Starting New Things

So we have some new things starting up around these parts!

Cassandra is babbling like crazy these days and in the past few days has started making a new face which I just adore!

How stinkin' cute is she?!

And Avery is starting something new as well...gymnastics!

Yesterday was her first class and she loved it!

We got her all ready in her new leotard:

like the undies hanging out?!

and she had to have a pic with her sister too!

She seemed a little nervous before class and we got there and it was really, really busy. We waited around a few minutes and then her teacher, Mr. Jonathan, came to the door and called for the 3yr olds to line up! Avery got in line and followed him right out the door for class (of course she looked at me and was like "aren't you coming with me?").  Cassandra and I waited in the waiting room and Gabe showed up about 10min before class ended.  When class was over, Avery came through the door with a huge smile on her face and saying "I want to do it again!" and we kept telling her "you will next week" but she insisted "I want to do it again RIGHT NOW!"  Yeah, it took us about 15min to get her to leave the gym! Haha! I'm just hoping her enthusiasm for it sticks around awhile!

Pre-Halloween Weekend

We had quite a busy weekend again! It started out with no plans, but we kept ourselves busy!

Yesterday I got up early and hit the gym for an 8am class (yep I'm nuts)-and it was packed! The most crowded class I've been to yet! I guess most people are early birds!

When I got home, we took Avery to the Strong Museum for their Halloween party. Of course when we walked in the door, she wanted to ride the horsies with Daddy! No trip is complete without a horse ride! Here she is playing with one of the train table type things:

And giving the Berenstein bears some big hugs and kisses:

Of course we had to hit up the train before we left too! Daddy rode with her since I usually get to when we go (he's usually at work):

She didn't do too many of the Halloween things they had-they had a lot of crafts set up and some games, but she really showed no interest in them. She did collect the coins they were handing out, which you then turned in to the Pirate and got a prize for. They also had a DJ and music/dancing going on that she loved-we were there for a good 20 minutes at least! She just wanted to hear the music and dance around which was cute!

After the museum she took a nap and then we all went out for dinner.

This morning Avery and I went to her friend Josie's house for a playdate. The kids both wore their costumes for awhile which was really cute. I forgot to bring my camera though so I don't have any cute pics to share! We ended up walking to the playground for a little bit and enjoyed the day outside too!

During her nap I went grocery shopping and it ended up that she didn't nap! We watched the Bills game and had maybe one of our last cookouts of the season-burgers! They turned out really good too!

And now we're just gearing up for work and Halloween tomorrow! Can't wait!

Sunny Saturday

Our weekend has been wonderful when it comes to the weather. You could't ask for a better weekend-sunny and mid to upper 70's both days! It was fantastic!

Our Saturday was a little odd to start. Backtracking a little, Avery didn't nap on Friday at all so we had her in bed and asleep at 8pm Friday night. She woke up at 5am screaming for us, which she hasn't done in months. So Gabe went in to see her and rocked with her for about an hour until she fell back asleep. We heard her again around 8:30am so I got up to use the bathroom and by the time I got to the bathroom, she was quiet again. I left to go to the gym at 10am and she still hadn't woken up yet! That has to be a record for her! Gabe actually woke her up right after I left the house. I wonder how long she would have slept if we just let her go! Silly girl!

Needless to say, we knew she wouldn't nap on Saturday then either since she got up so late. Right after the gym, I met Gabe and Avery at a lighting store and we started to pick out some lights for the new house. When we got home, I showered while Gabe went to get his haircut (he took Avery with her). I did some stuff around the house and then when they came home, we went over to Julie and Richie's house to visit.

Gabe was getting tons of love from both girls-Avery and Carly were giving him hugs! It was so cute! And the girls chased each other around the table:

and did a Dora puzzle together:

They sat together and had mac-n-cheese for dinner. This shot cracks me up!

While we were there, Avery fell and split her lip open-it was bleeding and all puffy. They had some popsicles at their house so both girls had one and I think it helped her a little bit-at least she said it did! Looking at her, it's her upper lip on the left-but it's hard to see. She was all smiles for a photo though!

Carly loved her popsicle too!

We had a really nice day-busy, but good! And we are loving the nice weather-it can stick around as long as it wants!

Weekend Recap

We had a very nice weekend....pretty much the last one of summer (*tear*).

Saturday I went to the gym in the morning. After Avery went down for a nap, I got in the shower. My Mom and Aunt Pat showed up around 4pm. We visited for awhile then went out to dinner right on the lake. It was a beautiful night and we had a very yummy dinner! After dinner, they went to visit a friend. Avery wanted ice cream so before we left the lake, we got her an ice cream. Then we just came home and relaxed after Avery went to bed.

Yesterday I met my friend for breakfast in the morning. While Avery napped, Gabe rant to TJMaxx for a few things. He got Avery a pair of Dora sneakers (which she loved, but they were still a little too big for her). After Avery napped, we all took a ride to the airport to pick up my in-laws' van. They left for vacation on Saturday and didn't want the van sitting at the airport all week. So we picked it up and drove it back to their house. Then we made a run to TJMaxx to get her Dora sneakers that fit her now (she insisted on wearing the big ones which just fell off of her feet so we figured for $6 we'd get her a pair she can wear now too). Then we did a family grocery trip to Wegmans. After that, it was dinner, bath for Avery then bedtime!

And just like that the weekend is over :(

A Weekend With No Plans

Ah....

A weekend with no plans.

It's rare that we have one, especially this time of year. I know from now until Christmas, our weekends have something going on so it was nice to have one with absolutely nothing!

Avery is ready for the cooler weather in her nice jacket and hat from my Uncle Joe and Aunt Marion. Doesn't she look adorable?



Yesterday we really didn't do much of anything. I went to the gym in the morning and that is the only time I left the house! We did a lot of playing and relaxing which is always nice.



What was our excitement today?



Well....



What do you get when you have a Mommy, a Daddy, a 16 month old, a camera and 30 rolls of toilet paper in the house?



You got it....building towers baby!



Look at my little girl go!


Taller and taller....

I asked her to smile and she struck this pose: And voila! A nice tower!

Since it was one of those chilly days, we did some snuggling under the blankets....

(love!)

And Avery played with her babies:

During her nap I went grocery shopping and then when she woke up, we went to our gym to go for a swim! She was so excited when we got there and she saw the pool-she was kicking her legs and ready to go. She did such a good job in the water splashing around and kicking away. I think she really enjoyed herself, which makes us happy!

The only "bad" thing about the weekend was good old daylight savings ended so our clocks went back an hour. Just like I figured, Avery was up an hour earlier today but what I didn't expect was that her nap stunk-lately she's been doing close to 3 hour long naps (heaven!) and today it was an hour and a half...not stellar. I'm hoping after a few days that will change!

Weekend Recap

We had yet another busy weekend!

Saturday the library that we go to weekly for story hour had their Fall Festival so we decided to take Avery and check it out. She was a little young for most of it, but it was pretty impressive what they had for no charge....yes, it was all FREE!

Here is Avery and Daddy right when we got there (she's totally doing the side-eye here-she would not look at me) A quick family shot:

They started with a parade at 10am-all of the kids and parents paraded around the grounds before the actual events started.

The library is connected to the town hall and police department so all of the buildings were involved in the festival.

In the police department, they had a room with games set up-bean bag toss, ring toss, and the choose a duck game (she loved picking up the ducks!):

They also had a police officer present to talk to, face painting, and a magician doing some tricks. They had a hallway that you walked through to take you to the town hall....in there they had a trick-or-treat room which was a clever idea. They had all of these "haunted houses" set up with a person in each one handing out candy/treats to the kids. It was a cute idea!

Upstairs in the town hall they had some doughnuts and cider for refreshments. Right outside on the front lawn of the town hall they had pony rides. Avery loved looking at them but she's a little too young to do that yet. Maybe next year!

They also had some story characters walking around-some mouse (Lily?) and Curious George. Here is Avery meeting George:

Then we made our way to the library. Every family received a small pumpkin that the kids could decorate with huge sharpie markers. Yep, that was something we didn't do! They had a few coloring stations set up as well where kids could color a large leaf or pumpkin. They only thing we really did there was look at the animals they brought over from the zoo. They had a small snake, which I didn't get a picture of. Then they had this nasty millipede:

Yeah, the girl held it...gross!

They also had an armadillo. Avery loved the thing-she didn't want to leave!

Avery watching it run around!

I have no clue why this is turned but its Avery watching the armadillo run around.

After Avery napped, we took her to our gym to go swimming. We haven't taken her in a few months (she was in her anti-water phase) so we thought we'd try again. She was a little unsure at first but did very well! We ended up having her in the water for about an hour and she did awesome! Granted, she wasn't all excited, but she did splash a little and did some kicking which is definitely an improvement from where she was!

Yesterday we went to Buffalo since it's been about a month since we last went.

We met my Dad and Colleen for breakfast/lunch at the Olympic. Avery had a good time with her Papa!

Then we went to my Mom's for the rest of the day. Of course we had to break out the Halloween costume so Grandma could see her and take some photos! My Mom got her a little pumpkin so we had a prop for her pics!

My Mom also got her a flashlight pumpkin that blinks so we got a pic with that as well.

Grandma and Avery:

She also had fun practicing her jumping skills:

Fourth of July Weekend

Our Fourth of July weekend was very nice. Gabe had both Friday and Monday off. I worked a few hours Friday morning, but also had off Monday so it was a nice long family weekend!

Friday we took Avery to get her 1 year photos done at Penney's (which turned out great by the way!) then just came home and relaxed.

Saturday Gabe went running, then I went to the gym. While Avery napped, I did some baking. After she woke up, we went to a playground for a little over an hour-she had a blast climbing the slide and going down it! They had a pool nearby so we took her over so she could watch the kids swimming. Then we decided to try a new ice cream place that Gabe's coworker told us about. It's a pretty far ride for us to go, but she raves about it so we had to try it out! They have food as well so we ate dinner there and had some ice cream. It was good-almost like Lugia's but a lot longer of a ride. I don't think we'll be going back there too often!

Sunday we had a family reunion for Gabe's Mother's side of the family. They have it every year around the 4th in Auburn. It's very nice-they have it at one of the cousins' lake home so it's very scenic and relaxing. There's always a lot of people and a lot of good food! We had a very nice time. We didn't get to go last year because Avery was only a week old so we made sure to go this year so everyone could see her! She had fun watching all of the kids and practicing walking all around the place!

Monday was a relaxing day for us. I just did the weekly grocery shopping trip and we did a few things around the house. Gabe's parents invited us over for a cookout, but they don't have air conditioning. It was well over 90 out that day so we asked them if they wanted to come to our house instead. So they did-and they nicely brought everything for dinner! We just did a cookout-burgers and hot dogs, corn, mac salad. It was a nice relaxing end of the weekend that's for sure!

I finally got some footage of Avery with her new toy we got her for her birthday! She's getting to be a pro at it already!

Mommy's Helper

Typically when I have laundry to fold, I either fold it when Avery naps or when she's in bed for the night. There have been many times where the laundry basket is out with clothes in it, but Avery usually doesn't pay attention to it.

Today....she decided to be Mommy's little helper!

She spotted a bright red pair of her socks in the basket and for 40 minutes she took those two socks out of the basket, then put them back into the basket. It was too funny. She would stand up, lean over the basket, grab the socks, throw them out of the basket, then sit down, pick them up off of the floor and put them back in. Repeat that for 40 minutes-it was comical!

I decided to have some fun and put Avery in the laudry basket as well:

You can just see the corner of her red sock in her hand here:



Red sock!

Out of the basket looking for that sock!

Tonight I was folding the laundry and again she came over looking for the red socks and helping me once again! This is her ripping a bib off of her head:


****************************************************************************
In other news, our weekend was pretty good.

Friday night Gabe's parents called us up around 6pm to see if we wanted a last minute babysitter so we could go out for dinner or something. We hadn't eaten yet, so we took them up on their offer and went out for some Chinese food...it was a very nice surprise!

Yesterday I met an old coworker of mine for breakfast then ran to Party City and started to buy some things for Avery's birthday party (can you believe it?!). While I was doing that, Gabe took Avery to the public market and met his parents there. Then last night we met our friends Julie, Richie and Carly at the Lilac Festival for dinner. It was a tad chilly, but we had a good time and Avery was very well behaved even though we were out past her bedtime!

Besides folding laundry today, I just did our grocery shopping and then we took Avery swimming at our gym. She wasn't overly thrilled with it, but we managed to keep her in the water a little over a half hour which was good. We'll take her again soon and see how it goes next time!

Tomorrow starts week 2 of me working 4 days each week covering for a coworker who is out for a surgery she had done. I'm not looking forward to it, but hopefully this is the last week that'll happen!

Felt Good.....

Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day at work. Both doctors were out in the afternoon so I had the option of leaving early. I had some things at work I wanted to get done so I stayed until about 3pm. I was going to get Avery, but realized she'd still be napping then. So I decided to go to the gym for a quick workout. I'm obsessed with taking classes-that's pretty much all I do. Unfortunately they didn't have any going at the time I went so I just went to do some cardio. The last time I did that????

When I was pregnant.....yeah.

Some time in my pregnancy I couldn't do my usual cardio (elliptical/treadmill)-I think I would push myself too hard and get light headed and not feel well. So that was when I switched to doing all classes (and loved that!). After I had Avery, my gym schedule has been cut-I used to go 3-4 times a week and now I maybe go once. So I would typically go for a class because I enjoyed it.

So yesterday I went and did 20min on the elliptical and 10min on the treadmill. I just did a short workout since I wanted to get home and see my baby as well. Let me tell ya-it felt pretty darn good getting back into my groove. Although today I have some shin splints/ankle splints that I didn't expect!

I just decided that I really need to get healthier with things. I have to find some new snacks for night time when I want something junky (like ice cream)---suggestions welcomed! I have to try and eat less at dinner and try to workout more if I can.

They have a daycare there but I feel guilty taking Avery to it so that I can workout. If she's awake, I want to be with her and spend time with her, not drop her off with strangers. I know it's important for me to workout so maybe it's something I have to do now and then with her. Who knows. I just know that I want to start looking and feeling better about myself. I'm back to my pre-Avery weight, but things just don't look how they used to.....

My Decision is Made!

You may remember a few weeks ago I posted about my gym membership ending. Well, once May 1st hit, Midtown was officially done and I was without a gym. I was deciding between two other gyms to join and finally made my decision.

Wednesday the paperwork was done and the joining fee paid....we are now memebers of ThePenfield Fitness and Racquet Club! Gabe and I both joined and are paying less per month than I did for just myself at Midtown...so that's a good thing! They have free daycare as well so maybe I'll get up the guts to actually take Avery to it so I can workout sometimes! It's a little further from our house, but not bad-maybe a 10minute drive or so. The facility is pretty nice (nothing will ever compare to Midtown) and the workers I have met so far are very nice. I took a trial class one day two weeks ago and it was good-it'll be an adjustment getting used to new instructors. But I'm looking forward to a new place to go! Yay!

No Longer a Member

So the end of this month ends an era....my gym membership at Midtown Athletic Club will be cancelled.

I'm definitely sad about it, but excited about finding a new place to join as well.

The funny thing? Gabe was a member at Midtown when I met him. When I moved out here, he had me go with him a few times as his guest and I wasn't too sure about it-it seemed to "uppity" to me and not what I was used to. Since I was living in my apartment when I first moved out here, I didn't join because it was too far away and my complex had its own gym.

When I moved in with Gabe almost 5 years ago (wow!), I ended up joining Midtown since he belonged there and it just made sense. And I grew to really like the place. It's a very nice club and has almost everything you would want in a gym.

There are some downfalls to it though...a lot of things cost extra money on top of your ridiculous monthly fee. Like daycare, some exercise classes, playing tennis and other things like massages and special events. For the price you pay to go there, it seemed crazy to charge you extra for these things.

Before I had Avery, I was going 3-4 times a week so I could justify spending the money to go there. Gabe ended his membership a few years ago so it was just myself going. Now having Avery, I make it once (maybe twice if I'm lucky) a week for a class and that's it. Hardly worth the money to go there. So after doing some thinking, I decided to end my membership and move on.

I'll definitely miss it there-I had a few favorite classes and a few favorite instructors and I'll miss all of them because they were so great. Now I just have to decide where to join next....decisions, decisions!

Goodbye Midtown-it was nice while it lasted!

Last Weekend in January

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is February 1st already! Wow! The first month of 2010 is officially over!

We had a pretty low key weekend....
Friday was cold out so Avery and I relaxed at home. When Gabe got home from work we ordered chinese food and just hung out the rest of the night. Avery has been practicing sitting up and she sat all over the place:


In Daddy's chair:



Saturday I got up and went to the gym. After that we just hung out a little bit. Avery did some more sitting:

Then we went over our friend Julie and Richie's house for dinner. Their daughter Carly will be 2 at the end of February and they are expecting a 2nd baby at the end of July! They made a very nice dinner and we caught up on things. The girls got to play together a little bit...or I should say Carly played while Avery watched mostly! Haha!
This is Avery all bundled up in her snowsuit (first time in it!):

Gabe with Avery and Carly:

As soon as Carly saw my camera she ran up to me yelling "Cheese!" It was too cute!

A few of the girls together...Avery loves pulling hair these days:




Thanks for having us over Chapman's!! We had a lot of fun!
Today we did a lot of bumming around the house. I went grocery shopping, Gabe ran to Home Depot...other than that we were hermits today! Seems to be my trend the past few days-it's just been too cold out there to go out! But tomorrow is back to work and back to our routine!