Living With Hope: A Happy Birthday Weekend!

We took some time off to spend with you on your 1st Birthday ever, Ellena. We assembled and filled your new sandbox (a splendid Craigslist find) with new beach-like sand. You loved it and wanted to wiggle your toes in it all day long! Mom turned to me and said "Sand between the toes must feel good at any age!"

The weather was beautiful all weekend long and we all enjoyed being outside on the deck.

We took you to the local mall. The initial plan to was to take you to a store called "Build A Bear" where, surprisingly, we would help you build your own bear. The store allows you to choose the type of animal (Teddy's aren't just bears anymore!), color, hos much stuffing, dress it in an occupational outfit, name it, register it and ultimately take it home in a box that looks like a house. We were a little bit skeptical about the idea, mainly because you don't really play with any of your stuffed animals now, but we thought we could make a good memory out of it. The funny part was each animal we placed within your reach, you threw it aside, pushed it away, or began to become angry, so we ended up leaving "Build A Bear" with only a few laughs. We did however make it down to Nordstom's where we knew you could score a birthday balloon attached to a rubber chewable "Nordie" (their children's mascot) and we found the perfect birthday shoes for you. They were about a half size too large, but at least we'll get a little more use out of them that way. You loved walking around in them - yes I said walking! You are pretty much unstoppable now.

Next stop, on almost a whim was "Chuck E. Cheese's" (where a kid can be a kid!) where we thought you would enjoy the lights, games, giant animatronic "entertainers" and, of course, other children gallivanting about. It has always been a joy for us to take you somewhere you have never been before and this time was no different. You LOVED it! I literally have a hundred pictures from this meal and game time, but these were some of my favorite. You took to skee ball right away...you must get that from your dad!

In fact, you took to it so much, you actually climbed up on the ramp and took off!

You enjoyed the coin games, but we think mostly because you got to hold the coins beforehand and place them in the machines. You were surprisingly good at this!

There were many things to play in, on and around as well and here is a shot of you inside one of the "structures".

Here you are on the morning after your birthday. We gave you this play kitchen. When looking for one for you, we were immediately attracted to the height and general size of this setup, as well as the utensils and food that came with it. It has many areas for you to explore and even includes your own phone so you can call into American Idol and vote for your favorite singer!

Here is the cake Mom made you for your first ever sugar treat. She bought a special molded pan to bake it in this shape and she even made the frosting from scratch! It was a huge hit, especially with you!

These are the rest of the cupcakes she made for your friends who visited. You would have been surprised at how many times I heard someone ask if they were "special ordered". I recommended she take that as a compliment!

You surprised us all when you actually took a few bites with your own little fork! My but you are always keeping us alert and watching you! You didn't know what to think of this treat at first, but you caught on quick!