KT's Family Stories

Our Christmas

2010-01-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Christmas in Austin with Kevin's side of the family. It was so great to spend time there and be with all the family (except for Eric who is serving our country overseas).

On the way down we were able to stop in Dallas and visit with my friend Jenise who has just moved into a new home. She had her Christmas tree decorated so beautifully, but here we are covering the pretty tree with our "traveling all day, frumpy" selves. It was fun to see her and her new place though. (and Avery was more than happy to get out of the car for awhile)

When we arrived in Austin we were greeted with this beautiful sight. Doesn't Sandra and Brad's house look like it belongs in a magazine?!?!

Christmas Eve we took some time to visit with Mike and Debbie. We also happen to stop by while Cal and Kassi and Debbie's parents were there. What a sweet time to visit with everybody. While we were there Mike cooked up some dessert and let Avery assist. She was very good to be careful and follow Mike's lead.

Christmas Day brought the fabulous traditional gift chaos. All five cousins were present and ready to tear into the massive pile of gifts. Such fun!

We all were lucky enough to have a personal visit with Santa Claus himself! Unfortunately this year Avery was not quite sure what to do with the hairy faced man on the couch. Maybe next year Santa...

After presents we enjoyed the traditional Christmas dinner which Sandra and I enjoyed putting together the day before. As you can see, front and center, is the much debated deviled eggs. I made a platter and sister-in-law Amy made a platter. In order to keep the peace, I shall simply relay the verdict on taste as described by Brad... "Yum, as good as two flavors of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream ...I like them both differently" Hmmm...

Here is Sandra with her very first (and very successful) pumpkin roll. Don't mistake her for Better Crocker, although you could!

Kevin even got in the action by making a yummy pumpkin cheesecake. Nice!

Here is Avery after presents and after dinner. Can you say overwhelmed and overtired?

Finally, here are all the cousins together. Sandra did a great job making sure we took the time for this photo. And trust me when I say there are more "outtake" shots of this photo than usable shots. :)

Enjoy this video of Avery enjoying Ian's Christmas gift. She is definitely not in the suggested age range for this toy, but it was mighty popular, nonetheless. Thanks for sharing, Ian! (Please enjoy this video over and over and over, it took me 13 uploads to get it turned the right direction...Grrr).

Later I will post the photos of our second Christmas celebration once we returned home to Lawrence.

Happy New Year!

Fun to Watch

2009-12-09T12:58:00.000-08:00

We took this video at the beginning of November. She has a host of other noises she has added to her repertoire since then. As you can guess, a favorite at our house is "Old McDonald's Farm". What a fun age!

November

2009-12-06T18:34:00.000-08:00

Ahh... November. This year November was a beautiful fall month here in Kansas.

While we did enjoy much of it, we also spent much of it sick. Blech, and we passed it around and around and around. Poor Avery had it twice.

We still found time though to stay very busy. At the beginning of the month we visited the new Christian Camp outside of Topeka where we rode a paddle boat and Avery cheerfully wore her first life jacket.

We also made a trip to Tucson to say goodbye to a very dear friend. While there we got to spend time with both family and friends.

While in Tucson, Avery got her very first haircut, given by her very own Grams! She did very well, and yes, we saved a curl or two for the baby book.

When we returned to Kansas we enjoyed Thanksgiving with Kevin's family in Topeka.

Here we are at the traditional Scrabble game. Once again I took the martyr position that someone has to take (in other words, I lost). However, Kevin managed to win his round!

Avery's talented great grandma Nana has been busy lately. She made Avery a new bunch of outfits and jackets as well as a quiet time church book which Avery very much enjoys. Thank you Nana!

Finally, Avery has decided that she is ready to move straight into being a grown up. Here you can see she is into working construction projects with Daddy. Climbing this step ladder is a very popular activity. As you might guess, it now spends most of it's time folded up and out of site.

Well, that's November! Happy December!

Part 2 October

2009-11-27T13:09:00.000-08:00

In honor of Thanksgiving...let's blog about Halloween! It's so nice to be reminded of how far behind I really am... Grr...

After returning to Kansas from the wedding, we enjoyed some fall weather outside and took these pictures on Avery's 16 month birthday.

She also discovered the fun of dress up. For now it is just the apron, but I can see this fascination growing. She has recently discovered Daddy's baseball caps and Mommy's bracelets.

Then it was time for Halloween! In honor of Avery's first animal noise, she was a duck!

We celebrated by joining Kevin at a chili fund raiser at his work. We also attended a fall festival put on by a local church. "Avery" enjoyed all the trick or treat candy she collected ;)

Here is Avery showing off her duck skills. However, once again we are back to the sideways videos. Sorry...

That's all for now. Hope you are all full on turkey and cranberry sauce. Mmmm.

First half of October

2009-11-10T12:33:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of October we had an unofficial Family Fun Day. We went to a local park and walked the trails and played on the slide and swings. These are the pictures we will look back to fondly when there is snow on the ground.

Other than swinging with Daddy...

Avery's favorite part was finding a tennis ball to chase.

In October we also took a trip to Austin to celebrate my cousin Cal's wedding! On the way down we stopped at Cabellas to stretch our legs and try on sunglasses!

What a special occasion to see us all together and in our "Sunday finest".

Sisters...

Avery with her grandparents...

Cal is the second of the '5 Cousins' to get married. We have so many memories together, we almost grew up together.

This is the first time the cousins have all been in the same place at the same time in years. We had to take a cousins picture as it seems to be tradition. Here is a picture of us several years ago,

and then us today...

As you can see, everyone enjoyed the party. Even Papa. I don't think he knows I have proof of this revelry, but now everyone knows. However, if his knee replacement doctor is seeing this, don't look. And Papa, I have video too if you try to deny this photo... ;)

And that is it for the first half of October. Congrats Cal and welcome to the family Kassi.

My Birthday!

2009-11-05T19:28:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned before, this year on my birthday (September 20) I met Amber and Sandra at DisneyWorld for 2 days! It was incredible! Instead of typing a moment by moment account here and losing you all, I am going to reprint here a very special page from my scrapbook of this trip. Interspersed in this list will be some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

What Made This Birthday So Special...

It was a trip to DisneyWorld with Amber and Sandra!

Sandra got us into three parks for free on the 19th!

Amber provided the flights at no cost.

We stayed in a beautiful hotel courtesy of Amber, Sandra, Mom and Dad.

I received birthday cards, calls, and gifts from lots of family and Jenise.

Thanks to Sandra I got to shop at the Cast Member store where I bought a fabulous watch.

I got to see where Sandra lives and works.

Sandra Dodd spent the weekend with Kevin and Avery.

I did not change a diaper for the whole weekend!

I had a gourmet cupcake with a Mickey Mouse candle on my birthday.

We came away with lots of pictures and special memories.

Did I mention that I spent my birthday at DisneyWorld?!

And for all this I paid about $30 out of pocket!

I received a birthday button at the beginning of the trip which provided these fun birthday surprises...

Nearly every cast member I passed for 2 days wished me a Happy Birthday.

We rode the Safari ride on a private birthday tour.

At lunch in the Studios, I got a turkey leg for the price of a 'gobble-gobble'.

I received free chocolate dipping sauce for my pretzel, Yum.

The day of my birthday I got FREE admission to the Magic Kingdom.

At dinner on Sunday I received a mini chocolate cake.

I was given access to 'special' pin trading books

A Disney executive gave me the last pin I needed to complete my set, even though I ran out of pins to trade with her.

And when I returned to Kansas...

Kevin took me to PF Chang's for dinner and the Cheesecake Factory for dessert

But at home, he had spent the weekend building me a pantry in the kitchen. Awesome!

As you can see, my 29th birthday was extra extra special! I am still basking in the joy of the event! But now it is finally time to move into more current events, and I have some great videos of Avery coming up.

September

2009-10-29T13:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am going to try to put the entire month of September into one post, but I am not sure I can do it...

September happened to be the month we celebrated our 5th anniversary and my 29th birthday.

For our 5th anniversary we went low key this year. After days and days of stressing and planning, we went the responsible route and did not splurge on something more expensive than we could afford (we felt very grown up about that). Instead, we left Avery with Kevin's Aunt Lisa in Topeka. This was my first night away from Avery ever! It was tough, but not overly so. Then we went out to the Outback with a gift card we received, splurged on ice cream from Baskin Robbins, stayed out past a certain 1 year old's bedtime, came home and played a board game with small pieces in the living room on the floor. As you can see, we lived it up with our temporary freedom. We were so giddy with the freedom, that we forgot to take any pictures. So you will have to imagine the smiles and celebration. Instead you can look at our wedding picture at the beginning of this post and remember that day 5 years ago with fondness...we sure do.

Early in September, my friend Jenise (who works for Southwest Airlines) and her parents flew to Kansas City for some BBQ. Being so close, they drove over on Sunday to attend church with us and have lunch. It was great to see them all and introduce Avery to her parents. Here we are after enjoying some yummy Sheridans ice cream.

Here are a couple shots of Avery from September. Here she is helping me get ready to go to the grocery store. She gets very excited at the prospect of going "Bye-Bye" and does whatever she can to help speed up the process.

If you look closely at this picture you can see that Avery is singing along in her own "microphone" as Andrea Bocelli sings on the TV. She also claps with Vanna White, so she is a lady of many talents.

This is Avery's 15 month photo. Yes, that is a scratch on her chin, but apparently it was not terribly traumatic, because I can't even remember how she got it.

Last but not least... my birthday celebration. For those of you who don't know, Disney is giving away a free admission ticket this year on your birthday. Well, guess what, I just happen to have a birthday this year! I also happen to have a sister who works at DisneyWorld and a sister who works for Southwest Airlines. As I learned it in grade school, 1+1+1 = DisneyWorld! And that is where my sisters and I spent my birthday this year! But you will have to wait for another post for that because Avery just awoke from her nap and is demanding some attention.

Later...

August

2009-10-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

In August we celebrated Kevin's big 3-0!

Many of you already know this because you were a part of it! For his birthday I contacted several people from Kevin's present and past and invited them all to send birthday cards to him. We were so impressed by the turnout! Kevin received almost 50 cards from all over the country from very special family and friends. (Moyers-I owe you a special thank you for your help in spreading the news of this request!) Kevin was so touched by the show of caring and love he received. Thank you all who participated!

We also threw a birthday party which Kevin grilled for. Apparently the word has gotten out about his grilling because our house was filled to overflowing! We exceeded all previous records of how many people could be in our house at the same time. Of course contributing to that was the rain, requiring everyone to stay in our living room! What fun chaos!

And of course as time marches on, Avery just keeps growing and growing... She was really into blocks for awhile. Setting them up was great, but knocking them down was even better! Her patience and carefulness to set them up surprised even us.

These are her not-so-staged 14 month old photos. As you can see I dressed her for the photos, but then forgot to take them until the end of the day as she is watching us play the Wii and trying to figure out how to get involved.

Last is a photo of a common sight in our house, Daddy causing Avery to be at the very height of joy. She always looks forward to him coming home because it often means chases and tickles and a playmate in ways Mommy just can't match. It is a very special relationship to witness.

That is all for now, Tonya

Still Catching Up

2009-10-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am still catching up from the summer! Yikes! September was a very busy month for us, so let's go back to July...

The photo above is a of a dress from Avery's Aunt Amber. She bought it in Costa Rica long before Avery was even born and she just now fits into it.

Here we are at the end of July just back from our reunion. Avery had just picked up on walking full time and here she is enjoying the space and freedom of being home.

With her newfound mobility, one of Avery's favorite things to do is climb in and out of her carseat when it is in the house. On this day though, she found this pillow and softened her seat first. :) This picture is also her 13 month old photo.

In early August we had our first official "Family Fun Day". The three of us went to the wading pool on the last Saturday it was open. Kevin hadn't been to the wading pool before and we all had a fabulous time. Especially Avery.

After the wading pool, we had a picnic in the park. Avery liked the strawberries best.

That's all for today! Next time we will cover Kevin's birthday and the busy month of September.

Family Reunion

2009-09-15T09:51:00.001-07:00

Ok, so it is finally time to finish posting about this trip so we can move on to current events!

After leaving Lubbock, we made the final journey on to Ruidoso, NM. Once there, we stayed in a vacation lodge with Kevin's parents and sister and neice and nephew. The rest of the clan stayed at a campground with cabins. So most of the activities of the week took place at that campground. Here is Avery checking out her new surroundings.

This reunion was for Kevin's dad's side of the family. Here are some family shots.

These are the first generation of the family. There were 12 brothers and sisters total, here are the 5 that were present at the reunion. Kevin's grandma, Doris, is the first on the left, then Ted, Freida, Jack, and Joyce.

Kevin's great aunt Joyce, Kevin, and Avery

Avery and her Grandpa sporting the same fashion sense. Diapers outside of the pants and socks with the sandals. Priceless. Reunion memories at their best.

The oldest and youngest at the reunion. Great-Aunt Frieda 89 1/2 years old, Avery, 1 year old.

Those of the Dodd clan represented at the reunion.

One evening we went to a great chuckwagon buffet/singing performance. It was a great show and good food, but unfortunately my camera batteries were dead. The only photo I got while we were there was this one on my phone. I wanted a photo of this though, because it closely represented all the places I have spent time in my life. Topeka, KS (near Lawrence) 765 miles, Austin 588 miles, Tombstone, AZ (near Tucson) 373 miles, Disneyland 812 miles, DisneyWorld 1661 miles.

One evening, the clan put on a talent show. Here are Amy and Brad dressed and in character for their stellar performance as a hillbilly couple crashing the wrong family reunion. They were hilarious and very popular!

Avery did very well with all the new people and places. Here she is trying and loving watermelon for the first time.

This is a bear that we saw in a tree near the campground. It was a mama bear and 3 cubs all in the one tree. You can see the mama's head in the center of this photo. Amazing, and a little bit scary.

Finally, after much visiting and laughing (there was a lot of laughing at this reunion). We headed home. This was much of what Avery did. We drove home over the course of 2 days with Grandma Doris in the car (brave woman). But it went well and survived the trip home.

It was a fabulous trip and wonderful to see all the family and friends that we saw, but it was also great to get home. Now it is time for more current blog posts!

More travel updates

2009-08-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

The next part of our journey was spent in Bridgeport, TX with my (Tonya's) family. Avery and I stayed with them during the week while Kevin returned to Lawrence to work. Then on Friday he drove back down to Texas and we stayed until Wednesday.

We stayed with my parents in their RV at a campground, so we spent a lot of time in the pool. Avery loved it.

We also had makeshift bath time for her. :)

My grandparents joined us here and we celebrated Avery's birthday again.

As you can see, Avery had a fabulous time with all the grandparent and great-grandparent attention.

While Kevin was around, he, my dad, mom, sister, and Papa poured cement on my parents land. This is a photo from my Mom's blog.

My Mom has a great post with lots of pictures of the cement pouring. You can visit that post here. My camera spent it's time with Avery and Nana and I who stayed in the air conditioned RV and did not see much cement action.

After the visit with the family we continued on our journey to Lubbock, TX where we spent the night with Kevin's aunt and uncle. Before we left town we ate at Rosa's (a local family favorite!) and visited with my college roommate, Beth. Here we are in her new house!

And that is all for today. The next post will be all about the family reunion. Check back soon!

Finally catching up

2009-08-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

So I know you have all just been in breathless suspense wondering what happened after the birthday party I last blogged about. Well, wait no more your update on June 30 - July 5 is here!

On Avery's actual birthday, Grams, BobBob and I took Avery to the wading pool downtown. This was her first visit and she had a blast!! She also looked adorable in the little pink swimsuit. People kept asking us if she was the first child/grandchild. Hmmm, could it be that all 3 of us had either a camera or video camera on her the whole time?

Then just 3 days later, we left Lawrence and embarked on the longest road trip Avery has been on. From Lawrence, KS, to Texarkana, TX, to Bridgeport, TX, to Lubbock, TX, to Ruidoso, NM, and back.

Today I will just post photos from Texarkana. Here we visited with Kevin's brother and his family as well as Kevin's parents.
We were there on Eric's birthday and he requested that Kevin smoke a brisket. Here is Kevin with the 'smoke'. The brisket turned out wonderfully!

Here is Avery with her Uncle Eric. Just about the sweetest picture ever!

We were also there over the 4th of July which our family celebrated with matching T-shirts. We also tried watching some fireworks, but Avery drew the line on what she could handle in a weekend by protesting the noise.

We celebrated Uncle Eric, Cousin Tate, and Avery's birthday in one big party. Tate and Avery both turned 1 within a week of each other. Here they are enjoying their new toys. I must say I was very impressed with how well the kids played together all weekend.

Here is a shot of the whole clan. We had a great weekend and enjoyed seeing everyone.

Ok, that is all for now. I will try to be more timely with the rest of the update...

Birthday Party

2009-07-29T19:54:00.000-07:00

Chalk it up to being new parents, but yes, we did throw a birthday party for Avery. She won't remember it, but here are the pictures to prove it. And she did seem to have a good time. The cake above is supposed to be a large cupcake surrounded by regular cupcakes. Not bad for an amateur attempt at cake decorating.

Prepping for the party was a whole family affair. Here you see Bob-Bob and Aunt Amber manipulating the fondant for the birthday cake. I had given up on it. The only reason they are both working on it is because it really was this difficult.

Here I am decorating the top of the huge cupcake. (Nana - see the apron I have on? Perfect!)

At the party, Kevin made yummy hamburgers and we all visited and played the Wii. This was Avery's favorite thing to do. After digging in the ice for awhile she would pull out her fingers and show them to me. Explaining the freezing properties of ice is lost on a 1 year old.

Of course Avery ate cake, but this is about as much as she got into it. She was still a bit overwhelmed that the whole room was standing around staring at her.

She received lots of great gifts that she is still enjoying today.

After opening gifts she visited with some of the guests. Here she is reading one of her new books.

So after all the planning and prep, it was in the end, a 1 year old birthday party. The guest of honor did a great job for the most part and we definitely appreciate all who joined us.

Here is a video of Avery enjoying the slide that Grams and Bob-Bob bought her. At some point she will figure out that she is supposed to be sliding down and not just the toys, but for now this is sweet. She and Bob-Bob laughed at this game for quite a long time.

Enjoy!

Avery at 1

2009-07-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

This post was written right after her 1st birthday, I just haven't posted it until now. I am glad I wrote it when I did though, because already, only 3 weeks later she has changed so much! These photos were taken on her actual 1 year birthday (June 30).

Awhile back, some friends of ours had a daughter turn one. At that time they wrote a blog entry about all she could do and who she was at one. I really enjoyed that entry and have wanted to do that for Avery. So, as of 1 year, here is a snapshot of who Avery is and what she can do.

~She walks! And really prefers to walk, she still has a ways to go mastering the balance of it all, but she loves the freedom and ability to hold things in her hands while walking.

~She loves people! She is the unofficial greeter at our church on Sunday morning and more than once we have had to take her to the nursery just because she is completely distracting the people in the rows behind us with her flirting.

~She enjoys kids, to a point. We often have kids at our house or go to children's events in the community and she loves interacting with them or watching them.

~She is very very observant. Always has been. She notices every noise and looks to you to explain to her what it is. If something is out of place, she notices it, or points it out to you.

~She is quite independent. She loves books, but more often than not, she wants to look at them and turn the pages by herself.

~She is an on and off eater. The days she doesn't want to eat, nothing will convince her otherwise. The days she wants to eat, she can nearly eat her weight in blueberries, kiwi, green beans, spaghetti, or goldfish crackers. But her favorite thing to eat is whatever is on mommy or daddy's plate.

~She knows how to initiate 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' and can do recognizeable hand motions throughout the song.

~She uses the signs for 'all done', 'more', and 'eat' regularly.

~Her first word was 'dada' and she can now say 'mama', 'bye-bye', and several more that only mommy can understand. She also is imitating a lot of sounds including animal noises.

~She says 'takoo' (thank-you) often and at the proper time.

~She has just learned to stand up without using something to pull up on.

~She loves climbing stairs and has also just learned to go down a step feet first.

~She understands an incredible amount of what is said to her. A scary amount, actually. I can tell her, "Find your puppy so we can go bye-bye" and she will search the house for her favorite stuffed dog and bring him to me. I can also say to her, "Get a diaper and we will change you" and she will get it and bring it to me. I don't even want to guess what all she is absorbing.

~She is an extremely pleasant person. She is very easy going and generally goes along with whatever very well.

~She loves loves her Daddy. When he comes home from work she drops whatever she is doing and makes a beeline for the front door.

So, I realize this list could go on and on, but this is a good picture of who Avery is at 1 year. At this point it is going by very fast and I can see the growth and development happening right before my eyes. I am so blessed to have been given this sweet and precious child to 'learn parenting' on. Happy 1 year old my darling girl.

More June

2009-07-08T10:58:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned, we had a lot go on in June. Luckily, my parents joined us for the entire month and helped out a lot with parties and Avery watching.

One of the most exciting and greatest accomplishments of the month is that Kevin COMPLETED HIS THESIS! His defense was on the 10th and a few days later the last and final touches and edits were done and it was complete! Here is Kevin at his defense. I was able to attend and was very impressed with all he did and how calm he was. Hooray, Kevin!

Here he is a couple of days later showing Avery his work. She was impressed too, I'm sure. :)

That weekend he rode his bike in a triathalon where his cousin, David ran, and his uncle, Kurt swam. Here is the team. They did well.

There were a lot of riders. Kevin is in the center of the photo in the orange and white jersey.

Of course, Kevin's biggest fan had to pose for a picture with him after the race.

That evening, we had a Congratulations/Graduation Party for Kevin. He grilled (of course) some yummy ribs and a brisket. He is becoming quite the skilled party chef.

The next day was Sunday and Fathers Day. Our special guys opened their cards and gifts together in the RV.

Here is Avery's very first real swimming pool experience. As you can see, she warmed up to it pretty well.

We are starting to transition Avery into wearing shoes. It did not start out very promising. She considered the process just a challenge to her to see how fast she could get them off. She is doing better now though, and since Grams bought her some cute ones and Aunt Amber gave her some cute sandals for her birthday, she is actually asking to wear them upon occasion.

So, that is all for now. This updating stuff takes a long time when Avery is not napping! I still have lots to share about the birthday party and I even found some pictures from May that I need to post. Plus, some extremely cute videos. But that is all for now!

So Much to Share!

2009-07-01T15:09:00.000-07:00

June was such a crazy month, I will have to post it in several pieces... Between Kevin finishing his thesis, defending his thesis, celebrating the completion of his thesis, him riding in a bike race, Father's Day, Avery turning 1, having a birthday party, and my parents being in town, we have had a full, full month. However, July looks to be just as busy, so I make no promises as to when this blog will be up to date. But, in no particular order, here is a start...

My friend Sarah is a photographer. You can visit her website here. For Avery's official one year old photos we met her at a local park and she took these photos. We love love them! If I get nothing else posted, you need to see these.

11 months!

2009-05-31T10:49:00.000-07:00

This is it!! The last monthly "photo shoot" before the big 1 year! I truly cannot believe that we are here. She is so quickly becoming a toddler and moving out of that baby stage. And she is such a sweetheart! So, here are the photos of her on her 11th month birthday. Be warned, she was more in the mood to chew on the camera...

than to pose for pictures. She is always busy!

Now that the weather has warmed up, we are making good use of our great backyard with huge trees. We sit and play out there often.

She also spends lots of time looking at books. She loves turning the pages.

Here she is standing on our porch swing. She loves going for rides on this.

So that is all! Happy 11th month baby girl. Look here soon for 1 year old photos! Yikes!

Another month (long post)

2009-05-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go?? It's been a month since our last post and so much has happened! Part of the delay was waiting to figure out how to turn these videos right side up, and I am proud to say they are now correct! Hooray! Watching Avery stand makes a bigger impact when she is shown moving vertically rather than horizontally. :)

These first photos are from the days after Easter. We took Avery to the park and she got to ride down the slide with Daddy. The video is rough and short, but it is hard to be photographer and baby receiver all at once.

We also broke down and bought a baby gate. Avery enjoyed the kitchen (and the contents of the floor) a bit too much, so she is now banned. But, that doesn't stop her from testing the gate every once in awhile to see if we have left it unlocked. If we have, she is in there as fast as her little crawl will take her.

These photos are just everyday life shots. For awhile, Avery's favorite thing to do was empty her toybox. She is now getting the hang of putting things back which is what she is doing with her arm stuck up the elephant's trunk.

We are trying to introduce Avery to table food. She likes the independence of it, but eating itself is a hit or miss event. She is just not interested in it for very long. But the other day Kevin grilled/smoked a whole turkey breast and here Avery is having her first taste of Dad's cooking. She seemed to enjoy it, but then, who doesn't enjoy Kevin's cooking.

Then we have Avery's 10th month birthday. Instead of doing many photos, I did more videos. So enjoy the collection of Avery in action. As you will see, she is standing on her own. Since these videos were taken, she has decided that standing is the greatest thing. We expect a first step sometime soon.

She also loves to knock over block towers, so that is a popular activity during our day.

On to Mother's Day. My first! Here is my precious girl on my special day. The sweater was knitted (crocheted?) by my great-grandmother. I thought it was a special way to honor the ladies of my family on Mothers Day as well.

These are the flowers that Kevin had sent to the house with a note reading, "Every working mom should have flowers sent to her office." I thought that was a great note!

Kevin's parents were in town that weekend, so we spent time with them.

This picture is special and unique because it is 4 generations of Dodd women.

We joined the family in Topeka for church that morning where Kevin's aunt Lisa teaches cradle roll. Avery loves Sunday morning class.

So, we are now all caught up. Kevin thinks that Avery has said her first word this weekend, "Dada". I was there at the time and it was said when Kevin walked in, but we will see if it was the real thing or not... Time will tell.

That's all for now! One year is coming up much too quickly, I'll have to do better at keeping this blog updated or there will be too much to get behind on!

Love to you all!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

We had a fun and memorable Easter. The holidays seem so different with a child. More fun than I have had since I was a child. And I hear it just gets better from here.

Avery's Easter dress is made by her Nana in Tucson. It was a huge hit at church this morning. It was also the only place her shoes stayed on.

After church we went to Kevin's Aunt Lori's in Topeka and had Easter dinner with the whole family. Yum! Avery even enjoyed the rolls.

A rare family shot.

Daddy and Avery singing Itsy Bitsy Spider during the 'photo shoot'.

And then the kids all hunted Easter Eggs. Tyson and Lexi donated some of their findings to Avery which was enough for her.

This weekend Avery suddenly figured out clapping. She has been trying for a week or two, but the hands never really came apart during the clap. Now she has got the hang of it and this video (yes, sideways again) is proof of that.

Happy Easter all! Hope it was a great day for you as well.

Playing catch up

2009-04-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

This is the post that I have not gotten around to doing. But here it is, our trip to Tucson. While putting together the photos for this post, I realized that I did not take a lot of pictures for some reason. If you are interested, my mom has some additional photos on her blog, here.

This trip took place on March 11-17. Avery had not seen her grandparents and great grandparents since before Christmas, so we decided it was time. She had cut teeth and started crawling since we had seen them last.

While on this trip, she learned to sit up without propping over on her hand, she learned to climb up and down one step, she started dancing to music (more like bopping), and she started a little bit of separation anxiety. Being in a different place really highlighted how much change goes on in 1 week!

Here are the photos I have...

This video is of her climbing the step. I tried getting the down too, which took her longer to master, but she was too distracted by the audience for me to get that on film.

We visited several times with Grandmom and Granddad and Julie. This was also the first time Julie's husband Carl met Avery.

At Grandmom and Granddad's house, this was as brave as Avery got to playing with their dog.

One afternoon we hung out with Samantha and Courtney. We grew up with them and their parents. These two were in my wedding. I can't believe how they have changed!

We also took some time to take the 'Ladies of the Generations' shot. Although this is not the best one of the photo shoot.

This is just a for fun picture of me with my Papa. Notice he shaved!

On the way home there was enough room on the plane for Avery to have her own seat. She loved it! And it made the trip home much easier then the trip out there where she sat on my lap most of the trip.

Now, to really play catch up. These last 2 pictures are from the weekend before our trip to Tucson. My sister, Amber, came up for a visit and she took these for us.

Avery's first swing ride.

And Avery at church in her nursery class (which she loves).

And that is all! I am now caught up. With my record, you can probably expect to not see another update until she is starting Kindergarten. But hopefully not!

9 months old

2009-03-31T08:34:00.000-07:00

I realize that I still have more to post to catch up on, but I wanted to make sure and get Avery's 9 month old photos up before too late. This time I actually was purposeful about getting pictures. So, what follows is a chronicle of Avery's day yesterday.

In the morning we watched Taylor and Kenzie who are the kids of a friend of mine. It is a whole different thing now that Avery can almost keep up with them.

In the afternoon, the sun came out (after being iced in this weekend, that's Kansas for you). We went outside and took "official" 9 month photos. The dress is an adorable gift from Nana.

This was Avery's first real experience with grass. After getting used to it some, she did fine. And I am happy to report, it did not even end up in her mouth.

Then it was off to normal activities. Her new thing is to pull up on the side of her her toy box, dig through it, and pull out all the toys. This shot was too adorable to pass up, although I have since realized that the "plumber-pant" problem probably reflects more on the abilities of the person who picked out her clothes and not on Avery's ability to keep them up. Oh well...

For dinner it was peas, carrots, cheerios, and a mess. The mess part is actually with us for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

So, Happy 9 Month Old Birthday to my precious girl. I can't believe we are already here!

Waaay Behind...

2009-03-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

If you ask me, "Where have you been?!?" I'm afraid I don't have a good answer for you. Can I just say I have been out of it temporarily? At this point, I am so far behind, I am going to post updates in pieces, otherwise it would never get done.

The most interesting tidbit, is that Avery has been crawling since Feb 13th! Pretty much 7.5 months old. This video was taken early on (2/21). She is quite quick and professional looking now. At this point, she is pulling up on everything.

The scariest part of the crawling is that she gets into everything now. To be fair though, she did drop her toy into the purse before I caught her digging in the purse to retrieve the toy. I loved the "Caught with the hand in the cookie jar" moment.

On Valentines Day, Avery discovered her favorite Valentine, herself! If only we all felt this way about the reflection in the mirror.

Also on Valentines, Kevin bought Avery her first Valentine's card. This year she was more interested in the envelope, but it's the thought that counts...

When I say she is getting everywhere, I do mean everywhere. This was great fun for awhile, crawling under the exersaucer, getting stuck and hollering for mom.

She also realizes now that she can follow us around the house. This is her realizing she is alone in her room and coming to find us.

This was the best photo I got for her 8 month old shot. As I said earlier, I have been out of it.

Last, this is a set of letters that my Aunt and Uncle in Austin sent to Avery for Christmas. When we opened the gift, it was 5 white letters with paint and paintbrushes. I finally got around to decorating them, and I think they turned out wonderfully. The next challenge is to get them up on the wall. Thanks Mike and Debbie!

That's all for now. We also took a trip to Tucson which will be another post, but my mom posted some great shots of that trip here on her blog.

Later!

Too cute to miss.

2009-02-20T13:51:00.000-08:00

Have we mentioned Avery is a happy baby?

One of these days I will figure out how to turn these videos right side up...

Just life

2009-02-10T19:46:00.000-08:00

No big news this time around, just life (and lots of pictures of it).

Avery's Nana has been busy. She is a very talented seamstress and has made Avery these adorable 2 outfits lately. They are so sweet. I think the hats are especially cute.

The purple outfit even came with a handmade bunny rabbit doll.

The green outfit came with amazing little shoes!

What childhood is complete without animated dancing penguins singing Christmas carols? Apparently not Avery's, and she loves them!

She also loves her diapers...

I tried again to get photos of her little teeth. These are the best I have, at least this time you can see something. However, the flash on the camera blinds her, so you get teeth, but no eyes. I promise she does have both teeth and eyes at the same time...

Avery's newest trick is to roll across the room to get her bottle and then feed herself. As you can see, she is getting most of it in her mouth, but some lands on the floor and all over her face...

7 month + some

2009-02-01T12:40:00.000-08:00

Yes, she is already 7 months! Who would believe. These are some great pictures we have taken recently.

These are her "official" 7 month photos. I thought PJ's would change it up a little (and we got to bedtime before I remembered to take photos...). I also captured her upside down finger sucking, so cute!

This lovely outfit is a gift from Grams and Avery's name-changing grandfather (Gramps, G-pa, GigaBob, they can't decide on a name). But it is her first Disneyland outfit and deserved a photo.

Every night we read stories before we go to bed. It is a sweet and beautiful moment worth catching on camera.

Happy Superbowl Sunday! Enjoy the game...