A Better Update

I was determined to get Sylvia's 12 month letter written before I went to bed last night, but that meant I didn't have time to put a *whole lot* of pictures on my computer.

Anyway, here are some great pics of our big girl! It's been a wonderful week around here, I haven't done a LICK of school work (tomorrow's going to stink!), and she's had a ball. I'm exhausted, but I love it.

We took her to the Zoo on Friday and she loved it!  The animals weren't doing much of anything, but she loved being outside and watching all the kids running around.  And there were a LOT of kids running around.

You can't see the gorilla in this picture, but trust me, he's REALLY close.  She squealed and kept looking around for Daddy!

Friday night we went to church for the Fish Fry, then came home to do a little yard walking.  She's just started getting confident enough to walk holding onto our fingers and when she gets going, it's a total walking PARTAY!!!  She giggles with every step.  Adorable.

On Saturday, we had her birthday party, and I'm still thanking my lucky stars that the morning storms were swift and over with by the time everyone showed up!  It turned out to be a lovely day and she had a wonderful time.  Here's my table.  I'm kind of in love with it:

 Here's a close up of the cupcakes and cake pops, which I made to look like flowers and chicks.  I wussed out and got her a mini-cake from Kroger to dive into, because I wanted her to dig into some chocolate and I made the cupcakes with yellow cake.  Oops.

When people started arriving, she started getting VERY clingy.  She wouldn't even go to Sylvain.  She wanted Mama and no one else, until....

Gran and Grammy showed up!

It was the cutest thing!  She wouldn't go to anyone, but as soon as Sally walked in the door, Sylvia practically leaped into her arms, and might as well have shouted "Get me away from these crazy people, Gran!"  She did the same thing with my mom!  They were the only two other people who could touch her for the first two hours. 

Then, there were the presents.

Tons and tons of presents!  Lots of stuffed animals, books, toys...everything a one-year-old could possible need, including:

A cup with a straw which she still hasn't put down, and this adorable quilt that my mom MADE for her!  It has kitties on it!  She's been playing on it all day today.  She absolutely loves it.  Thanks Grammy!

All that present opening was pretty intense, so we went outside for a relaxing wagon ride with Cousin Charlie.  They had a ball!

After the wagon, it was CAAAAAAKE TIIIIIMMMMEEE!!!!!  It took her a while to get going, but once she realized everyone was watching her and expecting her to smear it all over the place, she had no problem obliging.

Then she rounded out her day with a good gallop in Uncle Jordan's lap.  A great place for the party to end!

I had never seen this child so tired as I did last night.  She slept late this morning and played with her new toys all day long.  At some point I'll have to go through and separate them out so we can keep a reserve stash in the basement.  Then in a couple of months I can pull them out and she'll be all "Hey!  Look at these awesome new toys!  Now I don't have to empty Mommy's cabinets to find something to do!"

Seriously, though.  We are so blessed to have so many family and friends who would come from far, far away to celebrate this dear little Nugget of ours.  A big, fat, sloppy kiss to all who managed to make it.