Julia's First Birthday!

We've had some wonderful holiday celebrations, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I want to share some about them, but first things first.  Literally.  More about Julia's first birthday! :-)

Julia's birthday was such a blast!

First, we celebrated with her paternal grandparents when they were in Tulsa in early December.

Cake!

Destroying a cake takes a lot of concentration.

I'm not sharing.  Get your own cake!

Presents!

Unwrapping is fun!

Riding on my new fire engine!

Walking!

Julia's birthday weekend was a lot of fun.  On Saturday, Aaron and I took her to Toys R' Us to look at toys and to the mall to get her picture made.  She was pretty tired, so she just kept trying to crawl away.  We did get a winner or two out of the bunch.

Fun at the mall!

Sweet girl.

Julia with the "O" of "ONE" - we could not stop laughing when looking at this photo!  Hilarious!

Then, on Gaudete Sunday, the day before her actual birthday, we had a birthday party for Julia at my parents' house.  My whole family was there and we had an Eric Carle theme, since Julia loves to read and loves his books.  Aaron and I were busy that weekend preparing for the party, making banners, cooking dinner (white chili, a salad, fruit), and baking and decorating the cake.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear animal banner and a banner of Julia's monthly photos!  Aaron and I did a lot of cutting and gluing!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar fruit.  I used a straw to punch holes in the fruit so it looked like the fruit from the story, which has holes in it from the caterpillar eating through it.

The birthday girl is ready to eat!

Opening presents!

Loving the musical snowglobe!

Where's Julia?

Reading the book about Julia!

A farm from mommy and daddy!

Loving her new baby from Grammy and Grandpa!

Playing with new toys!

Family photo!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar cake I made her.  The left side features the green leaf that the caterpillar took a bite out of so I could...

...use the "bite" to make a small cake for Julia!

The two cakes!

Happy birthday, dear Julia!  Happy birthday to you!

Loving the cake!

Julia's actual birthday the next day was pretty chill, but we did snag some pictures of her (including the ones in my last post) and a few below.  We love our Julia!

Beautiful birthday girl, ready for breakfast!

All smiles on her big day!

Bathing beauty!

Clean and warm in her flannel PJs!  Goodnight to the birthday girl!

Julia Grace, I hope you know how much you are loved!  This past year has been the most exciting, most joy-filled year of our lives.  Your daddy and I are so proud of you!  We love to hold you, to snuggle you, to be with you. You are beautiful inside and out.  You have such a beautiful soul - you radiate warmth and goodness.  You have the happiest smiles and the most gorgeous blue eyes.  You are so smart.  You love to learn and you absorb new information so quickly.  You enjoy life so much and your laugh is music to our eyes.  You show us the wonder of life, as you see everything through new eyes, and we delight in experiencing anew so many of the delights of creation.  You teach us patience, self-sacrifice, and discipline through your dependence on us, and you better teach us how to depend on God like children of His that we are.  You make us realize more deeply now than ever how extraordinary the love of God is, that He would give us His only son to suffer and die for all of us.  What wondrous love, that a Father could make that sacrifice!  Julia, you are the greatest joy and best blessing that God has given us, and we couldn't be happier to be your parents.  We love you more than life!  May God bless you always, our precious Julia Grace!