Best Buds

Some of my fondest childhood memories are with my first pet....our sweet dog, Apollo. There's nothing like having a canine companion that loves you unconditionally! It thrills me that Avery will grow up with these same memories. We've often talked about getting a therapy dog for Avery or having Ivan trained to help her...but for now, it's fun just watching them be friends! We're not sure if Ivan is just calming down as he gets older or if he is finally adjusting to having an unpredictable rugrat around the house. Either way, they are slowly becoming best buds.

Or, maybe they are becoming best buds because I found her feeding him Milkbones like a freight train!

Pedicures to finish up a girl's weekend...

To wrap up our girls weekend, Gram, Avery and I headed over to the local nail salon for some pampering. Just to give a little history....Avery and I stopped in this very nail salon a few weeks back to purchase a gift card for Gram. After we purchased the gift card and proceeded to leave the salon, Avery had a melt down. When I asked her what was wrong, she tearfully pointed at the salon and said she wanted her toes painted. Yep, my 3 year old has already entered the diva stage. In her defense, they did have an adorable little kid chair with a DVD player.

She was very excited about them "washing" her feet

I let her pick the color....there's no surprise that she picked pink!

Well of course she wants a design. What 3 year old would turn down a flower or polk-a-dots? Well not this one! She went with white polk-a-dots.  

This was my first time getting a design myself, but Avery insisted that Mommy and Gram both get designs.

A Girl's Weekend!

While Tripp was traveling the last week of June, we had a girl's weekend with Gram and Avery's cousins, Caroline and Cate.  It started with an evening at the Bounce House (which Avery LOVES now....remember when she wouldn't even step foot inside a bounce house?)

A Spot of Tea?

Gram has been wanting to take her girls to the cute little Tea House in downtown Woodstock. After Avery's last day of Dance Camp, we headed over for a spot of tea, dress up and good old fashioned gossip. Avery wanted to wear her frilly little dance outfit and fit right in.

Gram and her girls

This is what happens when you get a stranger to take a pic for you...and a man at that. Hats get cut off and people not looking at the camera.

Cate displaying the proper etiquet for sipping tea - or Sprite in this case...both hands delicately grasp each side of the cup, and most importantly, pinky-finger out.

Avery got her very own teeny tiny tea cup

Cate pouring Avery some "tea" from her teapot

Avery's very first time ever trying Sprite.....

Dance Camp

Since Avery will be starting dance class in the Fall, we signed her up for a week of dance camp to see how she liked it. While she spent most of the class laying in the floor she was very excited each day to go back. Not sure if she was more excited about the outfit and fun shoes or seeing her BFF Hailey.

Are they not the cutest?

Doing her 'toe-heel' with the teacher

Like I said, layed on the floor most of the time. Hailey decided to join her this time :o)

Hold your Horses

Pics from Avery's last two Hippotherapy sessions with Ms Cynthia

While we had several volunteers, Ms Susan (leading the horse in the green shirt) was Avery's favorite. She would arrive 30 minutes early for the session just so she could round up Sugar because she knew how much Avery loved him (Sugar was not easy to round up). While Avery initially LOVED Stormy, she grew quite fond of Sugar once she moved up to riding him. This session was the last time she rode Sugar :o( 

Avery and Ms Cynthia (amazing therapist!!!)

Avery and Stormy 

(you can see how much he loved Avery)

Avery and Sugar

Riding Stormy one last time :o(

Mmm, Broccoli

This post is merely to provide proof down the road when our daughter decides to proclaim she doesn't like broccoli. I had tried broccoli a few times at home and Avery had nothing to do with it. I even tried the good  ol' smothered in cheese trick...nope. Recently at a dinner out, Tripp ordered a side of broccoli with his steak. When it came to the table, Avery eyed it like it was a slice of cake! She asked Tripp for a bite and ended up eating his whole plate of broccoli! Who is this child?

(For further proof, I also video taped this broccoli feast with her stating "Mmm, I love broccoli!")

Success!

We have been reluctant to say it outload, but.....we have SUCCESS!!! I believe we are officially potty-trained!!!! Avery did so well while we were in Hilton Head last month, and we feared it would come to a screeching halt when we returned home. So, how did we reach success? Bribery....good old fashioned bribery. What did we bribe her with? The one thing that Avery lives for.....

Avery and "New Baby"