Happy 2nd Birthday Avery! (And we'll not talk about which birthday it was for me)

The month of July is destined to be a busy one in the Rhodes home. The fourth happens first, then exactly one week later is my birthday, then exactly one week after that is Avery's birthday. Then I was informed when we moved back to Idaho, that July 24th is like, Mormon Pioneer Day apparently! So here they do parades for that too! So pretty much every weekend in July will be spent celebrating something! (They don't celebrate Mormon Pioneer Day in Wisconsin? Weird. haha)

So for my birthday (yes, it was the big 3-0) Josh and I just went out to dinner at Red Robin. It was pretty laid back, but that was okay. We are planning a trip to San Diego in a few weeks so we are kind of trying to just save up for that. Also, I don't know if I ever mentioned Josh's whole keychain stuck in the steering wheel issue the day before we left Wisconsin, but when we got back home we took the van in to get it check out and were informed that the part he broke cost $380 to replace. Awesome. I was sure hoping to waste $380 repairing something that my husband broke in a moment of Hulk Rage. *sigh*

So I told him I didn't want him to go out and buy me any big birthday present. I already bought myself a present earlier this year anyways. Two actually. ;) Ahem…. enough about that! So then the next weekend celebration was Avery's birthday! Josh actually had to go to Boise for work all week. It was for some weird training again. They sure must have well-trained policemen! So he was gone from Sunday to Friday and got back Friday night. It was a very stressful week. I do not ever want to be a single mom! I mean, it is possible and all, but I would definitely get less sleep. Luckily my Etsy stuff was really slow (I was actually praying it would be every day) so I didn't have to spend too much time working on it in the evenings after all the kids were asleep.

On Saturday, July 19th, we had Avery's little birthday party. I basically had invited any mom in my neighborhood that had a little girl about 2 years old - and that alone was quite a few people! Not even everyone was there and it was still a nice little group! I brought some food over to Porter Park around 11 and had our friend, Ashley, make the cake (it was sooo cute!) and the moms mostly chatted on the blankets and watched our toddlers play on the playground. It was "classy-casual" in Josh's words. haha The boys had been invited to a birthday party for another boy in our neighborhood, so they were at the gymnastics center while we were at the little girly party at the park. It worked out well. ;) Then once it was over, we took our kids for a little ride on the carousel, came home, and Avery took her nap. Josh took the boys to go get some wood chips to finish off the landscaping in our backyard and add doe extra to the front (it's been about 3 years since we did the first batch so most had blown away!) We can finally say now that our backyard is pretty much complete! I would love to get a patio set eventually but it's not a top priority for this year.

I will post of picture of Avery in front of the playhouse. It's so cute now with it's little flower boxes and landscaping around it. I had to buy a new slide once we build the fence because otherwise the straight one went right into it! This one curves so it comes forward. Right now she doesn't fully appreciate it, but I think in a year or two she will feel pretty cool to have her own little playhouse. I told the boys to just plan on it becoming decked out with girly stuff in the next couple years! haha Their time is up. But either next Summer or the one after that they are supposed to have the neighborhood clubhouse done (with an indoor pool, basketball courts, etc.) so I am thinking once Gabe is 10 and Caleb is 8 they will be more excited about hanging out there. ;)

I do wish we had a little bit more land to spread out, but I think this will be a really fun neighborhood for our kids to live in for at least the next five years. Maybe someday we will consider moving a little further out into the country, but I think it's fun for kids to have other neighbor kids to run around with when they're young.

Anyways! That's all for now! Oh, maybe I should do a quick "2 year old" Fun Facts about Avery.
Okay here goes:
FAVORITE WORDS: "No!" (of course) "Cocoa!" (she loves hot chocolate, thanks Caleb) "Shoes" (typical girl)
FAVORITE SONG: "Wheels on the Bus" (she especially loves to do this in the water at swim lessons)
FAVORITE ACTIVITIES: Swimming, riding her new trike, going for strolls, playing at the Burton school playground, saying hi to Truck in the backyard
FAVORITE FOODS: Chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, apple slices, cookies, ice cream, anything with ranch on it (We sound really healthy right now)
ALSO LOVES: Stealing my necklaces and wearing them everywhere, trying on any shoes, puzzles, coloring (on walls especially), bath time and swimming, playing with cars (no!!!) and any type of animals, but especially dogs!
I need to get her official height and weight, but I know she wears a 2T to 3T and people tell me every day that she looks WAY older than 2. A girl who is in my swim class apparently said to a mutual friend we have (who then told me this) "Isn't there another swim class she could take her daughter too? I think they have a preschool one for 3 or 4 year olds." To which my friend replied, "Her daughter isn't even two yet." And the girl was like, "WHAT?! No way. She looks way older than that." I think we may be in trouble when she is about 13 or 14…. :(  But it is true, her hair has always been super longer than any baby her own age, she has always been tall, and I even had a girl tell me once when she was a baby "She has an old face. She doesn't have a chubby baby face." (Compliment? Not sure.) I guess we just have a little Renesmee baby. ("Twilight" fans will get that…lol) But honestly, I may be impartial, but I just think she is sooo beautiful. It's a good thing she has two big brothers. ;)