Pretty girl 
the day after Anna was born 
Anna's 1st birthday cake
the Mayfield family celebrated with us
not so sure about everyone singing to her
I'm saying, "It's okay, you can touch it."
"Yay, I touched my cake!"
"This feels kind of squishy but it tastes kind of good..."
"Oh yes, yummy indeed!"
sharing her cake with Benjamin
so glad Aunt Katie Beth was here to celebrate with us 
opening gifts is exciting 
but playing with Reagan is way more fun
Catherine kept redirecting her back to her gifts
Caleb, Anna & Keller - all live on the same street and born within a month of one another
such cute little friends
Oh yes, Anna had a wonderful time!What a true delight Anna is to our family. It was so fun celebrating her first year of life... but gracious, where has the year gone? Sometimes I long for a way to just slow things down, keep my children little for longer. And as much as I want them to stay little, I celebrate their growth and new things they learn - what a dilemma. We had a little breakfast for Anna on July 4th and where joined by a few friends and Aunt Katie Beth. I figured birthday cake at 9 am was a little much so I decided on pound cake with fresh whipped cream instead, along with fresh fruit salad and some ham & cheese roll-ups. On the menu to drink was juice, water and coffee. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Anna had her very own little cake which of course had to have icing so I decorated it with here monogram. I iced it with white icing and then used light pink icing for the monogram and little decorations. A few minutes later we realized the pink icing was fading to white... still haven't figured that one out. I've never had that happen before.
After we finished breakfast, we gathered around Anna to sing Happy Birthday. She seemed to be enjoying every minute and then part way through the song, she got this really interesting look on her face like... "why are all these people looking at me and singing to me?" After needing some help with blowing out the candle, it was time for Anna to dig in. She was being encouraged by everyone and finally stuck her little finger into the icing. A bit later, it was evident she liked it and wanted to share some with Benjamin and Catherine. I love watching her interact with her brother and sisters.
When it came to opening her gifts, she was way more interested in playing with Reagan, one of her little friends at her party. Catherine did a great job of redirecting her and finally managed to get her somewhat focused on the matter at hand. The pretty tissue paper stuffing the gift bags is always a big hit at this age, and the gifts she was blessed with were extra special, too. But Anna made it clear that time with friends was the best part of all.
We had a great time celebrating Anna's 1st year of life!
Sweet Anna, Anna Banana, Anna Boo... you precious, precious girl, how thankful I am for you. You are such a blessing to me, Daddy and to your brother and sisters. One thing's for sure, you are not lacking for love. You have the sweetest smile that melts every bit of my heart. And the way you wallow all over me and snuggle into me... I wouldn't trade it for anything (even though you're in my bed because you've woken us up at some point in the night). One of your favorite things to do right now is climb up and down our stairs. I'm still teaching you how to turn yourself around on your belly and go down the stairs feet first, but you've almost got it. The other thing you seem to get so much enjoyment from is waving... to us, to others, whoever will acknowledge you... hello, bye bye... makes no difference to you. You're eating whatever we eat so long as it's safe for you. And you have this terrible little habit of throwing your food and cup on the floor so we're doing some training in that area. You're incredibly aware of your surroundings and have this cute little way of pointing at things. You don't have a vast array of words yet (Mama, Dada, bye bye), but you're starting to try to say more and more it seems. You get quite frustrated when you clearly want something but aren't yet able to tell us so what we often get is screaming... we're working on that, as well. You're crawling really well and really fast and are pulling up on everything and cruising all around. But walking... not yet, but I'm certain it will come soon enough. You still have these wonderfully chunky legs that are beginning to melt away since you're on the move. And you have 8 teeth - 2 on bottom which were your first ones and 6 on top which you cut all at one time (yikes!). You're bottom 1 year molars are on their way in, too.
We are incredibly thankful for you, precious one, and look forward to loving you, providing for you and teaching you about love, life and mostly about how much your Heavenly Father loves you and desires that your heart and life be surrendered to him. HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, ANNA GIRL!
