Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby!

Kaia has passed the one-year mark! I can barely believe it. One year ago, I was holding my infant daughter, a cuddly, sleepy, adorable little bundle...and today I was watching my little Kaia chase the goats out in the front yard.

On the morning of Kaia's birthday, we made blueberry-banana pancakes, and served them to her with a pink candle in place...Then we went to feed the pigeons, which was very exciting...and for dinner we had a lovely "baby's favorites" feast: rolled up sliced turkey, cheese, watermelon, strawberries, and polenta.

We decided to forego the big one-year birthday party, and just have the grandparents come for a mellow celebration. So, Kaia had a Zucchini-banana-carrot cake with lots of tasty whipped cream, berries, and bananas, which she adored, and Emma was the official decorator, and did a very nice job!

Kaia had lots of big-sister help opening her gifts! It was a good thing, too...because that wrapping paper can be very intriguing to a baby, so it freed her up to taste the different varieties of paper!

Emma Grace's favorite thing right now is princess dresses, as I've mentioned before, and it just melts my heart that when it came time to choose Kaia's gift, she wanted to find a baby princess dress so "Kaia can be a princess, too!". Em gets a little jealous when Kaia's getting lots of attention, but she sure loves her baby sister, and that is the most wonderful thing to watch!

Almost One!!!

Kaia will be one on Thursday, and I can't believe it! This year has flown by at lightning speed...and the girls are growing and changing and all I can do is watch in awe!

Kaia is big into cruising...still moving around on every piece of furniture she can find. She loves being upright and can't wait to walk! She says "dah!" (dog) and "go!" (goat) and "mama", "dada", and "Emma". She always gets Emma's name right...although admittedly Mama gets called Dada periodically! She loves to eat--bananas, strawberries, and chicken seem to be favorites recently.

We decided to adopt a couple of baby goats...we're working on a little farm (if Em has any say, we'll have some of every kind of animal "except whales, because they're too big and need too much water"). Emma named them Scuttle and Mr. Funny. They are adorable and little eating machines! There are little bald patches in the yard where the tasty weeds once were. Now they're working on the second-string weeds, and seem to be enjoying themselves.

We are loving spring--even with the crazy weather we've been having! Last week the girls ran around outside, swam in the kiddie pool, played in the hose, and wore hats, scarves, and gloves while checking out the hail!