Alida's birthday festivities

Well, our baby is ONE! While I think she had no real concept of what all the hubbub was about the last few days, she thoroughly enjoyed it. And one of her highlights was that she was granted some tastes of ice cream. If you don't believe me, check this out. It seems she may have the Myers taste for ice cream. She is certainly enjoying her ability to shake her head "yes" and "no," but she often still gives mixed messages. There are a few times, however, that she seems to have a very deep desire to make sure she communicates VERY clearly that she likes something. This would be one of those times:



A quick recap on the events surrounding the celebration of Alida's first year of life, even if it is very hard for Jason and I to fully believe that she is already a year old.

Since I had the "pleasure" of spending most of Alida's birthday in meetings (I think I like the birthing kind of labor better than laboring in meetings!), we begin celebrating a day early with a birthday meal with many of Alida's little friends. There were 18 of us gathered, 9 children and 9 adults! There was a lot of cuteness in the place, with the chicks adding to the fun. Alida is no longer all that interested in the chicks ever since Jason added the bedding - she wants to spread the bedding around or climb in with them!

She enjoyed some of her favorite foods - though it seems that now when homemade green pasta is around, few things can top it (she does take after her big sister in that realm, as well as having black olives be near the top of the list!). Gone are the days when she will consume most of a jar of canned green beans. I happen to think they look an awful lot like green pasta but she has no trouble distinguishing and the green beans often are flung off the side of her tray, while the noodle pieces are happily consumed! She had no interest in tasting her apple/banana cupcakes, but enjoyed mushing it in her fingers and flinging it off her high chair.

Then last evening, her actual birthday evening, we spent time together as a family. We planted two little cherry trees in honor of her birth-day, the day Mom and I spent canning sour cherries. The placenta is now out of our freezer and underneath one the cherry trees. Kali had a lot of questions about the placenta, and our favorite moment was when Kali asked why we didn't can it rather than freezing it. We had to admit to her that it hadn't crossed our minds until that very moment!

We came in and enjoyed a cherry crisp with some of the cherries we had canned one year ago. She also enjoyed playing with a little dinosaur puzzle and small wooden car Jason found for her, as well as clomping around in her new monkey Robeez that her big sister picked out for her. It seems that it won't be too long before she is clomping around on her own. Her new fun yesterday was practicing standing up with no hands. We didn't catch it on film before she had already been practicing for awhile, but you can get a taste of it here. Enjoy!