NOVEMBER & DECEMBER (Pre-Avery): The biggest event of November was the Merkley Family Reunion, held here in Mesa, AZ. (We beat out Washington, Utah and NY for the location with the best weather, at least in November...) Warren and Abigail are pictured here with Great Grandma Cleone Hoku Merkley, Great Grandpa G. Warren Merkley and 2nd cousin, Cooper Spence.

My grandparents wanted a picture with "all" of their great-grandchildren. The woman in purple is my cosuin, Megan Peterson Garcia, who is expecting her first child, a boy at the end of January.

I've mentioned in several previous posts how much Abigail loves hats. Apparently she didn't have enough of the winter variety for her tastes, and employed her toy bucket, made of felt. She kind of looks like a toy soldier, don't you think?

This picture was taken Thanksgiving weekend, about 3.5 weeks before Avery was born.

Ever since Warren discovered this summer that we own an apple-peeler-corer-slicer, he has been asking to make apple pie. I told him, "When it's fall, we'll make apple pie." So now, every time the leaves fall from the trees, he excitedly calls out, "Mother! It's fall! Let's make apple pie!" This picture is proof that I kept my word; we like to call these "apple noodles" and yes, Warren really ate quite a bit of them.

I have two favorite Winter outfits that Abigail wears; this is one of them. Abigail is such a doll; her smile truly is pure sunshine and she exudes happiness.

In downtown Mesa each year, we have "Sculptures in the Streets." One Saturday afternoon, we took a walking tour of them as a family. Here, Warren plays with some polar bear cubs.

Here, Warren is about to be smashed by a rhino foot. I'm a good parent.

This picture brings to mind the story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears: "but the chair was just too big."

Yes, Abigail went along for our walking tour, but she was in a stroller most of the time. (Now that I think of it, Warren had brought some rope along, and he held one end and I held the other--it kind of looked like he was on a leash--or was I the one on a leash?) Near the end, we stopped off at the Mesa Arts Center, which has some great fountains. Both Abigail and Warren really enjoyed them.

Abigail's fascination with hats, as shown previously, extends beyond those items created solely for that purpose. Yes, that is a potty seat on her head; Warren's bum is too small to sit on the regular seat, so we have that one to go over it. Apparently, Abigail felt left out of the action, and wanted to try it out, too, but on the other end of her body.

This is a photo of me the week prior to Avery's birth.