A sticky situation

It all started out so innocently. Nana Piland sent Avery some Easter stickers in the mail. I thought that would be a fun activity for her to try so I got out some paper, showed her how to use the stickers, and let her go to town. That's where things took a turn...

after learning the concept of a sticker, she put a few down on her own

Wait a second... you can't pick them back up off the paper?

YOU CAN'T PICK THEM BACK UP????!!!!

Oh the tears. It was a sad moment for Avery. I think it'll be a while before we get the stickers back out.

(ps- sorry for the poor quality of the pictures. After several weeks of dark and blurry photos we finally figured out the other day that our camera had been on the wrong setting. Thank goodness that is fixed now!)

When Irish Eyes are Smiling

St Patrick's Day is one of my favorite days of the year. I have so many special memories of celebrating the holiday with my family growing up and I love that now I have a family of my own to pass the traditions on to. Last year Avery was only 6 days old on St Patty's Day and slept straight through our little party. This year we still had to keep it short and sweet to accommodate the attention span of a one year old, but it was so fun to watch her actually be able to participate a little! We danced a jig around the living room to old Ruby Murray songs, ate shamrock cookies, and made a toast to Avery's Great Grandpa Kelley with our green drinks (In the spirit of tradition it's supposed to be green 7up, but I dropped the ball and didn't have any on hand so Erich had green Mountain Dew and I had green water.).

Avery wore the adorable shamrock dress that Grandma sewed for her. She looked so precious! Thank you Grandma! (this picture was taken a few days ahead of time when Grandma gave Avery the dress.)

Sitting pretty in her Elmo chair, taking a break from all the jigging.

Toasting Great Grandpa Kelley with our shamrock glasses.

Party Girl

Get ready for a lot of pictures! Avery's birthday party was such a fun time. She was in a great mood and really enjoyed having her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins around (we missed Uncle Evan, Aunt Passa, and cousin Cara!). It's always a joy for Erich and I to have our family up to visit. We know it's a sacrifice for all of them to take time out of their busy lives to travel up to Perrysburg, but it means a lot to us that they take such an active role in Avery's life. We are blessed to be members of the Piland/Kelley family!

Aunt Nikki made this beautiful and delicious cake. It was amazing!

Big smiles from cousins Spencer, Karly, and Katie

I love this picture of Grandma Kelley and Papa Piland with Avery. If the photo were a little bigger you could see Avery's huge smile. She really enjoyed getting so much attention!

One of the highlights of the day was when Erich put on a magic show for all the kids. It was a hoot and they loved it.

The adults were captivated as well!

Avery was spoiled with many gifts. Great toys, cute clothes, and lots of Elmo stuff. Thanks everyone!

I think our test run with the cupcake was a good idea. Avery had no apprehension about digging into her smash cake! (I think the fact that I stuck lots of cheerios in the icing helped) She started out girly and dainty, just gently dipping her fingers in the icing.

Then she dropped the good manners and ate by the fist full! Her momma's girl for sure.

We eventually had to stop her and take the cake away for fear she'd make herself sick. I have a feeling she would have finished the whole thing. This was the final damage.

We attempted to get a family photo, but probably shouldn't have waited until the end of the party to do it. Overdue for a nap and crashing from the sugar overload did not a happy baby make. This was the best we could get.

Overall, it was the perfect way to celebrate Avery's 1st year and we loved every minute of it!

After a morning of fun at the zoo... this is our happy girl with a head full of sweat and sunscreen. Does it get any better?

Birthday Girl

Avery's 1st birthday was Thursday, March 11th. We were having her big party with our family that coming Saturday (which will be another post, coming soon!), but I couldn't let her real birthday go by without making it special for her in some way. I had grand plans and ideas for all the ways to show Avery how loved she is by us, but our birthday girl was feeling a little moody that day and it was clear she really didn't know what an important day it was. We still managed to have a few really fun family moments together and as the day went on I came terms with the fact that although we wanted Avery to feel loved, the day was really more for me (and Erich) than it was for her. Avery has no concept of what a birthday is, but it was important for me that we acknowledge the one year anniversary of the day we met our daughter... the day we became a family of three... the day our hearts were changed. She is a blessing beyond words and even if she didn't understand the significance of that particular day, I think she knew something was going on. Especially when we kept trying to put that darn party hat on her head.

The day started with birthday breakfast! Bananas are Avery's favorite food so I made "banana buttons" (sliced bananas coated in pancake batter). She loved them! After breakfast we headed to the library for story time and Daddy came too. The highlight was when the rest of the class sang happy birthday to her.

Avery is a little fish and loves bath time, but it had been several months since she'd been in a swimming pool, so after lunch and nap we headed to the Y for some fun and splashing. She was all smiles!

In preparation for her party on Saturday when she would have the classic "smash cake" moment in front of lots of people with cameras, I decided to give her a trial run with a cupcake. If you saw her one year photos, you know we had good reason to be concerned with how that moment would go. She was very hesitant with the cupcake, but after a few cheerios dipped in frosting she dug right in and devoured the whole thing!

The day ended with a couple small gifts... of course elmo related. With Elmo in her arms, she's a happy camper!

One man's trash...

is Avery's treasure. It doesn't take much to entertain this girl lately. She enjoys playing with her toys, but is also content to play with an empty paper towel roll, a large cardboard box, an old broken cell phone, and most recently, the silverware basket from our old dishwasher (may it rest in peace)....

She carries that basket around the house, putting one toy in each little compartment. And no, she doesn't have any pants on. She would spend all day in nothing but a diaper if I let her. And sometimes I do let her. Why not?

Crawling in and out of a big cardboard box provided endless hours of entertainment value until we got tired of the box taking up space in the living room.

Sometimes the best way to get the toy you want is to take matters into your own hands and dive in after it. (Which is a lot of fun until you realize you can't get out of there)

Our adventurous little girl climbed up onto the coffee table completely unassisted when I wasn't looking. She was very proud and excited. Laughing and taking her picture may not have been the best parental response, but thankfully she hasn't tried that little trick again. It was funny once, but I don't think I want it to become a habit.