The Best Gifts

Mom, Grandma, and Anita with Mazie, Lucia, and Elliott:
Whenever there is a celebration of any sort, the best gifts are always the people at the party or event. Toys and books and money are wonderful, but they break and wear out and get spent. It is the memories of those who come to offer their love and support that last a lifetime.

We were so thankful to have friends and family help us celebrate one year with LEM. Nana and Papa Glenn were here, of course, along with Nanalin and Grandpa and also Grancy and H's Nannie. But, with orchestration from H and my Aunt Anita, Anita surprised me by bringing my Grandma the five hour drive down for the party. I was so grateful when I saw that old woman in the car and couldn't believe that she traveled down to our neck of the woods. If you know me well at all you know that my Grandma is one of my lights. Anita and I have always been close, and she knew what it would mean to Grandma and me for them to be here. It was great to have them both here. We enjoyed our time together.

Once it was secured that Grandma was coming to visit for the party, H mandated that my sister and niece come as well. They flew back out for the weekend. H arranged to take Dad and Linda and me to the big city to do a few things Friday. The last errand of the day was to drop Linda and me at Target so Linda could pick something up and so that Dad and H could run to a nearby store and pick up a surprise H had ordered for the party. The "store" around the corner turned out to be the airport and the "surprise" my sister and niece. I was waiting to check out with my few items when I turned around and saw my sister. "Hmm, I know her," I thought to myself. "She must be from my hometown." It took about a second for those thoughts to pass through my head and for me to realize, "Yes, you do know her, Dummy. That's your sister and she just flew in from the west coast. And that is your niece in the buggy." I really had no idea and was so shocked at seeing them in Target that I had a pretty minimal reaction. I was just completely dumbfounded. I don't even remember what I said. I think I kept repeating, "You are here? You are here! You are here? You are here!" Our cashier Derricka got to watch the whole thing go down.

Our birthday weekend was most wonderful. The babies had a wonderful time, and H and I also had a wonderful time having those we care for so much around us. The only person missing was Karen's husband Jon. Lucky for him he was off in Colorado reuniting with his high school friends. Thank you again to all of you who made Lucia's and Elliott's and Mazie's first birthday so very memorable.

Here are a few pictures of Avery interacting with H's Nannie. Nannie is sitting next to my Grandma. Grandma turned 90 in March and Nannie will be 90 in January. H and I loved seeing the two of them sitting there together.




Here are picture of Grandma with Lucia, Elliott, and then Mazie. The girls are holding the little Cabbage Patch dolls she gave them for their birthdays.

Party Pictures

Here is an assortment of photos from the big party day. We had a fish fry out in our yard and had a wonderful host of people who love our babies help us celebrate the day.

We hope you enjoy the hodgepodge of images.

Lucia, freshly dressed.
Elliott, ready to party.
Mazie, getting the party started.
The grandpas with Great Nannie.
K and Lu.
Tina and Elliott.
Lucia, getting her fiber.
Elliott, eating an appetizer.
The Grandpas.
Cousin Avery Mae.
Tiffany and Mazie.
Tia Karen getting a cool beverage.
Clay, Kevin, Karen, and Tiffany, eating on the steps.
Nana with Elliott.
Whit and Kristin.
Everyone eating the good fixings.
Everyone still eating.
Beverages and appetizers.

The dessert table. Grandpa and Nanalin with the girls.
Opening gifts: Rockstar pajamas.
The gifts.
We had a wonderful evening. The babies did great and enjoyed all the activity. Many thanks to all of you who helped and came to celebrate. We appreciate you.

Four Cousins

H and I are so happy when the four cousins are together. They are all so beautiful and talented. It is fun to watch them interact and teach each other new skills.

Here are all the photos we got of the four this past weekend. The photos may not show their faces too well, but they show that these four beings are very expressive and mobile.

Cupcakes

The babies' first dessert was a hit. They loved eating their yellow cake with cream cheese frosting birthday cupcakes (yes, it's true: they never ate the previous eleven months' cupcakes). They were very deliberate and intentional in their eating and really enjoyed their time. It took them a good fifteen minutes to finish their cupcakes.

For the party, my sister and I made three different kinds of cupcakes to serve to the guests. We assigned a different flavor to each of the babies and decorated those cupcakes using colored sugar and a stencil.

Lucia's cupcakes were lemon with lemon curd filling and cream cheese frosting.
Elliott's cupcakes were yellow with chocolate frosting.
Mazie's cupcakes were chocolate with cream cheese frosting.

The Three

Lucia

Elliott

Mazie