Leah's Birthday

 Oh, what fun it was to celebrate Leah being one!

Her actual birthday was pretty low key.  We started off with the traditional birthday pancakes.

And finished it with an easy dinner at Chick-fil-a.  The grilled chicken there might be Leah's most favorite food.

A few days later all of the family gathered to celebrate our girl.

 It was so fun to plan, prepare and make this party happen.

There were a lot of different thoughts swirling around in my mind: it's our last first birthday party, along with this has been a challenging year and so worth celebrating that we made it to ONE, and this girl is just sweet, so of course celebrating her and the wonderful addition she's been to our family feels special.

 We started off with Leah's cake.

Before the candle was even lit her legs were kicking with excitement.  And once the singing began Leah could hardly contain herself.

 This girl did not hesitate for a second once that cake was within reach.  But she did keep looking over at me, just to check in that this whole cake mess was o.k.

 Before long her feet were a mess too and she was just enjoying all of the sugary goodness on that cake.

 

 

 It wouldn't be Leah if we didn't get some wrinkle nosed, rascally smiles in there too!

 

While I cleaned her up, everyone else ate dinner, and then it was on to opening presents.  

 Between having two brothers and three cousins there we had lots of good helpers to open presents.

Leah likes to be busy and have people around so opening gifts and checking out so many new things seemed to be really fun for her.

The night finished and I just felt so happy.  It was an evening to remember, something that we won't experience again with our own kids.  And I'm o.k. with that.  I am just so thankful that this sweet girl came to our family.  She is such a great reason to celebrate!