One Year Old

"I'm One."

Lulu's first birthday party

Sadly, this is the only picture I have of her in her dress. It happened to be about 85 degrees and sticky. The blowup pool in the yard seemed more appealing to the guests.

All of the kids playing in the pool.

Haddie and Lulu with Nanny by the pool.

Laine, LuEllyn, Nanny, Kers, and the birthday Girl eating.

The other side of the porch: Ben, Thad, Jerry, Lee, Lance and Lance's girlfriend Kathleen.

Lulu had plenty of help opening her presents and playing with them.

We were at the cutest store, The Farmer's Daughter's Market, and Lulu spotted this big toy. It is handmade by a local retired man. Lee spoiled his girl and got it for her.

Jared, hank, Lulu and Haddie taking a quick break for a picture.

Our little family.

Her first bite of cake (red velvet, of course...it had to match the pates and napkins).

She got the hang of it quickly.

The other birthday boy. Thad graciously shared his birthday with our girl.

First

Lee let the Girl enjoy her first sucker at the farmers' market Saturday morning. Needless to say, she love it.

Out and About

Last weekend we took part in the Healing the Heartland activities. It was kind of a weekend to support last year's flood victims with services, fun and a concert. An alliance of 40 local churches planned it and everything went really well.

Friday night there were neighborhood picnics all over town. We went to the one closest to our house. We walked to Nanny and Papa's and then headed to the park. It started to sprinkle part way there and by the time we got to the pavilion it was pouring. As you can see by Lee's face, he was thrilled to be healing the heartland...

The Girl is almost one and cuter every day. She is walking everywhere and doesn't like to be carried. I love everything about her. Her face makes me smile.

In the last month, she has grown to love books. In the past couple of weeks she has started loving stuffed animals (especially Thumper). In the past year she has love her dada. Put all of those things together and she is one happy girl.

Am I the Pot or the Kettle?

As I sit here during the Girl's morning nap time, I am thinking to myself, "Why don't people update their blogs very often?" It occurred to me that I am one of the offenders. Oops. Then I got nervous because I thought maybe (just maybe) I should do something productive like clean my house or get out of my pajamas instead of updating my blog.

Naaaaa...I think I will just upload all of the pictures from my camera and then see what I have been doing this past week. One new thing: walking is our preferred mode of transportation nowadays.

June 3rd:


June 9th: What a difference (almost) a week makes...



As I am looking I realized that we have done a lot of fun things since our last post.

We love to play in the refrigerator.

And she doesn't feel bad about it.

We went to a sporting goods store and laughed at all of the things that are made in a camouflage print. Item #1 the recliner she is sitting in. Item #2 the strange bathrobe on the right.

Went for a little walk to the play area with dad.

We went on our first (of many, I'm sure) Old MacDonald's Farm visit with Papa.

Papa showed her (and Lee) the ropes including the rocking animals.

She also got to drive the mini tractor.

She sat in a tree.

And much, much more.

Happenings

Last Friday was our friend, Maggie McBlogger's birthday. Hurray! We decided to get together halfway between our homes. What started as a shopping trip ended in the town square of a small town. But it had lots of playground equipment and a tiny farmers market (not to mention a million kids and mom as it was there last day of school). It was fun to sit and chat. We can't wait for her baby girl to join us on our excursions.

Our girl had some formula the other day and was not too fond of it. We tried our best, but I think she got more on her face than in her mouth.

All that eating wore her out. I had to take a picture of the moment because her sitting still and contentedly is quite rare.