happy 2nd birthday, sweet brady boy!

Happy 2nd Birthday to me. What a fun time I had celebrating with so many family and friends for my big day of turning 2. The fun started a week before my birthday when Aunt Kelly brought me over my first birthday gift. (She & Uncle Art were out of town on my birthday, so they brought my present early...woo hoo!) I got an awesome sand box...

...and some golf clubs. I was so excited!

I even got to practice a few swings while they were there...I was having fun.

(Don't you just love my form?)

Then, on July 1, I had my friend party at my Oma's swimming pool. Here I am...ready for some swimming fun!

...And, one more before jumping in...

...And, one more while in the pool, of course. I LOVE swimming!

After we enjoyed lots of swimming and eating yummy hot dogs on the grill (that my Daddy made) and lots of other food, it was time for my friends to sing "Happy Birthday" to me...I just stared at everyone.

Yummy...the cupcake. I love food!

So good...I even got to have 2...that is the fun about having my Oma and some uncles and aunts there to spoil me!

My Mommy & me

My Daddy & me

Here I am...really enjoyed cupcake #2!

A big smile...and icing in my hair!

My Oma and me...my Oma and Aunt Helen were huge helps for the party since my Mommy has been pretty sick with my new brother or sister!

My "Sissy" and me...sure was a fun party!

And, on my official birthday, July 2. I got to celebrate with my family. Before dinner, I got to open up my presents from Daddy, Mommy, & "Sissy."

I enjoyed really tearing into this birthday card...

...and then reading it!!

Then, it was time to tear into my gifts...

...yay...a book. I love to "read."

And look...one of my favorite things, "Ninnick" (translated "Mickey"). I was super excited to see his face on my book.

Oma & Averie enjoyed watching me open my presents. "Sissy" wanted to help, but I had fun opening up most of them by myself!

Oma reading her special birthday card to me. I was sad not to have Opa here to celebrate with me, but Oma gave me a really nice memory of Opa...a special keepsake coin for me to have. Everytime I look at it, I say, "Opa."

Then...it was off to meet the rest of my family at my dinner choice..."Big Fire," of course! I love their food...and the entertainment.

After dinner, everyone came over to our house for cake and presents. Here I am...ready to have everyone sing to me and then blow out my candles....oh, and have a piece of cake, of course!!! (Mommy is thinking, "Could Brady be any cuter"?) :)

Making a wish and blowing out my candlesAnd...a big smile while I wait for my piece of birthday cake!

Oh, this cake is SO yummy...mmm!!!

Sporting "Sissy's" pink beads before opening presents. Yes, I am "man enough" to pull this off, don't you think? :)

And, time to open gifts...this was Daddy & Mommy's last gift to me...a big truck. I am really into trucks right now...saying "honk, honk" when they drive by...and saying "truck" really loudly.

Opening up my awesome tool belt with tools from my Uncle Blair, Aunt Blip Blip, and McKinly

One of Oma's presents to me was a basket filled with books and such. Under the teddy bear was a paci, which I lovingly call a "baba." Well, at home, I can only have it in my bed. But, with Oma, I can have it more often. So, right when I saw it, I gave a huge smile and ran with it. Here, I am holding my "baba" that Oma gave me and smiling big at everyone. Loved it! I also love the train table Oma gave me also!

One of my gifts from Poppy & Nana was this awesome grill. My cousin, McKinly, got one for his birthday about 5 weeks ago, and I have been eyeing it ever since. So, Poppy & Nana gave me one just like it. I love it and have been grilling on it daily since then.

I can grill hot dogs, burgers, and steaks...let me know if you ever want to come over for some good food! :)

Me with my hard hat...ready to fix anything around the house!

Mommy just laughs and laughs every time she looks at this picture. Here we are...McKinly and me...eating our lollipops. But in addition to that, I am using the drill in my mouth, and McKinly is sanding down my leg. Too funny!

Me with my Poppy & Nana...and in the new jammies they gave me for my birthday!

And, my Oma and me...oh, and my "baba"

What a wonderful birthday celebration!!

birthdays and father's day

All the Karaffa children with Poppy on his "29th" birthday...we had fun celebrating him...and digging into his cake! Happy Birthday, Poppy!

Us with Daddy on Father's Day. He is our hero...and nothing short of that!
Daddy with his little girl!

And, Daddy with me...his little boy!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy. We love you so very much. Thanks you for loving us, spending time with us, and praying with us. We look forward to when you come home every day from work, and we thank you for all you do for us.

jumping fun

We sure have had tons of fun swimming in our Oma's pool. We've already been swimming for about 6 weeks, and we love it. Here is Averie doing a cannonball off the diving board...of course, she has to say it as she is doing it. (She learned this from our cousin, Brayden!) And, here am I...all ready to get in the pool.

I love jumping off the side of the pool into Daddy or Mommy's arms. It's so much fun!



And, I just started jumping off the diving board (okay, so it's really more of a "fall into Daddy's arms" kind of jump, but it counts!), and it's so much fun. I could jump for hours. Here I am...getting ready...

...then, making sure Daddy was going to catch me!
Then, it was a 1-2-3 and a "jump."

And, although a bit blurry, another shot...

Sure is fun swimming at Oma's pool. We love it!

the last day of preschool

So, I (Averie) just finished my last day of preschool. I was super excited...and super sad. I am ready for more summer fun, but I am also going to miss my teachers a lot. Here I am with Mommy...right before dropping me off on my last day!

Me...almost in "TK" (transitional kindergarten)


Me with my wonderful teacher, Mrs. Betty. She will always be very special to me!

And, me with my other wonderful teacher, Mrs. Kim

After our class time, we had our end of the year party. We got in our swimsuits and played with all sorts of water activities...pool, water sprayers, slip and slide, sprinklers, bubbles, and more. It was so fun!

Me on the slip n slide...

...loving it!

And, having popsicles with my brother. Of course, I think he's pointing to my popsicle because he's about to lick it...

...but he decided to eat his own.

Me with my good friend, Reese! We will be in TK together next year...and taking a few summer day camps...so we are excited!

What a wonderful school year I had. I loved being with my friends, and I made some great memories. Sure will miss it, but I am excited about my summer!

one sweet littly boy...

Before heading out to Oma's house for lunch, Mommy found me upstairs "reading" books with Elmo. I love looking at animal books and making all the sounds for the ones I know. It's so fun!

Then, I decided to show the book Elmo also...he's one of my buddies!


Of course, then Mommy had to stop and take a lot more pictures of me! (Here I am with my blankie that I got from Uncle Michael & Aunt Courtney when I was born!)

I found some more books to read...fun, fun!

And, at the very end of this book tells everyone to stay very quiet while the animals went to sleep. So, I showed Mommy what she & Daddy do when they read it to me...say "sh"

Then, I started reading another book...

...and told those animals to "sh"

I decided to sit in the rocking chair and continue reading...

...and take a few more pictures for Mommy!

Sometimes, I have a really hard time keeping my eyes open when I am smiling for pictures...hee hee!

But, I did better smiling when I was going downstairs...maybe that's because I knew I was going to eat, which I love to do!

And, one more big smile...because I am just one sweet little boy!

precious works of art...

I (Averie) love to color. Plain and simple. It's fun! Well, the day that Mommy took us to see Opa's headstone, I wanted to color some pictures when we got home. So, Mommy gave me some markers and plain paper, and I just started to color. After I finished, I showed Mommy my first picture...It's a picture of Opa & Oma with me in the middle. Then, I told Mommy, "This is way it should be and the way I want it (with Opa and Oma both here), and it's not." So, I am missing my Opa a lot, but I am glad that I get to still see my Oma all the time. Then, we decided to give this picture to Oma so that she could have it. She loved it!

(Note: Mommy loves the way I am drawing people now. They have hair, eyes, a nose, and a mouth...with their legs coming out of their mouth...too cute!)

Then, I drew one more picture...it's my family. I am the purple one, Brady is the blue one, Mommy is the red/yellow one, and Daddy is the colorful one with black hair! I love my family!

Mommy calls these my precious works of art...and I enjoyed drawing them!

reality is not always easy...

We can't believe it will be 5 months tomorrow since Opa went to Heaven, but we still miss him so very much. Mommy took us to his gravesite today. Brady kept saying "Opa, Opa" and wanting to give him a hug and kiss. I just sat there looking. Then, after a few minutes, Mommy asked if I wanted to talk about why I was sad. So, I said to Mommy, "I'm sad because I wish Opa would have never died. I know he has a new healthy body in Heaven now, but I just want him down here alive. I miss him." When I looked at Mommy, she had tears streaming down her face. I didn't mean to make her cry, but I was really sad. It was good to talk about Opa and some fun memories we shared with him. Then, we found the word "Opa" on his headstone, said a little prayer, and came back home to face our reality. It's not always an easy one to face, but our God is good, and He is our strength forever!

We love and miss you, Opa!