The many faces of Halloween

Today is Halloween, and so far, Avery has already been 2 different things, and we haven't even had Halloween night yet! For the last month, we've been trying to figure out what she is going to be, and she has wanted to be everything from a scarecrow to a ballerina, from Hello Kitty to a dog. But when she mentioned cheerleader, I jumped on that, because we already had the costume! I figured she could just be a cute little Abernathy Cheerleader - simple, cute, affordable. So that was that.

Until...midnight on Monday night when I realized that if Avery was an Abernathy Cheerleader for Halloween, I would feel like the most lame mom in America. Why? Because it's so "every day"...every little girl in Abernathy has an Abernathy cheerleader uniform, so what would be special about being THAT for Halloween? When I mentioned this to Gabe, he said, "JILL! SHE'S 4 YEARS OLD, AND BESIDES, SHE SAID SHE WANTED TO BE A CHEERLEADER!!" But, I didn't sleep well at all the rest of the night and was overcome by motherly guilt.

Tuesday morning Avery got up and put on her cute Abernathy cheerleading "costume" to wear to school, and I must admit it was cute. And worked out fine that day, because she goes to school in Lubbock, so her outfit was not so common there. That day I was at my friend Helen's house getting a massage and I mentioned my quandry. She told me that she had 4 tubs full of Halloween costumes that would fit Avery! She let us borrow several, so we came home with 4 new choices for the poor girl. Now she could be a movie star, medieval princess, pink poodle, or a dog. Today for our local library carnival, she decided to be the movie star. Tonight for Trick or Treating - the verdict is still out! Thank you Helen for saving me from being a loser mom!
I'll post more after we see what she is going to be tonight...nice to have choices, isn't it?

Before Sonshine School

She said "All Cheerleaders have to have their name written on their head". So....we did.

Miss Movie Star or something elegant - we aren't quite sure.

With her best friend Kaidance at the Library Carnival

Baby Jaxon - for those of you who haven't met him, this is the little boy we keep on MWF. His Nemo costume was ADORABLE!

Our Family Jackolantern.

Avery is 4!!

Sorry this post has taken me so long, we had pictures on 3 different cameras and I still haven't gotten the ones off of Gabe's camera, so I'll just use what I have for now (which is PLENTY as I'm sure you'll notice). I haven't been in the blogging mood, so sorry for the delay, but some of you who weren't able to be at the party are wanting to see what it was all about, so here you go! We are so thankful for our precious Avery and that she is 4 years old!

Mom & Dad got to our house on Avery's actual birthday, and she opened her Baby Doll gift from us and all the Graco equipment to go with it from Mom and Dad. She absolutely loves it all and cried and cried when she had to go to bed and quit playing!

This is the American Girl Bitty Baby Doll. It was definitely a hit.

Avery's Birthday Party was Saturday at Jump N Jungle, and inflatable Bounce-house place which kids love!

Avery and Proud Mommy

Mam and Grandad

Each child that has a party at Jump N Jungle gets to leave their handprint with name and birthday on the wall. The wall is full of them!

Most of the kids at the party. Several had to leave before this photo was taken.

The staff completely sets up the party for you, while you have the Bounce House area for your private party. It is fabulous - they have this party thing down to a fine science.

Being sung to! I think she was a little bit shy and overwhelmed at this point!

World's Largest Hello Kitty Cake! I got a full sheet, don't ask me why, but we just finished eating it a week later! It was strawberry and very yummy.

Back to School!

I knew Avery was excited about going back to school, but I didn't realize how thrilled she was until she awoke at 4:30 am this morning and was ready to go! She was completely happy and chipper and asking if it was time to get dressed and go yet! I tried giving her juice, milk, gatorade...whatever it would take to lull her back to sleep, but the girl was too wired to even think of staying in the bed. So, she got up and watched a video while I tried to sleep a bit longer, but I ended up going ahead and getting up about 5:00. She looked out the window every 5 minutes to see if it was light yet. It was a VERY LONG 3.5 hours until our 8:30 departure time. The other day she told me, "Mom, people get me a lots of energy!" This is so true for our little extrovert Avery. She is completely wound up after being with other people, so it's about time she get back into school.

Not too thrilled about having to pose for a picture.

This is how excited she was - she could not contain her arms - they were going crazy!

We're off to a great start! Avery loves her teacher, Ms. Carie and she is in the Dinosaurs Class. After I picked her up, she said, "Mom, I'm WORN OUT!" Probably mostly because she got up at 4:30 a.m., but I know they keep them busy in her class too. I'm counting on her to sleep well tonight!

My Grandmother

This is my adorable 93 year old (will be 94 in Nov.) Grandmother, Taleta Mabry. We got to go see her at Prairie Acres Home in Friona last month when my sister and parents were here. She was in terrific spirits which made the entire visit enjoyable for us all. She has dementia/Alzheimers and doesn't really know who we are, but she knows we are there to see her and that makes her happy. She especially lights up to see Avery. Avery really loves Grandmother as well, and COULD NOT be talked out of going to see her, even by her cousins who wanted her to come do something else with them!

Avery showing Grandmother her fingernails which she had painted at the Nail Salon

Dad, Mom and Avery with Grandmother

Playing Hide and Seek with Grandmother

Cousin Time!

We have just had the best week with my sister Leslie (lovingly known as Aunt Sessie) and her 2 boys, Avery's cousins Caleb & Carter! They came and stayed with us for a week and we had the best time ever. We went full throttle and got to do so many different things during the week they were here. Here's a recap: Visiting Uncle Gabe at work. All three kids got their turn to drive this beast. This is the HUGEST tractor you have ever seen in your life! Gabe is 6'2'' and see how the tires alone are that tall??
On the swingset

Caleb - 9 years old

Carter - 6 years old

Eating our famous Blue Gatorade popscicles. They were definitely a hit.

Uncle Gabe took the boys to Mackenzie Trails to ride the 4-wheeler. I think they were in hog heaven, once they got over being afraid of the steep hills.

Awesome Dude

We spent an afternoon at Jump N Jungle in Lubbock. It is a great Bounce House Center where the kids can run and play and slide for hours. They had a great time and Les and I got to sit and visit. (I have to admit I enjoyed going on the slides too, but I couldn't convince Les to come with me)

Picking sweet corn at one of Gabe's farms

Cousin Love

At the farm feeding the calves. Sadly, while the boys were here, one of the calves, Blackie was stolen. Now we are down to only one calf, Crocodile.

And...I just had to put this in here because boys will be boys, and boys will teach their girl cousins lovely tricks like this!

Also, a huge thanks to Leslie for coming and helping me get my house organized. Leslie is an organizational guru and should do it for a living. We hauled off an insane amount of stuff to Goodwill and my house is now de-cluttered. She worked really hard, going up and down the stairs and working in the hot attic! THANK YOU!

We also went to see my Grandmother who is 93 while Leslie was here, but I'll do a seperate post about that in a few days.