Trip to the midwest...

We just returned from a much needed visit with family back in the midwest. We thought we'd be safe planning a trip to Michigan in November....but it was snowing there already!!! Yuck! And SOOOO cold! After visiting with my family for a few days, Avery and I flew to Madison, WI to meet up with Jon at his sister's house. Grandma Kathy and Grampa Warren drove down for a quick visit too. And Avery got to see snow one more time before we headed home. We miss everyone already, but it's 50 degrees and sunny here today - I do not miss the snow!



Here are a couple pictures from the trip. The rest can be seen at the link below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/robertahorne1/November2008Trip



Avery in the snow....




A visit with Great Grampa Hank...





More snow...

And lots of fun times with Katie and Jackson...

Happy Birthday Uncle Nick...

Dear Uncle Nick,
Hope you're having a great birthday! I miss you and can't wait to see you in a couple weeks!

Love,
Avery

For Jackson...

I don't know how Jon discovered that Avery thinks "Jackson" is the funniest word ever, but here she is cracking up about it...

If you're happy and you know it....

She gets a little distracted at the end, but that's probably because she had already made us sing "Happy" with her 20 times this day. The funny thing is that Avery actually taught us how this song goes by doing all the hand movements herself. She must have learned this at daycare.

Please excuse our singing voices....

Happy Halloween...

For what started out as such a tough week for our family, we were so lucky to have our little Avery to lift our spirits at the end of the week. She had a great Halloween, and even got to do some trick-or-treating with our friends from down the street.

Avery got to dress up for school on Thursday and Jon put her in this adorable, and hilarious outfit....


Our annual pumpkin carving tradition before Trick-or-Treating. Avery helped draw the faces this year (ok, she really just stabbed the pumpkin with the pencil a few times)...

And she was very interested in cleaning out the pumpkees...

Here are their masterpieces...

Chloe put on her pumpkin costume for a photo with Avery...

Here is our little Ladybug getting ready for trick-or-treating...

The minute we got home, Avery dug into her loot. She had so much fun getting candy from strangers. Although she didn't really understand the concept and ended up giving half the people candy from her bag instead of taking candy from them...

Avery really wanted this lollipop, so we caved and let her have a little bit, even though it was about 20 minutes before bedtime. I really hope we're not regretting that decision at 2am tonight...

Avery's new hat...

Dear Grandma Kathy -
Thank you so much for my new "pumpkee" hat! I love it and I'm going to wear it everyday!!!

Love, Avery

Avery's fall weekend...

Our neighborhood rec center had a Fall Festival this weekend. We only got to go for a short time before Avery's naptime, so she didn't wear her costume, but she seemed pretty intrigued by all the other kids all dressed up. And she didn't seem scared of this monster at all...


There was a magic show in the rec center's gym, where apparently dunking is prohibited. Otherwise Avery would have definitely shown off her skills. Jon also claims his college gym had a rule like this which is why he never dunked...

After the magic show, Avery got to paint her very own "pumpkee". This is her new favorite word....

And she stopped the sing the "itsy bitsy spider" on the way out...

Avery was so proud to try on her dad's shoes later that day. Whenever she sees this picture she immediately says "daddy shoooes"....