Long Avery Update

Well I realized that I have been terrible about updating the blog, and I also haven't been so great in writing down all that Avery is doing these days, so I thought I would tackle both at once. This post is more for my own records and for our families back home, so feel free to skip to the pictures :)

It is so hard for me to believe she will be 17 months next week- I feel like we were just having her first birthday party last week. Time is flying!

- Loves to play outside. Every morning after breakfast she grabs her red ball and baseball hat (ha) and stands at the front door waiting to go out and play. She loves to run, run, run, run and is pretty good at kicking a ball.

-Loves, I mean LOVES, shoes. It is her favorite word to say and she always points out peoples' shoes. Every morning after I get her dressed, she runs straight to her closet saying shoes and insists I put on the pair for her that she picks out. She also loves picking out my shoes. Same thing- after I get dressed she runs to the closet and comes out with a pair of shoes. She is actually pretty good at coordinating my shoes with my outfit- If I have on running clothes, she brings out my running shoes. If I have on a dress, she brings out my flats. If I have on shorts and a tshirt, she brings out my flipflops.

-Ridley is her best friend. She follows him around all day and loves to lounge on him. She now likes to pat him on the back and say "good boy" (It sounds more like bo-boy, but she's got the right inflection when she says it).

-She is starting to talk more and more. She can say: no, eyes, nose, hair, hat, hot, brrr, dog, bear, bird, boo-boo, uh-oh (her new favorite phrase- says it all day long), aww, shoes, boom, poop (she is always very insistent in letting me know that she has a poopy diaper), cheese, please, Dad...and others I know I am forgetting.

-Very affectionate- she loves to give hugs and kisses. For kisses she puckers up her lips and says mmmmm-mmmm until you kiss her. When she gives hugs she says "awwww."

-She still doesn't say any words in Spanish, but it is so cool to see how she understands it. If I ask her to give me a kiss in Spanish, she puckers up and gives me a big smacker.

-She goes to bed between 7-7:30 most nights and wakes up at 6:45 or 7 in the morning. She takes one nap around 11 and sleeps for about an hour and a half. She is finally better about going down for a nap and falls asleep pretty quickly.

-Her favorite foods are grapes, oatmeal, broccoli, cheese, yogurt, goldfish, smoothies, and tofu.

-Loves to sing and dance.

She is so much fun and brings us so much joy!! We love you sweet Avery Elizabeth Drake!!!

Avery with her Taiwanese friends at Para Te

Playing in the park

Avery at the beach with the Breul boys. They buried her and she loved it.

This was right after a big wave came and splashed her.

How Avery is currently napping

Fishy Fishy

On Saturday we went to the National Aquarium. It was such a fun and relaxing little family outing!! The aquarium is on lots of property right on the ocean with a beautiful view of the blue, blue water below. Avery loved the fish and would point and say "dat, dat, dat" every time she saw one. The aquarium has a new play area for kids and Avery enjoyed toddling around and playing. Then we found a nice shady spot under a palm tree, ate some Bon Popsicles, and watched Aves run around in the grass. Large areas of mowed grass are a scarcity here in the big city of Santo Domingo- so the three of us were loving it!

Look at Avery's little crossed feet- cracks me up.

Such a big girl!

There was a little group of special needs kids sitting next to us and they all wanted to come over and take pictures with Avery. They were the sweetest little kids ever. The little girl, Brittany, was so good with Avery and kept kissing her on the head. It was such a special moment to see Avery with these precious children. I felt the Lord smiling down.

PEACE

Summer Fun

We just got back from a WONDERFUL time in the states!! First we went to Dallas for my brother's wedding. It was a beautiful, Christ-honoring wedding, and we loved getting to spend time with John, Kate, my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and everyone else that traveled to TX for the wedding. I am SO excited that Kate is my new sister!!

It was also so much fun spending time in TX because I hadn't been back since college. I got to see some of my dearest college friends and two of the girls that were in my K-Life small group!!

My college roomate and best friend Elizabeth and her precious little baby girl Reese came to the wedding!

After all the wedding festivities were over, we drove to Amarillo, TX to spend some more time with Elizabeth, her husband Mark, and baby Reese! It was so great to finally be able to visit Elizabeth and Mark, see where they live, and get a little glimpse into their lives. They were amazing hosts and made us feel so loved. We spend most of our time just watching Avery and Reese :)

Avery loved kissing Reese's toes!

We drove about 30 minutes outside of Amarillo to Palo Duro canyon to Mark's aunt and uncle's cabin to have dinner, watch the sunset, and look at the stars. It was so beautiful and quiet!

Elizabeth MADE matching dresses for Avery and Reese. We dressed them up and did a little photo shoot!

After a sad goodbye in the Amarillo airport, we flew to NC to spend a week at the beach with Elliott's whole extended family. His grandmother rented 2 beach houses for 2 weeks and invited all of the family to come whenever they could. At one point there were 25 of us there at the same time!! It was so much fun getting to see Elliott's mom, dad, brother, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, and his cousin's kids! The beach was beautiful and we were blessed with amazing weather all week. Avery loved the water and the waves, she would charge into them as soon as we would put her down- no fear in her.

Avery is walking-walking-walking now.

Elliott's cousin, his wife, and their four children came all the way from Montana!