it's been a wild ride...

... for these three and it's only been 8 days.



It's pretty safe to say that at any given moment Avery has one of these three in her hand or near by.

Baby Jesus takin' a nap.




Eatin' pudding with Baby Jesus.


Going' shopping.


A stroller ride for Joseph.


Mary and Joseph visit the garage.


I can already tell it's gonna be a hard "good-bye."

We are fam-i-ly....

Some precious moments from Thanksgiving weekend that I forgot to post.

Family shot 2011


Siena & Avery. This probably would have made a better video than blurry photo. Oh well, the cute moment was still captured.


Observing from the outskirts.


Aunt Virginia and Avery. I normally don't disclose ages, but Aunt Virgina makes 88 looks beautiful. She is one of the sharpest women I know.


Spending some time with Uncle Chris.


We definitely love our family!

gettin' a tree.

It was a blustery day at Peltzer Pines Christmas Tree Farm, so we all bundled up to search for the perfect tree.



Avery loved scampering amongst the trees and balancing on the tiny tree stumps.


She loved squeezing between the trees to try and catch mommy.





She was having so much fun until she noticed the ....


wire fence and orange cones in the parking lot.




Well, it would all be fine, but we hadn't found our perfect tree yet. How was mommy going to lure her back into the trees? The good ol' technique of acting over excited to change her mind did not work. The plain old words of reason did not work. Then, I remembered I still had a lollipop in my purse from earlier in the week! Yes!


So the law was laid down, "You need to stay with mommy and daddy to keep your lollipop." We had a very compliant toddler.



Alas, we found our perfect tree!


As if she wasn't in heaven already with her lollipop. The nice man behind the desk gave her her first candy cane.


It was a fun {and successful} trip to the tree farm.


Happy Decorating.

in hiding.

No, this is not an exciting game of hide-and-seek. Nope, Avery is terrified of these toys, so we have them hidden.

Mom and Dad's side of the story-

This summer, we were in Hilton Head for my BFF's wedding. The hotel lobby had several different stuffed animals that laughed when they detected movement. Every single day Avery wanted to "go see piggy laugh." She would stand there smiling, sometimes laughing. At the end of our trip as a little surprise, daddy went and bought the piggy and gave it to Avery when we got home. Well, when the piggy laughed in our own house, she fearfully clung to our legs with her dimply, white knuckles. "No piggy laugh! No piggy laugh!" Ever since piggy has been in the closet.



I thought she would LOVE the FurReal bear for her birthday because she loves animals... nope, she completely freaked out.

The baby doll has a cry that sends Avery into a panic, so that's why she is hidden.

The sweet, little, tan bear says nursery rhymes in a gentle (little bit creepy) voice. Avery loved it at first and then one day when it came out, she flipped.



I know she definitely won't be getting a Baby Alive for Christmas this year. I got a fair warning when we were strolling down the toy aisle. She saw them and said in an anxious tone, "No, mommy. No, mommy."

That's one way our baby girl is always keeping us on our toes.

Just a little note to say...

we hope you had


a wonderful Thanksgiving.


Sending hugs




and kisses.



Love,
The Doran's

Monkey See. Monkey Do.

making pumpkin pancakes.

Step 1- Dump


Step 2- Pour


Step 3- Stir


Step 4- Flood


Step 5- Devour


Bon Appetit!