Hailey's Birthday Weekend

Our baby girl celebrated her first birthday this weekend! It seems like she has grown up so much over these past few weeks now that she is walking. We had so much fun watching her take it all in this weekend. Thanks to all our family and friends that helped us celebrate!

On Saturday for lunch we grabbed some Subway and then headed with my family to our favorite park by our house. :) Our kids love playing at parks and being around all the other kids. We got an email from one of the missionary wives in Niger this past week and she mentioned a playground in her email. I'm sure it won't be quite as fancy as this one, but our kids will love having a place to play outside while we are in Africa.

(Sorry Stacey, but this was the only pic I had from lunch!)

 Hailey LOVES her swinging time.

After lunch we came back to put the kids down for a nap, and I finished getting our food ready for the party. I made a Santa Fe turkey chili and Minestrone soup which seemed perfect for a Fall birthday party. I had fun decorating our house as well. I LOVE craft projects and enjoyed making Hailey birthday banner and the tissue pom poms. Hailey may have not noticed those things much on her actual birthday, but I think she will when she looks back over her pictures in a few years. (I painted the canvases above Eli's bed, and he asked me about them a few weeks ago when I was getting him dressed on his changing table. I told him that I painted them for him when he was still inside my tummy because I love him very much and because he is very special. Now when I change his pull-up he points to them and says, "Mommy, you did those for me because I'm special." Melts. My. Heart.) Here are some pictures from Miss Hailey's party! We love you Hailey!

Monthly pictures are great! We did these for Eli as well. It is so fun to look at them all together and see how much she has grown over the past year.

Mama Ree Ree and Papa made it to the party!

Time for presents!

Eli had to try out all of Hailey's presents including her new PINK jacket. :)

Gracie opening up her party favor bag.

We have the best moms ever.

Cake time.

My mom brought this cute cake all the way from Rick's Bakery in Arkansas. There was a little shifting in the car but it still looked precious and tasted even better.

Family picture time (thanks Dianna!)

Umm... where's Eli???

 Ahh, there he is. Doesn't he look happy his daddy took his balloon away?

After my family left to go back home we took Marc's parents downstairs to show them the kids' classrooms (remember we live in the same building as the daycare!) and couldn't help getting a quick pic of Hailey, Eli, and Gracie hanging out on the toddler couch.

Then we headed back outside to finish off a great day with some more fun on the playground. Hailey is really good at getting up the steps on playground equipment. I follow behind her but she does not like any help. :)

Thanks everyone for coming to celebrate Hailey's first birthday! We had a great time and hope you did too!!!