Lucy's Birthday: The Big Day!

June 14th, 2011 arrived sooner than I anticipated. I think this last year has gone by faster than any other year of my life. But we got to spend the day celebrating our Lucy and the year we have been blessed with her in our lives. :) 

The day started with the customary birthday wake up song (a tradition started in my family when I was a little girl) - she loved it. :) 

(Note to audience: Brad and I had just gotten up ourselves, and had not taken the time to warm up our voices - that's why we sound terrible....)

We had a fun morning, spending time at home -I wanted Lu to get a good nap so she would be cheerful later in the day. I got to play games with my little sisters (love!) as we rested up for our fun afternoon. :) 

Lunch was grilled cheese and tomato soup (one of Lucy's favorites) and was fuel for our next activity. 

Swimming! 

My parents stayed at the local Hampton Inn, so we took advantage of the pool and dove in. Some of you will remember Lucy's first experience with swimming :} learning from our past, we took it slow and I got in with her. It took her about 15 minutes to get used to the water (during which, she was clinging to me like a baby monkey hangs on her mom!) but she eventually was comfortable enough to swim with papa for a bit :)

My friend Misty and her daughter Mya joined us too - so fun!

After a while in the pool, Lucy was shriveled up like a prune! :) 

Lucy and I headed home about 3 and while she took a quick nap I had a few minutes to frost the cake and cup cakes! :) 

I LOVE how they turned out! (And they tasted yummy too!)

Lucy awoke to her gift from Grammy, Papa, Uncle Sam and her little Aunts waiting for her in the living room - a little table and chair set! 

The table went perfectly with some of the food/dishes gifts that Lucy received from church friends! We are all ready for a tea party over at the Kidder house - come on over!

The menu for dinner: 

- Grilled Chicken (for Lucy - Steak for the rest of us)

- Strawberries

- Peas

- Roasted Potatoes

- Caesar Salad

- Chocolate Milk 

The "You are Special Today" plate I made at the Thanksgiving reunion worked great!!!

Next up: Opening presents! Lu got some super fun stuff! A baby stroller (which is nicer than her stroller!), baby care kit (complete with little potty, for when you decide it is time to potty train your baby doll), some great books and a few homemade crocheted stuffed animals (Thanks Aunt Becca!!!). (No pictures of this, sorry - we were all to distracted by fun toys.)

The long awaited cake smashing was the final event of the day, the finale if you will. 

:)

Lucy, as I predicted, was pretty timid when it came to the cake smashing. She pointed to the cake (top row, middle picture) and got small bits of frosting which she tasted and exclaimed,  "Hmmmmmmmm!" making this mommy's heart proud. :) She would have kept eating frosting, but Brad helped her get to the good stuff - by stuffing her face in the cake and then helping Lu dig her hand in to get some chocolate.  Lucy made a bit of a mess, not nearly as bad as I thought she would, our Hippo chair was a little worse for wear but nothing that the washing machine couldn't fix. A quick bath was all Lucy needed to be back to her normal (not sticky) self. :)

The evening closed out with some stories read by Papa:

Happy Birthday Lucy, mommy and daddy don't know how much more of you we can handle. Our hearts burst with pride when you learn new things and our hearts melt when when you ask us to read more books ("Dat, dat") and cuddle next to us when we oblige. We love who you are. We pray Jesus is working in your heart, drawing you closer to him. Pursue him with everything you have, okay? We love you sweetheart.