Two is better than one...

Two is better than one... Especially when you can't decide between Halloween costumes.

Wonder Woman to the rescue!:

And Cowgirl Avery striking a pose:

Happy Halloween!

Virginia is for (Parker) Lovers!

Our little nephew Parker celebrated his 1st birthday last week and we had a big birthday bash for him this past Saturday in Norfolk, VA. Grandma and Grandpa Bricker, Aunt Meg, and the three of us joined Aunt Erin, Uncle Martin and Parker for the weekend.

Birthday Boy smiles!

The Party!

Pork was on the menu, and let me tell you Parker is a HAM. He was milking every moment from the "happy birthday" singing, to eating cake, to opening (and climbing on) all of his plentiful gifts.

Avery enjoyed the balloons:

Uncle Martin even tied one on her wrist, which she LOVED:

Parker got a toy car! He actually got two! Lucky dog. The extra-thrilling thing about the car toy is that my family KNOWS the boy on the box! It's little Jace, the grandson of our closest family friends. Here's Parker posing with Jace-on-the-box:

We got to see some of our friends in the area and it was so nice to catch up! Brian and Lynlea and Stefanie and Adam (all Elon grads!) came to the b-day party with their little girls. How we walked away from this visit without at least an attempt to get a "future Elon" picture of the kids I can not explain.

Here's Jeff with Avery and Brian with Paige:

Avery and Parker both have a fierce need to dance when they hear music and really enjoy pestering each other --- especially when one of them was playing with the bubble lawn mower toy.

They did much better playing with Parker's ball popper toy that shoots balls out the top - this kept them running, running, running after those balls! Needless to say this is Parker's FAVORITE word. BALL. I met his teacher at the birthday party and she confirmed that he's obsessed. Even when Parker gets up from his nap every day he immediately says "ball."

While Parker was distracted, Avery swiped his NBA headband...

Sunday we went out to Portsmouth to see the town, walk around and relax. Well, SOME of us relaxed inside a bar watching football (I'll give you 4 guesses... and I've helped you with the first two):

The rest of us walked around then stopped to play with doggies and bubbles in a park. We met back up after the game and walked out to the water and saw the ferry.

It was a great weekend, that passed too quickly, but we are lucky that Aunt Erin, Uncle Martin and Parker will be coming to Charlotte soon.

'Til next time!

Pumpkin Patch Kid

Off to the pumpkin patch to fetch ourselves some pumpkins!...

It was another beautiful weekend so we set off to meet the Keener clan early on Saturday at Carrigan Farm in Mooresville. Along with picking pumpkins we got to enjoy a hayride, visited some farm animals and sipped on apple cider.

The animals...

This picture is for Adrienne (isn't he the cutest?):

"OK Daddy, help me pick the perfect pumpkin..."

Avery loved checking out the pumpkins...

And picked one just her size:

Can you tell she's teething again?

Of course this poor little pumpkin has taken quite a beating. It has been throw at least a dozen times since we brought it home. We are currently trying to teach Avery the difference between "ball" and "pumpkin."

Bubble-palooza... Avery is 16 months old!

Avery's 16-month accomplishments include the impressive word "blueberry" and striking the yoga pose "downward dog"after watching Mommy do her yoga. Avery is a busy little girl, loves to be outside and is getting more and more active. She also has all 4 molars... you can catch a good glimpse of them below (yes, she somehow skipped some teeth so notice the huge gaps!)...

Avery recently had a visit from her friend Van. He is 6 months younger than she is, but you can hardly tell. He is walking and talking! They had fun ransacking the kitchen drawers, playing with bubbles outside and goofing around together.

The Bubble-palooza:

(Please ignore the VERY dead plant in the background, haha - I'm such the green thumb.)

Bubble chasing is tough work... time to take a cat nap...

Avery also had a visit from her friend Mac and his new baby brother Finn. Though she has developed a recent obsession with babies and will repeat the word over and over again, she wasn't so sure about holding baby Finn...

We are really starting to realize what the influence music can truly do. Not only does Avery dance when she hears even a single note, she has started singing and humming along. And Avery has really good pitch. We can recognize songs like "Baby Beluga" and "Twinkle, Twinkle." She can't say all of the words yet, but knows the tunes and makes up sounds that go along. It's amazing to hear this gift she has been blessed with!

Jeff also celebrated a pretty big milestone - his 32nd birthday - on October 7th. We threw a "Jeff White Appreciation Day" party and did not document it what-so-ever. Well, I take that back... we got these few beauties late into the evening:

Oh and if you've ever wondered what you look like when you do a face-plant into the sidewalk, we will let Avery show you, since that is precisely how she closed out her 16th month: