Happy Birthday LC!

LC turned one at the beginning of June and we had two parties to celebrate her first birthday. It's still hard for us to believe our little girl is already a year old.  Over Memorial Day weekend, my parents and Trevor's Dad were visiting, so we had a small family party with Uncle Steve & Aunt Kim at our house. LC loved spending time with her family - more people to crawl to, roll the ball with and generally entertain her.

LC and Pop Pop

While we were making lunch, Trevor kept commenting that it felt hot in the house. This is an ongoing battle between the two of us - I'm always cold, and he's always warm - so I brushed it off. But it eventually became apparent that something was not quite right with the air conditioner. No AC, in May, in Florida, with a house full of people? Not good. But thankfully, it didn't seem to bother LC, and she thoroughly enjoyed opening gifts and trying her first bite of cupcake.

We figured for this first round of introducing sugar, we'd take it slow--we baked vanilla cupcakes and topped hers with vanilla yogurt, while the adults enjoyed chocolate frosting.

She was tentative about cake at first and then realized she liked it and took a few big bites. Then she wanted her all time favorite food of baby oatmeal, so she smashed the rest of the cake in her hair.

I think one of her favorite parts of this birthday celebration was her card from Pop Pop - she loved 'reading' it over and over. Here she is still playing with it a few days later.

LC's actual birthday was Friday, so Trevor and I took off work to spend the day with her. We had a fun day hanging out at home and running errands prepping for her party the next day. We held the party at Russell Park, which happens to be where Trevor and I play tennis and it is one of our favorite places to take LC to play and go for walks.

Trevor's Mom, sister Ashley and nieces Alexis and Alyssa, came up to celebrate with us. It was great to have them in town; LC loved seeing them and they were a big help to us while setting up for the party. Lots of our friends and LC's little playmates came out to the party and we were so happy to share this special day with all of them. LC loves monkeys, so we wanted to do a monkey cake with a pink and green background. We went to Publix in Neptune Beach which everyone swears has the best birthday cakes.  They didn't really have a design that we liked, so we just trusted the baker to come up with something cute. The instructions were simple--pink, green and a monkey.  We were very clear that it was for a baby's first birthday party, but the cake just didn't come out like we expected...

Despite it not looking very cute...LC seemed to enjoy it. She was a bit tentative at first, but after tasting a little bit, she dove right in. But when she was done, she was done.

Daddy feeding the cake, which he subsequently forgot to get a piece of

Not quite dirty enough...

That's better.  SOMEONE PICK ME UP NOW!!!

We brought towels and a change of clothes for her, but I didn't really think about how we would have to pick her up while she was covered in frosting. Trevor and I were covered in green frosting by the time we left the park, and the green frosting from the cake made for lovely smiles -

The party was a lot of fun, and while LC didn't do much running around - she was just learning to walk - she loved watching the bigger kids play and generally hanging with her buddies.

Jessica, the Toddler Wrangler

LC loved playing with the balloons and watching the bubble machine we bought for the party (good idea in theory, not so great in practice).  Aunt Christy sent a big bouquet, which were a hit.

We loved getting to celebrate such a wonderful occasion with our family and friends, and we are so lucky to have such a sweet little birthday girl to celebrate.