HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY ANSLEE!!

We did a lot of fun things for Anslee's first birthday. I still can't believe she's one already! She's hit a lot of milestones in the last few months: she claps, waves "bye-bye" (and tries to say it), dances (or bounces) when she hears music, and she's started standing up on her own! It's so fun to see her learn and progress. We've been worried about the walking because she's NEVER liked to stand up, but one day she decided to start standing up, so we were somewhat suprised and relieved. She doesn't move her feet much to walk, so hopefully she'll surprise us again over the next month and start cruising around the furniture. She has been such a good, happy little girl and I'm so proud and lucky to be her mother. My heart just overflows when I think about her or look at her.

So, while my parents and aunt were in town for the walk, we had a little party for her. This was Anslee's first experience with any kind of cake. She looked at it for a minute, I think a little surprised that I would even put something like that in front of her (I can't put anything that I don't want her to touch on her high chair tray), and then grabbed a big handful of cake. She was having a great time until she realized that the cake was sticking to her hands. Then she got a little frustrated and literally started grabbing handfuls of cake and throwing it into the floor! It was really cute, so we couldn't help but laugh, but that seemed to irritate her even more. She then started putting her hands in her hair. She was a mess as you can see from the pictures.

BIRTHDAY TRIP TO THE ZOO
On Anslee's actual birthday, we went to the zoo (or zoom as Noah calls it) with Jaren's parents and brother Taylor. Noah LOVED it, and I think Anslee had fun too. It was a little chilly, so we put this huge t-shirt on Anslee (we don't usually dress her like this). She was super tired by the end of the day (as you can see).







ANSLEE & RYKER'S PARTY
Yesterday, we had a combined first birthday party for Anslee and her 2nd cousin Ryker, who is 12 days younger than her. They were both SOOO cute! Anslee fell asleep in Ryker's crib and I had to wake her up for her birthday cake. She was not only tired, but I think she was also wondering why so many people were staring at her. She didn't really get into this cake (maybe she remembered her last experience), but she did taste some icing, and even had a few bites after we got home. Ryker had fun with his cake, eating it and feeding it to his grandpa. We also had a pinata which is always fun. It was a great party!