Here we go!

I don't blog because, heck, I can barely spell but since we have so much family so far away and since I want to remember the first teeth and first steps, I thought now's as good a time as any.

So we will start with Averly, the most exciting member of the family. She is 15 months and has 5 teeth, she just started walking last month so I suppose she is officially a "toddler". She's quick, too. She knows when I'm commin' for her and takes off...in fact she knows a lot of things that I am surprised a one year old knows like how to get back at me by taking out her bows with this smarty little face that's telling me "ha! gotcha". It sounds like a little thing but if you can imagine a lion-sized temperament on this petite lil girl, it's definitely a funny scene. She also is in a hitting/biting phase which I am hoping doesn't last long. Last week I got a shovel to the face, fortunately we only buy her small shovels. And she can say some words and make some signs. As for words she's had 'mama' and 'dada' down for some time now but has in the last few months actually known to associate them with J and me, she is now adding "hi" before them when she sees us so her mini-sentence is cute; she is also trying to say words like ball, apple, puppy and grandpa--none of which are understandable to the untrained ear. She can also ask for milk, food or to be changed with her signs which is a life saver!

We went to the Ag Fest at the Fairgrounds last weekend and she enjoyed the petting zoo area and the baby chicks! This weekend we are heading to Portland Meadows for 'Derby Days', we both have white floppy hats with flowers so hopefully one of us will win the best hat award. If not, at least there's mint juleps (for me, not her).

J has been busy lots of projects coming and going. He got his new website up at www.dreamcrafthomes.net and it's pretty great! One of his clients held an open house to show of their new kitchen remodel and praised him and his work. The great thing is all of his clients speak so highly of him so that we're proud of that!

Me, well, still working at Lamar which is great. Like a lot of industries, the economy has affected advertising but I know it could be a LOT worse so I am grateful. I am still serving on the board at Liberty House which is our community's only child abuse assessment center and I just finished throwing a casino-themed event with another friend to benefit them. It was well-attended and well-received; we even made almost $6k so that felt great.

Well, that's it for now but hopefully I will get used to this and maybe get a little more entertaining :)

The Dudley's