I guess it's time....

I had wanted to wait until Avery was much older to switch him to a toddler bed, but like most things he had other ideas. On Monday night he asked for a kiss after I had put him in his crib so I had to put the side rail down. I hadn't put the rail down in months and I don't think Avery had really ever paid attention before. When I put the rail back up, I saw the wheels turning in his head and I whispered to Scott, "He's thinking about how to get out of bed." We laughed and left the room. It wasn't more than 10 minutes and we hear a crash. Sure enough, Avery came running into our room. After several more falls and a bloody lip, we decided he was ready for a toddler bed. He really loves his new bed, but the last few nights have been sleepless as he relishes in his new freedom. I never thought he would just all of the sudden try to escape. He hadn't even attempted to put his foot over the bars before so I was shocked when he got out. A week shy of 2 and he has a big boy bed, he's growing up so fast.

Wunderlin Reunion and Avery's 2nd Birthday

This weekend we headed to to my hometown to celebrate Avery's 2nd birthday with my family and to go to the Wunderlin Reunion. My grandpa and his siblings decided to get the family together and invited the whole Wunderlin side, that's about 200 people.






Avery and Gaven celebrated their birthdays together since they're only 2 days apart. Gaven is laughing here because Avery kept blowing his candles out too.


Each of the Wunderlin siblings took pictures with his or her family. Grandpa's family was by far the biggest and we're missing 10 people.


Grandpa and his siblings in birth order from oldest to youngest. Two of the ten siblings have passed away.

Day trip to Duluth

This weekend we took advantage of Scott's new job perk and flew to Duluth on Saturday. We were able to visit with Laura and Tony and enjoy nice weather, well mostly nice weather. We also helped Tony and Laura find a geocache they have been looking for for quite some time. It was hidden in a cave on the shore of Lake Superior.


Scott and Tony decided to go cliff jumping.
The water was pretty cold and they only jumped once.


Throwing rocks into the water.


Lunch was a little of a disaster. It took 45 min to get our food and once we got it, it started to downpour. You can tell by Avery's face that he wasn't happy.


Watching the trains.

Big trucks!

In this area we have so many libraries to chose from and with libraries, there are a lot of summer programs. On Tuesday Avery and I enjoyed the big trucks program. The city brought all of their trucks to the library parking lot and allowed the children to go inside each one and "drive". Avery was thrilled to drive the tractor and sit in the DNR boat.





I love his face and stance in this picture. It was as if he's finally found what he enjoys.


Taking a break indoors to read to mouse and bear.

Moving Day

We are now out of our old house and moved into our new house in MN and I thought we should provide a little update. For now, here are some photos from moving day.



Some of our moving help.


The full gang taking a break for some good food.


We had to take a break several more times due to 4 tornado sirens. The rain came down so hard water was shooting up the catch basins and into our garage!


The kiddos took shelter during the tornado sirens but didn't seem to mind. The boxes kept them busy most of the day.

Rainy day fun and a chance to procrastinate

Packing is overrated, especially on rainy days. Here is what we did instead.


Geocaching in the rain.....NO WAY!!


Our trusty sidekick doesn't mind getting wet.


Avery loved his new rain suit.


Balloon animals rule! That is a monkey on my shoulder if you were wondering.


A pirate hat for my boy and a bonnet for the dog.

North Carolina

Scott, Avery, Mom, Joe, and I headed to Wilmington South Carolina to visit our family. It was a great trip of many firsts for my parents and we had a great time watching their excitement.


Here is my aunt, uncle, and cousins. I haven't seen some of them since they moved 8 years ago.


Mom was trying out the trampoline.


Debbie took us on a hillbilly hayride around her neighborhood.


Avery loved playing in the sand, but is still leary of the waves so he didn't go in the ocean.




Scott, Joe, and Todd boogie- boarding.




The condo we rented was right on the beach so we enjoyed many mornings outside on the deck.


We enjoyed quite a few games on bowling on the Wii.


Avery used his ninja skills and accidentally scratched Joe's eye. We had to take him to the emergency room the second day we were there and he had to wear the patch most of the time.


Avery learned how to ride a power wheels by himself.


Of course we had to go geo caching. Avery and I are holding the travel bug E.T. we found in one of the caches. This was a great find because once we put the tracking numbers in we found out that E.T. has been traveling around the US for 2 1/2 years and he started in Duluth Mn! We took him from North Carolina and we are going to bring him back to Duluth this summer.

Finally, a chance to rock climb outside.

Today Laurie, Scott, Avery and I enjoyed a day of rock climbing at Devil's Lake. Avery had a great time being able to play outside all day.

First Cone

With summer coming, I had to teach Avery the skill of eating a cone. He did a great job the first time and you can tell he's pretty proud of it by the look on his face.

Look, a ribbit- ribbit!

Avery and I discovered a ribbit- ribbit in Grandpa Wunderlin's yard; at least that's what Avery calls a frog. Grandpa showed Avery how to make it jump and he loved chasing it. He kept saying he scared the frog and made it jump.




I'm trying to get him to hold the frog.


Every time I handed him the frog, he would throw it. I think he was trying to make it jump. Don't worry, the frog wasn't hurt.


Avery enjoyed riding the tractor with Patrick and Trevor.

Many Firsts

Being a mom gives one many "firsts". There are so many moments in my life with Avery that I find myself smiling from ear to ear. There were two sweet moments this week that I would like to share. The first one is....

the first flowers Avery picked for me. He came running up and handed them to me and said, "Here you go, flowers." If you are looking for the flower, it's a dandelion and it hasn't opened up yet.

During the second sweet moment this week, Avery and I were driving home from playgroup and I had the Christian station on the radio like I often do. One part of the song kept repeating a few words. All of the sudden I hear a sweet voice from the back seat singing, "fly to Jesus." It was such a sweet moment and it brought tears to my eyes.

Tub fun

Here are two ideas I found from other blogs for inexpensive tub fun. Avery enjoyed both activities and they can both be recreated night after night. The first one is a recipe for homemade paint for the tub.

1 T cornstarch (I used more)
1/3 cup dish detergent (you may want to use something that won’t make your children break out if they decide to paint their bodies. I used an eco friendly brand)
Food coloring

Mix it all together and continue to add cornstarch until desired consistency. Seperate into smaller containers or ice cube trays and mix food coloring in.

For the other activity, you take different toys and freeze them in a container and then let your child watch as the water melts and the toys break free. It's a great lesson on ice melting. The first time I did this, I just froze all of the objects together. This works but melts way too fast. The second time, I froze different layers of toys in different stages and used food coloring in some of the layers.