Alayna'a 1st Birthday

Good Morning! It's my birthday! Almost exactly a week till her birthday, Alayna learned how to crawl! I really wasn't sure if she was ever going to get it. Now she is mobile and ready for adventure. The girls will play hide and seek and she will crawl all over until she finds them. She also follows Brynn around like a little lost puppy dog. It's really cute.

We had mine and Seth's side of the family over for dinner and cupcakes on Alayna's birthday. I really didn't think that many people would be able to make it, but just about everyone that lives in state came, it was so nice to have everybody all together. As you can see it made Alayna happy. I just wish I'd gotten more pictures of everyone that was there.

Grandma Jill feeding our little bunny rabbit carrots

Uncle Chase and Aunt Jen got there early and Jen helped prepare all the food. Chase entertained all the kiddos.

Look at all the pursed lips in the back ground ready to help blow. I like daddy's big hand keeping Alayna's little piggies away from the flame. I was pretty convinced that she would dig in to the cupcake. We have been a little liberal with her in the sweets department. She's had her fair share of chocolate already. Way more than our first two kids. But she did have an ear infection that week and had been under the weather a bit so...

This is what she did with the cupcake. She poked it and whined and looked at us. We even tried giving her one of the mini cupcakes I made for everyone else, but she just wasn't interested. Oh well! Who says we have to have cake anyway?

Here's Alayna, cousin Ian and uncle Adam playing Alayna's new kitty piano. We went shopping for toys at Target and this was her favorite thing. A big cat face, with piano keys for teeth. A little freeky and weird, but it has been a big hit. It has a little microphone on the side which she has figured out how to pull out and sing into, or slober into or both! We were so glad to see uncle Adam there. Just a few days before he had surgery on his foot to fix some broken toes. He was a trooper to come out. Alayna's looking a little tired there:)

Dear Alayna,
What a joy it has been to have you come to us when you did! You light up all of us. You have knit our whole family close together. I remember when you were born we brought you home from the hospital and we all just lingered around you. In fact I think we basically camped in the family room for 3 days so we wouldn't miss anything you did. Nothing has changed even though it's a year later. Every time you grow we celebrate it. Every time you hurt, we hurt too. We will always be here and can't wait to see what's up around the bend for you. We love you so much Alayna Kate!
Love,
Mom, Dad, Brynn and Kira