Aimee Turns One!

Aimee reached a milestone in her life this past Tuesday when she turned the ripe old age of one! I still can't believe it! Her big party was yesterday but I wanted to do something special on her actual birthday (even though as my hubby pointed out several times, she won't remember it) so we went on a little field trip. We first made a stop at the cemetery and put some flowers on Angela's grave. I know this sounds a little morbid but it was a nice day and Aimee really enjoyed pointing out the trees and hearing the birds singing outside. From there we went and visited Ron at his office which was of course, the highlight of the day. We had a great time seeing his co-workers and sitting behing his desk!

"I'm one!"

Yesterday (Saturday) was the big party in honor of her first birthday. We had a great time when family and a few friends from church. Josh, Bethany, Micah and Abbi even drove up from Indiana for the occasion! Micah had a great time playing with all of Aimee's cousins! We had fun watching her discover cake for the first time and it was even funnier once we realized that she actually liked the cake better than the frosting! She eventually tipped the cake upside down and that is when she really started enjoying herself!

The cake!

The "smash" cake!

She wasn't exactly sure what was going on during the singing but she seemed to enjoy it!

All decked out in frosting! Uncle Josh helped by adding some frosting to her face...

She also did enjoy "unwrapping" the presents. She did seem to enjoy pulling at the paper. We also got a kick out the fact that she seemed to enjoying "reading" the cards!

The rest of the pics of her birthday will be posted on Facebook as for some reason it has taken forever to get these pictures uploaded today.

Random thoughts

Well, once again it has been a long time since I have had the will to blog. Right now I don't really have anything profound to say but I felt like I should at least write something! I must admit that after my parents left I felt a little down for a few days. I have never felt that way before but I think that it was different this time because they were actually staying at our house which they never have before! We had such a nice time and I got used to having people around so when it was just Aimee and me again, things felt really quiet. I have started throwing myself into preparations for Aimee's birthday party which will be in a few weeks. I have such a hard time believing that she is going to be one already! I can't help but feel a little sad that my baby is turning one. Ron thinks that I'm crazy but I know that you other moms will understand. It is such a bittersweet feeling as you look forward to all of the fun things that she is going to learn next but at the same time you realize that she isn't a little baby anymore.

In other news, I've been continuing to work on my weight loss and it is coming off slowly but surely. I have lost 10 pounds so far and I'm hoping that the rest will start falling off. This past week I really haven't felt like eating a whole lot of healthy things so it wasn't one of my best weeks but at least I exercised!

I've been working a lot this summer helping to lead worship at church . Our music pastor has had to be out of town several times and so I have been leading worship for the morning and evening services on the Sundays that he is gone. Someone once said to me that what the music pastor does isn't that hard, just picking out some songs but it is really more than that. When I lead the singing I want it to be a meaningful time that draws people close to the Lord and prepares them to listen to the message that the Lord has laid on the pastor's heart that day. All this to say, please remember to pray for those in your churches who lead worship every Sunday. It really is harder than it probably looks!

Brookfield Zoo Trip

Since my parents were in town it has become a tradition to visit the Brookfield Zoo. The funny thing is that if we had gone a day earlier, it would have been exactly a year since we had visited the last time! This was Aimee's first trip to the zoo (outside of my uterus!) so we were excited to see if she would enjoy the animals. We think it was a success and we will probably go back a lot more, especially when she gets just a little bit older and can enjoy it even more!

First time riding in the stroller facing forward like a big girl!

She has started to become a bit of a ham when the camera comes out!

I think that she enjoyed the seals...

We didn't actually see any lions because their habitat was being remodeled, but we did see tigers and bears!

It's a rough life being a gorilla!

While the gorillas were napping inside, Aimee was outside with Daddy, also napping!

Loved the giraffes!

We switched modes of transportation after the giraffes. She loved riding this way. She had a huge smile on her face the whole time!

Family

I got lots of great pictures of Aimee with her cousins and her grandpa so I thought that I would post some. For some reason, I got absolutely no pictures of my mom holding her. I don't know what was up with that!

Aimee and Abbi have matching dresses so we had a photo shoot with the two of them!

It was only slightly difficult to catch them both looking at the same time!

Aimee was really interested in Abbi...

It was a little harder to get Aimee to stay still for the matching rear shots!

My dad with his girls!

The words "I'm not tired" had just left Micah's lips!

America's Most Wanted Grandpa!

I love this picture of Micah in his own little chair...He was very cooperative in posing for Auntie Genie!

And last but not least...

Catching up

Well, it has been a busy few weeks with my parents in town and going down to Indiana to visit Josh and Bethany over the holiday weekend last week! I finally have had the time to download all of the pictures off of my camera and get them sorted out. As I said, we drove down to Indiana on July 3rd and had a very nice weekend with Josh and Bethany and their kids. The highlight of the weekend was my dad dedicating Abigail in the Sunday morning service at the church where Josh is now the pastor! Most of Josh's family was able to be there too which made it even more special. After church we all went over to Josh and Bethany's house and enjoyed a cookout and the beautiful weather. I took a lot of pictures but here are some of the highlights from that weekend.

Abbi's dedication.

Aimee was so tired after church that she fell asleep while I was getting something to wipe her face!

Enjoying the beautiful weather!

Nothing like sitting in the sun with a nice, hot cup of coffee!

Nap time!

I love the ladybug on Abbi's behind!

Crawling and standing and cruising, oh my!

Well, Aimee is officially on the move and will probably be walking before we know it! Now, she has been doing these things for quite a while but for some reason, I haven't felt the need to blog about it until now, probably because I haven't had any pictures to show off. She is also clapping but everytime I have tried to get a picture of that, she stops and comes over to see me. I think that she is starting to figure out what it means when I pull out the camera! So, you will just have to take my word for it that when I say "Yay" and clap, she gets a big smile on her face and claps too. Maybe I can get her to perform when my parents get here in a few days (doubtful, but I can dream)...I think it may be time to take the mobile out of the crib...Trying a sneak attack!

Bonding with Daddy.

I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago and just forgot about posting them until yesterday. These are a few pictures from our Memorial Day picnic at church.

Hanging with Daddy...

Didn't get a long enough nap before the picnic...

Here are some of my new favorite pictures. Ron reading to Aimee!