Mommy I'm a big girl now!

That is a song title from Hairspray - and lately I feel like that is what Avery is telling me! haha, I still call her my baby and sometimes treat her that way, but she definitely is no longer a baby!

Avery turned 2 on the weekends, I can barley believe it!

She is growing and learning so fast! She has become quite the good talker, basically says everything and pronounces it words quite well! She also knows almost 1-10, a few of the Alphabet, and all her colors! She loves to draw, play pretend, be outside, play in the water, pretending to sing, dance, parks, books, climbing, play "night night", fruit, french fries, milk, nursery and her buddies there, animals and making there sounds, helping dad with reno projects and yard work, helping mom clean and she has quite the sense of humor.

She does not like posing for pictures, being made to do anything until she chooses to do that thing (she is very stubborn and independent), still not a big cuddlier (but has realized hugs and kisses aren't so bad, and being woken up from a good nap (sometimes 1:00 church forces us to do that.)

Her favourite TV characters / shows are Dora and Curious George. I could go on and on about this girl! I just love the little person she is becoming!

I've been looking at lots of pictures of her over the past 2 years and missing those ages, but still loving the ones shes in. Here are some pictures of her over the past 2 years!

Newborn - cannot believe she was once this little!

6 months! She chunked out real good!
18 months, Avery is a bit of a Tom Girl - basically a girl version of Jordan!

2 years old! Like I said before, she is the hardest kid to get a good picture of! Right when the camera comes out, she basically runs or turns away! So this was a couple weeks ago at the zoo - best one I could find recently!

I love her and feel so blessed to be here Mommy! Happy B-day Avery!

Wallpaper wall... COMPLETE!

Quick Before - note right wall, this lovely wallpaper went through the living room and dining room.




Thanks to my hard working / handy husband out wall is done!!! Our house is starting to feel like ours! We still have baseboards and a closet door at the front entrance to do THIS YEAR... and then a break for the rest of the year! Still plenty more to do over the years!





Anyways, I was so impressed with Jordan's handy work. I finally found the wallpaper I wanted and got a deal from our supplier. And Jordan found these real 8" wide pine boards off kijiji. This girl was renovating her house and ripping them off her wall, obviously didn't know what they were worth. So we got all the pine boards for $60 ALL TOGETHER!





It was a lot of work for Jordan to get them on the wall. Wall needed to be prepped, boards were cut, boards were nailed on wall, the sanded to cover up big knots and nail holes, and then Jordan routered all the finishing peices from scratch from those pines boards! I was so impressed, he bought a couple peices for the front entrance.





Then was the painting, more wood filling and sanding and more painting. Oh yes, wallpaper was done before all this. Phew!!! I was just support staff...and this project was exhausting. But we both are so happy its done and could just stare at the walls all day long! Anyways, IT'S DONE!!! Enjoy the pics!

Front Entrance

Front Entrance - without light on (new light too!)

Big wall between living room and dining room!

Beloved plate wall - I've been collecting these plates from everywhere over the last few months. The smaller green one, my wonderful friend Tara knew I was working on this project and saw it at Crate and Barrel in Calgary and brought it home to me :) Thanks Tar!

I will put up a bunch of Before and Afters once baseboards and closet door are done!