Tis the seasoning.

Merry Christmas everybody!

So we made it through all our holiday plans without a scratch. Well, aside from my front bumpers run in with a frozen Iowa snow drift, but we wont talk about that. As you'll see from these photos we had a great time. It got a little stressful on the drive home (Minnesota decided it wanted to throw us a farewell party on our way south). Thanks Minnesota, always so thoughtful. Such a pal. Once the 30 mile per hour-white out-white knuckle-joyride was done it was smooth sailing the rest of the way (cheese and all). Anyways, here are a few pictures of some of the things we got to do over the holidays.

We got to play in the snow in Minnesota AND Kansas this year.
See if you can figure out which is which.

We got to spend a little time with the Belle Plaine Ollig's on our way up nort'. Avery had a lot of fun!

Maybe a little too much fun. Rick, were you feeding her Keystone?

Avery at Grandma Jan's, opening her barn.
Shout out to all the little people! Whoot-Whoot!

Great Grandma let Avery wear her magical cape while we visited. Didn't quite get the hang of the magical part yet. We'll save that for next time.

I didn't think it was that cold at Grandma Elley's but I guess you do what you gotta do.

What can I say, the kid's got skills!

Also an entrepreneur I guess. Making Alondra pay a toll to sit in the chair.

But it was sure worth it!

You said it kid.

Mom's always got a little extra lovin for her girl.

Well, there you go. A smattering of stuff, things and everything in between. There are a few more pictures left on the camera so if your favorite was left out don't you worry your pretty little head, they're coming. And all you folks with not so pretty heads, don't you worry either.

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Avery really get's into her music. Here she is sitting in her drum.

Picking a tree

I'm not feeling very wordy today so you're just going to have to make up your own story. I'll start you off. We went to the tree farm...

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Good news for once.

Let's plant us some trees!

The Cardboard Cabana

Avery and I decided to build a house last week. We had to do something with all that leftover cardboard, no sense sending off to the recycling without getting some use out of it first.

We have put a new addition on since we took these pictures. We remodeled the guest room and added a new front door.

Knock Knock.

She wasn't in the mood for visitors today.

Visit to the old homestead.

I was asked by my boss last week to start the process of finding someone to move into our old house...Finally! I was worried that the house would sit empty this winter, so I was glad to hear he was ready to put someone in it. Since we knew that someone would be moving in soon we wanted to go out for one last visit. Plus Paul was in town and we wanted him to see the old place.

A little over grown with weeds but still nice.

Modeling her new birthday jacket from her Aunt Alison. It was finally cool enough to wear it...but she is always cool enough to wear it.

Modeling a Cheeto that she thought was tasty.

Halloween

The day was finally here. Avery couldn't wait till she got to wear the costume for real, and boy was she excited.

We went trick or treating to a few special locations first before we hit up the neighbors. We stopped by Steve and Mary's house to say hi.

...Aunt Alison's Salon.

Finally, Grandma's house, then it was off to trick or treat. I think she had more fun handing out candy to all the kids that came to the door though.

Here is someone else who was obviously having a lot of fun. Why did I let myself get talked into this? (I think Lucy was thinking the same thing).

Carving

Here we are carving up the pumpkins. Avery's favorite part by far was chewing on the pumpkin bits. I tried it to see what all the fuss was about. I have to say, it didn't live up to the hype.

The finished product.

Pumpkin Pictures

As promised, here are a few more pumpkin pictures. Not as prompted as promised so please pardon my procrastination.

Need to watch this!

Please watch this Video.

It only takes 9 minutes.

Pumpkin teaser

Ran out of time. More of these to come real soon.

Grandma Jan says "Howdy-do!"

Grandma O came down for a visit last weekend and we had a great time. Avery had a really great time because she got another birthday present. I think it's safe to say she likes it. Now we have to crank it up for a listen every night before bed.

The tongue sticking out was a recurring theme throughout the weekend.

Avery also got to discover why some of the grand kids call her "buttons Grandma".

Matthew stops in for a hello

It was great to see Matthew in town again. The spiders couldn't keep him away forever. Unfortunately, the camera was missing for most of the visit so this was the only good picture. I think the spiders must have hidden it.

Birthday pics...Finally

We have had a few or so visitors the last few weeks, namely Grandpa Gary, Matthew, and Grandma Jan. Gary was here during the craziness that was the first birthday party. I'll start with some pictures from that since I've only posted one so far. Here are a few of my favorites.

No ones told her that you don't actually have to READ the card!

I think she's got the hang of it.

What a team. I think her and Lucy planned this out all along. It probably went something like this..."Here's the deal kid, there gonna give you this whole huge cake to eat. All you gotta do is real causal like, just stick your hand down here see. I'll help you out. Don't worry kid, we're a team here. No one gets left behind."

Indeed.

Grandpa's, Mom's, and Avery's.