handsome and gretel

judging by this blog lately, you would think we have forgotten about miss avery. wrong.  she has been keeping us so super busy i'm lucky to squeeze in an hour of cuddle time with little jane.  avery is in ballet and had her big performance this week, hansel and gretel, (however, she thinks its called handsome and gretel and i'm not about to make her think otherwise.)  it was a crazy, hectic week with so many hours of dress rehearsals, plus 3 real performances.  a bit much for a two year old i think.  i'm still debating if it was all worth it, but we signed up for it.  avery was the cutest little lollipop, albeit a rather difficult one.  she has been so sick all week, refused to wear costume makeup, screamed every time i took her backstage to get dressed and ready to perform, and did not want to go on stage to dance. but once she got out there she was adorable and did so well. she is the youngest in her class and looked so tiny up on that big stage.   i love my little lollipop.

other than ballet, avery has been loving her new little sister.  she almost always calls her Janers and thinks being a big sis is a pretty big deal.  she rarely gets jealous and tries to be a big helper most of the time, sometimes too much.  i love watching her interact with jane when she thinks i'm not around.  she makes up songs for her and sings 'i am a child of God' whenever she cries and pulls out books and reads her stories all the time.  i'm amazed at how naturally those motherly instincts come out of little girls.

she said she wanted to make sure jane had lots of friends so she wouldn't be sad.

we have to keep an eye on her though, she is known to pull jane right off the top of our bed.

she is good at making sure jane has plenty of blankets

mostly she just loves to sit on my rocking chair and hold jane.