Winter needs to end soon...

because Avery's outgrown 3 pairs of boots! Those genes from his father are making him grow way too fast!

Into the Wilderness

Since this seems to be the winter that never ends we decided to join Amanda's family and celebrate Jaycent's 2nd birthday at the Wilderness. It's an indoor water park resort with three different indoor water parks on its property. We loved all the water slides, especially the hurricane! Avery was entertained all day by the various water toys and the big bucket of water that dumped. It was a much needed break from all the snow and cold weather we've been having.

He has a mouth full of M&M's.


The Lazy River


Austin, Jaycent, and Gaven. Austin really is having fun, he just didn't want his picture taken.


There's the smile!


He loved playing here, watching the water levels change as he flipped the stopper up and down.


Happy 2nd Birthday Jaycent!

A Day at the Circus

It was Avery's first time at the circus, and he loved it. He didn't mind sitting through the whole 2 1/2 hour performance. From what I could tell, he seemed to like the elephants the best. I loved the clown and dog trick and Scott liked seeing the motorcycles and the trapeze. It was also special because Grandma and Grandpa Davis and Laura were able to join us.

Bubble Bath!

Disclaimer: Bubble baths have been linked to urinary tract infections (UTIs) so experts recommend avoiding them until your child is at least 3 years old. I just made sure Avery used the potty when he got out.

Snow Storm!

After 16.5 inches of snow in a 24 hour period today, Scott and I decided to venture out in it tonight. We had so much fun digging a fort and trying out Scott's snowshoes. Shhh.... don't tell Avery how much fun we have after he goes to bed.

Do you know the muffin man.....

if so, tell him not to put chocolate chips in an 18 month olds muffin because he'll do everything he can just to get the chocolate chips out. Yum, chocolate chips and milk proved to be a healthy breakfast. If only he would have gone through that much effort to pull the blueberries out of the blueberry muffin.

Since it's here for awhile longer....

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today and that means six more weeks of winter. (That is if you believe the old German superstition.) Either way, we've been enjoying winter sledding, hiking, building snowmen, and skiing. Avery loves cross country skiing and likes it when Scott goes fast. He happily yells, "bore"! Translation for bore is actually more. Madison has so many cross country ski trails. We enjoyed a fun woods loop at the UW Arboretum. We also enjoyed a great candle-light hike around one of the state parks at night. There are quite a few state parks that do this, so go to their websites and check it out. It was a beautiful night hike and Avery did great for being up so late.

He Knows His Name.....

The last few days when we've been out, people kept asking him his name. Of course we always had to answer for him until today. All day we would ask him what his name was and by the end of the day he learned how to answer us.

Davis Studio Returns

We finally took the time to take his 18 month pictures. If you would like a hard copy, let me know and I'll give you access to the snapfish account.











I love this one because he looks so sweet with the first two bear pictures, and then the real boy comes out.

1 Pair done!

Well, these have been almost 3 years in the making but since we finally have snow I decided to finish a pair over Christmas break. I usually like making things, but I think that buying snowshoes is a better idea than making them. I just hope it doesn't take me another 3 years to get Brandee's done.

Avery and Banana at 18 months

I wasn't going to take an 18 months shot with Avery and Banana but I decided to just to see how much he's changed. He's really looking and acting like a toddler now, the baby stages are gone. He's changed so much in the last 6 months. He's putting words together that actually make sense, he's creating his own fun games, and he's so full of energy! He understands so much, for example over Christmas I asked him to go plug the Christmas tree in. I didn't really think he would do it because I'd never asked him to do it before and the tree had only been up 2 days so he was just learning what a Christmas tree was. To my surprise, he ran over and plugged the tree in. Here he is 6 months at a time.....

1 week


6 months


1 year


18 months taken on January 14th

The most unlikely of toys

Over the weekend we were staying with our friends Kelly and Fernando as we looked for houses. Since we flew there, we couldn't bring any toys. Even though he didn't have any, he did a great job finding things to play with. The funniest "toy" he had was something like this.......

It's fuzz! I thought when we got home, he would play with the toys he has, but instead he found a new piece of fuzz.


He invented all kinds of games from hiding it, having blowing races with it, and carrying it around.

WhoNu.....

New Years could be so fun! This year we had to celebrate a week late because most of us were sick over the first. So last weekend, our friends all came over and we had a great time together. Cassie even came to celebrate with us, which was a special treat. Avery was asleep by the time we took the picture, as was Isaac.

Sensory Table

We no longer have to use the tub for our sensory table! If you remember, we filled it with flour when Avery was little. And I've since used it for snow and other things. Well, over break Scott built a frame for a container I had and now Avery has his very own table. He enjoys playing in it and I do too! The nice thing about these tables is you can continually add new things to the table. If you have any good ideas of what to fill it with, pass it on.

Winter Fun

Our snowpal




The sled Grandpa Davis made Avery. There is enough room for Avery and I to sit on the sled and for Scott to stand on the back. Now we just need a sled dog team.


Venus made a great sled dog, once she started moving.


Feeding the Ducks. This was much more difficult than normal because there weren't many ducks and the foreign ones that were there didn't want any bread.

Decorating Christmas Cookies

We did this before Christmas, but I never had a chance to post the pictures. Avery had fun decorating the cookies but I think he ate more frosting than he put on the cookie. His favorite was the sprinkles.





The finished product

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours, we hope you enjoyed celebrating his birthday.

You Know You're From WI When.....

You win a chunk of cheese in your negotiations class! Scott was given this tasty trophy for winning the negotiation, and tasty it was.

Avery's Two Favorite Things

The tub and balls!

Words!

Avery's been learning and saying so many words lately. I thought this was a funny one to remember. I always have a chapstick on me and and he loves chapstick so he's quickly learned the word for it. Here he is on my bed asking me for my chapstick. Listen closely and you can hear it.