More Birthday Fun!

Sledding with Daddy!

A few days after her actual birthday, we had a big birthday party for Evelyn with the immediate family from both sides.  We were so blessed that everyone was able to make it.  We had sledding in the afternoon accompanied by the Packer game, then dinner, gifts, and cake.  Most of the adults stayed indoors, but those little ones who did venture out, really enjoyed their time on the sledding hill at Grandpa and Grandma Kleven's.

With cousins Gracie and Norah.

With cousin Norah at the top of the hill.

After all of the kids' noses and fingers got cold enough, everyone came in to eat.  We had stromboli and lots of side dishes that everyone helped contribute to.  After dinner (and the Packer game), Evelyn got to open all of her presents.  With all of her practice ripping paper and pulling tissue paper out of bags from Christmas, Evelyn was an old pro at opening her gifts.  We were so blessed by the generosity of our families.

Evelyn with all of her gifts.

With the cowboy hat and bib
from Uncle Daniel & Aunt Ellen.

 I couldn't believe that my siblings all pooled together to buy Evelyn a wagon!  We have wanted to get one for her for a while, but a nice one is a bit of an investment.  I'm looking forward to warm weather to take her outside for walks and rides in the wagon.

After gifts, we headed into the dining room for cake.  My mom made a cake in the shape of a bee.  Evelyn got a bumble bee pillow pet for Christmas which she absolutely adores.  The cake was to resemble that.  It looked so cute and tasted really good too!






The week before her birthday, Kevin and I started working with Evelyn on blowing out candles.  She was so fascinated with the flame that she wanted to touch it and didn't understand what it meant to blow it out.  When it came time for her to blow out her candle, she just sat and stared at it.  I had to blow it out for her.


After the blowing out of the candle, Evelyn settled right in to the highchair to eat some cake and ice cream.  This was the first time that she had eaten an entire piece of cake with ice cream all by herself.  Usually we just give her a bite or two off of our plate.



I was expecting her to be a lot messier than she was.  Maybe it's because she's a girl, or maybe it's because she loves to eat and didn't want to waste a single bit of the delicious cake, but other than having messy hands, it all made it into her mouth.

Needless to say, everyone helped to make her first birthday party a wonderful one.  We look forward to as many more years as the Lord chooses to bless us with with this wonderful little girl.

Birthday Fun!

On January 6th, Evelyn turned 1 year old.  We decided to make her day as special as we could even though we know she won't remember it and it was more for our benefit than for hers.

She started the day off with a yummy breakfast followed by the biggest bubble bath of all time.  Kevin put in a ton of bubble bath stuff and then got his drill with the mixer attachment and stirred the whole tub up.  She really enjoyed trying to find her toys under all of the bubbles, and batting at them while watching them slowly disappear.  I think she even tried a handful or two to see what they tasted like.

After her bath, she was ready for a good morning nap.  Once she woke up from her nap, we took her out for lunch.  She got macaroni & cheese, fruit, and lemonade.  Then, because it was her birthday, they brought her a cookie and ice cream with sprinkles.  Normally we try to limit the amount of sugar she consumes, but because it was her birthday, we decided to let her enjoy it.  We did help her a little bit, but she ate the majority of it all.  When we got back home, we decided to just spend the afternoon playing with her and giving her special attention.  We played with puzzles and read books, and did all of the fun things that a 1-year-old loves to do.

Because of all the sugar she had consumed at lunch, she didn't take an afternoon nap until about 4:30pm.  Normally she would have taken a nap around 2:15pm.  That sugar high sure kept her going and going and going.

By the end of the day, I think we were more worn out than she was, but it was well worth the extra energy to see the smiles and giggles coming from our little girl.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!