Over the river and through the woods...

...To grandmother's house we go! Tomorrow, Michael and I are leaving for one of our favorite trips of the year...the Georgia vs. Florida weekend! That means Avery will be spending three nights with her Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong in Glennville. While she will spend the night for the first time by herself with my parents, she will be doing a lot of this...

Rolling over...

Sitting up...

Trying to get back up...

...and going Trick or Treating for the first time!

While Avery is showing off her newly learned skills, her Mommy and Daddy will be doing a lot of this...

Dressing head to toe in our cutest Red and Black...

Chanting victory over a hopeful win against the Gators...
...and having plenty of fun with our friends!

GO DAWGS!!!

Peacocks and Sheep and Deer, Oh My!

Avery's Grandparents, Red and Vickie Ewing, took Avery to her first petting zoo, The Yellow River Game Ranch. This is a place they used to take Michael when he was little and couldn't wait to share that tradition with Avery. It was actually my first time going, too, since I didn't grow up around here.

It was a beautiful wooded area with so many different animals, some roaming freely and the scary ones caged! Just to name a few that were caged and not photographed by me, were black bears, mountain lions, cougars, foxes, buffalo, and plenty of fowl and pheasants.

You could buy carrots, peanuts, and graham crackers to feed the animals along the nature trails you walked. Avery was very alert and interested in most of the animals, especially the roosters! I think it was because they were colorful and made plenty of noises. Eventually she started screaming and crowing just like the roosters.

Let the adventure begin!

Watching her daddy feed the donkey a carrot.

Standing in front of the sheep. Avery doesn't look thrilled at this point.

She said, "Aunt Jessie, I didn't know you were gonna be here?!"
Red and Vickie with their little girl.
She loved looking at the peacock, probably because of all the beautiful blue and green feathers...I'm assuming ;)
She was very vocal in this picture. I think Mr. Red is trying to figure out what she is saying.

Avery was talking it up and wanted all of the deer to know she was there! This is the face she makes when she is making a really high pitched squeal.

She's got her daddy's smile :)
Check it out, two bucks going head to head!
This was a doe that found a special interest in Avery.
It's Michael "Snow White" Ewing.

Here is another deer that walked right up to us. You can tell it is a buck but its antlers have been cut off.

Mr. Red with Avery in front of General Lee's house. He is the official weather forecaster for the state of Georgia...a groundhog!
Laughing at her grandmother.
This was a baby fawn that just had to be born days ago because it was still fuzzy and had no spots.
After a long day learning about animals, Avery was ready for a nap.

"Not Me Monday"

Monday after Monday I willingly look forward to sharing my imperfections and inglorious moments with you. Last week I asked you all to share one "Not Me" in my comment post...and you chickened out! Thank you to Amy and Meredith who left some very funny and relatable "Not Me" moments on the post. Now today, I'm asking you all to do the same thing. I will be expecting to see your comments below! Enjoy:)

After stirring Avery's cereal for the final time before feeding her, I DID NOT drop the bowl on the ground and watch it splatter all over the floor and walls. I DID NOT just pick up the bowl and feed her what little cereal remained in it.

On my third visit to the Mall of Georgia to get my computer fixed, I WAS NOT crop-dusted by some man walking in front of me. As he quickly crossed my path to escape his little present he left lingering in the air, I DID NOT walk right through it and almost gag. Nope, not me!

I DID NOT get out of the shower only realize I had left the sink water running the entire time. This WAS NOT because I forgot the turn off the faucet after brushing my teeth and this WAS NOT the third or fourth time I've ever done that.

My $40 bottle of hair product DID NOT leak into my vanity drawer because I forgot the snap the lid completely shut.

I HAVE NOT been practicing sitting Avery up all by herself.

This is NOT a picture of her toppling over because she's not ready to sit up by herself.

She DID NOT just 'give up' and sprawl out over her Boppy.

I DON'T take pictures of her trying to get back up instead of helping her. NOT ME!

I DID NOT leave my cell phone in the Fairfield Inn in Atlanta Saturday night. I DID NOT call them and ask to go look for my cell phone. After they told me they couldn't find it, I DID NOT call back and demand they go stand in the hotel room and let me call my phone. They DID NOT pick up my phone and tell me it was under the sink the whole time.

When deciding what to be for our friend's Halloween party, I DID NOT have an "I could care less" attitude and dress up as a Duck Hunter, using Michael's attire, instead. When shopping for Michael's mullet wig, I DID NOT see a funny costume and decide to try it on in the store. I DID NOT take off the 'duck calls' hanging around my neck, lay them on the ground, and lose them for about 15 minutes. I DID NOT frantically scour the store head to toe and ask random people if they saw a duck call, all while dressed in camoflauge. **Michael DID NOT freak out about the $100 calls, demand that I not wear any of his hunting gear anymore, and make me buy a costume in the store. I WAS NOT furious over this because I didn't want to pay $40 for a stupid, cheezy costume that everyone else would probably be wearing. This is NOT a picture of "Major Trouble" and her "Hill Billy" husband.

This is NOT the backside of my husband's costume. (ps...it's a fake butt!)

**We did find the 'duck calls' by the way!

All I want for Christmas...

"All I want for Christmas is PHOTOSHOP, PHOTOSHOP, PHOTOSHOP! ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS PHOTOSHOP, SO I CAN WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS (with edited pictures, of course)!"

Ok, so this post really has nothing to do with Avery, but I'll be sure to put a picture up of her at the end for your viewing pleasure. My family always asks me what I want for Christmas sometime around Halloween, and I never really NEED anything.

However, I really do WANT this photo editing program called Adobe Photoshop CS4. It has crazy capabilities that will take me a while to learn. I just downloaded a free trial that will only last me 30 days. I played around a little bit with the attempts to remove somebody's unwanted head out of a picture capturing a very precious moment. Take a look....

BEFORE...

AFTER...

BEFORE...

AFTER...

***Mom...check Amazon.com before you pay full price ;)

Just like I promised, here is a picture of Avery giving you a clue as to what she'll be for Halloween.

A message from Avery...

8mnnnnhy778jy7kkkkkkkkkkkkkmjznnjaJQPOO4444444S4444FSSSSSSSSSSSSS

39900XXXXXXXXSSSSSSSSSXRNB B,,.GF , VC,JFK XFB GB BERX

F

G BY,8,Y GCV

(I am so proud of her! She typed that message all by herself and even managed to COPY AND PASTE a picture, TWICE! I didn't help her one bit. If I am able to decode this message, she is saying, "Everyone become a follower of mommy's blog. You will want to see my cute face on here as much as possible. Also, I'm ready for bananas!")

5 Months

Sweet Avery Anna, today you are 5 months old! It's hard to believe how fast those five months have gone by. I love you more today than I did yesterday, but not as much as I will tomorrow. You are the sunshine in mine and Daddy's lives. You are pure entertainment for us and we can't get enough of your sugar. Here's what you've been up to these past five months...

*You weigh right at 16 lbs. That's 10 lbs. more than your birth weight.

*I don't know exactly how long you are because you wiggle too much for one person to measure! At your 4 month check up you measured 24.75 inches long, so I bet you are well over 25 inches now.

*You are eating rice cereal twice a day. You like it most days, but would rather chew on the bowl instead.

*You take about 3 naps a day that last anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour.

*You go to bed around 9:00p.m. and used to sleep until 7:30 a.m. Not any more! You are waking up around 3:00a.m. and then again around 6:30 a.m. I'm hoping this will stop soon:)

*You are very vocal these days and love hearing yourself scream and shout. You also make gurgle sounds in the back of your throat and you think you are talking when you do it.

*Your hands have become extremely busy and reach for everything in sight (ex: Cotton, my cell phone, food on my plate). You are great at holding things now, especially my hair!

*My favorite thing is when I put my face up to yours, you grab either my mouth, nose, or hair, and pull me into your face and try to kiss/eat me! I'm not really sure because your mouth is always open!

*You are teething now and love chomping down on your fingers, my fingers, and anything you can get your hands on.

*You went through a stage where you HATED people, even your own grandparents. You would cry and scream until they handed you back to me. This lasted for about a month, but you are finally over it.

*Now, you resist bottles, which makes it inconvenient for me to feed you out in public.

*For the first time, you stayed with someone who wasn't a family member and you were terrific! Rob and Leslie Tate babysat you this week and they said you were an angel. What a relief for me:)

*You can almost roll over, but I think you may not ever roll over to your stomach because you HATE being on your tummy.

*Speaking of Tummy Time, this is what it usually results in.

*You have found your feet and can grab your toes.

*You also can stand up pretty well if you are leaning on something.

I love you Sugar Booger, Fuzz Head, Avery Anna from Louisiana, Little Munchkin!

Hunting Season

Baby Avery is quite the outdoorsman and loves nature. This morning, she thought it was the perfect weather to fit in a little hunt before she began her day. Avery needed to hunt for her food and store up for winter. She put on her best camoflauge and found the perfect spot.

Avery didn't forget to wear her Hunter's Safety Orange. She knows how important safety is when hunting.
Because Avery is too young for a gun license, she catches her food with a plastic bag from Publix.
Now, it's time to sit and wait. Wait and watch. Watch and wait.

Her first animal! She sights and catches a yellow duck! How exciting to see something so soon during her hunt. Unfortunately, Avery doesn't eat duck, so she let it go.

Avery spots a pink Teddy Bear through the bushes and lures it in with her call. She wrestles the bear to the ground and pins it down! However, Avery doesn't eat bear, either...so she let it go.
With the help of her hunting dog, Cotton, they both are able to catch a horse. Avery remembers that horses are for riding, not eating, so she releases it back into the woods.
She continues to wait patiently for the perfect prey. "MOOOOOO..." she hears in the distance. She creeps up on a cow and tips it over!
Once again, Avery doesn't eat cows and she sadly sends it back to the pasture.
She got so frustrated that she couldn't find her favorite food! She cried and cried over the fact that her morning hunt might end in failure.

What's that? Avery found a caterpillar crawling through the leaves and she snatched it up. She was getting hungry and considered eating it, but decided to wait for the big catch!

She was getting very annoyed that she couldn't find what she was looking for.

Suddenly, Avery spots something in the distance. Could it really be what she set out to hunt? YES! She is tickled pink that she will finally go home with something in her hands...but what is it?

VICTORY! Avery pounced on the bottle like a cat on a mouse. She wrangled it with her two bare hands and threw it in the Publix shopping bag.

She was proud of her catch.
Now this is the kind of food Avery was looking for!

She decides to celebrate her hunt by tipping her hat like Poppa Jeff! Happy Hunting!