Happy Halloween!

This is Avery's 2nd Halloween... but really the 1st one that we could actually enjoy and have fun with her!
We went trick or treating to "Aunta's" (my sister Sar) left a candy trail from the elevator to her Condo. Avery LOVED it! She took her time picking each candy up one by one. Then we went to Mike's parents. They had "special" cut out pieces of cheese for Avery. So thoughtful!
Avery's costume is just too cute! Oh, and she picked out her Halloween bucket all by herself too!

Mike and I dressed as nurses...yep... boring I know. Linda would not be impressed. Next year the dress up Queen will bring out the big guns again... duh, duh, duh.

HBD Avery!

Most people will say where did the time go,
I can't believe they are 1 already!
Well... we know where the time went,
and are glad to see this landmark!

We are blessed to have this sweet little girl in our family,
and look forward to many more birthdays to celebrate.
We wanted to keep it as a small family function. Avery will have the rest of her life to have Birthday parties with friends...
So we decided to be a bit selfish and enjoy this special day with close family.

Happy 1st Birthday Avery!
We love you!

She smothered the puppy with tight hugs... Her new favorite toy!

You're Number 1

Tomorrow Avery turns 1!!!

Avery will only be 1 once in her life! So this needs to be special! A special cake, for this special little girl.

Her bedroom, and some favorite toys are ladybugs. So, it seemed natural to have a ladybug cake!
We got a head start on her cake... juuust in case we needed to make a trip to DQ for a plan B.

Here's how we made it!

Iced and stacked 2 round cakes.
Then put it in the freezer for a few hours.

Mike did the first pink outline!

Filled in the pink icing, and white eyes!

Outlined the brown, and made circles.

Then back in the freezer for another couple hours...

Finally, the last layer of chocolate icing was filled in, and smoothed out.

It turned out pretty good!

I'm sure there's faster ways to do what we did!! This was a bit of trial and error, with ALOT of icing layers. It was a lot of fun to make! I didn't expect baking/decorating to be so enjoyable! After all that work, it just get's eaten anyways... Guess this year we don't need DQ ;)

Banff Trip

Baaaaack to Banff!!
We got gift certificates for Christmas and were saving them for a rainy day!
Sar watched Avery while we went away.
It was a relaxing time, and we just wanted to stay...

Good poem? Thanks, I know.

There was very little snow, so we didn't get a chance to try out the snowshoes... Next time!

The view from our Chalet!

Wheelchair Basketball!

The saying "Walk a mile in someone's shoes"... became a reality tonight. Although we weren't walking...

Nath & I have a friend "Jazzy" that was in a car accident, and now in a wheelchair. What an incredible story. He's SO positive, funny & animated. He invited us to a drop-in wheelchair basketball that he oversees at MRU.
Everyone was so friendly. There was probably 20 people in wheelchairs and about 10 people actually requiring a wheelchair. I played basketball when I was in High School... yes shocking I'm not exactly 5'9 Cat Deeley. So I figured this would be a breeze to catch on to...It took some effort trying to orientate operating a sport wheelchair. It definitely is a different world. I found the most simplistic tasks that I took for granted, now difficult. I was the weakest link on our team! With fully functioning legs, I was out of my world and far surpassed by experts with less mobility.

It was enlightening to experience a new perspective on life.
Plus it was such a BLAST!!!