Thanksgiving

We're thankful for...

*An Aggie win! Whoop!

*Chalk:

*Family:

*Pecans!

*Gingerbread houses and traditions:

*Aunt Erin and her amazing photography:

*God's amazing blessings. He continues to be more gracious and more gentle to our family than we could ever hope or expect. And Thank You, Jesus, for the most important... and amazing... gift of all!

*So, so much happiness... CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES FROM THANKSGIVING

Changes!

It's been a big week of changes in our house:

*On Friday, I came home from school with one pigtail in tact. The other pigtail... well, I had used Free Play time at school to give myself some striking layers. I cut my hair into four different lengths! Mom and Dad gave me a haircut to even it out, and now I have a cute little bob.

*On Sunday, Nana and DD took us shopping for a new bed for Kate. She's getting big enough to not stay in her crib anymore, and I thought it would be super cool to pick out bunk beds so we could sleep in the same room together. Kate found her favorite bed right away - a crib - and kept climbing into it. Despite her wishes, we all found and agreed on a bed that is just right for sharing sisters. It's not ready to come to my home yet, but soon, I will get to sleep with Kit every night if I want.

*Yesterday we went to go pick out a new car. Our 11-year-old Pathfinder has been amazing to us, but with a road trip coming up and with Daddy about to leave town for more travelling, Daddy said he'd feel safer if we just went ahead and made the trade. Four hours later (with everyone being patient and happy except one very tired Momma), we have a new car with a special sunroof just for me! I told Mom, "I like this car, but I wish we would have gotten the mini-van." Mom told me she'd be more than happy to buy me a mini-van if it's what I want when I turn 16. She better be careful - I may hold her to it!

Click here for pictures from the week

Love,

Avery Big Change McClinton

Fancy Nancy!

Guess who I got to meet? The illustrator from Fancy Nancy!!

Mommy says she's met authors before, but never anyone as fancy as Robin Preiss Glasser! Miss Robin showed up in the fanciest dress I've ever seen, and she had special stickers and glitter for all of our faces. She showed us how to curtsey and let us practice walking with a banana on our heads... you know, because that's how you practice walking like a model.

Mommy let me pick my outfit, and I looked exactly like Fancy Nancy would've if she was a real live girl. Mommy picked Katie's outfit, and she looked more like a picturesque Fancy Nancy. Nana and DD came, and just like in the book, they got fancy too! We got to eat at a posh restaurant afterwards and I made comments all night like, "This cake is delectable."

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES

Love,

Fancy Avery

San Antonio with These Two

This weekend, we had a family reunion with the Wales side of the family. Every single one of the 23 member family was in attendance. A few favorite moments from the weekend, as it pertained to the girls:

Avery:

*Avery was so excited to see her "Disney" family and requested that she get to ride with Mimi and Gran on the way up. Mimi and Avery read, told stories, and snacked all the way to San Antonio. She loves her great-grandparents!

*As we were leaving San Antonio, Mimi gave Avery some money. Jordan caught her just as she was about to rip the bill in half. Turns out, she was trying to half it so she could share the money with Katie Beth.

*On the way to San Antonio, we stopped through to pick up Mimi and Gran and drop off the dogs with Nanny. On the way home, we did not. Avery kept asking me how long until we got to Nanny's house. I figured she meant Nana... When we got all of our misunderstandings cleared up and Avery realized we would not be stopping at Nanny's on the way home, she cried big sobs. She wanted to see Nanny's face and hold it - the computer and the phone won't let her do that! Such a sweet heart. Luckily, we'll be back in a few short weeks and a phone call eased the pain after all.

Kate:

*We left Kate's newest froggy stuffed animal in Houston and thought it was okay until it came time to ride the boat. It was the highlight of Kate's trip and she looked at me as we were getting ready and whimpered, "Froggy. Boat. Home!" Sure enough, Froggy wasn't going to get to ride the boat because he was at home. Luckily, Nana purchased a ceramic frog for Kate and he made the trip (in a protective bag), which forgave Mommy for the blunder of leaving Froggy behind.

*After the reunion, we took the girls to the zoo with Trey and Erin before heading home. Kate hid her head from the monkeys and cried when we tried to get her to look at them. For some inexplicable reason, she was terrified of them. However, at our next stop, the Reptile Room, Kate climbed out of her stroller and pushed her face as close to the glass as she could to see the snakes, frog, and lizards. The enormous Reticulated Python was bigger around than Kate, but she thought he was fascinating and loved it when the Komodo Dragon climbed the wall to try to get out of its cage.

*On the way home from the zoo, an exchange:

Kate: "Mommy, ow!"

Me: "Kate, do you have an ow?"

Kate: "Yeah, feeng."

Me: "Your finger hurts?"

Kate: "Bain."

Me: "Why do you need a band-aid?"

Kate: "Aah-gay bit me."

Me: "Kate, I don't buy it. No way an alligator bit you."

She's been finding 'ant bites' all week that need 'bains', and so I guess she thought that it was just as likely that I'd believe an alligator bit her at the zoo.

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES OF THE TRIP

So Much!

There was so much this week:

Avery's Costume Parade at School

Kate's Playgroup Halloween Party (complete with Pumpkin Painting)

Avery's Class Fall Party (which Mommy got to be a part of)

Our Rowdy Rebel Halloween Party

Miss Shannon's 30th Birthday, including a Spa Day for Mommy and Shannon and a Surprise Party

Daddy's 31st Birthday, including breakfast in bed, lunch with the fam, a new(ish) Kindle, and Key Lime Pie

Trick or Treating with Nana and DD

And these extra goodies for you:

*Where's Kate?


*All week we talked about helping Daddy carve the pumpkin, but when the time came, apparently the smell was too much and two little girls had to "hide" from the smell behind the wall while Daddy worked... can you find them?


*For about two months, our camera has had really bad resolution in pictures, and we could not figure it out. As it turns out, someone (maybe Avery... maybe Katie...) had turned our camera's preferences to the smallest picture size possible. So, two months' worth of memories will never be able to be printed without a grainy look. So much for assuming that if a camera is water- and shock-proof that it is also child-proof.


*Kate changed costumes 4 times this week (one of which never made it to pictures because she suddenly deemed it too tight). On the night of the Rowdy Rebel party, we were struggling with a weather-appropriate costume for her. Daddy found a random bear/dog costume and as soon as Kate saw it, she lit up: "Kate! Pooh!" She was wholly convinced that she was dressed as Winnie the Pooh. Maybe that is exactly what it was meant to be...?


*We passed a group of people passing out Taquitos to all the adults who were trick-or-treating. Kate, just doing what she had been doing all night, reached up and took one, and started eating it. We thought she had dropped it on the ground after she realized it wasn't candy. In fact, she stuck it in her bucket, and we didn't think much of it until we were digging for candy. Can you find it hiding in the candy basket?

And, because there is always more, click here for more pictures of the week