Happy Thanksgiving

Ben and I have so much to be thankful for this year. We are, as always, thankful to have such wonderful friends and family. But we are especially thankful for our healthy, happy baby girl! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

First Steps

Avery is officially a walker!!! She is taking several steps at a time between me and Ben. However, she turns into spaghetti legs and has a complete meltdown whenever she sees the camera. So we have not been able to get her walking on video yet. We'll keep working on it. I think we are both excited and terrified at the same time. I am sure things are about to get a lot more interesting in the Hopper houselhold!

Get Well Soon Granddad

My dad is recovering from surgery so we went to visit last weekend. Avery did a great job helping Grandad feel better! He was able to get out to go to the Kiwanis pancake breakfast on Saturday. And Avery loved sitting on Granddad's new project! Don't worry, they didn't actually ride the bike!

UT vs MSU

We just got pictures of the Mississippi State tailgate from my dad. It was a bit chilly but such a fun day. We were excited that Ben's parents could come up for the game and chose that week for our big tailgate of the year. Thanks to the Williams family for sharing their great tailgate spot! Dad pulled the cooker to Knoxville and did tons of chicken wings as well as some ribs and tenderloin. They were a huge hit as always. This year, we didn't even have any leftovers.
It turns out that one of the guys who dresses up as Smokey was at the tailgate earlier in the day. Ben gave him a hard time about scaring Avery at the Florida game. So he stopped back by the tailgate in costume before Vol Walk and did his very best to put her at ease. He even played peek-a-boo with her! So she is slowly but surely warming up to Smokey.
We stayed in Knoxville that night and got to spend the day with Ben's parents. The original plan was to go to the Smokies but we decided it was a little too cold for Avery and went to West Town instead :)

An Afternoon at the Park

We took advantage of the warm weather this weekend and took Avery to our neighborhood playground for the first time. She was a little unsure of the swing at first but seemed to have fun once she got used to it. Ben took her down the big slide. But I think her favorite activity was sliding down the baby slide all by herself.

Happy Halloween

Our little pumpkin had a great first halloween. We decided to keep things low-key this year so we stayed home to hand out candy. We were a little suprised at how few trick or treaters we had this year. But it was a beautiful night so Avery and the dino-dog both enjoyed sitting outside. And Avery was excited that her friend Anna stopped by. Mary did a great job on Anna's M&M costume...she looked adorable!

Pumpkin Carving

We had a blast carving pumpkins this year. Avery definitely wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty scooping out the pulp. But we had to keep a close eye on her because she kept trying to eat the seeds. After we put Avery to bed, we got to work carving. Ben thought I was a complete dork for making a monogram pumpkin. And I laughed at his first few attempts at his jack-o-lantern mouth.

Ten Months Old

Avery turned ten months old this month! She now weighs 18 pounds 3 ounces and is 28 inches long. These photo shoots continue to be quite the challenge! This month we had to take pictures twice because she would not stay in her bouncy seat the first time around. I am secretly a little excited that we only have two more months of these pictures. But at the same time I am sad that she is growing up so fast!!