Avery with her first birthday cake.
She's going for it!
Avery got to spend her actual birthday day with Mom and Dad, so when she returned to Ritter's Critters, we had to throw a bash for her!
We sang, or rather, I sang, "Happy Birthday" to Avery and she came very close to blowing out her candle. Not enough wind in her just yet. CJ attempted to help, but was too far out of reach, so I had to do the honors.
Chance didn't get any cupcakes, so he decided to chew on a rag.
CJ eyed the cupcakes all day, and when I handed it to him, it was gone in about 10 seconds!
Avery was a bit more dainty with her cupcake. She poked and prodded at it a few times and then tasted some of the icing. Even after crumbling it up a bit for her, she decided to pass. Already watching her figure (:
CJ tries to console Avery, who, on the realization that she is officially 1 year and 1 day old, doesn't know how to handle it.
CJ tells Avery how much fun it is to be 1. He laughs, while reminiscing on his younger days.
"But CJ, there's so much pressure that goes along with being 1. Eventually, I'll need to start thinking about potty training, eating real food, switching to whole milk. And I'm beginning to hear the word 'no', as if I'm doing something wrong. If my dog can eat the food in the silver bowl on the floor, why can't I? Oh, goodness, and what will happen with bink and blanket? I do get to keep them for awhile, right? Oh, how will I ever make it?"
"I'm tellin' ya kid, it's going to be alright."
Finally, a picture with everyone looking at the camera. The next goal is to have everyone smiling. Stay tuned...
"HEY! Get this thing off of me right now!"
Morning play time is fun. After breakfast, everyone kind of does their own thing by hanging out in the living room amongst the sea of toys.
Learning to play nice and share (: What you see, is not Chance trying to steal the toy away from Avery. At Ritter's Critters, everyone is good all of the time (wink, wink).
Going...
Going... 
Gone!
Since Chance decided to poop out and take a nap, Avery and CJ insisted on going outside to see what kind of trouble they could get into.
Avery's dress from the back,
Avery's dress from the front. Too cute. (The sock/sandal combination was the doing of her babysitter. Please don't blame the parents).
Two Elmo fans. Or as CJ says, "Mo" fans.
A BALL!!!
I want a leaf!
Here ya go.
Avery taking charge and getting Chance moving. These two are funny together. We have CJ and Avery who play well together (and when older, will probably be mischievious together), and on the other end, we have Avery and Chance who like to annoy each other tremendously. Poking, prodding, pulling hair, shoving...It's all in good fun though....for now at least.
