diapers before the baby comes!!




we go for walks almost every day, and sometimes we go to the playground down the street from us. avery is loving all the crunchy leaves of fall, and i can't wait to see how to plays in the snow! she's a really big girl on the playground, and can do everything, including climbing the little rock wall, all by herself! tonight when we went, there were 3 other toddlers there, and she was very good about waiting patiently for her turn, and not pushing the other kids! we are really proud of her!

window seat

avery has some news to share...

coming in April 2009!

musical debut

our musical daughter....

Raisin lovin'

now that we've figured out how to add video, i can share this great video of avery and her love of raisins :)

from july 07

eating her turtle :)

she's just 5 months old at mike & heather's engagement party :)

tomatoes

our garden tomatoes are finally ready! we're so excited, because until now we've only been able to collect a few cherry tomatoes here and there, which avery usually eats right away (she love love loves tomatoes) i was so happy to get this big, beautiful heirloom tomato, it looked so delicious! i handed it to avery to bring inside, and...

she, apparently, couldn't wait to have it for dinner either :)

zuccini

zuccini straight from our garden!

she put my pearls on herself...

she gets very excited when we go into the garden,

and loves to help me bring in the veggies

(if i can get them in without her eating them first)

7/26/08

oh, how i love these long summer days....





Shepard Family Reunion

this is the gang.

avery did not want to cooperate for the pictures :(

she had a great time eating the chicken, pasta salad, and blueberries. she also liked the muffins i made, even though Nonnie classified them as "health food muffins" - which i don't think was meant as a good thing :)

(okay fine, they did have wheat flour, flax seed, and the hidden ingredient of summer squash)

she also played on the playplace with her cousin Austin, whom she loves. she absolutely loved the water spraypark, which daddy was so good to bring her around in. she played in her wagon with all of her little cousins, auntie katie, uncle jack, and van.

and before we left, we took a ride on the trolley, and auntie merri took some great pictures, which i'll share with everyone :

thank you meredith!

again?

we were at the doctor's again this morning...poor little avery now has a viral throat infection! i feel like we're always in there, but the doctor was looking over her chart this morning and said "wow, she's a healthy little girl, isn't she?" so i guess, overall, we're not really in there as much as it feels like. anyways, the virus will just have to run it's course, so we'll be keeping it pretty low key with lots of clear fluids and popsicles :)

my friend bailee

bailee is such a good sport about letting avery climb all over her. avery loves to give bailee kisses, and she has started trying to boss her around, too. the funny thing is - sometimes bailee listens! even though sometimes avery pulls her tail, bailee probably puts up with it because she knows that she's getting alot more 'snacks' now that avery is here...especially since lately, avery likes to carry her food around in a little cup, but hasn't quite mastered the whole 'keeping the cup upright' thing :)

they found a bug...avery: "ewwwww gross"

bailee: "okay, we're done now"