Avery is THREE!

Well, several months ago, Avery turned THREE!!

She seems to be growing and changing all the time, so I can't remember exactly what she was like in early August, but I can say with fair certainty that she was a spit fire, full of life and all the extreme highs and low lows that come with it. She can be the happiest kid around or the angriest one. Rarely is there an in between. Matt and I often talk about how her cuddles are the actual best cuddles in the world - she hugs you with her entire being, she buries her head in your chest or shoulder, she wraps her arms around you like she'll never see you again, I mean, they're that amazing. She loves with no abandon and it is a quality in her I hope she never loses.

Avery has never met an animal or "stuffie" that she hasn't fallen madly in love with. She hugs every stuffed animal like it's her dearest friend on earth and tells it over and over again how much she loves it. Sadly for them, she often doesn't remember which ones are her current favorite, so there's a new rotation of best friends every 24 hours or so. ;)

Avery girl LOVES her Kota Kota (or Koooey Koooey, or Koa Koa).

She rocks the vest AND nebulizer almost entirely by herself these days! Whenever I look over at her holding her nebulizer with her vest going, I think "Wow" she's a big girl.

She still has the loudest scream on the planet. #truth She makes every room louder yet happier, often crazier. She always wants whatever her brother wants. She spells her name proudly, rocks her underwear with minimal "oops" moments since she decided she was done with diapers (never even had to do pull ups with this girl!), and still LOVES the color pink. All things pink. This past summer, she was very obsessed with bugs. She "loved" rolly polly bugs so fiercely, but often caught them only to put them in cups or boxes where they would eventually die en masse. :-/  She still loves to sing and dance, and loves Moana, Trolls, the Lorax, Doc McStuffins, and most of all Bubble Guppies. And she's pretty fearless, despite needing to be attached to mom most of the time ;)

Some memories from being 2:

Christmas morning (2016):

This was shortly after Avery decided she didn't want to wear diapers anymore (summer 2017). Thank goodness ;)

Telling daddy she went potty on her own (July 2017):

From April, a little clip of her singing one of her favorite night time songs:

A little glimpse at her deep grunt-laugh (from Aug in Minnesota):

A little of her fearless side (from our March trip to Palm Desert):

A cute video of "This little piggy had roast BEEP!" from Dec 2016 (2 years and 4 months old):

Excitement on the gondola in Breckenridge during the family trip in January:

Hopefully that's a good glimpse of Avery being 2, 3 is already off to a wild start! Thankful for this crazy girl :) We love her!

Is This Thing On?

Remember that time I had a blog and life got too crazy to actually keep up with it, and then I forgot how to even log in to post on the blog, and then I was looking through old posts wistfully wishing I had been keeping up with it because it's such a great record of things that have happened in our lives?

Oops.

Well, I just remembered how to log on. So here are a couple pictures of us lately. I at minimum need to do an Avery Virginia 3rd Birthday post, because though she is a second child, we haven't completely forgotten about her ;)

Matt's folks came out for a Fall visit and we had a blast heading up to Georgetown to check out the Georgetown Loop Railroad! Our first time on it, and everyone had a great time despite it being a little chilly with a few snowflakes in the air.

Benjamin is FIVE!

Dear Benjamin Willys,

Today you are FIVE!

WHAT?

You...

...love all things Star Wars. You've watched all the movies (except for the last two new ones) and love talking about them with dad.
...LOVE sports. As in, you will sit down and watch any sport on TV and cheer for any team you've arbitrarily chosen. You cheer, ask questions about rules, and get so excited about any type of sport. You always play soccer and football around the house (even by yourself) and LOVE your Colorado Buffaloes and Denver Broncos.
...can read! You started reading almost a year ago but now can just about get through whole (beginner) books, and it's so cool watching you do it. You don't like to let people see you reading, but we know that you love doing it, especially when we see it opening your world in so many ways!
...have gotten a little bit of an "edge" the past few months. You're still a sweet and kind boy, but you're definitely not the same boy as a year ago in some ways! Sometimes it's hard to see you growing out of your "baby" self and turning into a little boy with opinions and attitude all your own, but it's also a blast to watch too.
...play games and cards (you love Go Fish, Protect the Pridelands, and lots of other games)
...love your sister, even though you also love terrorizing her. I suppose that's how a lot of siblings work, huh? But at least at the end of the day I know you would do anything for her. <3 nbsp="" p="">...love watching shows like Paw Patrol and Nature Cat (and other shows that I don't know the names of); and you love watching Bubble Guppies and Little Einstein's with your sister when she's getting her treatment.
...love to learn about things and how they work. It's so fun watching you ask questions (and it's also occasionally obnoxious - you'll understand when you have kids) ;)
...love to play with trucks.
...love playing tag. It's just about your favorite thing to do at school during recess!
...finally taught yourself how to pump so you can swing all by yourself! (A big day for mom and dad) ;)
...told me that you're going to CU when you're in college, so that's awesome ;) (But I told you that we'd love for you to go somewhere really fun out East so we could come visit all the time. Hehe)
...will be in Kindergarten next year!! WHAT?!

We're so thankful that five years ago you made our family bigger and even more full of love. You made me a mama, and that's a special piece of my heart that you'll always have! I love watching you and your sister become the very best of friends. And most of all, I just LOVE you. You are so so loved. I hope you use your big brain and heart to do good and kind things in the world!

Happy birthday big boy!
Love,
Mom & Dad

Throwback to newborn Benjamin: