We are back!

We are really not ignoring you all on purpose, we have just had a busy month. When 3 days before Christmas is the first chance we have had to update our blog, you know we have been busy!

We will start with just before Thanksgiving...

Avery is now eating cereal and baby food. So far, just vegetables. Peas, sweet potato, and squash. She seems to enjoy it ok but I think she would rather feed herself.

Of course, there are moments, when too much is too much and Dad gets the overflow. You may want to ask Kevin about that experince. Ewwwww

For Thanksgiving, we drove down to Austin to visit with Kevin's family. It is the first time that all the cousins have been together.

They seem to enjoy each other

Avery also got to meet Tonya's Uncle Mike and Aunt Debbie. We got to tour their beautiful new house too.

On the way to and from Austin we stayed in Oklahoma City at the home of Kevin's friends Chris and Andrea Moyer. They were away from home celebrating the holiday with their own family. Their tradition is to photograph their daughter each month with this moose. You can see some of those photos on their blog, which is linked on the right. So, this is for you Chris and Andrea, since we have not been able to get together, this will help you get perspective on Avery's size.

This is also her 5 month old photo.

We also had another chance to spend some time with Kevin's family up here in Kansas. We captured this shot of the two newest members of the Dodd family (#35 and #36). Believe it or not, Avery is older than Tate by 1 week.

Early in December we had our first snow. Not much , less than an inch, I think. But enough to get Avery's first snow pictures. I think the only impression it made on her was she didn't like her socks being wet.

The next weekend we turned around and made another trip to Texas. Tonya's sister, Sandra graduated from ACU and the whole family was there.

It was a neat time for us all to be together.

But... some things never change...

While in Abilene, Avery got to meet Cal (I think he is technically a 2nd cousin)

Then we flew back home. Avery is getting to be a seasoned pro at this airplane stuff. She does a great job.

She is also getting very strong and, we think, close to crawling. We will keep you updated about that.

So, after all that activity... we are tired.

Now we are looking forward to celebrating Christmas here at home and starting our own family traditions.

Merry Christmas all!

Kevin, Tonya, Avery

Additional note:

In the midst of this busy time, we experienced an unexpected sadness as well.

Kevin's Grandpa Dodd passed away on December 2nd. This was very sudden and we are still adjusting to the loss. Grandpa and Grandma lived here in Kansas just 30 minutes away from us. It has been a great blessing to have been so close for the past 3 years and we have greatly enjoyed the relationship that developed because of the nearness. We miss Grandpa a lot and are so glad that this is not the end of our relationship with him. We look forward to meeting up with him again one day.