Best Birthday Ever!!

Man, oh man, did we ever have a good first birthday party!!

Claire (aka Thing 1) and Abby (aka Thing 2) celebrated in style with a pizza party at Davanni's. We started the festivities by playing with all our family and friends that came to help us celebrate, including Cousins Lily (below left) and Alex (below middle) and future boyfriend, Zach Shipman (below right).


We also got to eat lots of delicious Davanni's pizza (the first of many exciting foods we ate that day). Claire, below, thought it was finger-lickin' good. (Oh wait, that's something else...)







Claire and Abby got SOOOO many wonderful gifts!! They got some very adorable clothes, wonderful books (which they can't seem to get enough of), a rug for their room, abaci (thank you math teacher, Uncle Greg!), Big Bird and Snuffalufagus stuffed animals, Little People Ride-on Princess Cars, new shoes, personalized piggy banks, diapers (yippee!), and these incredible benches (see below) that my sister and her husband MADE! Can you believe it?!?!









Then it was time for cake! I got a tip early on that Byerly's does free smash cakes for a baby's first birthday. You never know what you'll get when something's free, but these were adorable and HUGE, I thought, for being smash cakes!
The girls jumped right in, proving once and for all that they are in fact my daughters by devouring their cakes. They were in sugar heaven! Abby tried to shove huge handfuls of cake into her mouth all at once...

... While Claire smiled, clapped, and flung cake everywhere. It was hilarious!

It was a GREAT first birthday! Abby (left), Claire (right), Ryan and I thank all our family and friends who helped us celebrate and sent us birthday wishes. You made our day!!

Owies

Well, we've had our first injury. About 7 p.m. last Sunday night, Abby was standing in the kitchen, opening a cupboard door, when she somehow fell and smacked her eye on something. Ryan and I didn't think much of this as the girls have been falling a lot lately (I think they inherited my klutzy genes). Ryan picked Abby up and I suddenly noticed a gash by her eye!
Of course, I stated freaking out and wondering if we should truck on over to the ER. Instead we put some ice on it (note to self: Abby does NOT like cold towels being held on her face) and tried to calm our little girl down. The cut wasn't bleeding much, and eventually Abby calmed down and fell asleep. She did end up with a puffy eye and a nice-looking scratch (see above), but overall, she was completely fine. Of course, not to be outdone, the very next night, Claire fell and gave herself a bloody lip. Yep, they definitely got my klutzy genes!

The scene of the near-fatal accident:
Claire, pre bloody-lip, wonders what all the fuss is about:

It's a little late, but...

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!