Fall Festival

Friday night David and I took Avery to her first fall festival.  Wildwood really goes all out (rain or shine!).  Despite the misting rain, they had pony rides and a bunny for the kids to pet, both made Avery's night!  The other big attraction was in the "preschool room", it was a duck pond.  The whole point was to find a duck with a mark on the bottom of it and you'd get a piece of candy.  Well Avery was just annoyed by all the overturned ducks and didn't want any candy!  She sat there (until we finally tore her away) turning all the ducks right-side up.  They practically begged her to take a piece of candy but she acted like she couldn't hear a word they said.  So we left with no candy (much to mom's dismay) ;), and a kicking Avery because she "WASN'T DONE WITH THE DUCKS!".  Overall the night was a blast!  David and I were exhausted by the end of it, and that was with only one kid...next year should be interesting!  Before we left I took a pic of my 32 week belly.  Kenley will be here before we know it!  Enjoy the pics (I will probably add to them later, Jamie and Josh got some great ones that I'm still waiting to get my hands on).

**A special thanks to the Thomsons who let us borrow the ballerina outfit, Avery loved wearing it! 

One More Candle

Last night Avery celebrated with Aunt Holly, Uncle Josh, Papa (Carl), and Grandma (Becky).  Becky made a delicious Apple Crisp Pie and Avery had another candle to blow out (it didn't happen this time either...very similar to the video in the previous post).  I loved these pictures so I had to post them!

She also opened her present, but was so distracted by everyone being here (and it was past her bedtime) that she hardly played with it.  So I'm including this video/pics to show that she really does love it!  :)  Thanks Carl and Becky!

Celebrations So Far

Last Thursday we had dinner at Gigi's (David's mom's) house.  There was cake and lots of gifts!  Avery enjoyed the small cookies sitting around the cake more than the cake itself...and it took a lot of coaxing to get her to blow out the candles (which as you will see never happened...she tried though!). 

After cake we opened presents!  I think Avery was a little overwhelmed by everything, and had a hard time giving up the book (from Holly and Josh) that she opened first.  From that point on we (Heidi, Holly, and I) mostly opened the presents and showed them to her - as she sat and read her new book.  When it came time for Gigi's present she was ready for something else.  David helped her open her very own dvd/cd player, which was fully charged and ready to go!  She exclaimed "video's!!!" as soon as she realized what it was.  :)  Here are some pictures of her opening the presents:

On Sunday night Jamie and Josh came over and made a spaghetti and meatball dinner for Avery's birthday.  Afterwards we went to D'Lites for ice-cream (they just put one in down the street from us and it's great!).  They have the cutest little cones for kids, they're TINY!   Here's Avery enjoying her strawberry ice-cream cone:

That's all for now, but I'm sure they'll be more celebrating to come, so I'll post pictures as I get them!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AVERY!

Today we're celebrating Avery's 2nd Birthday!

Two SHORT years ago, David and I held our baby girl for the first time...

Neither of us knew how much joy she would bring into our lives!

We love you Avery Claire!!!

I'll add a longer post later of some birthday celebrating. 

What Have We Been Up To?

A LOT!  It's been over a month since I've blogged, and I have a ton to catch everyone up on.  

About a month ago, I started working!  All summer David and I had been looking for a legit from-home job, that would allow me to make some extra money and continue staying home with Avery.  Mid-August, David's sister, Heidi, mentioned to me that the company she works for was looking to hire someone new.  I knew she worked from home, but had little knowledge of what she did.  Duh Kailee, why not start with family when you're searching for a job...especially one that WORKS FROM HOME!  I jumped on board the next day!  So I've spent this past month learning a new business, and I think I'm finally getting the hang of it.  The company is called Green Room PR, and basically I book interviews for tv and radio.  The transition from spending all my time playing with Avery and taking care of the house, to doing both of those AND working was big, and at first very difficult.  But Avery and I are figuring out our new routine and it gets easier every day.  The more I learn, the more I love the job!  It's a great fit! 

On Tuesday I'll be 30 weeks!!!  Only a few months left until we meet our little girl!  Preparations are almost done.  The home office has been repainted and Avery's nursery furniture has been transfered.  Avery is now in her big-girl bed, and has an all-new room.  I'm still working on the finishing touches (decorations, artwork, etc.), so I'll post pictures as soon as I'm done!  The other big accomplishment is we've finally picked the baby's name!!!

Kinley Reese Grulich

As I mentioned in a previous post, David really loves the name McKinley.  I wasn't as crazy about it, so we agreed to drop the Mc...and are both very happy with naming her Kinley.  As for Reese, we've both always loved the name.  (it reminds me of my best friend from high school, Charise, who I often called Reese for short)  It was in the running for Avery's middle name, but we thought Avery Claire sounded better than Avery Reese.  So it was still on our list, and as soon as we started looking at GIRL names we figured it would be used as the middle name.  For anyone who knows Teddy and Teresa (my brother and sister-in-law), or just follows Teresa's blog, you'll notice that the little girl they are having early January will also have the middle name Reese.  We found this out when Teddy called to tell us they were expecting a girl too...and he said "Looks like we'll have a Katherine Reese Cook!".  WHAT!?!?  I couldn't believe they were planning on the name Reese too, neither one of us knew!  It's just such an awesome name!  lol  Technically, we'll have a Kinley, and they'll have a Reese (they're planning on calling her by her middle name).  We're so excited about having girl cousins that will be only a few weeks apart!

In other news, David and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary on Sept. 24th and my 25th birthday on Sept. 27th.  And Avery's 2nd birthday is just around the corner, on October 14th.  So lots of celebrating!

I'm sure there's a lot that I'm leaving out of this post, it really has been a busy month!  If I think of anything I'll be sure to include it next time (and hopefully 'next time' won't be a month away!).  

Here's Avery with 2 of her favorite things: stuffed animals/babies, and of course, books!