These are a few of my favorite things....

What a fun and busy week! Clara turned one on Monday, and the week's activities sort of revolved around that milestone. Late last week we received a box from my Grandma Marlis. Let me preface the contents of the box by saying that the things I have from my childhood that I love the most came from my Grandma. She always made blankets for each of her grandkids, quilts, crocheted afghans, you name it, she can make it. One of my favorite blankets is a raggedy Anne and Andy one given to me in childhood. To this day when my friends come over to watch movies and hang out, it's the blanket they all want to use. It's super soft from being washed so many times, and just the right size to cover you from head to toe. Not being a seamstress, I don't know what I'll do when the blanket inevitably gets it's first hole, never mind the fact that 30 year old fabric won't be easy to come by, but I won't worry about that until I have to.

Anyways, when I saw the box, I was so excited, since I knew what would be inside. And yes, you guessed it, it was Clara's afghan from my Grandma. She also sent some crocheted bibs for Clara as well. I love those bibs. I still have the one she sent for Olivia. I've never used it since it's so pretty and I don't want to get it dirty or messed up, even though I know I should.

Clara's very first birthday card!

Olivia loving her dolly that Great Grandma Sent!

The box also had Clara's first ever birthday card inside.  Clara of course immediately tried to eat the card, but I think deep down she was pretty excited to get it!

On Sunday, we let Clara open her gifts from us.  Even though her actual birthday wasn't until the next day, she gets grumpy and ready for bed by about 6, and Mike gets home at 5:45.  Not much time for birthday fun, and we wanted her to enjoy her gifts a little.  We only got her a few things, since she's one and frankly, she would probably like to play with the paper as much as the actual gifts. She opened the gifts, or really Olivia did, but she pretty much ignored everything.  She was more interested in the train table then her new presents.  Later in the week she did start playing with them more, maybe she was overwhelmed from all the attention.

Yes, that is Christmas paper.  I have firm beliefs about buying special paper for birthdays!

A few pics of Clara on her actual birthday.  Birthday tutu #1, courtesy of Jama!  Thanks Jama :)

On Saturday, we planned to have her Auntie Rachel visit, as well as a few adult friends for some cake.  I didn't plan to do a big party, since again, she's one, and she really doesn't care.  In fact, I figured it would be more overwhelming than anything. But the cake I did want to do, I was so excited about it.  Olivia and I had looked at lots of different cakes, and I let her pick the one we would make.  She changed her mind several times, but finally we had it narrowed down to the owl cake.  

I had everything planned out.  Wednesday, I'd make a list of everything we needed, Thursday, when O was off of school, we'd hit the grocery store, and Friday would be cake making day.  Which left Saturday for relaxing and hitting a friend's birthday party.  Of course, you know what they say about the best laid plans.  Yep, a migraine laid a big ol' egg on those plans.  We ended up with a lot of last minute scrambling, sent daddy to multiple stores to find the "right" ingredients, the man has the patience of a saint.  Has to being married to yours truly.  Auntie Rachel ended up not making it due to illness, and even with all those problems, we still had a great time.  The cake turned out just fine, and Clara LOVED her piece. So all in all a successful week.

What we started with

The finished product!

Silly Uncle Adam