Girl!

It is official! We are having a girl! Fun! A sister for Avery and another princess for Daddy. Here are our sonograms. They are a bit hard to see, but this is all we have until we see her in person.

We saw some great shot of her during the sonograms, but the photos aren't quite as good.

The nurse called her "laid back" because she was pretty calm the whole time, so maybe that will translate to her personality when she is here.

Enjoy!

Profile #1

Profile #2

L:Full frontal face

R:Face looking down

Happy Easter!

An Easter post on Easter day??? What is this family coming to?

Easter weekend was a time of great adventure for us. Avery got to do all sorts of fun things and thankfully the weather cooperated. Saturday morning Kevin borrowed a bicycle trailer and took Avery out for her first ride. I was so proud of her when she climbed in as soon as it was ready to go. She rode around the block with Kevin once and really enjoyed it. Later that morning she rode to the park and back with Daddy. They had a great time, but as you will see in the following pictures, there was a slight incident with a slide meeting a cheek. Chalk it up to Avery demanding to be independent while going down the big slide.

So, Easter is becoming one of my favorite holidays for photo opportunities. This year did not disappoint! We had a wonderful Easter get together with the family in Topeka on Saturday,

complete with 4 types of dessert and an Easter egg hunt! So fun. Avery is at the perfect age this year to enjoy the hunt and she was loving it!! We had a blast following her round the yard watching her face light up every time she found an egg and placed it in her basket.

After the egg hunt Avery got to swim in the spa with cousin Brooke, Lexi, and Aunt Lisa. We had a hard time getting her out of the water!

Easter Sunday came and Avery got to wear her brand new Easter dress made with love by Nana. It was so sweet and Avery was very excited to wear the "hop-hop" dress.

After church we had some friends over for dinner and had another Easter egg hunt. The girls were so excited and had a fabulous time searching the back yard.

I suppose there is no minimum age for stealing someone else's find. Luckily, they both ended up with overflowing baskets of eggs.



Then the best part, finding the chocolate inside each one.


So another successful Easter celebrated by the Dodd family! What wonderful memories were made! Thank you all who were involved!

Weekend Fun

This past weekend we were hoping to take Avery on her first visit to the zoo. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and whatever we did had to be indoors. Luckily, Kevin came up with the idea of going to Cabellas. If we can't see live animals, I suppose that is the next best thing. So off we went. Avery had a fabulous time! She loved the fish, moose, zebras, and elephants. It will be especially fun when we do make it to the zoo.

Later that same weekend, we went to Walmart just to get out of the house. When we do that, Avery's favorite thing to do is ride the "circle-bikes" (as she calls them). This is very much an Avery and Daddy activity. However, he always makes her wear a helmet (safety first)! This is the first time she could really hold up her head for any length of time with it on since it is still pretty heavy for her. She is quite content to wear it though if it means Daddy will push her around the aisle for a little bit. As you might guess, Kevin can hardly wait until she is old enough for her own...

On Monday, we were very excited to welcome the first day of the grilling season!! Kevin pulled out all the stops with steak, grilled vegetables and bread, along with fresh green beans and baked potatoes. I didn't realize how much I had missed Kevin grilling until the feast was before me! Fun summer days here we come!

First Day of Spring

As you all know, calendars everywhere marked March 20 as the first day of Spring. Unfortunately for us in the Kansas City area, no one told the weatherman here. As a result, we ended up with at least 6 inches of snow here in Lawrence. Avery didn't seem to mind though, this was really the first time we have let her romp and play in the snow. She loved it! She especially loved having "mittens" on her hands. Here are a few photos and videos of the occasion.

"Hello from a Lawrence, KS Spring day"

Helping Daddy scrape snow off the cars.

"The Fall"

Obviously the fall in the video did not leave any permanent damage. Here she is afterwards covered in snow and looking mighty proud of herself. :)

In the midst of this cold and snowy weekend, Kevin's parents visited from Austin. It was great to see them. They were very brave to be here for the "beginning of Spring"...



As we have come to expect in Kansas, 2 days after the snow it was 70 degrees and now it is back to overcast and 40's. Needless to say, we don't change out our closets with seasonal clothes very often, they pretty much all stay out all year!
Later!