Nothing went as planned... (lately this seems to be the catch-phrase). Alice woke up with a fever and by the time she seemed to be coming around I was feeling awful. It's been a long time since I've had a fever and the associated aches and pains. Our family day was supposed to be action packed; breakfast at the church in Orangeville, trip to the zoo, dinner at the Grandparents with Uncle Andrew. Instead we were home all day and Ken took care of all of us. I had a nap and spent most of the day on the couch in the basement watching Netflix. (Thank you Ken!)
Alice was still dressed up in Kate's birth day shirt for our pre-birth day non-festive activities!
Today when Alice woke up crying I figured it was because Kate was yelling at her. (Some mornings Kate wakes up yelling in her sleep. I'm not sure what tortured dreams she was having, but she woke up wanting to push my cheek... whatever that means!)
We went to the basement after breakfast and I presented Alice with her birthday present. I was going to wrap it, but considering how poorly I was still feeling and knowing that she wouldn't be able to unwrap it anyway, I just gave it to her in the shopping bag. This turned out to be the right amount of wrapping for her to deal with!
We don't need any more toys... we have lots!
And we definitely don't need any big toys...
Which is of course why we got Alice a tent? Seriously though, Alice picked it out herself. Last time we went to toys r us, this same tent was on display and Alice went nuts for it. Ken's comment after it was open, "hmm it's bigger than I thought"!
I tried to take a cute 12 month shot. Alice wasn't happy.
I thought I would take a sister shot. Alice was happier but didn't want to stay in the chair. (She's reaching for Ken.)
Alice is wearing one of the first birthday hats left over from Kate's first birthday party. We'd saved a bunch of decorations, sadly they didn't keep. (Which is odd to me. Why didn't cardboard, kept in a plastic bag in a dry basement keep?)
Trying again to get the 12 month shot.
Alice taking a break from posing to play in her favourite spot. She is so in the "dump everything on the floor" phase. (I think Kate just barely emerged from it.)
Tried again... Alice just wanted to read "All Kinds of Kisses" by Nancy Tafuri. Alice LOVES this book. She has started trying to moo like a cow. (Calfs like moo kisses.) It's too cute!
Here it is! Ken's arm wasn't really part of the picture in my head, but whatever, she's smiling!
Alice eating her birthday dinner! (Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for bringing the leftover pre-birth day dinner!)
We made a video of the singing and Kate blew out the candle. Alice wasn't totally sure about the cupcake at first.
I thought she was warming up to it.
Well, she drops everything on the floor, so that doesn't necessarily mean anything.
We gave her back the cupcake, the icing went in the green bin. At this point she started to eat the cupcake wrapper.
Then decided the give the cupcake another go.
I think this means she liked it.
All done! She and Kate went straight into the bath.
All in all it wasn't the worst birthday ever.
One final note about birthday traditions. Sometimes I feel like we have no traditions. This isn't entirely true, what is mostly true is that we as a family don't have any unique traditions. I decided that cream cheese icing on banana bread ( which is really more like cake) for a first birthday was a good tradition. Kate enjoyed her banana muffin (more like a cupcake) with cream cheese icing when she was one. On Sunday Ken and Kate made banana muffins (more like cupcakes) together. They even added some chocolate chips. After they had cooled a bit a gave a bite to Alice. She ate one bite. Then I remembered, bananas are Alice's LEAST favourite fruit. Seriously what was I thinking trying to institute a tradition when it would only satisfy one child and not the other?! Hence, Ken went out and bought two cupcakes for Alice's real birthday. (We were going to eat the banana muffins at my Mom's.)
Happy Birthday Alice! We love you so much. You are a busy, fun, smart, beautiful girl. Our family is so blessed by your presence.
We went to the basement after breakfast and I presented Alice with her birthday present. I was going to wrap it, but considering how poorly I was still feeling and knowing that she wouldn't be able to unwrap it anyway, I just gave it to her in the shopping bag. This turned out to be the right amount of wrapping for her to deal with!
One final note about birthday traditions. Sometimes I feel like we have no traditions. This isn't entirely true, what is mostly true is that we as a family don't have any unique traditions. I decided that cream cheese icing on banana bread ( which is really more like cake) for a first birthday was a good tradition. Kate enjoyed her banana muffin (more like a cupcake) with cream cheese icing when she was one. On Sunday Ken and Kate made banana muffins (more like cupcakes) together. They even added some chocolate chips. After they had cooled a bit a gave a bite to Alice. She ate one bite. Then I remembered, bananas are Alice's LEAST favourite fruit. Seriously what was I thinking trying to institute a tradition when it would only satisfy one child and not the other?! Hence, Ken went out and bought two cupcakes for Alice's real birthday. (We were going to eat the banana muffins at my Mom's.)
Happy Birthday Alice! We love you so much. You are a busy, fun, smart, beautiful girl. Our family is so blessed by your presence.
