Avery is 2!!!

Our sweet baby girl is TWO today! It really is hard to believe that it's been two whole years since Avery entered our lives, but in other ways it's hard to remember our lives without her!

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

• You still wear a size 2T for the most part, but I'm starting to buy 3T now just so you have some room to grow. 

• You're officially a potty pro! You only wear a Pull-Up at night now (instead of at naptime also), but most mornings you wake up dry, so eventually we'll get brave and ditch the Pull-Ups altogether.
• Singing is your favorite! Seriously, you sing ALL the time, whether it's Jesus Loves Me, If You're Happy and You Know It, or the recently learned Sesame Street Theme. You have the sweetest little voice!

• You know numbers 1-10 and still love your ABCs, although last month you began replacing U with O. Oh well, we have time to fix that before kindergarten. :)

• You still love to read, although you've finally moved on from Fox in Socks (thank you!). You haven't been too particular about which book we read, so we've definitely been appreciating the variety. :)

• You moved from the nursery to the 2s/3s Sunday School class last month! You look like such a big girl walking into that classroom (although you're the youngest in the class since you have a summer birthday, so you just look big to me). You love your little friends at church, especially Lily.
• You are such a good big sister! You frequently run up to Landon, get right in his face and say, "Hi Landon hi!" before you run away. Anytime he cries you either start singing Jesus Loves Me to him or go over to him and say in a sweet, high-pitched voice, "What's wrong, Landon? It's okay, little boy" while you pat his leg. It makes me tear up every single time. You've pretty much memorized your "big sister book" and go around quoting lines from it, like "Look at me, baby, I'm your big sister!" I'm excited for you and Landon to be pals.

• People are always surprised to find out how much of a Texas Rangers fan you are. I don't really know how it happened (besides the fact that you've been to tons of games since you were born), but you are obsessed. You love to go to games (duh), and you actually pay attention to them, cheering for your favorites, Kinsler, Hamilton, Elvis, Murphy, and "Michael Young!" You ask to go to Ranger games all the time, and every time you ask, you talk about the fireworks and polka dots (the dot race).

• You have a few favorite sayings : "No way!" (emphasis on "way"), "Oh my gosh" (drawn out emphasis on "gosh," although we've pretty much gotten you switched to saying "goodness" instead), and "I do it by my own self" when you don't want help from us.

• The other day you woke up early and I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep, so I went to the kitchen with you while I was half-asleep. Meg started barking at the door to go out, and I said, "Ugh, Meg, shut up!" You quickly responded, "Mommy, I say hush." I told you that you were exactly right and apologized for saying "shut up" because those aren't nice words. You said "yeah" and we moved on. Until Daddy came into the kitchen. You totally ratted me out and told him, "Daddy, Mommy said shut up but I say hush." I have a feeling this is not the first time God will use you to call me out.

• You have quite the imagination! Not only do you carry on hilarious pretend conversations on cell phones, you also "cook" for us all the time and play with your Little People house and dolls. I'm always surprised when I hear you talking out stories with your toys. You even love dress up. 

You've brought so much happiness to our lives, and it's been our joy to watch you grow into a little girl with a huge personality. We love you SO MUCH!

Mommy and Daddy