Happy Birthday, Baby!

Kendall had her first birthday last week, October 21st!

She was such a delight on her birthday, actually trying to blow out the candles on her toy birthday cake after her older sisters did it. This girl seems to be a little bundle of fun, and I can't wait to see her personality develop more and more.

So, let's see. What is she currently doing...

* Crawling around everywhere. She loves the back section of this little toy train that she has. It's small enough that she can pick it up and maneuver it, so she holds onto it and crawls around with it.

* She shakes her head "no" to almost any question you ask her. The girls love to ask her, "Do you love Mama?" and of course, she shakes her head, "no", and they roll over, laughing.

* She gives very good hugs and wonderful, open mouth kisses! I love them!!

* She likes to "read." She'll open a book, tap her finger on the words, and babble. So cute.

* She likes to put things in my hand. I'll just be sitting there, and she'll crawl over to me, open my hand and put something in there...and that something is usually nothing, just pretend, but I, of course, say "thank you" and give it right back to her. She'll do that over and over.

* She loves her family. She gives Mommy and Daddy the best welcomes when we come home. She crawls as fast as she can to us, or kicks her legs until we come get her. And, if her sisters are with her and then walk away, she has something to say about that too. It's definitely best when we are all together.

So, here are some pictures of her first birthday. I had to teach on her birthday, so Marcie brought her to school at lunch time and my class enjoyed singing "Happy Birthday" to her and eating sugar cookies. That was a lot of fun. Then, that evening, we celebrated at home together.

Then on Saturday, we had an extended family party at Grandma Pitcher's house in Des Moines. The girls always love being with their cousins, so it was a special day.

Here she is with her little 1st birthday cake. She is still not eating solid food (she gags a lot), so I wasn't sure what she would do with her cake. So, we sang to her and I put it in front of her, and she really didn't do anything. So, I decided to help her by putting a little bit of frosting in her mouth. Well, that didn't go over quite as I had planned. She gagged on it, and then threw it up! (Not a huge amount, but enough for me to feel bad!) So, she never did eat any of her cake. But, I did give her a fork and she enjoyed demolishing it. :)