14 Weeks

I'm totally stealing this pregnancy update format from Kelly's Korner. And I figured the start of the second trimester is as good a time as any to start the updates! 

Just for the record, I'm pretty sure I was this size with Avery at 24 weeks. (See pic below.) Yikes.

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 14 weeks
Size of baby: About 3.5 inches, the size of a lemon

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Nothing yet (as of my last appointment; I'll know more on Thursday)

Maternity Clothes: Don't need them yet! I have worn a couple of my long-sleeved maternity tees because they were the color I needed and you can't even tell they're maternity. Does that count?

Gender: We'll find out (hopefully) in January

Movement: None that I can feel so far, but the baby was super active on the last ultrasound

Sleep: I'm sleeping okay for now (I'm definitely not big enough yet to be uncomfortable; I know I'll get there though!)
What I miss: Coca-cola (I'm doing everything in my power to avoid kidney stones this time around), the option to drink Chuy's margaritas, Mexican food (I have a huge aversion to it right now!)

Cravings: Nothing really, just whatever makes me not want to vomit
Symptoms: The morning sickness is (knock on wood) getting much better, but I'm still pretty tired

Best Moment this week: Picking out names (wouldn't you like to know!)

24 weeks with Avery

Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

We had such a great break, although I will admit that it was nice to get back into our little routine today. Disclaimer: this post is very long and more than a little boring.


We got back from Weekend to Remember on Sunday night, and we left Monday morning to visit Matt's family in the Houston area. We took Nutmeg with us on her first roadtrip since Avery was born, so the car ride down there was a little more exciting than usual! We also had to use some creativity with our food/gas/bathroom stops.

Yeah, don't judge. We rarely eat McDonald's, but when you don't want to wait in line at Buccee's and you're in a random town like Madisonville, you can't be too picky.

Anyway, we spent a few days hanging out in Baytown; Avery got lots of play time with Ne-Ne, Pop-Pop, and Aunt Carrie (oh, and Bella!) and we pigged out at Thanksgiving dinner #1. So yummy. Who needs an oven to cook a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner? 

We headed back to town on Wednesday after lunch, dropped Nutmeg and our bags off at home, swung by my parents' for dinner since we 1) had no groceries and 2) my brother, his wife, my sister, and her boyfriend were all there, and then braved the grocery store on Thanksgiving Eve to get the stuff we needed to make our contributions to my family Thanksgiving dinner.

On Thanksgiving day, we woke up early-ish to get a head start on our green bean and sweet potato casseroles while we watched the parade on TV. The casseroles both turned out SO good. Thanksgiving was hosted by my parents this year, and I'm glad it was so close because we were still some of the last ones to show up! This was the first year in a long time that all of the cousins were in the same place (and go figure that we didn't get a picture!), so the feast was crowded, loud, and so much fun.

Since everybody was in town, the oldest cousin, Amy, had organized a cousins trip to the drive-in that night (even though it was SO cold), and most everybody said they were going, but our group of 12 turned into 6 when it was all said and done. We bundled up in the back of two cars to watch the movies (Burlesque and Unstoppable) and froze our little booties off, but it was a fun little adventure.

Matt and I got home late (Avery stayed at my parents' for the night) and woke up semi-early to brave the stores on Black Friday. We weren't after any huge doorbusters, so we avoided the 4am craziness in exchange for a more reasonable 7:30 start time. After a trip to Target for some Play-Doh and Elf, we grabbed breakfast at Chick-Fil-A before checking out Costco when they opened at 9. We bought a birthday present and a Christmas CD, but other than that, we really weren't needing any of the must-have items of the year. And then we went to Hobby Lobby. Ohmygoodness, I went a little nuts. I found a couple of gifts for Avery's MDO teachers, but then I found some vinyl-lettered wall art for our living room and bathroom, a towel hook thing for our guest bathroom, and a Christmas tree skirt (finally!) that I loved.

We were shopped out by then (it doesn't take much these days), so we picked up Avery and took her and Nutmeg to the playground at our church to use up some of their energy before naptime. Avery loves slides and will just climb up and slide down over and over and over again. After a leftover-turkey lunch at my parents' (did I mention I still hadn't gone to the grocery store at this point?!?), we finally made it home. Avery refused to nap (go figure), so we got some house projects completed before we grabbed pizza for dinner. My brother Aaron and his wife Chelsea joined us for the evening, and then my other brother Nick stopped by with his girlfriend. I'm pretty sure I was lousy company because I was just exhausted and fell asleep on my comfy chair. Oh well.

On Saturday, Matt worked on our broken kitchen sink all morning while I entertained Avery and tried to get stuff done around the house. We all worked in the garage (okay, Avery played in the driveway) to get it cleaned out and organized so Matt can finally park in there again before it gets too cold. Aren't you jealous of all the fun that goes on in this house? Matt and Avery took naps while I went up to church to get some stuff done before Sunday, and then (are you sensing a trend here?) we went to my parents' again for dinner with the whole family (minus Allison) before Aaron and Chelsea went back to Denton. Matt and I got the Christmas decorations out, and he put up the tree while I decked the rest of the figurative halls. We have a monster of a Christmas tree (we got it for free last year, and it's much too big for our living room, so we've decided that this will be its last Christmas with us; anybody want a tree for next year??), so we postponed the putting-on of ornaments and watched a movie instead. Okay fine, I fell asleep again.

Sunday ended up being much more hectic than anticipated because after church and (well this is just getting embarrassing) lunch at my parents', our car battery decided to just die. So after a jump start, we went to Walmart instead of home, Matt got a battery while I stayed in the car with a sleeping Avery, and then we went back to my parents' to actually install said battery while Avery slept some more. As soon as the car was good to go, we were too because we had practice for the church Christmas choir, which lasted until 4:45. We rushed from church to Sonic (again, no grocery store trip yet-- don't judge!) to get dinner, got home, plopped Avery in her high chair to eat, let Nutmeg outside (poor thing had been stuck in the house all day), changed clothes, and went back to church for our monthly prayer gathering, which Matt and I were leading worship for. (That concentrated time of prayer was pretty much the best part of the day.) We finally got to go home around 7:30, put Avery to bed, and just crashed on the couch with some homemade popcorn. Matt fell asleep during the football game (what?!?) and I finally made a grocery list before we were able to call it a day.

And now you know way more than you ever wanted to know about our week. I'm obviously lacking pictures (which I'll add after I steal Allison's and my mom's), and I have no idea why I included so many mundane details, but there you have it. Whether you had a whole week off or just a couple of days, I hope your break was enjoyable, too!

p.s. I went to the grocery store today, thankyouverymuch.

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm beyond thankful for so much this year, including my amazing husband, precious daughter, baby-to-be, lovable dog, awesome family, comfortable home, faithful friends, good health, and more than I have time to mention. 

But even more than all of those things, I am so thankful for God's gift of grace. On the day we set aside specifically for giving thanks, check out the lyrics to this Caedmon's Call classic:

 Thankful

You know I ran across an old box of letters
While I was bagging up some clothes for Goodwill
But you Know I had to laugh at the same old struggles
That plagued me then are plaguing me still
I know the road is long from the ground to glory
But a boy can hope he's getting some place
But you see, I'm running from the very clothes I'm wearing
And dressed like this I'm fit for the chase

'Cause no, there is none righteous
Not one who understands
There is none who seek God
No not one, I said no not one

So I am thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own

'Cause we're all stillborn and dead in our transgressions
We're shackled up to the sin we hold so dear
So what part can I play in the work of redemption
I can't refuse, I cannot add a thing

'Cause I am just like Lazarus and I can hear your voice
I stand and rub my eyes and walk to You
Because I have no choice

I am thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own
I'm so thankful that I'm incapable
Of doing any good on my own

'Cause by grace I have been saved
Through faith that's not my own
It is a gift of God and not by works
Lest anyone should boast

Weekend to Remember

If you're married (or engaged), you need to go to a Weekend to Remember. Whether you have a fantastic marriage or you wonder why you and your spouse ever tied the knot, it is definitely worth your time and money to invest in the commitment you made to your significant other.

I had heard rave reviews about this conference from everyone I know who's gone. While we've wanted to go ever since we got married, I was still a little skeptical as to whether we'd even get anything out of it since we are very fortunate to have a solid relationship that has just gotten better with time (albeit a very short time since we've only been married for almost-four years).

Anyway, we opted out of the DFW conference since it was right in the middle of a very busy summer for us, but we jumped on the opportunity to make the 4.5 hour drive to San Antonio this November. This particular conference was held at the gorgeous Hyatt Hill Country Resort, and my only complaint about the hotel was that we didn't get to stay long enough. Its lobby smelled like firewood, the tree-surrounded pools and lazy river would've been completely inviting had it been, you know, summer, and I was dying for some extra time to utilize their bike trails. (Side note: we'll definitely go back for a family vacation when our kids are older; there were tons of available activities, plus it was right next to Sea World.)

So on Friday afternoon, I dropped Nutmeg off at the vet to have her own doggie-getaway, and then Matt and I took Avery to my parents' for a weekend of grandparental spoiling. There were only minimal tears (from me, none from Avery of course), and our trip was off to an easy start. We didn't even have to consider baby-friendly eating establishments at dinner time. And then we hit Austin. Ugh, I'm pretty sure I've never driven through our lovely capital city without hitting excruciating traffic. We made it to the conference in time for the second session, which was about communication. I was a communications minor, so it wasn't exactly brand new information, but it's always good for a refresher on communication styles and why differences often cause conflict in relationships. One of the things I really liked about the sessions was that each made you apply it to your life/relationship somehow. For example, after the communication session was over, there was a questionnaire in our manuals that we each had to fill out about ourselves and our spouse and then discuss it. Most of the answers weren't things we didn't already know about ourselves, but it was so nice to have time set aside to just talk about us.

Saturday was full of sessions. We (actually Matt, ahem) overslept, so we weren't able to meet our friends Tiff and Ross for breakfast, but I was able to (wait in line forever to) get a ginormous breakfast burrito from the hotel's general store, and we were only a little late to the first session. My favorite application project was when we were dismissed for an hour (ish) to write and read a love letter to our spouse. The temperatures were in the 70s outside, so we found a spot by the pool and barely finished out letters in time; we had to postpone the reading part of the project. We went to Genghis Grill with Ross and Tiff for lunch (I have a new-found love for that place!) and were completely stuffed for rest of the sessions (in hindsight, probably not the best idea, haha!). We were dismissed from sessions for the day around 4:30, and Saturday night was reserved for date night (which we were supposed to plan ahead of time). We tried and tried to find some cool restaurants (not on the Riverwalk-- been there, done that), but nothing within a reasonable driving distance was really sounding good (thanks to my current Mexican food aversion...). We decided on dinner at Cheesecake Factory, a walk around the mall, and a trip to Target for some Oreos and milk. I'm totally serious. We don't get date nights all that often anymore, so it was actually a blast.

On Sunday morning we got up and ate breakfast on our balcony and then went to the first session of the day. The men and women were split up for the morning, and our session was really interesting to me. Most of the beginning was about priorities and how our capacity overflows when we don't have the correct order of priorities: God, our husband, our family. Once those things come first, we order everything else around them so that we don't reach our breaking point. (For a people-pleasing, do-everything, yes-woman, this was extremely convicting!) The rest of the session was a further discussion about our relationships with God, our husbands, and our children. We really needed to get on the road, so we skipped the last two sessions and began our trek home. And of course, all I wanted to eat for lunch was Chick-Fil-A, but it was Sunday (dang them and their principles!) so we settled for Jason's Deli and made it back in time to catch the end of church choir rehearsal and pick up Avery. We missed that girl!!

I can't say enough good things about the Family Life ministry and Weekend to Remember. If you are interested in attending one of the conferences, you do need to know that they don't sugar coat anything. They are unashamed of the Bible and the Gospel, so don't expect to go hear an inspirational, feel-good message about following the status quo (since our culture is doing just a great job of preserving the family and all), but do expect to hear messages of hope and restoration and just how great marriage was designed to be (versus the perversion it's become) and can be if you're willing to work on it (translated: work on yourself, ouch).

The schedule is already out for 2011, so go see which ones are close to you. And don't just register online without finding a discount code. The hotel rates are usually the cheapest through the conference, but there are tons of discounted rates available for the conference registration itself.

Your marriage is worth it.

Friday Five

1. Happy Friday! Does anybody else just feel behind?? When we made the decision that I would quit my job and stay at home, I wasn't so disillusioned that I thought I'd have enough time to keep a spotless house, cook a gourmet meal, and look like some gorgeous model by the time my husband came home (or ever, ha!). However. I did expect to at least be able to keep up.  Instead, I feel like I need a whole weekend (at least!) to play catch up. My house needs a good cleaning, I'm only to Avery's 3rd month in her scrapbook, I need a plan for this year's Christmas shopping/baking, and I would love to paint our bathrooms at some point, not to mention that I need to clear out our guest room/craft room to make space for baby #2. Avery's nap times just aren't long enough!

2. Speaking of that precious girl, she has become quite the mimic! While it's adorable when she talks to her babies like we talk to her or pats their backs while they "sleep" or "talks" on the phone, it's not so cute when she copies our (okay, my) less desirable traits. For example, she picked up on my "aargh" that I apparently do all the time when I'm frustrated. She also now says "shoot" every time she drops something, but at least I've curbed the habit of using shoot's more offensive cousin. Anyway, I bring this all up to say that having a little mirror who follows me around the house has been good for my self-control. It makes me far more aware that she is watching every little thing I do, making it necessary to act in ways that I want my daughter to act. Whether that's treating every person I meet with respect or keeping calm in the face of adversity, she is watching and I'd better be a worthy example. Ouch.

3. I've been looking forward to this weekend forever! Okay, not forever, but since May when we booked it. It's the Family Life Weekend to Remember, so in a few minutes Matt and I are heading out to San Antonio for a marriage conference. While I know lots of people who have gone to this conference and have just raved about it, I really don't know what to expect, just that it should be challenging and relaxing, all at the same time. Plus, my good friend Tiff and her husband are going, so I'm looking forward to seeing them as well! I'll blog about it when I get back.

4. Last night I cut up raw chicken (which is huge for me; usually I make Matt deal with the raw meat) and made a dinner that I could actually eat without wanting to puke. Yay for milestones! It was Hawaiian Roni, and while it definitely wasn't the healthiest of meals, it was so so yummy, even as a leftover lunch. Score! Here's the recipe if you want to check it out. Hey, carrots and pineapple are good for you, so it can't be all bad!

5. I keep complaining about how I've been blogging so irregularly, so now I'm going to do something about it. I'm going to attempt to get back to some sort of blog "schedule" in hopes that I'll be a little more motivated. I keep this blog mostly to document our lives for the purpose of looking back on it in the future, so I want to make sure I'm recording as much as possible. Life goes by all too quickly, and I don't want to forget it.

Have a happy weekend!

An obligatory blog post

Since I've been so, um, scarce on the blogging, I figured I could pop in on a Tuesday night (what?!?) since Matt is still working. Ugh. I know I should be thankful that he has a job, but during this time of year I absolutely hate his profession. He's smack dab in the middle of musical rehearsals (which will only get worse in January) and UIL season, so that means I see him pretty much never. Okay, okay. It could be worse. But I'm feeling incredibly whiny tonight, and I feel like complaining about it. So there.

Why am I feeling whiny, you ask? Because the first trimester never ends. EVER. I do not remember having this much "morning" (read: all the freaking time) sickness with Avery. I was also busy teaching and coaching the whole time I was pregnant with her, so it's possible I was too preoccupied to notice, but this sucks.

Is anybody going shopping on Black Friday this year? I'm seriously contemplating it, but we're also planning on staying really low-key for gifts this year. I'm completely over the materialism and freakishly hyped up shopping season, and we're determined to keep Christmas more simple, more relaxing, and more about Jesus this year. (Not that there's anything wrong with buying gifts for people. Don't get me wrong.) Matt's and my gift to each other this year is a cruise, but I'm sure we'll get carried away shopping for Avery (not carried away in the sense that some people get carried away, but carried away for us). And I seriously love the World Vision Christmas Catalog, but I'm not so sure how those gifts would be received. Have any of you done the giving-is-the-gift thing?

But before I get too wrapped up (pun intended) in Christmas, Thanksgiving is a little over a week away! I love Thanksgiving. We get together with my dad's side of the family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, everybody) for a completely chill day of  food (duh), games, and watching the Cowboys (although I'm over them this year; yes, I am a fair-weather Cowboys fan. The Rangers are a different story.). And this year it's at my parents' house, so we don't even have to drive far, which will be a welcome reprieve after a trip to San Antonio, back to DFW, and down to Houston all within six days.

More on that later, but my (lonely) bed is calling my name. Maybe I'll get a jump-start on the stack of unread books on the nightstand.

Friday Five: Confessions

1. Confession #1: I've been a terrible blogger. Oh, but you already knew that. One post per week? What's that about? So today's Five is dedicated to getting some things off my chest:

2. On Thursday when I went to get Avery out of bed, I found her in a pool of vomit. I was 90% sure it was simply a result of the outlandish amount of food she ate for dinner the night before, so I stuck her in the bathtub, cleaned her off, and took her to MDO anyway since she was acting perfectly normal and I had a meeting scheduled that morning that I absolutely couldn't miss. Bad mom moment, I know.

3. We've eaten at Chick-Fil-A twice this week. Twice. Avery and I are going shopping at Northpark with my mom tomorrow morning, and my guess is that it might make for our third trip to the anti-cow establishment in six days. I might have a problem.

4. Matt brought home a recommendation letter request from one of my former students (who is also a choir student) over a month ago. For some reason, I interpreted his explanation to mean that he needed to write one for her when, in fact, she had asked me to do it. So when she asked me yesterday if I happened to be done with it, I apologized profusely and told her I'd to it tomorrow (read: today). And now the forms are nowhere to be found.

5. And lastly, I might have tried to throw some of you off last week when I made our big announcement about our upcoming cruise (ha!). Turns out that's not our only announcement:

A grammatical human.

Aren't you glad for people who keep you humble? I'm not I am.

Apparently I misused a word in my last post and didn't catch it. Oh the horror! (Well, actually it is pretty horrible to someone who prides herself on her grasp of the English language, intentional fragments aside.)

I am quite certain of the differences between "through" and "threw" and that, for example, a parade went "through" the center of town while the float riders "threw" candy at innocent bystanders on the parade route.

And yesterday I "through" someone under a bus without catching the error before posting.

So after mocking me via text message, my sister informed me that she was glad I did it because it just reminded her that I am grammatically human.

And there you have it.

Friday Five

1. There are so many things I need to be doing beside blogging.

2. They say you shouldn't ever discuss politics and religion with friends, and "they" are probably right (although I have a hard time not discussing religion with friends, but that's another issue). After Tuesday's election there were a bazillion politically charged Facebook statuses that showed up on my news feed (yes, yes, I posted one as well, although it was relatively ambiguous), and all I'm going to say is that if you're going to rant and rave in a semi-public forum, please at least sound like you're educated on the issues. And I'm speaking of both sides of the political spectrum. I only have one friend on the "opposing side" with whom I will discuss conservatism vs. liberalism, and it's because she's educated and mature enough (as I like to think I am also) to keep the discussion about issues and facts and not turn it into a friendship-ruining conversation. Anyway. My point. If you're going write a controversial post, you better be prepared to 1) back up your claims and 2) put on your big girl panties when people disagree with you.

3. Ten years ago today I was in the middle of my senior year of high school. What?!? How in the world was that ten years ago??? The class reunion discussion came up yesterday (on Facebook, no doubt) between some of my old classmates, and I was informed that I was going to be in charge of planning the whole thing. Mind you, our class only consisted of 40-ish people (crazy, right?), but there was no way I was about to take that on as my next project. So naturally I through someone else under the bus, and now our valedictorian is in charge of the shindig. He'll be better at it anyway. And it will be awesome. I'm seriously so excited! But before you go off judging me as some chick who never moved past her high school glory days (um, what are those? high school was definitely not a glorious time for me), I'm just saying that there were some really cool people in our class who (or is it whom?) I would love to see. Or are reunions just totally overrated? Either way, I think it'll be fun.

4. And now for a major announcement....

















...we're going on a cruise!

Haha, you thought I was going to tell you that I'm pregnant. Sorry to disappoint. Matt and I decided that for our Christmas/anniversary/birthday presents to each other, we're going to hit the Caribbean in January for a post-holiday getaway. We haven't officially booked it yet, so maybe I shouldn't go off telling everybody, but I'm just too excited about the prospect not to. So yay! I've never been on a cruise and I've just been dying to go. Plus, timing wise, this is really our last opportunity for awhile, so we're jumping on it. Any tips we should know while planning?

5. Now for the more immediate future, our weekend plans entail a trip to the drive-in tonight (Due Date and Life as We Know It), alumni choir for Matt tomorrow while I hang out with my cousin Amy and then go to my friend Kati's baby shower, fall hoedown tomorrow night (woohoo for cool weather and spending the evening square dancing outside!), and then our typical Sunday activities.

Don't forget to turn your clocks back on Saturday night! Hope your weekend is fantastic!

16 Month Update

Two posts in one day? What is the world coming to?!? I figured I might as well knock them both out while I had a little time. 

Avery is 16 months old TODAY! I know I say this every month, but this is just such a fun age. She gets more and more personality every day (Lord, help us!), but unfortunately, with that personality has also come serious stubbornness and a more obvious sin nature, and with that comes the need for discipline. Yikes. That part's not so much fun. In fact, I'm pretty clueless as to how to discipline a toddler who can't really grasp my explanation of her poor choices (ha!). Now give me a high schooler and I'm good to go, but this is just uncharted territory.

Anyway, here's what you're up to these days, sweet Avery:

• You're wearing 18 month clothes, but you've started wearing 24 month sizes also. You're still in a size 4 diaper, and you wear a size 5 or 6 shoe. 
• You take one nap a day (usually around 12:30) and you've started sleeping for almost 2 hours (which is a miracle for you me!). You've always been a good night sleeper though; you go to bed (after bath time, brushing your teeth, reading multiple books, and drinking a cup of milk) around 7:30 pm, and you sleep until 7:30 am (sometimes 8:00).
• You insist on eating everything with a spoon. Even goldfish and raisins and crackers and bananas. You're getting the hang of it, but it sure makes mealtimes (and snack times for that matter) last a lot longer! 

• You love love love to "read." You'll pick out whichever book is closest to you and just jabber away. I'd love to know what stories you're telling! But you still love to climb into Daddy's and my laps for us to read to you. I was so paranoid that you would hate reading because when you were a baby baby  you showed no interest in books, so we didn't read to you much, contrary to what all the magazines say to do. Ha-- what do they know?
• Your favorite toys are your baby and your clipo blocks. You'll play with those blocks for a solid 20 minutes (which is an eternity in baby time)! You also take your (naked!) baby everywhere. You refuse to keep her clothes on her, but you're so sweet when you get our your diaper bag and try to put your diapers on her and feed her your snacks and water.

• You do like to hit. A lot. And you don't really care who you hit, you just want to hit. Poor Nutmeg has even been the recipient of your wrath on numerous occasions. We're working on sweet hands. :) 
• You love to be outside. Your biggest tantrums have been thrown over me not letting you go " 'side" (when it was 50 degrees and raining, mind you), and anytime we do play in the yard, you freak out when it's time to come in. 

• You still give the sweetest hugs and kisses, and we just think you're the coolest kid on the planet. 

We love you, Avery! Stop growing up so fast!

Halloween 2010

I'm not anti-Halloween or anything; I'm just not its biggest fan. We never went trick or treating when I was growing up, mostly because the houses in our neighborhood were kinda far apart and there just weren't that many trick or treaters where we lived. Plus we always went to our church's fall festival, which I loved.

I love love love this dress! Of course Avery HAD to wear it to church on Sunday, and after multiple attempts, this was the best picture we could get. Sigh.

Anyway, our church doesn't have a festival, and we weren't too enthused about taking Avery trick or treating, mostly because I didn't want her to have lots of candy because guess who would eat it... yeah. I like chocolate. My waistline doesn't, and I have no self-control.

So we decided to take our little cow to another local church's not-technically-Halloween-but-kids-dress-up-and-get-candy party before camping out at home to watch the Ranger game.

Ugh, it was so lame. There were like no games or activities for toddlers, and it was just boring. Not to mention we didn't know anybody. Avery looked pretty cute though. :)


So we left shortly after our arrival and ended up "trick or treating" at our neighbors' houses. We snagged a picture with Brooke and Dave, but we didn't take any with Whitney and Cody. Oops!

Anyway, spending time in the cul-de-sac was much more fun than our original plan. Perhaps in the future we'll plan to stay in the neighborhood and get to know more of the neighbors. And all of the other people who don't live in the neighborhood but drive here to get candy anyway. Without saying thank you. And actually I shouldn't even complain because we didn't even participate since we weren't home. I'm just going off of what I heard. Maybe I should check that attitude, haha.

But check out my little Avery-bee from last year. I can't believe she was so little!

And next year she will definitely dress up as something more girly. Maybe I'll be able to sew by then :)