ten smiles...and the birthday party highlights!

what a week full of blessings around our house. this post is brought to you compliments of kate's first birthday and the letter "b"! if you missed it, check out my letter to kate on the occasion of her first birthday here.

1. my cake decorating assistant. seriously, elizabeth was extremely into helping get everything ready for kate's birthday party. here she is helping poke the "balloons (gumballs) onto the skewers.


2. the finished alligator cake. i opted against the alligator shaped cake (partially since it was my first "fun" cake attempt...and partially since kate is too young to remember it anyway!). i was extremely happy with the way it turned out though!


3. a fabulously gorgeous day. seriously...we couldn't have asked for better weather...especially considering it is august in indiana (typically this would be synonymous with hot and humid--kate was born on one of the hottest days ALL summer last year...i remember people walking in to visit us and commenting that it was stifling outside). but, no stifling heat this year...it was a beautiful mid to upper 70's and sunny...perfect for some pool fun. kate splashed and giggled and enjoyed all the fun the "big" kids were having in the pool with her. (elizabeth, on the other hand, was a bit overwhelmed by all the splashing and opted to play on the swingset while the kiddos did the swimming thing). the weather even allowed us to eat outside....gotta love the kid table (they stayed this way for all of 5 minutes...).



4. having GG here to celebrate with us! this was the first birthday party where GG was able to give her gift in person as opposed to sending it with grandmommy and poppy. how truly special to know she was able to celebrate this milestone with us! (she and my parents drove down for a "whirlwind" trip...not arriving back home until the dark, late hours of night...far past the time when our family was tucked away in bed...resting from all the excitement).


5. the big birthday cake moment. kate was enthralled by the singing...soaking in the attention. and when offered cake...well, you guessed it. no tears from this girl (well, except when she dropped a big ol' hunk into her lap and missed out on the tasty goodness!). in true "kate" fashion, she dug right in...first dipping her finger in for dainty finger licks...and finally digging her fingers in for big gooey bites. by the end of the experience she had icing in her eyes (which clearly wasn't phasing her a bit) and nothing but smeary trails of frosting left on the tray.







6. finally, the packages. kate wasn't so into opening the presents...she was content to let big sister help with that task. however, she WAS really into exploring and playing with all of her new toys and stuffed friends. she did score lots of "gator" stuff...a puppet and some books from mommy and daddy, the cute-o gator shoes from my sister (i think i showed these in last weeks smiles), three stuffed gator-ish animals from aunt jill and uncle nathan, and a cool gator toy from my parents that will teach her things like snaps, tying, zipping, etc... (of course, there were lots of thoughtful and fun non-gator gifts as well--including her first baby doll from GG...we sat the baby next to her and she promptly poked it in the forehead to knock it over and then giggled with a mischevious smile).




7. a sleeping baby.


8. baking...libs and i are working on the letter "b" this week. so yesterday we spent the entire morning baking. whole wheat bread...and some oh-so-scrumptious zucchini bread (thanks to a friend from flock group who passed on a home-grown zucchini....and to my auntie phil, whose zucchini bread recipe is fabulous!)


9. "b" is also for baby shoes...the project of the day today. a group of around 10 gals from my MOPS group gathered today to help assemble lots and lots of baby shoes to give away as our new baby gift for MOPS this year. what fun to sew and create AND spend wonderful time with other moms. some of the non-sewing moms were kind enough to hang out upstairs with the kiddos so we could make some great progress. i am SO thankful for this...much more efficient (and fun) than last year...when i sewed those billions (okay...thats a slight exaggeration) of receiving blankets all on my own! (the pictures are just a fraction of the over 30 pairs of shoes we will eventually have completed!)


10. "b" is for bicycle. elizabeth is loving her bike the past few days. and the weather has been so gorgeous to be outside to play with her bike. tonight we were able to take a nice stroll/ride up and down the street (and to visit the ducks...elizabeth REALLY wanted to show the ducks her bike!). she is actually getting quite good...starting to really do the pedaling by herself and steer enough to not run off the sidewalk.