Dear Avery,

What a beautiful blessing you are to our lives!  I am so excited to have the opportunity to be your Mommy and help mold you into the amazing young woman I know you are going to become.  I know our relationship will not always be perfect but please know that my love for you is unconditional and unending.

You are already so strong and curious about the world around you.  You are a sweet tempered baby but you are not afraid to let us know when you need something!

My wish for you is that you believe in yourself and push yourself to be the best you can be on a daily basis.  That you surround yourself with people that are worthy of your company and that add joy to your life.  That you know your Mommy and Daddy are here for you, support you, believe in you and only want the best for you. 

Welcome to our family, Avery Ann!  You complete us!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Happy Birthday, Avery Ann!

 November 24, 2012---If you had asked me that morning what my plans were for the day I would have told you I planned on running some last minute errands and spending some quality time with Hunter since it was the last weekend before we were to become an official family of four.  In fact, I believed it so much that when the contractions started about 9:30 that morning I just continued getting ready.  A little after 10, Joe was really pushing for me to commit to going to the hospital...packing my bag and texting his mom that she needed to come back to the house to take care of Hunter.   Finally around 11, I decided that it was probably time to go since my contractions had gone from 7 1/2 minutes apart to just around 3 minutes apart.  We made it to Plano Medical Center about 11:30 and by 2:20 that afternoon we were holding our beautiful baby girl in our arms!  It was fast and furious and only 12 minutes of pushing!!

2012 in Pictures

One of Hunter's favorite places to sit.

Tank loves his boy!  One of our many trips to the farm.

Hunter's first visit to a park!

First fish caught by Aunt Ainslee at the farm!

This kid is beyond cool!

Crazy Coupe at the Farm

Easter Egg Hunt at the Farm

This kid wanted to swim every day, ALL day!

H and his frog....at the farm!

GO POKES!

Family Vacation to Destin, FL---and we drove it!

Watching the sea lion show at the aquarium in Destin

Playing Angry Birds with Papa in Destin

Out scouting the property with Daddy

First day of school--notice the shiner under his right eye!

First movie in the theaters---Finding Nemo 3D

At the Pumpkin Patch

At the State Fair of Texas

Cutest Mickey in the WORLD

Dancing in the window in Downtown McKinney for the Christmas Tree lighting

At the Christmas Tree Lighting

Avery Ann

Hunter meeting his little sister for the first time!  I would say it was love at first sight!

Coming home!

It's Been Awhile...2012 in Review!

Hunter is two and we have a new member in the family so I figure it is time for me to pick blogging back up in all my free time! 

In an effort to play catch up from the last year and start blogging about this year, I am going to give the highlights of 2012 and then commit to do the photo a day idea for 2013 starting today, January 4th.  I will give the disclaimer for those that follow this blog that I won't be posting those pictures on a daily basis....my goal is to get on and post once a month but I will at least have pictures saved and ready to add when I find that open moment of time to blog.

So here are the highlights in no particular order because let's face it there is NO way I can remember when each of these things took place!

1)  Hunter finally started to walk sometime close to the new year.  We figure he was a bit of a late bloomer in this area because majority of the creatures in our house walk on all fours and when he did stand up on his own he was having to contend with three 70 lb or more boxers.

2)  Joe took a new job with a small company as the Vice President of sales. He is still a road warrior so we definitely take advantage of our weekends as a family.  I am still with the same company for my fourth year as an education consultant, traveling at least one day a week. 

3)  In March, we found out we were expecting our second baby on my Grandmother's 90 birthday.

4)  On June 11 (my Grandfather's birthday), we found out the second baby was going to be a little girl! 

5)  In May we went to my cousin Morgan's wedding in Reno and decided that we were going to changed our little girl's name from what we had always thought we were going to name her. Our new name for her: Avery Ann.

6) Hunter started day school at Custer Road United Methodist Church two days a week.  He definitely LOVES it even though it has been a fall of building his immune system so a whole lot of Kleenex and vapor rub has been used at our house. 

7)  At the end of October my Grandmother moved down to McKinney from OKC.  It is SO wonderful to have her so close to us!

8)  On November 24th, Miss Avery Ann decided she was going to make her appearance a couple of days before I was scheduled to be induced. 

I am sure there were more things that could/should be on this list but at 9:30 at night after five weeks of little sleep due to having a newborn these are the ones that stick out in my mind.