Sarah's 1st Birthday Party!

Come on in and join the fun, our little lady just turned ONE!

We did a ladybug theme for Sarah's party. My good friend and assistant party planner/cake decorator is away for the holidays visiting her sister in Scotland (sob), so I was left alone to decorate the cake. I almost threw it in the trash a few times, but I think it turned out okay in the end.

Sarah was thrilled for her party.

This is her new thing. I love it!

Just for fun, a comparison of Hannah at her first birthday party, and Sarah at hers:

:swoon:

We had such a wonderful time with family and friends. Sarah was showered with love and generosity.
Micah took the pics of Sarah opening her presents. Thanks, dear!

Thanks to Mark for manning the camcorder:

We had company until way past the girls' bedtimes, so they really didn't get a chance to play with all of Sarah's new toys. Saturday morning, my living room looked like this:

Thank you to my wonderful family and friends who made Sarah's first birthday party so special! We love you!

Party Preparations.

Thursday, the girls and I were busy were party preparations and decorating for Sarah's Lady Bug party...
We began the day building a tent in the living room:

Snacked on some leftover Christmas goodies...

Made the girls sit through countless pictures to test the sharpness of my new Sigma 30mm 1.4 lens:

Hannah is modeling her new Cinderella dress-up dress she got for Christmas

Sarah got in on the dress up action, too.

She flipped when this hat fell off and insisted we keep putting it back on.

Then we started on the cake. The girls enjoyed licking the wisks...if Daddy had been home, this would not have happened...;)

Finally, the decorations:

Stay tuned for the first birthday post!

Sarah is ONE!

My baby is one. It's bittersweet...watching her grow and learn and spread her wings is bliss. Realizing my baby is growing into a little girl is a little sad.
For comparison, here's Sarah in the delivery room just minutes after birth. All pictures were taken by Micah. :)

And on her first birthday:

Sarah, you have been such an amazing blessing to our family. I can not even begin to tell you how much I love you and how you've changed our family for the better.
Happy Birthday, precious girl! We love you so much!

Christmas

This Christmas was by far the most wonderful, memorable, emotional, joyful Christmas that I could have ever imagined. Words can not describe the absolute joy, love, gratitude, excitement...it was just...perfect.

We began our celebrations at Aunt Cheryl's house on Christmas Eve. Hannah was so excited the entire day. On a whim, we decided to drive past our old home to see how they had decorated (yeah, I guess we're weird like that...) and Hannah knew instantly that we were going the wrong way. "Why we not going to Aunt Cheryl's house?!" she'd exclaim from the back seat. :)
After a yummy dinner and some fun, presents were passed, piles were made, children were gleaming. Hannah was so excited that she literally shook and paced waiting for the okay to begin tearing open her presents. It made my heart melt.

This baby has not left her side. I love how she's holding her hand...

We returned home that evening, arms full of gifts, hearts full of love. The girls got comfy and had just enough time to try out some of their new toys before bed.

Be still my beating heart...

Surprisingly, the girls went right to sleep and slept past 8:00 Christmas morning. Micah and I were in shock, as Hannah was so excited about what awaited her the next morning.
Sarah was the first to round the corner into the living room...

Hannah dug right in...

Watching her face was like pure heaven. My heart was so happy that morning.

These two gifts, the flower pen and the Mobigo, were by far her favorites from Daddy & Mommy..;)

Although Sarah didn't quite grasp the whole unwrap-the-gift thing, she did manage to tear open a few presents with Daddy's help.

Christmas Day is our busiest of the holiday season. The girls finished opening gifts, and then were hurried out the door (with a few of their new toys) to Gram & Pap's house for more gift-giving and the infamous, annual Christmas breakfast.

R.I.P. 40 year-old electric knife...

Love, love, LOVE

Breakfast was, as always, delicious. The company kept was, as usual, amazing. I love this time of year. I love my family. I love Christmas

(Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Gene...how did I miss you?? I need some pictures!!)

Christmas was fabulous.

Take a little of this Christmas cheer into the New Year...

Merry Christmas