Happy First Birthday - observed!

The Birthday Girl

 

We celebrated Avery’s FIRST birthday yesterday.  Her actual birthday is on Thursday so as we say at our house, Saturday was her “birthday – observed.”  We did a hungry little caterpillar theme (after the Eric Carle book) as you’ll be able to tell from the pictures.  We rented a shelter at a park near our house, and the weather was PERFECT.  If you would pick weather for an outdoor event, this would have been the model forecast.  In addition to the weather, the party was just great.  We were so pleased with all of it.  It was laid back, fun, and we had a great group of people to celebrate with. 

I love it when she's happy!

 

Fun at the park

 

Big sister loves parties and cake!

Avery was in such a good mood throughout the party.  She had her favorite people there (parents, sister, grandparents, Miss Trish, the Roligs, and friends from our small group at church), her favorite foods (ok, that was easy, all foods are her favorite), cake, and cards and paper to play with!  Clara and the other kids LOVED the park. They would run back and forth to get food and cake then they’d run out and play again.

Ready for a picnic!

 

 

We rented the shelter for the morning, and it worked out great!

 

Chillin' with Gamma & Bompa

 

 

My first attempt at making a cake.  I was so pleased at how it turned out!

 

A red smash cake – probably not the best idea I’ve had. Avery was timid at first and surprisingly didn’t put it in her mouth at first. Very odd because everything including many non-food items go in her mouth right away. Once she tasted the icing and realized she liked it, she was full steam ahead on the cake. If you think this looks like a mess to clean up - you're probably underestimating the challenge. Especially when you're at a park with limited supplies and without a change of clothing. The verdict is still out on if it will come out of our clothing!

 

Once we got Avery (mostly) cleaned up, we spread out a blanket to open the gifts on. It was great to have big sister handy because she opened most of the gifts. Avery was more enthralled with the cards and the wrapping paper.

 

A big thanks to those who came to celebrate with us yesterday, and Happy Birthday to our little angel!