Birthday week!

The week of Olivia's 1st birthday was very busy. We did official birthday pictures at JC Penney, had a lunch date, went to a couple parks, and were just busy in general. This being said, I didn't get a single picture of any of that. I did get some pictures of Olivia adventures and new experiences.

The first is her first spaghetti! Making this meal reminded me of a childhood story. Growing up, we all learned that when we were eating spaghetti, to minimize mess we would take our shirts off and eat topless :). I'm sure this ended by the age of 8 or 9, but it was an automatic response to coming to the table. My mom learned why this may not be a good thing to teach when we had houseguests over who were very concerned as to why 3 little girls, age 2,4, and 6, all took off their shirts as we came to the table for dinner :).

Alex and I decided a bib would probably do the trick, and gave Olivia a serving of spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread. She loved it!

She couldn't get enough of that yummy out-of-a-can sauce, and licked her plate for the first time :)

This is a habit of O's. She wipes her hands on her hair...YUCK!! It happens almost every meal, and the ponytail usually gets the worst of it. I have learned that hair bows come out before the meal :). I think it may just be a trick because she loves bathtime, and nasty hair ensures a bath that night.

The next morning I let Olivia play in my room while I got dressed, and I came out of the closet to this :). Chapter 12 is further than I got in that classic novel, good job O!

And last but not least, Thursday afternoon I started the first birthday cake that I have ever made. This of course meant that O got her first beater :)

Look at that tongue action...

And the chocolate drool :). She was actually less messy than I thought she would be, because she licked her hands and tried her best to get all the chocolate that she could. Into the bath we go!

And the cake making...
Please note that I realize this is not very good. I'm not sure I will be attempting a stacked cake for a while, shape cakes are more my thing (hopefully). However, I worked for hours on it, so I thought I would show what came from my efforts.

I decorated O's little cake second, and that made me realize that I should have done it first because I had NO idea what I was getting into with piping. It's for the creative...I don't fall into that category :)