Ten on Tuesday

1.  Hopefully a second shot at birthday cake today was better received!   Happy Birthday Jimmy!

2.  Kelsea was quite a fan of the jumper at Jimmy's party.  

3.  Happy belated Valentine's Day!

4.  Lorelei is 29.5 inches tall and 20 pounds 2 ounces, just 1/2 inch taller and 2 ounces bigger than Kelsea was at one.

5.  Lorelei's official one year photo.  I hope our next baby is born during normal waking hours.

6.  And her not so happy face when I greeted her with "Happy Birthday to you" 

7.  How Lorelei spent most of her Birthday and the two days following.

8. Yep, she's definitely not feeling well.  Not even a glimmer of an interest in her mini carrot cake.  Don't worry Lorelei, Kelsea will be sure to help you out with that.

9.  There is something truly magical about baths, because she was all smiles once in the bath! 

10.  Somebody else had a Birthday celebration!  Happy Birthday Stevie!

Her Party (our party)

Decorations: Flowers, balloons, table cloths, heart confetti (which we are still finding around the house), and this little banner my Mom and I threw together 45 minutes before the festivities began. 

And there was lots of food, thanks to those great chefs at the Loft.

A few presents.  I know, it's hard to resist buying clothes for little girls.  Thank you friends and family for all your contributions to Lorelei's registry.  We were able to donate two Hope Baskets, a gift of trees, two flocks of ducks, one flock of chicks and a goat to some needy families around the world!

And of course a birthday party wouldn't be a party without some cake.  

And  candle:

At least the adults are looking at the camera.  Lorelei is much to enthralled with what's been put in front of her.

And I think the cake was a winner!

She didn't leave much for leftovers, but she did discover frosting makes for good finger paint.

Luckily we had some wonderful friends and family to share (the other) cake with:

Uncle Steve and Aunt Jennie (carrying cousin Ben...which is short for a name that is still in debate)

Some pretty Mamas and their babies

Our beautiful aunts and cousin

The van Weezendonk family, who will be missed when they head off to VA this summer

Some of our littlest guests playing with our most popular toy:

Landon and his Grandma Marta

Just a week apart, Jimmy & Lorelei had no interest in smiling for the camera or even looking at the camera.  So much for their first Valentine's Day picture together!

And finally to wrap up this wonderful day, some of the birthday girl:

A few of Lorelei enjoying the warm sun on the balcony.

Look I'm walking, are you watching me Mama?

Oh Happy Day!

Oh my goodness, she's a year old!    We had a lovely celebration on Valentine's Day, since she is a "Love" after all.  She enjoyed her cake in case you couldn't tell.

And it's a good thing we celebrated on Sunday since she was tired and cranky today while home sick with Daddy.  Don't worry more Birthday pictures to come.

A Couple Weeks Ago

Some body turned 11 months old.  I'm having deja vu.  Oh yes, that was last months post title too. Only instead of the holidays, big sister's birthday got in the way.  Which is a good thing for me, because it's given me less time to dwell about the sudden onset of my baby tuning one. Sigh.

At 11 months, Lorelei is 29 inches tall and 21.5 pounds.

Lorelei is quite a fan of the swing still.  Now when she wants to get in it, she walks right over and starts pushing and hanging onto it.  In she goes, and a few minutes later she looks something like this.  A tough life our little Lorelei leads.

She loves, loves, loves her pacifier.   It's like her crack cocaine that she can't go too long without. We're  wondering when the addiction will end, and how many more months we are going to be hunting for the missing pacifier.  The good thing about them is that it keeps other things out of her mouth. 

She also enjoys bath time (to include pooping in the bath), meal time and snuggle time.  She sleeps on her belly in the crib, and I love how her bum sticks up in the air.  She still loves to dance, give kisses and wave goodbye.  When she's really exited you get the double wave goodbye.  She is a big fan of the ball popper and her sister's kitchen.  She also enjoys unrolling toilet paper and playing with the water in the toilet (when we forget to shut the bathroom doors).

Just tonight she started taking a few steps on her own, so may be she will be walking on her birthday.  

And speaking of birthdays, we've asked that family and friends donate to Heifer International instead of gifts for Lorelei.  She even has her own registry:  www.heifer.org/myregistry/lorelei 

And in case you want to know about the organization, they were featured on KCRW's Good Food program last month.  If you click on the link you can listen to the podcast which talks about the organization (about 7 minutes into the podcast).  Pretty spectacular idea that provides long term solutions for families all over the world, even rural United States.

Birthday Wrap Up

Kelsea, the moment she turned four:

Same picture one year ago (still in her crib).

On Sunday we had my family over for dinner, cake, and presents. Here's a few of Kelsea opening her presents:

New rain gear from Grandma & Grandpa (such good timing!)

Hello Kitty back pack from Aunt Jennie and Uncle Stevie

Jewelry box from her sister

After dinner we had some cake, well sort of.  It was confettii cake inside the cone, with strawberry ice cream, whip cream and a strawberry on top. 

Enjoying the dessert

The following day was a holiday for me and the girls.  While Lorelei was napping, I was able to get a few pictures outside before the beginning of a week long down pour.   

Disneyland

We celebrated Kelsea's 4th Birthday at Disneyland .  I was a bit apprehensive going on a Saturday but it was by far the least crowded I have been since Kelsea was born.  Maybe everyone stays home on the weekend thinking it will be too crowded?  Ha-we outsmarted them!  

Here she is telling us she is 4 as we wait for the Tram (at 8:40 am).  I have to put that in there because I'm super impressed that we made it out of the house on time (for the first time)!

It think she is excited about her trip to the Happiest Place on Earth!

First stop was the getting her birthday button at Town Hall, where Goofy freaked her out by singing her Happy Birthday.  She did love the button and everyone wishing her Happy Birthday throughout the day.

We then headed to the Plaza Inn where we had breakfast in the park with "Minnie & Friends."  Where she was also freaked out by the giant Disney characters.  Near the end of the meal she started to blow kisses and give high fives, but there was no way of convincing her to take pictures with any of them.  At least Grandma did!

Yet, my daughter did go on Space Mountain, Star Tours and Matterhorn.  Go figure?! We also went on Autopia, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (one of her favorites), Disneyland Railroad, the Carrousel, Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan's Flight, it's a small world (her other favorite), Jungle Cruise, Teacups, and ended the day with the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthough. I thought it was just the big opening that you walk throught to get to and from Fantasyland!  Who knew there were actual stairs that took you inside?  

Do you notice there are some people missing in the Teacup? Wimps!

One of the things Kelsea was most excited about was having cotton candy.  I believe the bite she is holding is the only bite she ate.  But of course we had to hold the cotton candy the entire day, even though she had no interest in taking another bite.

We also took Kelsea to the Big Thunder Ranch where she pet some goats and a cow.   I have no idea what that expression is about.

We tried to convince her to ride Big Thunder Mountain, but it was after lunch and she was getting tired.  This was her rebuttal to our pleas.  It's my birthday, not your birthday so I don't have to go on it.  Touche!  The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is a close second, right?  

We did have a magical day.  Kelsea was terrific, and I love the fact that she is now tall enough to go on all the rides (except Indiana Jones).  I also loved that she was willing to try two roller coasters.  Maybe next time she'll ride the "fast train" and Splash Mountain (my personal favorite). And hallelujah we didn't have to stand in line to see the Princesses!  You have no idea how happy that made us. Maybe my baby turning four isn't going to be so bad after all.