Avi's Birthday!!

More pictures will follow later... so check back!
July 29, 2011
Happy Birthday Avi!!! One year old!!!
The birthday princess is an angel!!! I love her oh so very much! She brings such incredible joy to my life.
This morning Avi had breakfast in bed (okay maybe she gets that everyday...we'll probably start weaning one of these days... when I have enough energy to get up when she first gets up...). We played a bit, she played with her Aunt Emily a while. Then I took her outside. She loves to kick the balls around and I brought her over to the slide to see if she would climb up it again, but she was perfectly delighted to sit on the end, she then brought the volleyball, which was close by, to the slide. She put it up with her, she had some difficulty fitting her and the ball on the slide- and having both stay on, but she was so pleased when she got it.
Gunnar got to call a few times today :). Wow, what a wonderful guy he is!! Avi is lucky to have such a great dad. I am soooo excited for when she gets to spend time with him. Avi will take my phone and say, "da da"- did I mention she also pointed the computer and said "da da" too??
She took a short morning nap. She helped me clean by staying in arms as I vacuumed and crawling around where I had mopped.
She played really well in the bath- she had a blast as I cleaned the toilet and the dusted the light fixtures in the bathroom. She took a good afternoon nap. Then she got changed into her birthday outfit- She looked simply adorable!! Purple really is one of her best colors. I took her to get balloons. We chose out a princess one. When we asked for the plain ones, the lady said it would be a few minutes, that we could leave the princess balloon for her to tie the other ones to, and we could go pay for it and it would be ready for us when we got back. Avi did not want to let go of her balloon. She had a death grip, but we got it from her. She was fascinated by them. We got them home and she played with the balloons for about fifteen minutes, till Kesten and her family arrived for the party.
Gunnar called so he got to talk to Grandpa Max and Teresja, by the time Sonja got here he had to get off.
We had a potluck bbq- everything was great! It all came together perfectly.
Avi got sooo many presents. I was really amazed by the generosity of friends and family. I had put on the invite that their "presence" could be there "present" to Avi, but she got extra love!! Everyone was soo kind, she got such cute stuff!!! Lots of clothes, some toys, cups, a pair of shoes, and to the delight of all the kids- a bottle of bubbles!! Which have been used up this very night!
I did the Korean tradition of having her choose from an assortment of items, each representing different things for her future life- I had The Book of Mormon: she'll be spiritual, Yarn: she'll have a long life, Pen: she'll be studious, Money: she'll be wealthy, Orange: she'll be fruitful. Kesten's boys thought she should choose the orange. There were a couple of votes from the adults she should choose the money. She ended up choosing the yarn, then Malachi gave her The Book of Mormon. He said, "Here this is The Book of Mormon." He told me I could read it Avi. That kid is being raised right!
We decided it was a good combination-the Book of Mormon in a long life.
For dessert we served pound cake with strawberries and whipped topping. Avi's was special to her- it was a muffin Emily had made the day before that Avi loved!! (from the Fiber 1 mix) I put "frosting" (her delicious Yo Baby banana yogurt) in the middle and on top with cut strawberries. The strawberries were the big exciting thing, since it was her first time trying them, but they flopped. She ate a little bit of some- because they came with the rest, but for the most part she threw them to the ground. But she loved the yogurt and muffin!!
She didn't get the blowing out the candle, when she reached for it, I blew it out. Maybe next year!
The weather this evening was perfect. It cooled down just enough :).
A big happy birthday to my baby girl!!