It's Friday night and Avery's on her way to sleep, and Steph suggested that I blog about a couple cute things Avery said tonight (and that she's said a few times lately).

So one thing is that we've sporadically been praying before bedtime, whenever Avery or one of us remembers it. Most times Avery makes me or Mommy do the talking, but the past few nights she's done the talking, and it's been sooooooooo sweet. Here's her quoted prayer from tonight...
"Dear God, thank you for all the help. Thank you for Mommy, and Daddy, and Avery, and me, and all the people in the town. Amen." She then repeated the exact same prayer two more times, and then we were done. She's such a cute little thankful girl (even if we're not sure what she's talking about sometimes).

Then a while later, since she rarely falls right to sleep these days, she was shouting to us through the wall as she does a few times a night on her way to sleep. After shouting to ask for a differnet blankie, and then also asking Mommy to come help her get under the covers, it was quiet for a few minutes. But then a commercial for the office came on in the living room with its loud theme music, and Avery says, "Mommy? You watching the Office? That's Daddy's favorite show." She cracks us up sometimes.
Hi there, everybody. This is Jeff, finally getting around to putting some photos on our blog again. We were quite busy for a while there, and then I think we just got out of the habit of posting, and well... enough excuses, LET'S SEE SOME PICS!
I'm planning to go sort of chronologically as we catch up on photos, and here's a disclaimer that there are quite a few of these things. But I figured there are some folks out there who have been in Avery-withdrawal, and need a heavy dose, and I'm happy to oblige.
The first pictures are of Avery going to visit Santa at the mall back in December. She was excited about it, and happy as we threw money in the fountain...

...and SIGNIFICANTLY less excited when she actually met Santa...

... and then eventually willing to pose and smile, at a safe distance from him. (Isn't it weird that he's not wearing a red suit, by the way? Huh. I wonder if it's some kind of Colorado thing or just an eccentric Santa.)

And then she was much happier to give a hug to an inanimate reindeer-shaped object.

So now we'll fast-forward to a few pics from Christmas in Arizona. Avery got lots of fun stuff, including the coolest little indoor trampoline ever from Steph's folks. She was also a great little helper to Daddy as they make pumpkin bread together.


And now I'll leave you with a couple pics from today. Just in the last couple days she's started enjoying coloring books - and I mean REALLY enjoying it. She finally figured out how to do more than just draw a few lines on a coloring book page, and she's done like 10 pages in the last two days. So here's an action shot of her focused work, and then a proud little pose. (And Steph wanted me to mention that Avery's crazy hair is the result of swim-class today.)
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Hey all. Sorry about the lack of posting lately. I don't know what's wrong with us. What is it that can renew my interest in blogging?? Maybe lots of comments that tell me people actually read this??!!

We had a great trip to Arizona. In fact, this is the first blog on our hotshot new laptop and wireless connection that Jeff slaved over! We had great weather both directions for the drive- long drive with an almost 3 year old!! We tried the whole "drive at night thing so our kid can sleep" and boy that didn't work very well. She didn't sleep that awesome and Jeff was "dizzy" and not really seeing the road well upon arrival in Scottsdale at 3 a.m.

Avery was soooo into Christmas this year! It was great- she was so excited to open presents- the four Christmas' she got to celebrate definitely spoiled her! But she was so thankful and loves all of her toys, books and clothes! Anyone seen the movie Babe? Ya know that part when the granddaughter gets her awesome dollhouse and then throws a big fit because its the wrong one?? I had nightmares of Avery doing that. She's been known to be a little particular and volatile. So, we had a little talk about being thankful. Holy smokes I've never seen a talk work so well with a two-year old! How did that happen? She kept telling grandma and grandpa thank you for everything! It was nice to see her so appreciative for at least a little while!

Shortly after Christmas came Avery's first bout with the stomach flu. Jeff and I were out and about shopping while Grandpa was babysitting (Grandma was already down with the flu). And poor Avery wakes up throwing up- no clue what's happening, and poor Grandpa had to deal with a distraught little girl- he does not like to see his grandkids cry! We weren't too far away and rushed home to help the little puker. She survived and was tearing around in a few days.

We got to visit with only a couple of friends. Family and sickness took up most of the time, so hopefully we can catch everyone in March. Jeff's Dad and Step-mom came out to watch the ole' IU Hoosiers play in the Insight Bowl. We went too and had fun despite IU's play.

So, that's the Smith Family Christmas break! Someday we'll put pictures on the blog again.