Happy Birthday, Claire

Claire turned 1 on Friday July 23rd, but we decided to celebrate on Sunday so Jeff's family could be there to celebrate with us.  Since we're in New Jersey temporarily, I've avoided buying some things I don't think are essential to have this summer, namely wrapping paper and tape.  So Claire's presents from us were carefully wrapped in plastic garbage sacks.  Grandma was smart and remembered to bring wrapping paper.

Lily helped Claire open her presents and she enjoyed them all.  She got some new clothes, shoes, PJ's, a hippo shape swirly-thing, and a baby doll.

Seems like our first birthday tradition is to have a slightly ugly 1st birthday cake.  I don't do it on purpose.  We had to borrow cake pans from our neighbors and I didn't pack my cake decorating tips for this summer so our options were limited.  The cake turned out lopsided, but it was DELICIOUS!

We stripped Claire down to her diaper and gave her a big slice of the cake.  She enjoyed it but wasn't as excited about it as we'd hoped.  She seemed surprised that the frosting was sticking to her hands.  I think part of the reason she was slightly subdued was because she was sick - I had to stay home from church with her.  You may notice her runny nose and watery eyes in the picture.

She did get pretty messy in the end.

Dad put her straight into the tub!

Happy Birthday, Claire!