Finally a break.... for a few weeks :(

It is 10:00 pm on Tues night, and as I sit here watching Gilmore Girl re-runs, I am overcome with sheer excitement over what awaits me tomorrow...NOTHING!!! I am officially done with school; no more classes, no more seminars, and no more going to kindergarten!!!!! I'm not sure that typing exclamation points really does my feelings justice! After attending my last class of the semester this morning, I put Avery down for a nap, and proceeded to package up Christmas treats for our friends and neighbors. I feel like I am running out of time before Christmas; we will be on a plane in exactly one week, and I am quite behind on gifts, packing, and other such things. After Avery woke up, we went and visited the daycare that she will be attending during the winter semester. I am really nervous and sad to take her to daycare, but I'm sure the 3 months will fly by and she is young so I'm sure that she won't remember me leaving her all day! The lady in charge seems really nice, and her house is pretty clean, and she only has a few kids, so it won't be chaos all the time. When we are at church I just keep thinking that in two months Avery will be in nursery and how nice it will be, but she still needs me and the other night at our relief society night, she had a hard time in the nursery. She cried on and off and it was only an hour and a half! I'm sure that when she gets to know the kids at the daycare, it will be fine, but the first little bit will be a big adjustment; 9 hours is a long time for her not to be with either Paul or me. Anyways, after dinner, we walked around and delivered our Christmas treats. It was cold, but fun to get out together and be able to check it off my list.

Christmas Greetings!

I did one of these online Christmas cards last year, and I really liked how it turned out. Since we are again looking to save money anywhere we can, I opted to make one again for this years Christmas greeting! I know that most blog readers have seen these pictures, since I posted them when we got them done, but it will be fun to send to all of our friends and family who do not have blogs. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox greeting

No news is good news...

Everyday I get online, ready to update my blog, and then I never do because I really don't have anything exciting to write about. Both of our computers crashed a few weeks ago, and we got them fixed, but both hard drives were completely wiped, and the programs to upload pictures from our camera haven't been re-installed. Luckily last year, my parents got us an external hard drive and we had backed up our computers a few days before they died. I don't know what we would have done if we would have lost Avery's pictures. Speaking of Avery, she is getting older everyday. She is talking really well, mostly in two and 3 word phrases. Everything is "Avery shoes, Avery towel" etc. and after her naps she yells, "Avery OUT!", which is funny to listen to. She is really into saying "ABC" and keeps finding one of her Christmas presents, a fridge phonics (I am not really hiding it, just moving it out of her reach etc. until she finds a way to get it), and singing along to the ABC song. One of my favorite things that she does is when we leave someone or go somewhere, she says, "Bye, See ya!" She says it to people, but the other day she started saying it to our little Christmas tree, "Bye tree... See ya". She is really bright and suprises me daily with things that she remembers and does. On another note, on Thursday night I had my portfolio board to see if I can graduate or not, and it went really well! It was so nerve wrecking, and it took a lot of preparation, but I passed with flying colors, with no recommendations, which is the highest passing score. I also got placed to student teach at South Fork Elementary; the new Archer-Lyman school, so I will be really close to home! Paul's internship got moved to the summer, and at first we were a little disappointed, but it may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Instead of putting Avery in daycare until 4 or 5, Paul may be able to get her in the early afternoon, which would make me feel better. And after 3 full months of student teaching, I will officially be done with school! What a long road it has been; I'm nervous and excited and a little tiny bit of me is sad that I will be done. With Paul gone so often, pretty much the only interaction I get with other adults is at school! Well, I better go to bed...This was a boring post, mostly to get my own thoughts down on paper... or down in a post. Wish us luck finishing out the semester; we can't wait to be done, and be headed to North Dakota for a little vacation!

More Halloween...

Here are the pictures from our free photo shoot... Avery looks really sad, but she is still the cutest fairy ever! James and Michelle Rognon took our family pictures and these of Avery; they did a fabulous job and we would highly recommend them! Their website is rognonphotography.com- check out their blog to see more of Avery and our family pictures!

Happy Hallows...

What a fun day it has been! It started out with dressing Avery up and having the same photographers who took our family pictures, take pictures of her in her costume...they are so great and it was free for whoever wanted it done! Then we had a small break and then got dressed back up and headed to Broulims to trick or treat at the different departments. I think that Avery was excited, but she woke up this morning with watery eyes and a runny nose, so I don't think that she was feeling like her usual happy self. She looked dang cute, but I am sad to say that we didn't get any pictures of her really smiling, which makes me sad, but we will just remember that she was feeling under the weather. We had Tim, Laurel, and Olivia over for a Halloween dinner and then took the girls trick or treating in a nearby neighborhood. It was a great night to be outside, and I'm sure that Avery didn't get the whole idea, but it was great to spend time with the other Seiters and take some cute pictures... plus Paul and I got a lot of candy!

We are a happy family...

Our family pictures have arrived! I wanted to post all of them, but there are so many after James edited and changed the colors, that I decided to make a few collages of my most favorites just to give a sneak peak! The pictures of Avery are priceless; she is just way too cute! Enjoy

Pumpkin Shmupkins...

Our neighbors across the way have had pumpkins outside their door for about 2 1/2 weeks now and everyday we have to go out and say hi to the pumpkins and when we leave we have to wave to them and say goodbye. I know that Avery is young and that she may not get Halloween, but she loves pumpkins! A few weeks ago I bought her a mini pumpkin for the table in her bedroom and at least once a day she brings it to me and wants to show it to me saying, "Pump pump!" One of my favorite things about fall is getting pumpkins and this year I really wanted to go to a real pumpkin patch, but we had to settle for Broulims instead. This brought much sadness to my heart until we got there and saw how excited Avery was and that she, of course, did not care about being at a grocery store parking lot! It is really sad that we did want to go to a real patch but could not find the time or make our schedules work! Needless to say, Paul and I will be SOOOOOOOO glad when this semester is over. We are always busy during school, but this semester has been especially challenging with school, work, babysitters (not working with babysitters, you guys have been great!), and Paul's calling. Anyways, so tonight was a pretty nice night; not to cold, and it was sunny all day, so we headed to Broulims to let Avery pick a pumpkin. She was transfixed by the giant blow-up cat that we had to walk under to get to the pumpkins, but after we got her attention and she noticed the pumpkins she started running from bin to bin! It made my heart so happy to watch the excitement in her eyes over a pumpkin! Paul was surprised at how into the pumpkins she was and we both wished that we could have gone to a patch and let her run around. BUT we found a perfect Avery sized pumpkin, had a great time together, and watched our little girl grow up a little more. What more can we ask for? Beware of lots of pictures!