First Birthday Party!!

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Psalm 107:1 (NIV)

This past Saturday I had my first b'day party and I had a blast!! My birthday was on Wednesday, but my folks thought it would be better for everybody if we celebrated on Saturday. I'm not real big on crowds so we limited it to family and the people who keep me when Mommy and Daddy have to get stuff done. We had Meme and Pop, Uncle David and his friend Lauren, the Phillips, and the Corn's over for lunch. Sadly, Grandpa Hal couldn't make it nor could Aunt Twyla and Uncle E. We missed them very much and hope to see them real soon, but I understand sometimes life doesn't let you do all you want to. A little lesson I learned from spending 105 days in the NICU.

The party started with the adults eating chili while I took a nap in preparation for my BIG afternoon. I don't know exactly how long I slept, but when I awoke it was game on. We went to the sun room where there were all these boxes with really colorful stuff on them and fancy bags. I sat in the floor with my folks and one by one someone passed a box or a bag to us. I got a ton of cool stuff!! There were extra toys for my exersaucer, a basketball goal that I can dunk on, clothes, a "Pat the Bunny" book, a Bead Maze, picture books, and lots of other cool baby toys. I can't remember them all right off, but cut me some slack after all I'm only one years old. Almost all my toys were learning toys, that's a big deal to my parents.

However, there were two gifts that were especially nice. One was an old toy of my Dad's that Meme and Pop reworked. It's a rocking horse from when he was my age. It was broken and stored in their attic, but Pop got it down and they fixed it up as good as new. It's really cool!! The second is a toy box my Pop made for me in his shop. It's so nice and it looks really good in my room. It even has my name carved in the side of it. Mommy says that's a gift I'll want to keep for my whole life. (Both toys are pictured above.)

After presents we went into the kitchen where Mommy stripped me down to my diaper so I could really enjoy my cake and ice cream. Mommy baked the cake and one of her friends, Mrs. Branyon, came by to guide her through decorating it. She's an "expert" at decorating cakes and this was my Mommy's first. It's in the shape of a rocking horse. Pretty cool. Believe me it taste's better than it looks. They did a great job! Check out the "First Birthday Party" pictures on the right side bar to see just how much I enjoyed my cake and ice cream. Well, that's pretty much the cliff notes version of my First Birthday Party. It was a blast, but to get a full picture of the day just go to the pictures gallery in the slide show when you have the time.
Later, JSR.

Below is a short video clip of me playing in my new toy box.