St Louis: snow on Christmas, then summer warmth, and a tornado on New Year's

We flew to St Louis for the holiday season and a lot of the extended family got to meet little Avery.  It was Avery's first time to Missouri.  Boy did we run into some crazy weather!  We also got to see Jim's mom's new house in Fenton, MO

When we landed on Christmas Eve the snow had begun piling up.

We also went sledding with the Perone neices on Christmas day:

On Christmas Day we went to Jim's sister Julie's house for dinner and presents.  Avery got to play with her cousins:

We also got to meet Avery's newest cousin, beautiful little Olivia:

The next night we went to Aunt Patty's house for Christmas dinner and the big gift exchange with all the extended family.  Avery got to spend time with her Great-Grandpa/Grandama Harper:

(Avery also got to spend time with Great-Grandma Dahlem and Great-Grandma Ball but unfortunately we didn't have the camera those days)

She loved the Glow Worm that Great Grandma Harper gave her!  She is still soothed by the light and mealodies it plays:

The next day we drove 45 minutes to Definace, MO to visit our friend LJ (We know LJ from San Diego, her parents live in Definance and she was visiting them for Christmas).

Then we stopped by the Warnecke's house to see Kevin, Cady, and their baby Joey. Avery got some good Q.T. with Kevin:

Back at the house, Avery tried on her Uncle Adam's baseball hat, apparantly she has a new favorite team, the Cardinals!  The whole sequence is included because it was so cute!

Later that week the temperatures warmed up in the 70s, we took our neices Ashley and Lauren to the St Louis City Museum.  Then on New Year's Eve the weather really turned crazy!  An F-4 tornado ripped through the neighborhood in Fenton, MO before really devestating Sunset Hills, MO.  We labled Jim's mom's house on this tornado track map from the National Weather Service:

There was damage to neighboring homes and buildings:

Luckily the only damage to their house was a peice of siding that blew off:

The damage was even more severe a couple miles away when the tornado flattened houses and flipped cars:

We flew back New Year's Day, what a crazy and eventful week!

Also, a few weeks ago in Mid-December Avery developed the ability to sit up un-assisted.  She loves to sit up and play!

Colleen Graduated with her Masters Degree!

Because Colleen's masters program finished in June, her graduation cermemony was with the December graduates.  We went down to NC State so Jim and Avery could watch her walk in the ceremony.  Avery put on a red and white dress (the school colors) and was the hit of the crowd around where Jim was sitting!  Everyone thought she was so cute!


After we got there and Jim and Avery settled in the seats, Avery checked out the program to see mommy's name.

Jim was too far away to get a photo of Colleen walking across when they called her name, but they had a professional photographer there up front getting everyone's photos so once we get that we'll have a nice photo to remember it by.


Afterwards we all got some photos together in the lobby:

  

Colleen laughing it up with her friend Joann

Colleen took all her classes and student teaching while pregnant, with Avery in the womb.  She worked hard and really deserves the degree!  Avery and Jim are really proud of their mom and wife!

Unexpected Snow, and holiday cheer!

Last Saturday night we got a quick snowfall even though they didn't predict it!  It was only 1", and didn't last very long, but it sure made the neighborhood look pretty with everybody's lights up.  Here is a picture of our house in the snow:

Both our kids, Avery (and Kylie!) are also in the holiday mood and like posing in front of our Christmas decorations like the tree and poinsettias.

"Singing" some Christmas carrols in front of the tree:

Avery is also starting to learn to crawl:

 She's so close to being fully mobile, she can scoot while on her back and has almost figured out the crawling thing.  Which means that crawling will lead to a lot of moments like this in the future: hmmm let's pull on this branch of the tree and see what happens!

Avery and solid foods

Avery has been eating more and more solid foods.  We like making food for Avery and trying different combinations.  Thanks to Mike and Lisa for the puree recipe book!  We make lots of combinations and freeze them in baby food storage containers so we always have lots ready:

Sometimes Avery likes the food, other times she doesn't like certain foods, it's fun to see what flavors and foods she likes!  Other times though, it ends up all over her face!