Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a merry, blessed Christmas...

Oh the weather outside is frightful....

Could it be that we actually got a decent snow for the first time in forever or did I just dream it?!? Nope, we did indeed get a good snow...for real!

Last Friday I decided to go on to work. I figured I wouldn't be there for very long with the anticipated snow storm threatening to close the center (or at least send my "too scared to drive in snow" self home, whichever happened first), but I at least wanted to get some things to take home to work on. Well, that turned out not to be the best idea. On my way to work, it was already starting to snow and cover the ground...this was at 6:45 am. Let's just go ahead and get this little disclaimer out of the way: I insist on owning a 4-wheel drive vehicle, but by no means does this make me comfortable driving in the snow...moving right along....
I was driving Shayne's truck because both (yes both) of my headlights were burned out in my Trailblazer. This should be fine, I thought, driving a truck and all in the snow. WRONG! The center closed not long after I got there and when I struggled to pull out of my parking spot, I knew I was in trouble. So here I go, swerving down the road as if there were a 9 year old behind the wheel driving the speed of a 90 year old. In the meantime, I am totally freaking out and sharing the freak out with my mom on my cell phone (sorry about that mom...specifically the part where I'm letting you know how I'm rolling through an intersection without a working stoplight and without brakes). Needless to say, I immediately pulled over to the nearest parking lot and put my shaky, not-so-happy self in park. My wonderful dad came to my rescue and took me on the long trip home. The roads were treacherous, but the snow was beautiful. We ended up with at least a foot.
Friday night around 7:00 pm we finally lost power. Shayne, Avery and I piled in our bed that was covered in a massive amount of blankets. The next day we decided to hang out at Shayne's dad's house, since we were still without power and he has a nice wood furnace that kept us toasty. Later in the day, Shayne's dad took him to Waynesville to get his truck and ended up wrecking on the way there, which is a whole other story in itself. Both made it out okay, although the truck suffered a little damage.

Despite all the craziness, we loved the snow. I can't remember the last time we had a snow this big and it has been long awaited. Avery seemed to enjoy it too, although she was afraid to touch it or basically move in it at all. We did get some great pictures of her, though, which I am of course posting! We hope to have more snows like this with opportunities to create great memories with our little one... just don't expect to see me driving in it!

Random video

So I've decided to change my "Video of the week" to "Random video," being that I've become such a blog slacker lately. Now I will periodically post a random video instead of posting one weekly, so keep checking back because you never know when one may pop up!

This video is pretty cool and I'm pretty sure I'm going to ask Shayne to do our lights this way next Christmas...he has a year to get started so it shouldn't be that big of a task, right?!? Make sure you pause the music in the right column of my blog so you can hear the video. Enjoy!

Did you hear?!?

Hundreds gather to protest global warming....

10 months

So I've been majorly slacking on my blogging and hope to make an effort to catch up over the holidays...so be prepared for picture overload. And I realize that Avery is 2 weeks past her 10 month birthday, but I'm writing about it now and that's just how it is :)
So now Avery is in the double digits and only 2 months away from being a year old. How did that happen?!? Our little Poots is such a blessing. I am in awe as I watch her day after day. She is moving all over the place and exploring her surroundings. She is becoming a chatter box, making as many sounds as she can. She does a great job reaching for and pointing to objects to identify them. She has added some new words to her vocabulary, including Papaw and Pawpaw, pretty, ta da, duck, tap tap, and "ba" for bottle. She loves to imitate and play games and she can now point to her belly, ears, head and teeth. I am trying to teach her some simple signs (I can't help myself...it's now ingrained in me from work) and she will sign for "more" and is trying to do "done" and "eat," but mostly smiles instead. She loves to make all kinds of silly noises and has "silly wars" with her daddy. We hope to have a video of this up soon...it's pretty darn funny.

I'm telling myself that her language is her strong suite at this time, being that she is not as mobile as some babies are at this age. It's hard not to compare your baby to others, especially when you see them cruising or walking all over the place, but I have to remind myself that all babies are different and it will eventually come. Not to mention that she is much easier to keep up with at this point in time! But no matter what, she's always ready for her closeup....

Video of the week

I was watching this movie earlier and wanted to post this because, well, I just love it...

On the move...

Now that Avery is crawling (okay, it's a modified version of crawling, but moving nonetheless) she is beginning to explore her environment. She is moving all around the house, anywhere and everywhere she can. The word "no" is becoming a popular word in our household.

She has discovered walls...


And enjoys crawling under things, such as the dining room table...



Her jumper...



And even Dixie (this was not a set up, she put herself there...not even joking!)


Avery is also learning to climb and finds her daddy to be a good practicing tool...


Bring on the childproofing!

So true...

Unfortunately, I know this all too well...

Video of the week

I just love Ellen...

Avery's first Halloween