You CAN have your cake and eat it too!

Is there anything better at a baby's first birthday party than watching them eat their cake? Ah, baby's first sugar! I had a feeling Amelia would dive right in and she sure did! So far we haven't found any food she doesn't like and she sure does love cake. Or actually frosting to be more accurate. After I put her hand in the frosting and she tasted it she just went for it...!






Even though she really had no clue what was going on and that this major celebration was in her honor, I think she had a good time at her birthday party. Alex had a blast with his friends bouncing in the bounce house and hitting down the most indestructible pinata I have ever seen. This thing would not burst open, Paul ended up just free falling it from the balcony up above.




Amelia looked darling in her tutu I had gotten for her. She even struck some ballerina like poses for me!




It was a really nice day and I was so happy that so many friends and family came down to celebrate this milestone with us. My mom was down of course and Grandma and Grandpa Toy also made the three hour drive! Amelia is certainly loved! She also got some beautiful clothes and fun new toys (Mommy is excited about the clothes). Her favorite new toys so far have been a toy piggy bank and teapot set.



Once again I want to wish my beautiful little girl a happy 1st birthday! You are a one of a kind cutie pie that is for sure! We love you so much!

Amelia is one!!!

Happy birthday to my baby girl!! I can't believe that she is already one. I still remember holding my sweet girl one year ago after my c-section. She was extra clingy today which I thought was to make me feel guilty for going into work on her birthday (which worked really well!) I bought her a special birthday girl shirt to wear today. We aren't doing anything really special today since her big party is this Saturday. I can't wait to see her eat her first birthday cake! This morning I took this really sweet picture of her holding her Teletubby LaLa that she loves to much! Stay tuned for some messy cake pictures!

Friendly Weekend

I have posted before about the importance of family, but that is not to minimize the importance of friends as well! These past few days I've had a great time with various friends at a wedding and also reconnected with a close friend who I don't get to see as often as I would like.

Friday night Paul and I attended my supervisor Monica's wedding. We went with our good friends Theresa and Eric, and several people from work also attended. I have been at Families First now for 9 months and have met some great people. Theresa helped get me the job, but I didn't know anyone else there besides her, and she is in an entirely different department. It was a little hard for me to leave some of my good friends from the hospital and start over, but the people at Families First have been very friendly and welcoming. They are also a very fun bunch as you can probably tell from the above picture! On my left is Tabitha who is a Clinical Program Manager with me, Julie and Theresa are to my right and they work in the Foster Care department at work. Great idea on Monica's part to get a photo booth at her wedding, wish I had thought of that for mine! We couldn't get out of that photo booth and kept taking photos throughout the night. Here are some of Paul and I as well as Paul, Theresa, Eric and me.




On Saturday my friend Channone came to visit for the day. Even though she only lives 45 minutes away in Visalia our schedules don't allow us to get together as often as we'd like. We spent the day catching up and got some scrapbooking done as well. Channone has become quite the talented photographer so she was so kind to show me some tricks with my camera. Here are a couple of photos I took after learning some new techniques:





After Channone left I was cleaning out some junk drawers in the kitchen and came across this old picture of Channone and I from college. Channone and I met when we were freshman in college and had a great four years together at Fresno State. Channone is to the left of me in this photo. Kecia, to my right, was my college roommate for most of college and the maid of honor in my wedding. Suzi at the end often hung out with us, especially on Thursday nights when we would cook dinner with friends and watch 'Friends' back when there were new episodes every Thursday night. Unfortunately Channone is one of the few college friends I have kept in contact with since most of my other friends have moved away from Fresno and we have lost touch.



I remember some wise words from my father as he was dying. He told me "be good to your friends because they are the ones who see you through the good times and the bad." Good words to live by. :)

A lovely Easter weekend

I apologize for the late post and thank my hubby for a reminder that I was slacking! I can't believe I didn't post earlier especially since I am so thrilled with the pictures I took on Easter! I suppose since I am deeply involved now in the world of Facebook I neglected my blog a bit. Sorry to any of my followers out there.

It was especially exciting this weekend to get an excellent new family photo!! You really can never have enough of those and I was really happy with the way this one turned out.


My mom was also down and we got a good shot with her as well as a nice shot of me with the kids.





I also was fortunate enough to get some great shots of the kids in their sweet little Easter outfits.



Amelia's first Easter went well. She loved holding the plastic eggs and shaking them to hear whatever was rattling around inside of them. The eggs are the perfect size for her little hands to grasp so she had fun with a few of them while Alex went on his egg hunt.



Alex had a great time hunting dinosaur and sea life shaped eggs around our backyard. He was on total sugar overload though! Luckily my mom made him a cape instead of just filling him up on candy and he has been glued to this cape ever since. We had to explain that even Superman and Batman take off their capes to sleep and bathe. He also got a light saver from my cousin Ann so he has been in full super hero mode!




Other than the egg hunt and consuming mass amounts of sugar we kept it low key this Easter. Paul's parents and my cousin Sarah and her boyfriend Josh came over for an Easter lunch and then we just hung out the rest of the day. This week we have been trying to ration candy out to Alex (and I have been trying to do the same for myself). I did donate a large amount to my workplace so it wasn't just sitting around the house.

This weekend and next week I will be running around to finish up things for Amelia's birthday that is a week from today! I can't even believe it! Time flies when you have two kids that keep you running.....

An Early Egg Hunt

We started our Easter celebrations a little early this week with an easter egg hunt at Tumble America, where Alex takes gymnastics. Alex & Bridget had a great time hunting for easter eggs and playing with the Easter Bunny. Alex told me on the way home that he has decided he will be the Easter Bunny for Halloween, but this decision changes weekly so we will see.

Alex came home with a basket full of eggs and Amelia had fun crawling around on the floor and watching all the kids. She especially enjoyed tipping over Alex's easter basket.






This past week has made me especially thankful to live in California. The weater has been incredible. Yesterday Amelia enjoyed being pushed around in her new car while Alex rode his Big Wheels up and down the street. Today we went to Big Hat Days, which an outdoor festival in Old Town Clovis, and enjoyed walking around looking at booths and eating fair food. Alex had his bi-annual pony ride that he loves so much.

I also realized looking at the calendar that I better get cracking on making some birthday cards! It seems I am especially drawn to those with April birthdays, I have 7 birthday cards to make for this month! And that doesn't count Amelia and Olivia! The kids just went down for a nap so I hope to get to some cards now while I have a little time. :)