Avery turns 5 and a little Thanksgiving late...

Avery has one of those birthdays that gets overrun by a holiday...in this case Thanksgiving so we celebrated on her actual birthday with family and then had a party in December to invite her friends. She is our little budding paleontologist and so it had to be a dinosaur party. We had a great time!

I just wanted to do a volcano cake for her as I thought this would simplify things and since I am so seriously pregnant simplicity is key...but Avery really really wanted a pink dinosaur, so I threw that in at the end...it turned out proportionately odd, but cute none the less. Everything is edible on the cake and board...we had dry ice in the top so there was smoke coming from the volcano...you can't see it well though because the cup was so little...next volcano cake I do needs a bigger reservoir for the dry ice:)

Finley was so excited to be a part of her sisters birthday...she had been sick the week of, while we were preparing for it all and I was so afraid she wouldn't make it. She still had a runny nose and cough, but we thought she was okay that morning with no fever for a few days...Then during the party I noticed she was shivering and sure enough after the party she was running a fever...I felt so bad for exposing all of those kids...luckily I think it was only a cold...not the flu cause it went away pretty quickly.

When all the kids arrived we had them sit down to create a little dinosaur ornament...afterwhich they went out to the garage for a dinosaur dig. Kristian did a great job of setting up an obsticle course where the kids first dug out of a big bin full of sand, a little dino. They then walked with their dino on a spoon through the obsticals to a "watering hole" where they got to give their dinos a bath and then start all over. They each got to do it three times and just loved it.

Avery and Lincoln have some spiffy dinosaurs!

Avery makes her way through one of the obsticals

Fin walks the plank...After the dino dig, the kids came in for a hunt. They searched the house for four dinosaurs with clues that I gave them and each dino had a puzzle piece on it. When they were all done they got to see that the next place was the garage again, where the pinata was waiting for them to take a swing at. We then came in for cake and icecream and to open presents...

Avery gets really embarrased when you sing happy birthday to her...it is really cute.

Avery had lots of fun little friends there! How quickly my little girl has grown up. She simply amazes me everyday. Avery is so energetic and fun! She is a quick thinker and always has a new angle on things. She is so bright it amazes me at how much she knows and how she thinks things through well beyond her five years. She is eager to grow up...loving to no end...helpful and kind and sensitive. She loves anything althletic, crafty, and scientific. She has a great desire to do what is right and is eager to please. I so love this little girl...I couldn't have asked for more in my beautiful little first born. ************************************************************************************* My dear friend Rachel had come the week leading up to Avery's birthday. She came all the way from Santa Fe and all it seemed we did was birthday stuff while she was here...I felt so bad, so when the party was over and we had all rested a bit we went to the beach as a final horrah to her little vacation. It was beautiful to be there at sunset...

*************************************************************************************

Avery actually wanted a few girly things this year for her birthday...she got her first barbie and a barbie scooter and some other fun things...(I think she played with the barbie for one day then it was on to the dino kit and the scooter...that's our little tomboy:)

Grandma and Grandpa Mortenson came for Thanksgiving this year. It was great to see them and we enjoyed a great day at the coast with them too. Grandma Ackerman was able to come the week before to visit and then we had everyone at our house for a great thanksgiving feast...Kristian made a great turkey and we all pitched in with some other delicous fare. Grandma Ackerman also got to attend Avery's thanksgiving feast at school which was a lot of fun.

It has been a good year...we do have a lot to be thankful for especially two (soon to be 3) wonderful kids whom we love dearly!