Santa Comes Early!

Santa's here...in the form of a lhasa poo...named Barney Fife!

(a.k.a. Avery's new best friend!)

(a.k.a. Santa!)

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Trampoline Time

Avery has discovered the trampoline. And she loves it. And lucky for us, Nonna and Poppa still have one!

And with the bouncing comes the ear-piercing shrieks...

Some super cool moves...

Fun times with Barney...

(although the trampoline is NOT his favorite thing!)

And when she's done with it, there's always the leaves...

Weekends at Nonna & Poppa's house are just.plain.fun!

Not Me Monday

Happy Monday! If you want to write or link your Not Me Monday post, just go visit MckMama for all the info! What a wonderful, fun, Christmas-filled weekend we had! Of course, with lots of events come lots of chaos. So, I figured what better time for a Not Me Monday post. Also, I'm a week behind on blogging so the posts this week will actually be what we did week before last. If anyone is keeping score ;)

• I did not seriously consider giving our puppy back after only having him for a week. I did not totally forget I'm an adult and we have to sometimes 'put our big girl panties on and deal with it'. 
• I did not find an onion in my trunk this weekend after taking Avery's stroller out to visit the mall. It surely was not there for an entire week since the last time I was at the grocery store!
• I did not ask Charlie tonight if a nutcracker really cracked nuts. I was not totally under the impression that nutcrackers just danced in pretty ballets and came out at Christmas.
• I am not in the 100% pure-bliss-shopping-is-done-tree-is-up stage of Christmas. I did not insist that we should totally have Christmas trees all year round because they're so darn pretty and smell so good and provide such nice lighting!
• Avery did not attend her first Christmas parade and learn the importance of collecting candy after the first few floats. She also did not holler "HEEEYYYYY" at every loud truck and float that honked. After the fiftieth hey, me and Charlie did not laugh like crazy because it was pretty funny.
• We did not get to see REAL SNOW last week. And maybe, to some of you, that isn't the coolest frickin' thing in the whole.wide.world. But to us Southerners, snow is a Christmas Miracle!!! Avery was not totally unimpressed with the snow, as was Barney. I was not the only one of us three who refused to leave the yard or stop repeating 'IT'S SNOW...IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!!'

Don'tcha just love some good Mexican food?

Avery sure does!

Christmas Cards

So, I got the pictures back from our mini photo shoot, and just as expected they are not "Christmas-card worthy". Thanks to little Ms. Attitude. Thankfully, I had a free coupon for 50 Christmas cards and Nonna came to the rescue. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, esp. since I got them absolutely free (w/ envelopes and free shipping too!) Just can't beat that!

Contest!

You know I love a good contest! This contest is even more fun because it's a Pay It Forward contest. So, go check out Beth's blog and leave a comment to be entered, and become a follower to be entered twice, and post about it on your blog to get 3 entries!!!

Helping Nonna..

After Thanksgiving, Nonna and Poppa decided it would be a great time to put up their Christmas tree. Avery knew they needed lots of help! So, of course, she obliged ;)

Thankful...

This is a day late, I guess. But I spent yesterday just being thankful.

• Thankful for a mommy who knows how to cook a DELICIOUS Thanksgiving dinner.

• Thankful for a daddy who is the nicest person on the planet and turned 47 yesterday.

• Thankful for my husband who makes me laugh every.single.day

• Thankful for Avery Grace who brings more joy than I ever knew existed in this world.

• Thankful for the newest addition to our family, Barney Fife, who only 'used it' in Nonna's house once

• Thankful for a full tummy. (No pictures, please :)
• Thankful for good sales and finishing my Christmas shopping today.
• Thankful for shopping in this small town that I love so much with small crowds and great deals.
• Thankful that we didn't wait in line AT ALL at WALMART on BLACK FRIDAY. Who says miracles don't still happen?
• Thankful for my other friends and family and you too, bloggy friends!

JUST.PLAIN.THANKFUL!

Hope you and yours had a blessed Thanksgiving. Now the countdown begins:
28 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS!

And that means I can officially wish YOU a
Merry Christmas!

Avery meets Santa Clause...at Brookshires!

The other day, Avery and I stopped by our local Brookshire's grocery store. It was "A Taste of the Season" night, where they sample all things Christmas! When we pulled up there was a band, Avery lovvvved it! I guess it was her first time to hear a live marching band.

While we were listening to the band, I saw Santa! I didn't know how Avery would react. She didn't get to meet Santa last year because we didn't go near any malls with her (RSV lockdown)

Avery did go to Santa, put she wasn't overly impressed with him! Look at that expression -

However, I'd say she was more impressed with Santa, than with Miss Louisiana!

I think what impressed her most was the shrimp!

She also drank apple juice from a cup like a champ!

And even though Charlie wasn't with us, he was in my thoughts. : ) He was a happy camper when I showed him the Applewood bacon I picked out for him!

And Avery enjoyed sampling the cherry coke after we got home!