birthday girl

ayla jo you are 1 year old!

what a blessing you have been aylaroo. you enchant us all with your bold and charming personality, the wrinkle of your nose when you get excited, and your closed mouth variation on uh oh.

you are such a sweet girl, a little cupcake to your adoring fam! crawling quickly, you zip from one thing to the next, following your big brothers. sometimes scowling, sometimes shrieking, you let us know when you do not like something. typically though, you are a happy happy girl, a true delight to your mommy and daddy.

ayla, this year has been one of huge growth, celebration, and development. with each milestone you reach, we give praise and glory to god for allowing us the privilege of raising you, our beautiful daughter.

we celebrated our cutie pye in cadillac this sunday! the wenkes generously allowed us to take over their cabin for the weekend, first by brad and his golf trip buddies, then by our fam of five starting sat afternoon. although i was anxious about getting me, the kids, and all our overnight essentials up north all alone, i was successful! we had one stop to pee, eat, and get some snacks. let me just say, peeing with three kids is quite a tricky ordeal. we all went into the room and locked the door. while i held ayla on my lap and tried to concentrate on the task at hand, the boys held their hands under the dryer and screamed. then ayla screamed out of fear, and i screamed for them to stop. so then the boys left, and came back in and left and came back in. i frantically attempted to pull up my shorts and hold onto the baby squirming and crying. exciting.

once we were settled in the cabin, all was well. not exactly peaceful, but an excellent mix of relaxation and jumping on the tramp. just the right combo of shooting bb guns and taking nature walks. a fab 24 hours of ice cream, park, beach, and the movie balto.

i made a confetti cake and decorated it all in pink sparkles. bliss. here is the happy birthday baby enjoying her piece. outside. in her bathing suit. (i learned a thing or two from her last bday party :))

purchasing and giving baby girl presents was a personal highlight. love love love this ride on princess toy. it plays songs, lights up, is super pink and gets my girl smiles. precious.

what a fab way to celebrate our baby girl.