Jolly Old Saint Nicholas

I finally had a chance to meet the big guy and loved every second of it!

Is Santa here yet?

Getting the mail

This is too precious not to post. I ran out for 10 seconds to get the mail yesterday. When I left, Addison was in another room (at least 20 feet from the front door), busily playing. 10 seconds later, as I was running back up to the door, I saw this. Of course I didn't have my camera with me. Yes, it's true, you will often find my camera hanging from my neck, but I do leave it in the house when I go out to get the mail. I mean, give me a break! However, because I wanted to document this Kodak moment, I ran inside to get my camera and, to my daughter's confusion, went out to "get the mail" again. :)

Now, someone please stop me from going upstairs and waking her from her peaceful slumber just so I can smother her with hugs and kisses!

It's beginning to look a lot like

WINTER!

First "snowfall" - Dec 6th, 2008. Not enough to play in and not there anymore, but one of these days we'll be able to pull out my snowsuit and make snow angels.

You are invited.......

Who wants to come to my First Birthday Party?

You're all invited, so please come in!

The festivities have already begun,

and lots of my family and friends are starting to arrive.

You don't have to look far to see that it's a cupcake themed party.

complete with a cupcake pinata and all!

Since I'm the birthday girl, I get the first pull

but I didn't pull the right string, so the other kids now get a chance.

Yay! Someone pulled the magic string and all the treats fall to the floor.

I hope they save something for little old me.

Looks like they did, I walked away with a green top!

Now it's time to eat cake. I've taken my coveted top with me and I'm ready to dig in.

It takes some enticing,

but eventually I decide to get a little dirty

and by the time it's over, I am quite a mess!

Maybe my cousin, Aaron, should have shown me how it was done before the cake was put in front of me!

Once the party-goers start to go home and things settle down, I begin to open all the wonderful gifts that people brought me.

What is this from Aunt Julie, Uncle Josh, Noah, Aunt Beth and Uncle Matt?

Oh my goodness, it's a Radio Flyer wagon!

This is going to be great to ride in with my cousins!

And look, Aunt Lori and Uncle Shawn got me a Chicago Cubs Beanie Baby, named Addison. Perfect!!!

And what could be in this big box from "Aunt" Emily?

It can't be a REMO drum, it just can't be. Oh my gosh, I'm sooooo excited!

Come on, kids, we're starting a band. I'll teach you everything I learned in music class.

Peyton got me an activity walker (and some other things), which is great because I love to walk!

And Cora got me a frog that hops when I pull it.

And I got a baby from the Ferrell's that I was wishing for, but not just one baby...I got twins!
Ariana got me the fridge farm. She taught me how to play with it.
A ball pit from Gammy and Poppy. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

And Mommy and Daddy got me this activity cube.I just can't put pictures up of all the gifts I've received, but I want to thank everyone for thinking about me on my birthday, whether it was a text, email, phone call, card, gift, or coming to my party. I am a very lucky girl and really appreciate all of you who have been so kind to me in this first year of my life. :)

The party is over. It's time to hang up my tutu and party hat and call it a night. I'll end this wonderful day by keeping with the cupcake theme in my new cupcake sleeper.

Night night, Aunt Julie. Love you!

Wait, what's that? 2 hours after I go to bed, I am allowed to get up to play a little more? Well, this is a FIRST!!! Must be because I am the birthday girl and am SO BIG!!!

And because I couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about my new drum

and just couldn't wait till tomorrow to play it!

I hope everyone had fun at my birthday party. I know I did. Thanks for visiting and ya'll come back now, ya hear? :)

My actual First Birthday/Thanksgiving Day

Okay, so we're a little behind, again, with our posts. Sue us (and you'll have my Daddy to deal with). haa haa. :)

I bet everyone knows that my 1st birthday was on Thanksgiving. Mommy says it was so fitting that I shared a birthday with a day all about giving thanks for our blessings and good fortunes! Grandma F. cooked me up a great birthday meal of Turkey and gravy, potatoes, stuffing, green beans, rolls, cranberry salad and on and on. All for me!!! Well, maybe not, but it's okay to pretend. When we got to Grandma and Grandpa F.'s house, we ate our yummy Thanksgiving Birthday meal. I wore a very special bib.

After the wonderful meal, my cousin, Aaron, and I decided to burn off some calories by wrestling. I don't think I've ever had so much fun. Seriously.

Then it was time to eat again! This time it was pumpkin pie a very special birthday cake for me, Grandpa and Aunt Kathy. Grandpa and Aunt Kathy have birthdays right around mine so we celebrated all 3! Everyone sang happy birthday to us.

Then, we blew out our candles and dug in!

I didn't eat much of the pie, but the little bits I had sure were good!

After our birthday celebration, Aaron and I played some more.

We sat at the table that our Daddies sat at when they were our age. It fits us just perfectly!

Aaron decided he was too far away on the other side of the table, so came over to my side to give me a hug (he's a big hugger and soooo sweet!)

And we told each other secrets that our Mommies and Daddies will never know!

We are such good pals, my cousin and I.

Just when I thought the night was about to end, I was surprised with another birthday gift. You might remember me telling you that Grandma and Grandpa got me a kitchen for my birthday (a little early). I couldn't believe it when they had more presents for me. A cupcake book and a cupcake sleeper. I wonder how they knew that I was having a cupcake-themed birthday party 2 days later!
Thank you to all of my wonderful family for helping me celebrate a very big birthday in a very big way!! I am THANKFUL for all of you!