Avery cheers in the New Year ...

Avery "cheering in" the New Year

I thought that I would lead everyone into a "cheering in" of the New Year, so I hope you can join me in my cheer ...

Avery shows off her sign language skills ...

Since Mommy and Daddy still haven't bothered to learn "baby talk", I decided that I should pick up sign language so I can communicate better with them ... well, really so that I can get what I want a lot quicker than playing "20 Questions" with them like we usually do.

Anyway, here's an easy beginner one ... try to guess what sign I'm using. Note that Daddy guessed right and blurts out the answer on the video, so turn the volume off and try to guess along too.

My first encounter with the man they call Santa ...

"Christmas is sooo awesome!!!!"

I think the picture of me above sums it all up!!! And I guess Santa thought I was a good little girl this year since he brought me all sorts of really really neat stuff!! It's too bad that I didn't get to see him drop off all these neat gifts this year and thank him myself.

Avery falling asleep before Santa came to her house

Maybe next year, Mommy and Daddy won't let me fall asleep before he comes to my house and climbs down my chimney. Thanks a lot, Mommy and Daddy!!! At least they had the good idea of leaving out milk and cookies for him as a "thank you".

Milk and cookies for Santa

Anyway, once I woke up Christmas morning and finally got Mommy and Daddy out of bed (along with Auntie Em who flew into town to spend Christmas with me), I got started with the first round of presents and began opening all the presents that were at my house.

Christmas tree at Avery's house

for round 1 of "The Opening of Presents"

Family, Santa, and friends from all over sent me all sorts of neat stuff!!! Books, toys, stuffed animal friends, princess dishware, etc ... the list goes on and on and on ... it was so much stuff that I didn't know what to play with first!!!

Avery ripping open her presents

And here's a video of me ripping open my first present from Santa ...

Avery wondering how to get the toy out of the packaging

Avery looking at a picture book of all sorts of babies

Mommy showing Avery one of her new toys

Avery reading her new favorite 3-D book

And then after finishing up with all the presents at my house, I then went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to open up all the gifts I had there!!! Don't tell Santa that he mistakenly dropped off gifts for me at both places!!! Christmas is the best day of the year!!!!!!!

Christmas tree at Grandma and Grandpa's house
for round 2 of "The Opening of Presents"

Scrappy enjoying her Christmas present from Santa

Mommy helping Avery play with her new puzzle

Avery meeting her first real doll named Dolly

Avery and her baby white alligator named Whitey

Avery and her new pal Mr. Monkey-Pants

Avery with Grandma showing off her handmade

Piggy-Bank purse (made by Auntie Em!)



Grandpa getting dinner ready

Avery and Auntie Em watching Grandma play Christmas songs on the piano

Grandma, Auntie Em, and Mommy showing off their matching Christmas jackets (hey, why didn't I get a jacket too?!??!)

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Just a quick note to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas this morning!!!!

I'm just wasting time right now ... I'm waiting until Mommy and Daddy get out of bed so that I can open up all the neat presents Santa brought me this year.

I'll let you all know later what neat stuff I got this year ... and I really hope Santa brought all of you something nice this year also.

Little Miss Avery's busy busy life ...

Below is a video of how my long busy Monday went today ...

I just can't wait for the holiday break to finally have some time to relax ... and play with all the neat new stuff Santa is going to bring me!!!!!!!

The making of "Chrismas Card '08" ...

Family Christmas Card 2008

I guess proper etiquette says that you must send out a card each year to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or whatever cheerful saying you like. So this year Mommy and Daddy decided to do a full up photo shoot with, believe it or not, me as the center of attention!!! In doing such, the pets got sort of jealous so they were added into the line up at the very last minute.

Here's me all dressed up and waiting for my close up

Scrappy really wanted to wear the elf costume ...

... which left Scout-No with the reindeer costume

It seemed like it took forever to finally get just that right picture for the card ...

Take 1 ...

... take 2 ...

... take a short break ...

... take 99 ... and that's it ... that's the picture ... it's a wrap!!!

And if you were wondering why Suzy wasn't it the picture, she thought the whole photo shoot thing was just dumb (I think mostly because her costume was a Christmas stocking), so she just lingered around in the background and wasn't in many of the shots.

Suzy's not happy about her costume

(these were taken just a few weeks before she passed away)

In loving memory of Suzy ...

In loving memory of Suzy, 1985 - 2008

If you haven't already heard, my beloved cat Suzy passed away this week due to old age (she was almost 24 yrs old!). It has been a very very sad week since not only was she my cat, but she was Mommy's childhood cat as well. When Mommy was 10 yrs old, she found a kitten that she later named Suzy who lived with her from that point on, and thus brought her into my life.

Suzy liked to lounge on Mommy (just like me!)

You could even say that Suzy was Auntie Em's cat as well since whenever Mommy wasn't around, Suzy would jump into her arms ... although Suzy never discriminated against hanging out with anyone that would give her a kind touch, a nice word, or even just tolerate her getting in the way of everything.

Auntie Em and Suzy ...

... Suzy hanging out at a party ...

... Suzy just being "in the middle of whatever is going on" ...

... Suzy "helping" Daddy put stuff together

Suzy hanging out with her gang of close friends

(Auntie Em, Scrappy, Mommy, and Scout-No)

Suzy was an outdoor cat for most of her life (except for these last few years). She just loved being in the sunlight and having nature all around her.

Suzy loved either being outdoors ...

... or having the outdoors inside with her

Suzy received as much love as she sent out

I felt so bad this week about Suzy passing away that I wrote a poem for her ... here it is ...

Suzy was a Good Friend of Mine

Suzy was a good friend of mine, which could be seen each and every day ...
Since whatever I did, good or bad, better or worse, she captured in her own special way.

Oh all the games we must have played, they numbered way too high to amount ...
For I just loved to grab at that soft fur, those multi-colors, and that magical tail just too many times to count.

And if I sometimes pulled too hard or pushed too much, she'd sneakily navigate away ...
But always before I would even know it, she would be right back besides me again ready to stay.

She lovingly watched over me as I would fall deep asleep, her nestled just right beside ...
With that constant purring to sooth me right off, chasing my wild colored dreams deep inside.

As the time dwindled away these final last days, she never strayed that far from my reach ...
For even that she's now gone, in my heart she'll stay strong and forever my first friend, mentor, and teach.


And I lastly wanted to share some videos of me and Suzy playing just last weekend before she past away ...

Here's the last one ... Suzy you will be missed.

What is a geisha???

... the reason I ask is that Grandpa went on a business trip to Japan recently and got me a present. This time it was traditional Japanese clothing and I had never seen anything like it before. It was this colorful robe with all sorts of ties, bows, sashes, and such.

Grandma dressing Avery in her new outfit

Avery in her pretty new Japanese clothing

When Grandma was done dressing me, everyone thought it was oh so cute and kept calling me a "little geisha girl", but I didn't really know what that meant. So I went to wikipedia today to investigate ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geisha ), but I'm still confused on what that really means ... there were a lot of words that were new to me, remember I'm just a 7 month old baby!

So, can someone please tell me what "being a geisha" really means???

Do I look like a geisha???

Milkshake anyone?

Avery drinking/wearing her milkshake

As many of you out there already know, I'm a regular Jack-of-all-trades. Most recently, I just added the title of 'Milkshake Maker Extraordinaire' to the list. Watch my latest video below that shows the intricacies of milkshake making.

Anytime you feel like a milkshake, you know where to go ...

How do you make the nightmares stop?

What in the world is that???

Why it's Bubba, of course!

So a few weeks ago Grandma thought taking me to the city zoo would be a great fun treat, so we loaded up in the car with Great Grandma, Great Uncle Don, and Great Aunt Judy and went to the zoo.

You're probably wondering why it took me so long to blog about this great fun adventure. Well, I'll tell you why ... it took the last 3 weeks for the nightmares to finally come to an end!!! Can you imagine that every time you close your eyes, you see Bubba (from above) walking towards you with those great big claws, that matted fur, beady eyes, razor sharp teeth, and disturbing/distorted face. Oh my, the horrors ....

Grandma, how did your bird get into the zoo?

Now the day started off fine and all. Grandma told me all about the animals and everything. We saw all the typical birds, zebras, elephants, monkeys, and all the other normal variety of animals.

It's a baby like me ... a baby zebra!

How do they keep the birds from flying away???

Do monkeys like to be in cages???

Why is that tiger slowly creeping up towards us?

Avery riding on a baby elephant

(with Grandma's help)

Hey, this lion copied me!!!

( http://averyclaire.blogspot.com/2008/08/funny-faces.html )

So as I was saying, everything was going nice and pleasant up to this point, but that's when Bubba came creeping up and startled me, along with all these other scary creatures ...

Now just what in the heck is that suppose to be

and why does it have 5 legs???

I would hate to come across him in a dark alley!!!

(and what's with the black eye ... he must get in a lot of fights!)

What is that?!?! A flattened run over rat?

... or wait, is that my beloved Fluffy?!?!

If that is what's in the water,

then I never want to take a bath ever again!!!

Help, help ... this tall thing is trying to eat me!!!

What the heck? ... that rock is moving towards us!!!

Thank goodness the day finally came to an end with some snacks and some naps ...

Snack time and then ...

... nap time for both me and Great Grandma