Norah's birthday

Norah turned one year old on October 18th and we celebrated with a small family party the weekend before her big day.  I can't believe how big she is getting and that she's already a year old, but I also can't believe she's only been a part of our family for a year. It's hard to remember what life was like without Norah.  She is the sweetest, most cuddly little girl I have ever seen. She hands out hugs and kisses with complete sincerity.  She loves to dance, look at books, and already adores her big sister... following Avery around everywhere saying, "Sis! Sis!". She asks to go to bed when she's tired by going to the bottom of the stairs and pointing up to her room saying "night night!".  She loves to be held and will say, "Up we go!" as she reaches for someone to pick her up.  She has a bit of a temper and if she is corrected or told "no" she will pick up the nearest toy and throw it or find the nearest piece of furniture and hit it with all she's got.  We need to work on that.  Those moments are very rare though, and most of the time she is as happy as can be and just wants to snuggle.  Norah is a joy and a light in our lives and our family just wouldn't right without her in it.  To celebrate her 1st year we had a 1950's soda fountain themed party complete with 50's music playing in the background, poodle skirts, and our very own soda jerk!

Erich is the best husband and dad on earth.  He made the best soda jerk!

Aunt Nikki was a huge help with this party.  She dressed the part, made some of the most incredible party themed desserts you'll ever see (hint: those hamburgers in the photo above aren't made of meat!), and jumped right in to help serve any way she could.  This photo of Erich, Nikki, and the girls in their poodle skirts is one of my favorite from the day.

Opening gifts.  We were bummed that the Upton portion of our family couldn't make it due to illness and the Texas Piland portion of our family couldn't make it due to distance, but we loved having everyone else there to celebrate with us!  Nana, Papa, Aunt Nikki, Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Paul, Aunt Kristen, and cousins Katie, Will, and Sophia were all very generous to take time out of their schedules and travel up to Perrysburg for the day.  We were also thrilled that our friends, The Hafers, were able to come join in the fun!

We have a piano in the living room and Norah loves to stand up on her tippy toes and reach far above her head to bang the keys.  For her birthday we got her a little piano of her own that she can play whenever she wants.  It's the perfect size for her and I love that it's a real piano... no batteries required.  Here she is trying it out for the first time.

I love this photo of Norah and Grandma.  She was in heaven having all of her grandparents there to love her up!

Showing off her poodle skirt with Papa. I made those matching skirts for Avery and Norah in about 20 minutes and for about $2 each with felt, scissors, yarn, and fabric glue.  My kind of project!

Norah getting some cuddle time with Nana

Avery, Grandpa, Uncle Paul, and cousin Katie relaxing in our basement turned "soda shop"

Will got a kick out of having his very own soda jerk hat to wear

Sophia even got in on the action

Aunt Nikki completely outdid herself.  That huge banana split doesn't have a bit of ice cream in it. The entire thing is cake!  We asked for Norah's smash cake to look like a banana split and Nikki knocked it out of the park.  The cake was almost as big as Norah and I think it might have weighed as much as her too! The hamburgers in the background are also made entirely of cake, brownie, frosting, and candy.  They looked so real... and they were delicious!

You can't have hamburgers without french fries!  These "fries" were actually sugar cookie strips sprinkled with sugar (to look like salt). They were so realistic I had to do a double take.

Norah getting a little help from Momma and Daddy blowing out her birthday candle

She dove right in and it didn't take long before this happened...

She loved it!  She was such a mess she had to have two baths just to get the cake off. And the high chair had to get a bath too...

Erich hosed it down and it was as good as new :)

We loved having a day with family and friends to celebrate the joy of having Norah in our lives.  I know she was too little to understand what was going on, but I have to believe she felt the love of every single person in that house (and the ones who couldn't be there in person but were still thinking of her). We have the best support system any family could ever hope for and we know that Avery and Norah will never once have to question that.  Happy Birthday sweet baby Norah!