Happy 1st Birthday, Stella!

Wow, our little penguino is 1...Stella are you, as of recent, busiest little girl...you are walking, climbing, hitting :( getting into everything. You are super smart and social and love to tell everyone Hi. Thanks for such a special year. We love you!!

A family photo....

Happy Halloween!

Just like family...

We are so incredibly lucky to have a wonderful family watch our girls while we work.  The Cuevas-Rivera family has watched Avery since she was 6 months old and Stella since she was 8 weeks (even a few times before that age too, so mommy could sleep)  They give our kids so much love and treat them just like family.  They watch the girls when we go out of town, out for a night, or just because Avery feels like they are Grandparents (Mama Tonia) and wants to have a sleepover.  We love them and truly will never be able to express the gratitude we have for them and all the love and support they show our family. 
(more to come...)
Yesterday, they invited Avery to a birthday party. Not only did they take her to the party, but they took her to ride rides and bought her a Halloween costume.  So nice!

Stella is a climber...

With Love...

I hug and kiss my girls (multiple) times a day and say to them "I love you" all the time.  I hope they truly feel and will always know how much we love them!  They mean the world to us!

Avery- You are one cool girl.  Your care-free, loving, yet sensitive approach towards life is so neat to watch. Thanks for always being willing to try new things, teach and include others when they are being left out, having dance parties with me and for being such a great helper!  I love your curiosity for learning! You make me so proud!

Stella- You are a cool girl too! You are such an independent, adorable, happy little girl who loves to spend time around others.  Your curiosity makes me smile! I love watching all the new things you can do and know you will grow into a special young girl! (you already are)

xoxo

We love our friends!

A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.-Elbert Hubbard

We recently took the girls on a family road trip to Minnesota to see some of our favorite friends and their new babies! The weather was perfect, our children were on their best behavior, and the our friends were fabulous and truly hospitable!

Todd and Jared (his bestman at our wedding)

Todd on double duty-Knox & Stella

A delicious cafe from diners, drive-ins and dives that we had to try...and it was SO.WORTH.IT!

Grandma Melinda brought special treats for Avery- games, tea party, movies, dress up & a trip to the park!

Cheers!

Stella playing dress-up. These two had so much fun cruising the floor and playing with toys :)

Adorable!

The crew!

Avery & Charlie at the pumpkin patch!

FIRST.TIME.EVER Avery has touched-let alone-picked up a farm animal. You go, brave little one!

Cavaluzzi's-Kt, Joe, Charlie & Mac!!!

Friends since before Kindergarten...

FarmFest at the zoo...

Lincoln Park Zoo is the only zoo in the United States that is FREE! A beautiful, fun place to spend your day, this park is a favorite of Aves and Stels. Tonight, we attended a fun charity event called FarmFest. The girls got to feed the goats, watch the cows being milked, play in the tractor, see baby chicks being born and get in a tornado tunnel with winds of 78 miles. What a fun evening...

Waiting in line to get in...

Avery waiting patiently :)

Aves and the goats...no touching though!

Popcorn break!

Watching the cows being milked

Stels waiting for the cows

Aves playing in the tractor

Aves at the "baby chicks"

Wind machine

Family fun!

Too much fun for Stels