Planning, cleaning, shopping, cleaning, plans changing, more planning, cleaning, scrambling, shopping, cleaning.
Did I mention cleaning? And plans changing?
We got so much rain the first part of June = the water level of the lake rose too high for the flood gates to keep up = no swim beach = move the party to our house = lots and lots of cleaning.
I can still feel the terrifying shake I had when I first realized that was my best alternative. We could have it out at my parent's shed, but we'd only have campers with air conditioning, and with 95+ degree weather you need either air conditioning or a large nearby water source to cool off in.
And not that my house is a pig sty, but I guess I am just one of those crazy people who has to have a neat, organized, clean house (dusted, vacuumed, floors mopped, windows cleaned, flowers planted) when 5+ people come over. Obviously, since I had a baby and don't have time to clean like that, we just haven't had company in over a year.
Anyway... after changing plans and cleaning non stop for 3 days, we ended up having a wonderful birthday celebration week.
We kicked off her birthday festivities on Thursday, when Riley came to work with me for breakfast bagels and doughnuts!
My coworker and friend, Mike (or we call him Gabby), brought the Panera Bread bagels and Daylight doughnuts. YUM!
He is going to be an excellent Pa-Pa someday and will spoil his little grandbabies rotten!
I *carefully* selected a French Toast bagel that was sugary and cinnamony and just yummy delicious and split it with her.
She LOVED it!
Then on Friday, Grammie came to help me finish cleaning and set up for the party!
I *tried* not to go overboard... it is just her first birthday, and I know she won't remember it. I wanted to do something special for her though. Have family and friends over, etc....
What surprised me, and especially since I didn't notice until after I was all done, was that I had single-handedly selected decorations for a 1st birthday party that I had swore I never would.
It was PINK.
ALL PINK.
Somebody crashed a PINK truck at our house.
And then threw up some more PINK.
But I loved it.
It was exactly what I wanted. Simple. Girly. Riley.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
It’s confirmation that motherhood really does turn us into a person that we might have mocked before we had kids of our own.
Saturday morning, we woke up to a very happy girl! ...and a clean house :)
We ate hamburgers & hotdogs, sang Happy Birthday to lil' miss, ate cupcakes and homemade strawberry icecream. There were a few awkward moments trying to open presents... which, to me anyway, were just hilarious.
Riley needed some help, so Kendyl (Chris & Candace's daughter) was opening presents for her. All of a sudden, Riley didn't want any more help, and let us all know just how she felt with a blood curdling, window breaking, nails-on-the-chalkboard scream. The scream itself was not funny at all. It was her personality that was funny. And it was because I hadn't seen this side of it before.
She is revealing more and more of herself every day. Her quirks and such. She's had a few tantrums so far, and I'm doing my best to teach her how to act and control her emotions...praising the good, scolding her on the bad, getting her to tell/show me what she wants before she has a meltdown.
No, she isn't having a so-called "episode" in this pic, it is merely an accident that as she was moving my camera (on auto) happened to get her in focus while the background was blurred.
Anyway, I guess here's another opportunity to teach lil miss, because she needs to learn the concept of sharing.
We've got a loooong road ahead of us, I can already tell.
Riley got some pretty cool gifts.
Clothes, a RILEY bracelet, RILEY wall letters, a tea set, a hot pink bean bag, buckets & shovels, books & toys, a baby doll stroller, Little Tikes shopping cart, Little Tikes Cozy Coupe, and a Radio Flyer wagon.
All in all, I'd say she did pretty darn good for turning 1. :)
She LOVES her new toys. Especially the wagon and cozy coupe.
The rest of the day, we swam in the kiddie pools with cousins, Kelton, Liberty, & Kinsey.
It was fun.
But HOT.
Thankfully, it was cool in the shade under our tree, the kids joined us and gave Riley a little swing-time...
For Father's Day, Riley gave Daddy a personalized picture frame that says "My Daddy" and some ways to describe him: teaser, hug-giver, teacher, hero, and at the bottom, it says "Love Riley Kate".
I had this picture in it,
But Ryan wanted this one (I didn't know it was his favorie)... so we made a little change.
I'm just glad he has a picture of her for his desk at work :)
A picture of her can make any sour day turn sweet in an instant.
Since it was Father's Day, Ryan left to go farm, and since Aunt Shawnda and cousin Liberty were in town, and also because Grandma Maxie was cooking dinner *YUM!*, we also went to Lamont.
After eating, playing, taking a long nap, and playing some more, we headed back home to get ready for the next week.
But not after playing some more!
Remember that I said she is always revealing more and more of her quirky personality?
Well, for some reason, she really wanted to sit in her bumbo that evening... which is odd, because she would hardly sit in it for more than 10 sec at any given time before. And certainly never showed any interest in it...
But this time, she walked over to it, and was trying to pick it up, so I got it and put it in the middle of the room, put pillows all around, and grabbed her a basket of toys to pull through.
She played there for an hour.
AN HOUR.
I couldn't believe it!!
I still can't!
But it's true!
It's like she was thanking me for understanding her and doing exactly what she wanted.
Which doesn't happen very often either.
She also had fun eating some cottage cheese and practicing with a spoon and bowl.
See? I'm getting better at serving her non-staining foods :)
Of course, she still managed to make a mess.
But had fun doing it.
Happy 1st Birthday Riley-bug.
This was one of my most fun days with you yet. I look forward to next year and all the years to come.
I love you sweet pea.
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