Happy 1st Birthday, Alice!!!

Alice celebrated her first birthday this past weekend.  It was a great time - many thanks to all who came out to enjoy the beautiful day down on the Cape with us!  Here are some fun photos from the great day:

This is the party tent:

Here is Alice at the playground near the party tent:

 

Grammie Baptiste did a great job making Alice's beautiful dress for the big day:

Many thanks to Brittany, Leah and Korynne for creating such a beautiful cake for Alice's special day!  Contact Brittany at Stiletto Sweets at axolilb@yahoo.com to order a cake for your own special celebration - we highly recommend her! :)

Great-Gram, Alice and Grammie!:

 

Alice's pretty party dress from Auntie Bethany!:

 

Auntie Bethany flew in all the way from California for Alice's birthday:

 

Weee!!  Daddy!!

 

Grammie and Alice enjoyed reading a fun book at Uncle Dan and Auntie Chris's house:

 

Here is a link to the rest of the photos from the fun birthday weekend.  Thanks so much to everyone who made it so special!

New Videos!

Here is a video a lot of folks have been waiting for... Alice's first steps!!!

Unfortunately, we will probably need to try to capture this moment again... but it was a good first effort!  She is getting stronger and more balanced every day, but she only tolerates walking between us for a little while.

She is becoming quite the conversationalist though.  Here she is discussing her most favorite topic: her ball.

Alice visits NDSU

Anyone who regularly reads this blog will notice that Daddy has an NDSU sweatshirt on in nearly every photo.  This is partially because he only has a couple of sweatshirts, but mostly because he has a lot of pride in his undergraduate college - North Dakota State University.  While in Fargo, we could not pass up the opportunity to all put on our NDSU sweatshirts and head over to campus.  Mommy had never been there, and Alice loved seeing the place where the NDSU sweatshirt (her favorite!) came from!

Uncle Eric, also an NDSU alum, got in on the fun as well:

Here is a link to the rest of the photos we took as we explored Daddy's old stomping ground!

Alice the Fish!!

You might remember that Alice first swam in a pool in Florida a couple of months ago.  She had a chance to go again during our trip to Fargo and she LOVED it!!  We are going to have to make sure we find as many opportunities as possible for her to go swimming this summer, since we know she will have so much fun every time.

Here are Alice and Miranda getting ready for the pool and having fun at the mirror:

At first, she enjoyed sitting and watching the bigger kids play in the pool, but it didn't take long before she felt adventurous herself:

Alice and Mommy made their way into the water and Alice was all smiles!:

Alice was eager to "swim" - she seems to have a natural doggy paddle style!:

Miranda and Alice and their mommies had a great time together at the pool!:

There were a lot of water fountains and spouts in the water and Alice was eager to check them out - they inspired lots of giggles!:

Alice was not afraid to stick her hands and face in the water.  Each time she got her face wet, it shocked her, but hardly gave her pause:

Alice enjoyed the water slide most of all.  Over and over, Mommy sat Alice 3 feet or so up on the slide and pulled her down into the water.  So much fun!

Alice enjoyed riding around in her friend Henry's floating toy horse.  Her friend, Aleah, loved watching her enjoy the water:

There were so many kids, family and friends, around during the week.  Alice has never been around so many kids at one time, so that was a wonderful experience for her!  Here are a bunch of the kids, starting to get tired!

At the end of the day, Alice was all tuckered out.  She slept well that night!:

Here is a link to the rest of the photos of Alice's swimming pool adventures!

Alice's First Birthday - Round 1

Alice turns 1 year old on May 15. Can you believe it? This year has flown by! It was so nice that our vacation fell so close to her birthday, so she was able to have a birthday party in Fargo with her midwestern family and friends. Many thanks to all for the wonderful and generous gifts! She has been having so much fun playing with her new toys and she is beginning to conquer her gigantic mountain of new clothes! :)

We are planning a Massachusetts birthday party for her on Saturday, May 15 from Noon to 4:00pm in Bourne, Massachusetts on Cape Cod.  If you will be in the area, let us know and we will send you the details.  It will be a fun day filled with food, lawn games, relaxing by the canal, playing in the playground, and marveling about the fact that Alice is already a year old!  We would love to see you there - just let us know if you will be around!

In the meantime, here is a link to some photos from round 1 of Alice's birthday celebration!

Alice Visits Her Family in Fargo!

 Alice just returned from a very exciting trip to Fargo, North Dakota.  Mommy was speaking at a conference, so Alice and Daddy came along to keep her company and to visit with Daddy's whole family.  We stayed at Uncle Eric's new gigantic mansion!  It was so much fun and such a wonderful visit!

Here is Alice with Auntie Vicky:

Here she is reading a book with Grandma, Papa and her cousin, Miranda:

Alice loved the highchair that Grandma brought along for her to use all week... in fact, she loved every part of the vacation!  Every time she woke up, she was laughing and clapping!

Miranda taught Alice a new game, Ring Around the Rosie... so much fun!:

An especially special part of the trip for Alice was meeting her Great Grandpa and Great Grandma for the first time ever!:

Alice and Miranda had lots of fun spending time together, and it was especially fun to have a bathtime friend!:

Here is a great photo of Alice, Miranda and Papa Pete:

There was a special opportunity during the trip to take a "Four Generations" photo:

Great Grandpa was lots of fun to crawl around with on the ground!:

Here is a link to some of the photos from the trip.  We took 1,000 photos during the week, but we pared them down to just the best ones.  Enjoy!