Avery's 4th

Aye Aye Aye, another birthday! Avery is 4! I can't believe I have a 4 year old! She was way too excited to turn 4. The whole month of October, she kept asking me if she was 4 yet. The night before she turned 4, I told her that it was the last night that she will ever be three. Her eyes got really big, and she just thought about it for awhile. I wish you weren't so excited to grow up so fast Avery!  

Trav and I decided that this year, we would just do a family, low key birthday party for Avery. And since Tam the Gram was here, it was the perfect time to celebrate!

And low key it wasn't. 

First, all of us girls went to the local nail salon and got our fingers and toes painted.

 I thought that Brooklyn did an excellent job staying still for a 21 monther, but the Asian lady didn't agree with me. She kept commenting about how wiggly she was. My mom was there too, I just couldn't take her picture because I was too busy containing the wiggly baby.

After the salon, we went to the best place on earth. Costco (were you thinking Disney land?)! Avery was able to go and pick out a beautiful dress from us. Grandma Tam also let her pick out any toy that she wanted. To my reluctance, she picked out the life sized Rapunzel doll.

Meet our 3rd child

Thanks Mom!

After Costco, we were set on our way to go and eat at Joe's Crab Shack. Trav was going to meet us from work and we were going to get our party on. Then all of a sudden my van stopped working mid freeway. I looked down and noticed that the gas light was on, and the needle was WAY under the E sign. We really did run out of gas! This was my first time ever! Long story short, we took care of it and finally made it to Joe's crab shack.

Avery partied and danced and ate and was very merry! 

On the way home, one of the cities was celebrating something or other, and there were fireworks right in our faces. So thank you Shawnee, Kansas, for celebrating our little girls birthday and having fireworks, she feels extra special (and thinks that her parents are the coolest people ever).

On Avery's official real birthday, she woke up to this

Pumpkin oatmeal. This girl would eat oatmeal for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I let her!

Then we gave her her real present

A Cinderella bike

I always feel so guilty EVERY year because we spoil her on her birthday! Oh well, she kind of gets jipped at Christmas I guess!

She loved her bike!

And this girl loves the fact that she doesn't have to share this 3 dollar gem with anyone any more

They rode all around the neighborhood together

Totally worth the spoiledge (not a word).

Oh, I'm not done. 

Later that night, we had some friends over for birthday cake and ice cream.

And Avery kept the "its my party and I'll cry if I want to" tradition

Now I have to do my mother's rant, so here it goes

Avery is not a thing like me! She is a natural leader, she is stubborn, she is bubbly, she is fearless.

Her favorite thing to do is climb climb climb. I know a lot of the neighbors get annoyed when they see her climbing on the trees outside, but how can you deny a determined little soul? Plus, isn't it kind of a kid thing to do anyways?

Her newest thing is tilting her head to the side and smiling!

Avery is the most social creature on the planet. She doesn't like to be alone. She will say hi to anyone, even if you are the scary construction workers across the street. 

She is a deep thinker and will dwell on everything you say and then ask a million questions about it.

She LOVES her sister. They make messes all day long together, but its hard to get mad when you hear them giggling.

Avery is very into fashion. She will always pick to wear a dress, she wants to style my hair and put make up on.

She is becoming a good learner. She is really into writing her name. And she is starting to grasp the concept that all the letters make sounds to form words. Its fun watching the light go on when she gets it.

She loves to sing ALL OF THE TIME. Her voice is a low, musky voice. She will definitely be an alto! She is constantly making up songs. The last song I heard her sing went like this, "Heavenly Father, I love you, I love you, I love you. Heavenly Father, I love you, I love you, I love you." and so on for about 10 minutes.

Avery is very defiant and you can often find her in timeout. But after she makes a bad choice, she usually makes it better. 

Avery loves to play with her friends constantly. If she doesn't have a break, or quiet time at some point of the day, she usually will lose it around dinner time.

She still loves books, and often we find her in her room asleep with a million books everywhere and the light on.

She takes all of my energy, all day long, but I wouldn't trade her for a quiet, still child. She is just too creative and fun to be around.

We love our 4 year old, its going by WAY TOO FAST!