A Baby Turns One...

February 6, 2011

Happy Birthday

Gracie Lyn

We were delighted to kick off our weekend helping celebrate our sweet Gracie Lyn's first birthday! It was a blessing for Amy & Ryan to travel so many hours just so all of us who live here could be a part of this precious girl's first birthday milestone. Thanks guys for making the trip and letting make this memory with you!

Claudia (and the rest of us too) could not wait to get her hands on Gracie. As always, Gracie was full of smiles for Claudia and Cooper. She was dressed in this cute Minnie outfit and topped off with the cutest set of ears I have ever seen! What a doll she was toddling around all night.

Uncle Chad was also pretty happy to love on her for a while...he has a way with all babies...especially girls! He calls her his pappy sucker and she is content to be with him anytime.

Cooper, who is currently VERY obsessed with coloring, was immediately interested in the coloring sheets and he got to work on a masterpiece...right after he grabbed a pair of Mickey ears. We all LOVED the Mickey/Minnie party and it got us even more excited about an upcoming trip!

As usual, I went a tad overboard with my camera. I can be a little obsessive myself in that area. I knew Ryan and Amy did not have time to get a lot of good shots so I made it my mission to capture the night for them. It was so much fun!

She was adorable going and coming!

Gracie's paternal grandparents bought her this keepsake rocker. I know it will be a treasure to her all her life. I treasure my little rocker so I was tickled for her to have one too! When we got to the party, the Minnie she is holding was sitting in the rocker. Claudia immediately recognized it as the one she had picked out for Gracie last April when the 7 of us spent the day at Magic Kingdom together. Sweet memories!

Her sweet bib made especially for her party...

Gracie and her parents recently spent a day at Downtown Disney. This Minnie was her treat for the day and she provided a great centerpiece for the food display.

Gracie's own little cake...

Cooper finished his artwork and enjoyed playing with Gracie all night.

Yes, it is her party but afterall, she is still just a sweet baby who needs a bottle to keep things going!

Our newest baby friend, Kelsey, was adorable in her Mickey ears!

Their sweet family...

My two are never far from Gracie when she is around!

Three sweet ones for sure...

It was often difficult to get a picture of Gracie Lyn without one of my babies in the picture.

I love this picture because we will always be able to look back and see how her sweet hands looked when she was one...sometimes I hold Claudia or Cooper's hands and try to remember when they were pudgy little baby hands like these.

And the baby teeth...how sweet they are!

Some sights around the party...

She was not sure why everyone was singing...

But like most girls, she didn't waste any time tasting the cake!

Again, Cooper was right there with her...

Sweet as sugar...

This mommy is completely in love with this baby girl, as all mommies should be! I think Amy may have been waiting all her life to have this baby girl and get to be a mommy and what an amazing mommy she is!

I knew Amy and Ryan would make amazing parents. They have always been wonderful with my children. We sure do love this little family so much!

Gracie was sweet opening presents. She was especially fond of her clothes and enjoyed carrying them around...my kind of girl! We gave her a monogrammed silver bracelet because all southern ladies love a pretty monogram!

We had so much fun celebrating our sweet Gracie Lyn's first birthday! We have not gotten to see her as much as our hearts longed to during her first year. We have missed her and wanted so much to be a daily part of her life. What amazes me and is such a blessing is every time we see her, it is just like she knows who we are and that is a gift from God to me. Only God knows how we adore her and how much it would hurt us if she saw us as strangers. When we left, my Claudia wept all the way home. There is no measure to how much we miss our sweet friends!

And now for the BIG news of the week...

Gracie Lyn is going to be...

A BIG SISTER!


We can't wait to meet another sweet baby to love and adore!