one.

well. momma thought if we never posted pictures of my birthday celebration on the blog, we could pretend like it never happened and that i am still a "baby." she eventually gave in, however, because she realized it would be a crime to not share pictures of me in the birthday hat...

...and to not share what a great time we had with our visitors. it sure was fun having relatives from the lehman side here for easter and my birthday and house-welcoming. this picture tells a good story because it shows what i was most interested in - cuddling and snuggling - and what ben was most interested in - sharing anybody's sonic ice that he could get his hands on. we are quite the pair...

and grampee brought me my very own german adidas outfit - thanks grampee!! ben still loves his and where's them all the time, and now i can too. :) here are too many pictures of me just playing in the dirt...

clearly i am still underfed and try to get additional nourishment when i can...

we also got to dye eggs for easter - so fun! actually ben had more fun doing this, but it was neat to watch...

and one of the neatest things was that everyone painted a birdhouse for us while they were here! they sat at our kitchen table and painted during naps and bedtimes (ours, not theirs!) and then left them for us as gifts. we were so excited about this and really love them all. i realize now that this picture doesn't do the finished pieces justice, so i'll have mom get a better shot of them and post an update another time...

so back to my birthday! yes, it happened. i am now one whole year old. momma said she will continue to call me a "baby" until i start walking, and that hasn't happened yet! so she is holding on to my youth a little bit longer. beamee and i think she is so silly...

i did enjoy celebrating on my special day with my special visitors, and i actually loved wearing the birthday hat! i never keep hats on, otherwise, so momma was happy about this...

obligatory shot of me trying to get momma while she's taking pictures... i sure do love her and can't get enough of her holding me... :)

grampee getting busted sharing some bagel with me... (while ben's belly makes an appearance in the background!)

i also learned to climb stairs all by myself! gabrielle helped me climb our indoor stairs all on my own, and then i did it with our little stairs outside - so cool!

and i got some really neat gifts too - thank you everyone! here i am wondering why this box is empty and hoping there's something better in the gift bag next to me...

me saying "roar" to a little lion friend...

and we all got to eat cupcakes for dessert - yum!!!

no picture of me shoving the cupcake in my mouth - sorry! but here is a very civilized shot of grampee feeding me a tiny spoonful of homemade strawberry ice cream! not nearly as exciting, but we started the dessert portion of our celebration way too late in the evening, so i didn't get to down a whole cupcake minutes before (an already late) bedtime...

and a nonsequitor to a shot of me downing my milk, which i love. the one thing momma loves about first birthdays is getting rid of all bottles, which we did actually a few days before my big day! and now i am downing milk like a champ (which is to say, like my brother!)...

and that is all for now. we still have more pictures from the visit, so you will have to check back again soon! bye!!