Christmas Photos

Avery Elizabeth had a very busy 1st Christmas sitting on her presents, playing with her new toys (she loves the Busy Ball Popper), and spending time with our visiting family. She especially enjoyed seeing her Great-Grandma Elizabeth, who she is named after. I hope I have her genes and look this great when I am 93 years old!

Lion and Tigers and Bayers, Oh My!

We had a great Christmas and have lots of pictures to share from the big day. But before I get to those, we can entertain you with some photo fun from the days leading up to Avery's first Christmas. The excitement began when a huge package from Aunt Tara arrived in early December, and because we were lazy and didn’t hide the gift after we’d freed it from its Amazon.com brown box, Avery discovered it and started playing with it still it the box. As you can see, she LOVES her Fisher Price walk-a-long lion. She walked all over the house with it the weekend she got it. She also likes to bop Mr. Lion on his nose so that she can dance to his jazzy tunes, which are quite catchy.

Her next round of goodies came from Auntie Heather the week of Dec. 14. While the clothes didn’t spark any spontaneous dance moves or shrieks of delight from her, I personally can’t wait for her to model her new threads at the cabin. I can’t think of a better venue to sport a Fair Isle sweater than the NC Mountains. I might just have a coordinating sweater in my own wardrobe and we might just have a Fair Isle sweater photo shoot. Hey, I dream big.

Otherwise, last Sunday, Avery racked up the gifts at the Kahlan family Christmas gathering. Her favorite so far is this giant stuffed tiger from Bob and Betsy. She’s crawled over it, cuddled it, tasted it, and wrestled with it. She sure looks like quite the munchkin playing with it!

I knew I should have never left Avery alone in Greg's care on Christmas Eve while I worked. Someone on Facebook mentioned she looked like Cindy Lou Who, and I must admit that she does bear quite the resemblence!

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas, and I hope to be back soon with our Christmas Day photos!

More Asheville Photos

The National Gingerbread Competition entries captivated us all at the Grove Park Inn. Here Avery is posing in front of one of the youth category winners.

Avery enjoyed her brunch of puffs, cheese, ham, quiche, and strawberries. Yum!

This was one of the teen winners with another winner in the backround. Impressive!

Time has gotten away from me. How is it already Dec. 16? Instead of getting stressed out about all the presents I have yet to wrap, cookies I have left to bake, and holiday greetings I have yet to send over the next 8 days, I’m going to take a page out of Heather’s book and just enjoy the season.

I had the hardest time coming up with a Christmas list year, and I think it’s because I finally have everything I’ve always wanted: both my parents are alive and healthy, I’m happily married to a wonderful husband and father, and we have a beautiful, healthy, happy baby girl who will soon turn 1 year old. There’s not an electronic device, jewel or bobble that could make my life any more complete. But hey Mom, if you’re reading this, I really do want that cupcake stand I mentioned….

On that note, I’m so glad that we took time out from the hustle and bustle of the season to spend that weekend in Asheville a few weeks ago. I could’ve stayed home and finished all the wrapping, baking, and correspondence I mentioned before and gotten it all done, but then I wouldn’t have the memories (or photos!) of watching Avery seeing snow fall for the first time, or squealing with delight looking the horses in the eye at Biltmore’s Riverbend Farms. So, on that note, Merry Christmas!

Asheville, Day 1

We spent this past weekend in Asheville, NC with Meme and Grandpa seeing the Biltmore and Grove Park Inn all decorated for the holidays. We had a great time and Avery especially enjoyed the sites. Mother Nature even treated us to a wintry mix and Avery saw snow falling for the very first time. As you can see below, she was very amused!

Avery liked these miniature carolers. They were just her size!

Here we are just before going in to tour the Biltmore!

After our tour of the Biltmore House, we had lunch in the Winery Bistro, then visited Riverbend Farms. Avery got her photo taken with Santa again (yes, I'm on a quest now for the perfect Santa photo, and no, I did not get it on Saturday) and visited the animals in the petting zoo. She loved the horses, chickens, lamb and the goats. After a quick wine tasting, we were done sight seeing for the day. Avery was completely worn out. I couldn't even get her coat off her before she passed out for a very long nap!

Stay tuned for photo adventures from our second day in Asheville!

Turkey Day!

We packed up the car, which was a bit more full this year with an extra passenger, stroller, pack n' play, etc., and drove up to Charlotte on Thanksgiving morning to spend the holiday with my family. Last year we learned the hard way the Waffle House is the only dining establishment you can count on to be open on Thanksgiving Day. So this year, we just planned on stopping there. Avery provided her seal of approval buy eating a smorgasbord of cheerios, waffle, grits, hash browns, and eggs. The only downside to this feast is that, ultimately, Avery will think this is what all the fuss on Thanksgiving is about, becuase, after refusing her afternoon nap, she ran out of steam and went to bed for the night just before dinner was served at 6:30. Poor girl! She did, however, enjoy a nice buffet of leftovers for lunch on Friday.

We had a great visit to Charlotte. On Black Friday, Meme and I took Avery to have her picture taken with Santa at Bass Pro Shop, and Saturday evening we all went to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens to see the holiday lights. Greg and I even left Avery with Meme Saturday afternoon and snuck away to meet our friends the Bohlens to watch the UNC Football game. Though the Heels let us down, we enjoyed catching up with our former Atlanta pals and hearing about what little Harrison is up to!

We are heading up to Asheville this weekend to visit the Biltmore and to see the gingerbread houses at the Grove Park Inn, one of my very favorite holiday activities. I’m sure it will be fun trying to keep a hat and gloves on Avery in the mountain weather, but that will beat trying to keep her away from our Christmas tree, which I’m delaying putting up as long as possible. I’m quite sure Avery will want to experience just what pine needles taste like. The real question is, will she like them better than leaves? I’ll let you know in a few weeks. In the meantime, here are some photos from the Botanical Gardens.

While Avery admired the train in the Conservatory, we got a kick out of the sign!

Avery wanted to touch all the pretty flowers.

Avery was too interested in the lights to look at the camera, but this is a good photo of me!

Avery wanted to touch the lights, too. I made sure these weren't hot after she touched them. Doh!