The Bee, the Beekeepers, and a Baby Birthday Bash

To continue our tradition of family-themed Halloween costumes, we were beekeepers this year to go with Kate's bee costume. Scott made the hats and did all the grunt work, but I was the one who ended up with the cool rubber boots - hardly seems fair.

We've posted plenty of pictures of Kate in her Halloween costume already, but no videos of her telling us what she's supposed to be:



So Kate turned one on Thursday (November 1st). I was kind of excited that we made it through the whole first year without ruining or breaking her. Parenting is so overwhelming that sometimes you just have to revel in the small victories. :)

Warning: If parental gushing makes you nauseous, you may want to skip down to the next paragraph. In one year Kate has gone from being a tiny helpless newborn to a little girl with tons of personality who plays little jokes on us and has the sweetest little speaking voice. People (okay, grandparents) have been asking us lately how many words she can say, so I wrote down as many as I could think of that she says regularly and came up with 18, plus a handful of animal sounds. We will try to document more of her little voice on video. On her birthday I thought a lot about how exactly one year ago Scott and I got to see her sweet face for the first time and spend a couple of hours alone with her in the hospital delivery room right after she was born, and what a touching time that was for us. I feel so blessed to have such a sweet little girl who is so funny and cuddly and thrilled about life. I never imagined I could love a little person this much.

Last night we had a birthday party for Kate, but it was really for us. :) I kind of wanted to invite everyone we know, but alas, we are still bound by the constraints of apartment life. There were 14 adults and several babies present (including us) and we were definitely maxing out our space with that crowd. We ate dinner and birthday cake, and we played some classic children's party games - drop the clothespins in the jar, pin the tail on the donkey, and pinata smashing. We had a great time and hope everyone else did too.

Here is Kate pre-cake...

...and post-cake. She ate the whole piece, and we're pretty sure that what wasn't eaten was absorbed through her skin. She made quite a display of squealing with delight and threw some grunts and snorts in the mix. We should have dressed her as a pig for Halloween. In fact, she even licked the high chair tray when the cake was all gone.

A group shot of most of the guests.

So Scott drilled a hole in the ceiling of our apartment building hallway and installed a hook for the pinata. (Does that make us bad tenants?) Here I am, about to make a fool of myself while Scott jerks the pinata up and down. This pinata was homemade (by Scott, who else?) and reinforced with duct tape, so at the end we had to resort to beating on it sans blindfolds to get it to break open.
*I'm holding the bat that way on purpose, just in case you were questioning me.

Cute donkey, huh? Scott made this poster as well. (It sounds like I didn't do anything, but I was busy wrapping presents and making all the food.)

Our cute little friend Ashley was more excited about Kate's presents than she was. Notice the gently restraining parental hand on her shoulder.

Thanks to all who came, especially those who travelled up from Provo to celebrate with us.