Our days change daily as Emily grows and develops. Today is just a reminder of that fact. Three wonderful years ago we welcomed our little bundle into this world and today we enjoy watching her engage the world with her opinion and observations.

We had a fairly quiet day and didn’t get to go out to anything special during the day because of a cold Julia is struggling with. Emily enjoyed a movie and helped make her birthday cupcakes. After helping with the cupcake she preceded to make cupcakes in her play kitchen with interesting ingredients like mustard. For her birthday cupcakes she picked chocolate cupcakes in flower liners. We had to test them to be sure they were OK and enjoy a snack.

For her party we met Grammy and Granddaddy for dinner at a local ‘cowboy’ restaurant. Emily dressed the part with her cowgirl boots. They put us at a special table with an over-sized special chair that Emily got to sit in. She was big stuff in that chair! She enjoyed opening her gifts (all by herself), eating peanuts, snacking at dinner, and eating her cupcake. It was a good day. Tomorrow will be a fun day filled with playing with all of her new toys.

An assortment of photos from Julia’s one year photos. She was great for the photos and we had a good time together. As much as I tried to get a photo of her with her teddy bear, it just didn’t work. She enjoyed playing with the balloons and smiling at Mommy.

Julia has had a lot of sweets over the last week. Here is the remaining plate after we all shared her slice of chocolate birthday cake. I know, I let her have some chocolate cake. I relaxed my standards for one day – her birthday. She really liked it and even tried to eat the plate when her share was gone. My standards were slack for Emily too and she got her share too. We will see if all the cupcakes and cake bites add up to a significant weight gain for her at her one-year checkup. I’m not too hopeful given that she has also picked up her general activity too.

What can be cooler than the bag being bigger than you! That sure is a cool thing about turning one. I loved the fact that she could pull the paper out of the bag and find the goodies in the bottom by herself.

Julia has been a lucky girl and has been celebrating her birthday for a week now. I think she has really enjoyed all the attention and yummy snacks. Her first birthday party was in Florida a couple days early. On her actual birthday we had a family dinner out, and the weekend after her birthday we visited a corn maze and pumpkin patch. Each time we celebrated we had either cake or cupcakes. Emily now thinks that we have cupcakes with every meal.

Julia is pretty good at eating cupcakes herself. She starts with playing with the icing and then licking her fingers. Then she picks up the cupcake and puts it into her face and starts chowing down. When the big pieces on the high chair tray are gone, she starts looking for the pieces that have fallen onto the bib, lap, or chair. One time I saw her trying to lick crumbs from her bib straight into her mouth. Too much fun to watch! She has eaten 5 cupcakes and several fork fulls of cake over our three celebrations.

This has been a fast year! Julia has grown so fast and it has been a joy to have her in our lives. Words just do not seem adequate to express my joy, gratitude, and love for her. What a great gift she has been for us. Happy Birthday, Julia! We praise God for the blessing she will be to many during her life.