1st Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday Avery!!   What a blessing she has been to all of us.  She got to share her first birthday celebration with daddy who turned 37!  We were fortunate to have family in town (Papap and Grandma) to help us celebrate with cake and ice cream.  No big parties this year.  This was a good thing for me because I had awful luck with making the cakes!  I tried to use egg replacer in the kahlua cake and it didn't work so well.  Only half of it fell out of the pan.  The vanilla cake I made for Avery came out of the pan in crumbles so we used the crumbles (as a joke) in the center of the broken kahlua cake and glued it all together with the glaze and came up with this scary-looking cake.  I told Geoff I would make another but he insisted we keep this one.  I am embarrassed to even post this picture.

He thought sticking the b-day hat in the center would help.  But there is no saving this cake.

Here is a pic of Avery testing out the chocolate cake batter of cake #2...or rather, #3.  We just love her crazy hair.

Here is her finished cake topped with frosting made from a mix blended with rice milk and non-dairy butter.  The cake isn't terribly pretty and not how I envisioned it but it tasted good and Avery and the boys could eat it!

Papap strapping her in.

He only strapped her in on one side (silly Papap) so it kind of looks like she is wearing a car seat belt.

The birthday pair!  We just love these two so much.  Happy Birthday!

ONE!

She liked the cake.  

She weighs 16.4 lbs and is doing great.  She definitely has some allergies to contend with but is such a good baby.  She smiles a lot.  She loves climbing the stairs and she loves taking baths.  When someone smiles at her she will put her head on my shoulder and smile sweetly back.  She is sweet and sassy at the same time.  She is going to walk any minute.  She has the tiniest little feet but won't stand for anything to be put on them.  My favorite thing is how much she loves being loved.  She will absorb kisses and hugs all day long...she never shies away from them.  She still hates to have her diaper changed...and she hates being hungry.   But she is such a gift and a treasure to us.  Happy 1st Birthday Avery!

Texas Visit

Avery and I flew to Texas last week for a mini FJC work trip.  We met up with Papap and Grandma.  We also got to see Uncle Matt, Aunt Amy and Chloe and Logan for dinner one night.  I didn't bring my camera with me (just my iPhone) so I didn't get many pictures.  Mostly pics of our travels. 

I had to get creative to keep A busy on the travel day.  Here she is trying to get pretzels out of a cup.

 

My mom and I took Avery to the pool one morning.  Afterwards, Papap watched A while my mom and I had a great manicures and pedicures at the hotel spa.

Travel day home.  Papap and Grandma traveled back with us so it was nice to have the company and extra hands with all of the baby stuff!

 Back at home we went to a local museum called the Favell museum.  We have lived here almost three years and hadn't been there yet.  It is a personal collection of Indian artifacts and art.  Wow.  It was quite impressive.  I would have taken pictures but no photography is allowed.  So we took some photos outside.  Wyatt decided he wanted to use my camera - it totally looked as if he was aiming at our bellies when he took it but here is the result:

 And pic #2 courtesy of Wyatt:

 Check out Wyatt's face!

The boys wanted to show off their swinging skills to Papap and Grandma so we headed to the park.  The weather is gorgeous right now!

Kitchen Play

Avery decided it was time for a little organization in the kitchen.

   Avery playing in the play kitchen for the first time.

Ready to eat!

The Park

Snuggling and swinging at the park.

 

Dinosaur Bones and Pirate's Treasure Mateys!

We enjoyed a huge surprise from Mr. Dave and the J Family when we returned from Disney.  We received a power point slideshow showing pictures of a nearby location where dinosaur bones had been discovered.  Geoff and the boys went hunting for the spot and dug up dinosaurs!  The boys were SO excited.  They told me all about it when I returned from a day of shopping out of town.  The very next day we received another e-mail with this message.

Seriously.  Cool.  We are quite impressed with your creative pirate-lingo rhyming skills Dave!

The treasure map.

Now that is an authentic treasure map folks.  I mean Mateys. 

 Dave thoughtfully included an un-weathered map in case the original was too aged to read.

 Jack kept telling us "x marks the spot".

The treasure was further away then I thought so I stayed with A (she was napping) while the pirates went after the buried treasure - Arrrrggh!!!

After an extensive adventure counting paces and trees, they finally found two buried treasure chests filled with gold:   two wooden boxes filled with 500 pennies each!  Such a fun and thoughtful birthday idea.  Totally made these guys' birthday.  Thank you Mr. Dave and J Family!!!!

Shiver Me Timbers!