Avery's 1st Birthday...Part 1

It's so hard to believe that Avery's birthday has already passed. It was a great experience, but definitely bittersweet. During the course of Avery's first year of life, Shayne and I have gotten in the habit of saying "I look forward to" rather than saying "I can't wait until..." because the truth is, yes, we can wait for all the things Avery has yet to experience. We do look forward to such things, but cherish the time we have with her now. That pretty much sums up my feelings towards Avery's first birthday. I am excited to see her learn and grow and look forward to what lies ahead for us...but I am sad to see her "baby" days slowly disappear.

With that being said, we took LOADS of pictures to capture her first birthday experience. The ones I posted are from Avery's actual birthday. I stayed home from work to spend the day with her and since Shayne's unemployed, he was able to be with her too. We fixed her birthday pancakes for breakfast and spent the day at home in our pjs playing. Her Mawmaw and Pawpaw came over for lunch to witness Avery's first cake experience and to give her a couple of presents. It was a special day and we were so glad to be able to spend it with her.


Excited about pancakes






Ready for cake!













Sharing with daddy


I'll take one more please...



Trying on my birthday tutu!

Max Patch

I'll start out by saying that this was just one of many snow days. This winter has been caraaazy! I can't remember a winter where we've had this much snow. Since before Christmas, snow has been in the forecast every week...and has usually come to pass. I do have to admit that I love it though. While everyone else is griping about the snow that keeps coming back, I am happy to see it yet again. To me, as long as it's winter and going to be cold outside, then let it snow!

During one of the better snows, our little family decided to venture up to Max Patch. Shayne's mom and sisters, Paige and Devan, and Devan's boyfriend Bradley also went with us. I spent most of the time in the car with a sleeping child while the others did a little sledding. Once Avery decided to wake up and join in on the fun, we got out to take pictures. Avery even got to sled a little but was not a big fan of it. Max Patch is just one of the many reasons why I love to call this place home...

Biltmore House

During the Christmas break, we had the opportunity to go the Biltmore House. First we went to the Candlelight tour with our good friends David and Leah. With those tickets you are able to go back on the estate the next day, so we took Shayne's mother and grandmother (and the Poots of course) and got to play with our new camera a little bit. We also got hooked up with twelve month passes, thanks to Shayne's dad, so we will have the opportunity to take many more pictures. Here's some of the ones we got while we were there...