Hi Everyone! Here's a little update for you about what we've been up to. Avery moved into a big, big bed!!! We've officially put the crip away and now our tiny 2-year-old is in a double bed! She loves it! So now we're all ready for guests to come and stay with us in Colorado! You visitors can have the nice butterfly/flowers bed spread and Avery can camp out on her crib mattress on the floor somewhere. So, make your reservations now!

Then, Grandpa came for a visit! He had some work nearby and came for a nice lunch with the Smith fam. Avery loved showing off her new room and giving Grandpa a tour of the house and her favorite toys!!!

We finally got below 85 degrees around here, so we made a break for our first trip to the Denver Zoo. It was pretty fun! Avery seemed to have some sort of mental checklist to see all the animals as quickly as possible. No sooner than we got to one animal, she was ready to move on to the next one! But she settled down after lunch and started to enjoy the exhibits more. Here's our friend, bear who looked right at us!!
Here's the fam on the train and some other zoo pics. Avery loved riding her panda bear and playing in the covered wagon. Then I threw a random one on the end. It's a picture that Avery took of her stuffed animals on her bed.... not bad, huh?


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Hi all. This is Jeff, giving it my first shot at blogging. I decided I needed to finally jump on this bandwagon, if for nothing else than to keep you all updated, since the Children's Place has stolen my wife from me. (She started working last Thursday, and then worked six of the next seven days, accruing 41 hours of paid work! Whew! Talk about going from zero to sixty in terms of how bored and aimless we had been feeling.)

So anyway, as the title of this indicates, I've got some bathroom-related news for you all: Avery just went "poop on the potty" for the first time. We've let her believe that she's accomplished this feat before, but without my getting too graphic, let me just say that this was the first time she really got it done, and MAN did she get it done! So this first picture is a very proud Avery posing with her potty, favorite toilet-training book, and kitty-cat pez dispenser that rewards her after she goes. (She got two pieces of candy for this big success!)


In non-potty news, our past week has been a little more full, with Steph working and me trying to hold down the fort. We've been able to hang out with Garner and Erica and their kiddos a couple times, and that has been nice. They came over yesterday, and Avery had a great time with Lauren and Ella!
















The only other action going on is that Avery attended her very first movie, like at a big theater! We went this afternoon and saw Surf's Up at a cheap theater, and it was actually a really cute little movie. Avery was totally entranced the whole time, eating popcorn and making comments about the little surfing penguins. It was super fun!(Though it's just another reminder of how she's getting so big, so fast.) On our drive home, Steph asked Avery if she liked the movie, and Avery responded with, "Like it? I loved it!" Our daughter is a pretty funny little girl sometimes.

I'll leave you with another cute pic of Avery enjoying a homemade smoothie-popsicle that she and Mommy made the other day. (Note: Don't try using up your extra cantaloupe in a smoothie. Weird!)

Hey There! Not much exciting going on around here. We've been spending our time this week trying to figure out how to become official residents of the state by acquiring our licenses and registrations. It's really an impressive process. I'll try and keep this boring story short, but there are some details worth mentioning.
1. The licensing, emissions testing, and registering all take place at different locations... huh.
2. I picked up my # in line to get my license at 11am. My number got called at 2:45pm. Woa.
3. It costs $12 for someone to come out and look at your car's VIN number. Really?

We also got new phone numbers this week, so if you didn't get an e-mail about that, let me know. It wasn't on purpose, it just means you're not in my address book. Doesn't mean we don't love you, just means we must not e-mail very much or something.

Jeff went to a school orientation this week. Lots of info and paperwork. The one major revelation is that we both got a little shocked about our finances. We knew it was going to be a tough stretch for us, but crunching some actual numbers was quite scary!! So, if you think of us in your prayers, we'd love for you to lift us up... specifically that we'd learn financial discipline (so far, we've not been living very disciplined- better than Indiana, but not great) and that God would provide us with some awesome jobs! Thanks, friends!

Speaking of jobs... we had lunch with a friend who does Chemistry tutoring in the area. She said there's always a need for physics tutors and Jeff got pretty excited about that possibility. He'll be pursuing that soon! I got an e-mail from a guy who owns a hitting facility and said they're looking for softball instructors. Seems like he's a bit hard to nail down, so hopefully it will work out. I think I'd enjoy being involved with softball still. I did start my job at The Children's Place. Only worked one day so far... people seem nice. I worked on baby socks the whole time. I made a beautiful display of socks!

We've been working on potty training with Avery! We're not fully into it yet- as in wearing underwear all day, but she sits on the potty quite often. I think she's staring to get when she's going now, just not that second before she has to go! She's really into being a 'big girl' now... in fact, she hit Erica's daughter for calling her little! She had a big scowl on her face! You could tell she felt really passionate about being a 'big girl' because she really doesn't usually stand up for herself. Don't worry, she got disciplined for it!

Anyway, sorry for a post of such mundane details! Here are some pics of Avery playing. Being goofy at the table, having some painting time with mommy (where we couldn't find her paints, so we used acrylic paint!! Yikes!! No damage done though. I was feeling quite brave that day.) And sliding with daddy- sporting her new hair-do of one ponytail. She's soo big!!

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Hey All! Not much to say around here these days... we've been experiencing a bit of boredom lately. Most of the big move-in tasks are done, so we're kind of bored. In my boredom, I came up with a list of things that indicate that we are bored...

10. In the last week, I believe I've finished 4 books and stayed up until 5 am reading on two separate occasions... why? because I can.
9. We go for really long family walks... we have the time, why not?
8. We walk everywhere- playground, store, blockbuster... we have the time, why not?
7. I check to see if people have commented on our blog about 80 times per day.
6. Jeff sat at the Cheesecake Factory for an hour and a half waiting for an interview (read the entire menu), and he really didn't mind.
5. Jeff has started working out again "because it's something to do"- health is just a bonus.
4. Bejewelled 2 Deluxe
3. Tumblebugs and Luxor
2. Chuzzle
1. Yikes, I've gotten way too into free online puzzle games.

Avery is eating up all of the mommy and daddy time. So, that's nice for her. She really is a daddy's girl! Lately, any time she sees someone wearing a hat she exclaims, "look, cowboy"- regardless of the gender of the person, of course. So during our long walks when Jeff wears his hat she constantly says, "you cowboy?". Then she puts it on, "I'm a cowboy!" She could spend hours putting the hat on the three of us and telling us we're cowboys. Perhaps it's much cuter in person. So she completes the look by getting her rocking horse and being a cowboy.

Here's Avery on a bike trip to the playground. She's really not at all getting the concept of riding her bike, but it was fun to try. By the end, she was pedaling better, but the girl can't steer and pedal. It's quite astounding.

Jeff and I are getting a bit more serious about the job search. He's applied at a few restaurants and I've inquired at a few softball places and some retail. Jeff should know soon if he got hired on at Cheesecake Factory and I have an interview tomorrow at the Children's Place. So, pray that God would bless us with some really fun jobs!

So I never know how to end a blog entry... our sincerest regards, miss everyone, best wishes...
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