Party time!

Yesterday was a day of firsts - the first cold, rainy day we've had in over a week, the first day that Caroline transitioned from using crawling as her default mode of transportation to walking, and the day we celebrated her first birthday! We had a nice morning together - we got lots of phone calls, including one from Daddy, baked cupcakes, and readied the house for our party later in the day. Assisted by Nora, Caroline opened her presents after lunch (since the party was a "no-gift" party). She got two new "Nubby" books from Nora, a duck pull toy from Pop Pop (which both girls now love), more lift-the-flap books from Mommy and Daddy, touch-and-feel books from Aunt Alli and Uncle Gregory (although she particularly liked the Elmo card identical to the one Daddy gave her and the newspaper stuffing from the box) and, today, cool Gap clothes from Aunt Nancy. Thank you all!

Alli Paul and her girls Claire and Elise came over around 5, and were followed by Lisa, Shannon and Taylor, then Bernadette, Bronwyn and Lauren, and Kelly. We all had a great time - Caroline got to eat lots of pizza, her favorite, and tore apart her birthday cupcake. The 4 girlfriends (Nora, Taylor, Lauren and Claire) spent most of the party upstairs in Nora and Caroline's room - trying on dress up clothes, playing with stuffed animals, and jumping on the bed - which gave the grown ups an unusual chance to talk and catch up with one another. Poor Caroline didn't quite know what to do with herself...she was a little too big to play with Elise, who is 8 months, but too young to jump up and down on the bed with the girls (which is where she really wanted to be). We'll have to make sure that she has some of her own friends to play with for her second birthday party so that she's not always tagging behind Nora, the oft ill-fated role of the second child. I am so grateful for our wonderful friends who warmed our hearts and home on Caroline's special day. What a blessing.