School Pics

Hey y'all!  We recently had school pictures taken and wanted to share them with you.  We're getting so big!!  Can't wait to see you at Christmas!

Love,
Avery & Berlin

Merry Christmas!

Red Nosed Reindeer Christmas

Custom Christmas cards are always available at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Jingle Bells

One of our favorite times of year is here... Christmas! Berlin and I are really enjoying learning and singing Christmas songs, decorating, making candy, shopping etc. You can see here that we loved putting up our tree! Grandma was here, too, so it made it extra special. We are looking forward to coming to Iowa for Christmas and seeing our family!

Love, Avery and Berlin

Gobble! Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving! We wanted to share with y'all what we are thankful for...

Avery
Trains
Halloween
Candy
Drinks
Mommy, Berlinee, Grandma, and Daddy!

Berlin
My family
Cake
Puppies!
Balloons

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Love, Avery and Berlin

Birthdays and Milestones

Hey ya'll!  I just turned 2!!!  I know, it's hard to believe I'm all grown up now.  I had a great day.  I had a birthday party with a few of my friends.  My parents kept it small, but I'm a shy little girl, so I barely spoke a word while anyone was here.  I take after my Mommy in that respect, ya know? 

With my birthday being here and all, I realized I haven't told you much about my milestones.  I've accomplished a lot for a 2 year old!  I'm talking in sentences.  Actually make that conversations.  I know my ABC's, I can count to 20, I know about every toddler song there is to know... for instance I love to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Frere Jacques, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Happy Birthday, and now I'm really into Christmas songs.  Let it Snow, Jingle Bells, and Jingle Bell Rock are my favorite!  Daddy and Avery sing along with me, too.  It's pretty awesome.  Mommy tries to sing along, but she doesn't know the words and tries to make them up, but Avery and I set her straight.  I also love to jump on the coach, fall backwards, and chase after my brother!  He's awesome!  Have I mentioned that??  I'm also walking up and down stairs, drinking from a cup, and can use a spoon and fork.  I also know my full name, but as you can tell from the video below, I'm not giving it up that easily. 

I had my wellness appointment today.  It went very well.  My doctor is super nice, and she is really impressed with me.  Thought you'd want to know my stats... I'm 24 lbs, 12 oz and 35 1/4' tall.  In other words, I'm tall and thin, as I've always been and a healthy little girl.  I also got my flu vaccine today, so hopefully I won't be a sicky poo this winter!  My doc did think I'm getting a tiny bit of an ear infection, but hopefully it will pass.  Thanksgiving is coming up and I want to be well! 

Well, I should go.  I'm exhausted from all the excitement of my birthday weekend.  I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving.  My grandma is coming and I'm excited to see her!  I'm also very thankful to have such wonderful friends and family like you.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Hugs and kisses,
Berlin

Girl Talk

Family Fun Night

We went bowling for the first time last night, and man was it fun!  The bowling alley is totally set up for kids with bumpers and a kid's ramp, so we had fun and scored big too!  Our first game, we were just getting in the groove, but by the second we were rockin and rollin!  We even beat Mommy and Daddy!  By a long shot!  We love family fun nights... can't wait to do it again!  Maybe you'll come visit and join us next time?!?  Hint, hint.

Lots of love,

Avery and Berlin

Halloween

I hope you all had a fabulous Halloween!  We sure did!  We were very excited to have our first Halloween in our neighborhood.  It's pretty much all families in our hood, so there was lots of kids out and lots of candy to hand out!  Avery was a pirate and Berlin was Abby Cadabby.  It was kinda chilly out, so we bundled up, but it didn't matter.  We got the treats we were after!  We came home with our bags full, and tired eyes, but we were so excited it didn't phase us.  Halloween is shaping up to be our favorite holiday.  Can't wait for next year!

Love,

Aves and Berlin 

Soccer

 My team: On the top - Coach Lindsay, me, Gabe, Hudson, Luke.  

Bottom - Camden, Bradley, Gavin, and Kingston

My official soccer photo

Hello fellow sports fans!  I am excited to share that I played my first season of soccer this fall!  It was a lot of fun.  We played for the Franklin YMCA, and I was lucky enough to have some of my friends on the team, plus I got to meet and make new friends.  Camden, Gavin, and Kingston were all friendly faces!  At first, we were all kinda scared and didn't know what to do, but each game we figured it out and played great!  I even scored a bunch of goals through out the season.  Mostly I loved hanging with my friends and of course, running!  Mommy says they need youth cross country, and hopefully someday they will.  In the meantime, I am happy with soccer!  I think for the winter, Berlin and I will be taking swimming lessons at the Y.  We didn't have time for it this summer, and Mommy says we need to learn how to swim!  I'll keep ya posted on how that goes.

Talk to you soon!

Avery

Big Girl Bed

 Berlin's crib

Toddler Bed!

Hey all!  I made a big transition a few weeks ago.  I officially graduated from my crib and into a toddler bed.  It actually wasn't that big of a transition.  My crib converts into a toddler bed, so really it's the same bed only a little more open.  Mommy and Daddy were wondering how long it would take me to get out of my new bed, and so far I'm not doing it.  Can you imagine?  I have all the freedom in the world, and I stay in my bed.  My parents think I'm awesome.  I wait until they come in my room to get out.  I'm just a content little one.  I'm sure I'll get sick of waiting for them at some point (because they do take their time after all), but for now I'll stick with my routine.  

Catch ya'll later!

Hugs and kisses,

Berlin

Pre-School

Hi everyone!  Guess what?!?!  I'm a pre-schooler!  I started this fall, and am having such a great time!  My teacher's name is Ms. Melissa (I call her Ms. Lissa).  She was my teacher when I first started in the 2 year old room, so I was excited to have her again!  My classroom is called the Grasshoppers, and it is very cool.  My friends John David, Liam, and Ava are with me, and my best buddies Aydan and Kingston are right next door.  We do all our circle time, group activities, and outdoor play with each other.  The curriculum is pretty stringent, but I am thriving and learning a lot!  I have math class, science, art, reading skills, Spanish, and even recreation class (PE).  I'm learning to write my name,  recognize words (there's many I can read now), and I have been practicing a lot.  By the time kindergarten rolls around in 2 years, I will be prepared!!

I'm sorry for not updating the blog as often.  We have had so much going on that I haven't had much time to sit down and update you all.  I will try to be better!  My Mommy and Daddy put up lots of pictures on Facebook, so be sure to check them out, too!

Lots of love,
Avery

My First Race!

Hello everyone!  I ran my first race this weekend!  It was a 1k Fun Run for the Franklin Classic benefiting Mercy's Children's Clinic in Franklin.  I had a great time!  I was a little distracted by all the cool stuff around me (police cars are awesome!), but I finished the race, albeit without one of my shoes.  I'm not sure what my time was, but Daddy thought under 6 minutes.  Pretty good for a little guy.  Mommy also ran her first race, too.  She did the 5k and finished it in 33 minutes!  It was her best time so far, and she is very proud of her accomplishment.  I hope Mommy runs more races, so I can run, too.  You know me, I love to run!

So I will have some exciting blog posts in the next week or so.  I officially started pre-school (can you believe it?), and I start soccer this week!  Whoo hoo!  Pics to come :)

Hugs and kisses,

Avery

Avery & Berlin play chicken!

We had an interesting time in our neighborhood this weekend.  Three chickens were wandering around our front yard, and Daddy caught it on video!  He thought it would be fun to make a video out of it to share with all of you!  I hope you enjoy it! 

Love, Avery & Berlin

Lil Fishies

Hello there! As you can tell, we've become little fishies this summer! Aves has been afraid of the water until now. He put some water wings on his arms, and poof! He gained some confidence and swam across the pool about 100 times! The video of him jumping off the diving board is his very first time! What a brave big bro I have! I had a blast with Daddy. He threw me in the air as high as he could, and I LOVED it! I kept saying, "that's funny, Daddy! Do it again!" And so he did. Hee hee, the water is fun!

Talk to you soon. I'm exhausted from swimming.
Love,
Berlin

Home Sweet Home!

Hey ya'll! Don't know if you heard, but we moved! Mommy & Daddy bought a house in Nolensville, which is right outside Nashville not too far from our old home in Franklin. We are loving it! Although I keep asking when we're going back to Avery's house. My parents keep telling me this is my new house. I call it "the big house". We do have much more space than our cramped apartment, but we're very quickly getting used to it. I even have room to run when it's raining outside. You know I love to run! I'm taking some time getting used to my new room. I didn't have curtains up at first and the trees were freaking me out! Mama installed curtains, so I'm a much happier boy and not getting up all the time. Berlin adjusted very quickly. She just goes with the flow.

Here's a few pictures. Come visit us sometime!
Love,
Avery

Tee Ball!

Future All-Star

#2

My Team - the Oakland A's

Warming up

Berlin gets in on the action, too!

Awesome fielding

I have a stellar batting average

I make it to first!

High 5's when I run home

Hi everyone! I know it's been way too long since we've updated our blog. We have had a busy summer so far!! I am playing T-ball!! It is so much fun! My team, the Oakland A's practices on Thursday nights and we play games on Saturday mornings. It's very hot here in Nashville, so I have to stay hydrated. My team is awesome. A bunch of Mom's who knew each other from daycare and Mom's Group got together and all requested we be on the same team. I already knew all but 2 boys on my team, so I felt comfortable right away! Plus it gives my parents time to socialize during practice and games. Hmmm, I wonder if that was on purpose :) I bat really well! My fielding is improving. I can field grounders pretty darn good, and I'm getting more confident with pop ups, and you know I can run! My coach's name is Coach Brandon, and he's awesome. His son is on the team, too, but he's not so into it. He's cool to hang out with anyway. All the Dad's hang out on the field with us for moral support (and to help Coach Brandon out), and they are so helpful! They keep us in line.

I hope you enjoy these pictures of our last game. It was hot, but we had a blast!

Hugs,
Aves

The Egg Hunt

Tons of candy!

Andi helps...

Grandma catching the egg hunt

Look what I got!

Having fun

Enjoying her candy

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a happy easter! We had a grand old time! Grandma and Aunt Andi were here to help celebrate. We made an entire weekend of it. We checked out the sites around Franklin, played baseball, had an easter egg hunt, etc. We always have a great time when family comes, and can't wait to see them again!

We have officially lived in Nashville for a year! Can you believe it? We moved here in a state of unknown... Tennessee was still underwater from the floods when we pulled in, but we moved in and we are happy we did! The past year has been filled with lots of memories and growing up and excitement! We found in our adopted town of Franklin, what we were looking for when we moved to Chicago. A family community. We're so glad we're here! We know that takes us further away from family, but we still see you often, and miss you tons!

We hope you enjoy our Easter photos.

Love,

Avery and Berlin

Hippity Hop Hop

Happy Easter everyone! We had our picture taken with the Easter Bunny today. If a picture is worth a thousand words, I don't need to explain what was happening here! Berlin is still in the middle of her stranger anxiety phase, and I am happy as a lark. Or a bunny rabbit :)

We are excited for Easter! Grandma and Aunt Andi are coming to visit, and we are excited to see them! I love all the attention I get from them, they love on me so much. Grandpa was here last weekend, too. I had so much fun with him, I love my grandpa!! He read to me at bedtime, played ball with me, held my hand, and was all around awesome.

We've been busy little bees this Spring. We've had lots of birthday parties and play dates, and have been going outside a lot! It is so beautiful here, the weather has been pretty awesome. There have been some thunder showers, but I LOVE thunder! It is sooo cool! We have a fun filled summer planned as well, which I will tell ya about soon.

One update: I had my appointment with the ENT. The tube in my right ear has turned sideways and my eardrum has not popped it out like it should. This means I have to have surgery to have the tube removed. This will happen on May 11. It's an easy procedure, but I have to be asleep. Not sure if I will like that, but I do like my doctor alot! He was very nice, and tickled my ear a little bit when he examined me. He told me I am an extraordinary little boy, then gave me a sucker. What's not to like??

That's all for now. Hope you like our Easter pic! Talk to you soon.

Love, Aves

Growing Like Weeds

Hello! How ya'll doing? We are great! And growing like weeds!! For the first and only time last month, we were able to have our wellness checks together. Berlin for her 15 month and Avery for his 3 year checkup. We are BIG! Avery is still 90th percentile for height, 35th for weight, and Berlin is 95th for height, 25th for weight. Our pediatrician thinks we're awesome (which we are!). We did not like the shots, though, and Avery put up a good fight. It took Mommy and a nurse to hold him down while another nurse administered the vaccines. He's STRONG! And Mommy says it's all in the name of our health, so we handled it well. The lollipops helped. Avery may have an issue with his ear tubes, so we are going to see an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor in April. One of his tubes may not have fallen out all the way, so we need to make sure everything is okay with it. I have had strep throat three times in 3 months, so Mommy wants to ask the doctor about that, too. It seems a bit much.

Avery is having an awesome time being 3! He has made a ton of friends at school, and we seem to always be going to birthday parties. SO MUCH FUN! He's also mastering his new bike, and working on "artwork" all the time.

Berlin is talking up a storm. She's now saying Mommy, nigh nigh, hop pop (for her favorite book Hop on Pop), mine (her favorite word), plus a bunch of other new words. She's teething, too. Getting at least 2, maybe 3 on top. This has made her crabbier than normal, which means she now has a normal babies temperment (because she's the happiest baby ever!). She also likes to climb on everything, as you can see above. She's just starting to be able to climb on the couch and ottoman, and she is walking up and down stairs (with a little help from Daddy and Mommy). It's amazing how much she is changing!

We should have more adventures to share soon! Spring has hit Nashville and there's lots of outdoorsy stuff to do! We'll keep you updated.

Lots of love,
Avery and Berlin