Update Number One ~ Erin's Birthday

Oh my. It has been awhile since I sat down to write on this little blog. And it's not for lack of something to say... maybe there's so much to say that I didn't know how to decide what to write. It could also be that we haven't had internet access at our house for a few weeks. But thanks to my hunky husband, we now are back online. So, instead of trying to cram everything into one post, I'll just start with this one, and see how far we get.


I guess first things first....our sweet little Erin Grainne turned 1! 

snow! it made the perfect background for her one year pictures.

1 years old...12 whole months. She's in her crib laughing right now, even though it's 1.5 hours after her bedtime. Maybe she's pushing for a later bedtime now that she's such a big girl.


Her birthday was SO.MUCH.FUN. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if friends from Dallas could have been here. It was strange to me to not celebrate her first birthday where she had spent most of her life, but we were completely overwhelmed and blessed by all our Oklahoma family and friends who showed up to celebrate with us. 


Here are some pictures from Erin's big day...

the birthday girl. i asked erin's aunt b to make her a tshirt with a 1 on it, and she surprised us with a matching skirt. erin looked adorable...

family pic to start the day in front of our family birthday bunting banner. i hope to bring it out every year on our birthdays!

a cool pic from the morning. our glass storm door fogs up when it's hot inside and cold outside. the high for that day was 28 degrees. so much for all the kids playing outside. 

we are living in a rental house, and haven't decorated too much since most of our stuff is still packed in boxes. for the party i dug out 3 bulletin boards and filled them with erin's monthly pics, and Bible verses that we have been praying for erin. 

this was one of my favorite things about the day. i'm not much of a party favor person - seems like usually they end up in the trash and since we were on a pretty tight budget, i thought we wouldn't do them. but then...a barnes and noble gift card + a good price online + a good reason = AWESOME party favors. a friend gave erin this Bible, the Jesus Storybook Bible, after she was born, and we have loved reading it with her. every story is written in great kid language, and it explains how the whole Bible points to Jesus. plus, the illustrations are pretty incredible. our prayer for each of these kids, and for erin, is that God's word will be implanted in their hearts at an early age, and that their lives will be different because of it.

our back patio...

my parents came up for the party and were tons of help. i'm so glad they were here...it wouldn't have felt complete without them here. here's my dad trying to figure out a way to hang the pinata.

my sweet mom...she did everything from sweep the floor to cook the chili to keep miss erin smiling the whole time. she even got up with erin the morning after the party so adam and i could sleep in a little.  

erin's cake...you can see her little cupcake to the left. this cake was for the adults...homemade carrot cake. so delicious. however...

...erin wasn't too sure what to think of the whole cake idea.

this was about as messy as she wanted to get.  

memaw and papaw sandwick were lots of help too, and loved having all their kids and grandkids together at one time!

love this pic of erin with her daddy...especially how she's resting her little hand on his chest, and how they are cheek to cheek.

the biggest hit of the party...2 packs of orange and blue balloons. i wish i had a picture of all the kids playing with them...it was hilarious. they took over our whole house so i had to pop them all one day during her nap time. 

it was a little too hectic at the party to get great pictures, so we tried giving her a cupcake again the next day. once again, she was a little more interested in the pinwheel.

overall, it was a wonderful day. we are so thankful for erin, and she is definitely a gift to us. adam did an awesome job sharing with everyone about the Jesus Storybook Bibles, and why it's important for us as parents to teach erin God's word. he explained how we think it's our number one job as parents to love her in a way that will make it easy for her to believe in loving heavenly father. 

Erin's birthday was so much fun - thank you to all our sweet friends and family who celebrated with us! We're so glad you came. I wish I would have got more pictures from the day, especially of all the friends and family who were there. We can't wait until next year!