Our Little Lady is ONE!!

Where did the time go??? I still cannot believe that our little girl is ONE!! It feels like we just brought her home from the hospital yesterday.

Our first family picture - July 11th at approximately 2am!

Heading home from the hospital July 13th in a HORRIBLE rain storm!

7 days old - professional pictures by Mary Moua



We had a wonderful celebration on Saturday with family and friends. The theme - "Our Little Lady-bug Turns 1". Dave and his Dad took care of the grilling - Yummy food!

While we waited for the food, the kids played in the yard. Thank goodness the mosquitoes weren't too bad!

Lots of visiting...

Filling up on the good food!

The boys had to eat too! I think they had potato salad for dinner....okay maybe next year! :)

Stacy and Andrew (neighbors) helped Elle celebrate her 1st birthday. Stacy is also the wonderful lady who made Elle's adorable cake - picture below!

Elle tried a brat and sauerkraut! Her mother likes neither - but if she likes it, game on! She was a little tired for her party, as she only napped for about 45 minutes ALL day (that is another story, for another day!)

Elle was spoiled with wonderful gifts, thank you everyone for being so generous!

We decided to move the gifts outside, more room for all of the helpers! Elle is very lucky to have such wonderful friends and cousins to help her open presents

This picture cracks me up - Elle isn't even paying attention to the current gift being opened...but her "helpers" were! Maybe next year she will know what is going on! :)

She was more interested in the paper that stuffed her ladybug purse full, than her new toys...

Until her slide was put together. She L.O.V.E.S. her new slide. She is able to climb up the little climbing wall and slide down. Thank you Gramma and Grampa for the slide!

Now that things have calmed down (and everyone is gone) she LOVES all of her new toys! She loves pushing anything and this new stroller is perfect! She now has 3 different babies to push around the house! What more could a girl ask for?

Elle shares too....I think every kid took a turn pushing the stroller!

We all know Dave is a talented man, but he took it to the next level. While we were opening gifts, he was video taping to capture the event. He also had a beer in his hand, when he noticed a tiki torch was falling over....Video camera (which he kept steady) in one hand, beer in mouth and tiki torch in the other hand! Nice work Daddy, you make us proud!!! ;)

Aiden wore his party hat! And the look on his face is because he wants his Dad to put his party hat on too...

Check out this adorable cake!!! Thank you so much to Stacy for making this yummy cake!

Elle got her own little cake to destroy! While we sang Happy Birthday to her, she held one finger up!

And then she dug in with both hands. She didn't really eat much, but loved the feeling of squishing it between her fingers! Great sensory activity!

Off to the tub to clean up!

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate Elle's first birthday. Elle is one lucky girl to has so many wonderful people in her life.

On her actual birthday - Monday, she woke up to a "new ride" in the living room. She was a little confused at first, but then jumped right in.

Road kill...she slipped through the bottom and got stuck. Of course the wonderful mother that I am took a picture first, then rescued her! :)

Elle also started swimming lessons on her birthday! She enjoys being in the water, but 30 minutes of swimming lessons is LONG enough to be contained. She would much rather splash on her own.

What does a one year old do at swimming lessons:
kick, blow bubbles, float, glide (push off the wall), sing songs, and have fun!

After swimming lessons, we stayed to play for a little bit and had a snack at the pool. Hopefully next week's weather will be warmer - 66 degrees is NOT ideal for swimming! :)

We took Elle to McDonald's for her birthday dinner. She got her first Happy Meal and ate ONE chicken nugget!

Yummy french fries...

Then she played in the play area. There were a few "big" kids, so she didn't venture far!

When we got home from McDonald's Elle finished opening her gifts from Mom and Dad.

We got her (among other things), her first Cabbage Patch doll. She feeds her baby Kaia, kisses her, rocks her, and pushes her in the stroller. Adorable!!

In other news....

We finally hooked up the Burley to the bike. OMG - you can't even tell it is behind you! Elle rides great and Daddy and I enjoyed the ride. We took another ride last night and only got about two blocks away when I ran over a piece of glass and popped my tire....URGH!!! I was sooo mad, but good thing it weren't too far from home. So we will have to wait a few days to ride again.

One of my summer projects was to "restore" my play kitchen for Elle. This is a very special kitchen that my Grampa Wamboldt made me. I have lots of memories of this kitchen and I am so excited that Elle will too!

Before....

After...

Another busy week - but I am enjoying every minute of it. I love being home with my family!!