(Hannah with her tree that Josh planted for her last year when I was pregnant.)
What a weekend! Hannah turned one! I felt a mixture of excitement and sentiment as we celebrated her big day. This has definitely been the fastest (and maybe the best) year of my life.
On Saturday, we invited all of our family over for a big birthday bash. We set up tents and tables and chairs in the backyard knowing that there wouldn't be nearly enough room for everyone inside. This worked out perfectly. We could not have asked for better weather, especially for late August. It's possible that Hannah will never have such a cool day again for her birthday! It was high 60s/low 70s all day long. The breeze was nice, and there was no humidity! We thought that people may be inside and out, just in order to stay cool, but it turns out that it was cooler outside than inside!
We had a big cookout with lots of yummy food. My dad volunteered to grill the meat, and my mom did all of the serving so Josh and I could just enjoy Hannah. We really appreciated that.
After dinner, it was time for cake! I made all of the cakes myself, and I was really happy with how they turned out. They were pink and brown ladybugs to match the invitations that I made. Hannah had her own little ladybug. I also made lots of cupcakes to match so everyone could have the kind of cake they like. I'm sure the cake scene was very typical of a first birthday, but it was hilarious nonetheless. A huge semi-circle of people formed around Hannah in anticipation of that first bite. Everyone was snapping pictures like crazy and talking to Hannah. My dad said something like, "How is your first press conference Hannah?" That was the perfect description of the scene. Hannah stuck her hand right in the icing and licked away. I finally broke the cake up a little with a fork, and she put a few hunks in her mouth. It was so much fun to watch her enjoy! Once she had enough (and before she got sick), I took her inside to get cleaned up. What a mess!
Then, Hannah and I dug into the mountain of presents. I was impressed that she sat on my lap to open all of them! She got all kinds of nice things, including a beautiful Amish toy box from Grandpa & Grandma Gurtler, a homemade Cinderalla dress for DisneyWorld (and probably Halloween) from Grandpa & Grandma Sudlow, a ladybug riding toy from Grandpa Downing, a tricycle from Great Aunt Beth and Great Uncle John, a Cinderella doll and baby doll that burps from Great Uncle Art and Great Aunt Linda, and all kinds of clothes, toys, and books from everyone else. She loves all of her presents and we are having fun starting to use them all. She also has some super cute clothes for fall now too!!!
(Hannah took off with her birthday money :)
Josh and I spent the afternoon and evening at home with her. She rode her new ladybug toy outside and we looked at all of her presents. Then, we watched all of the footage that we had taken of Hannah over the last year. This was the first time we had watched any of it. It was amazing to see her before she could hold her head up. We watched the first day she could roll over, crawl, walk, eat from a spoon, etc. We had exactly an hour worth of tape. It was a perfect recap of her first year.
I am so thankful for such a healthy, happy, beautiful baby girl. I cherish every day with her. She brings us so much joy. Happy Birthday Baby Girl. Your dad and I love you sooo much!
This year, Josh and I were co-directors of Vacation Bible School. Josh has already co-directed for five years, and I've always helped of course, but this was our first year directing it ourselves! Everything went really well. I think it gets easier the more times you do it. It's kind of like planning a wedding... so many details, decisions, and things to think about. But, once it's done, you think, "wow, if I did that again, it would be so much easier!" You just know what not to stress about and what to stress about :) The last few years, our church has really been trying to focus on getting beyond the walls of our church and reaching out to our community. A few years ago, we were basically forced to move VBS beyond our walls because our entire building was under renovation. So, we moved VBS to the city park! What a great idea! It really seemed to breathe new life into it and got people excited again. There are pros and cons both ways, but we have continued to do it at the park the past few years. I definitely think that we had families there who would not show up if it was at the church, which makes it worth it to me. That is the point! We served dinner every night. Also, for the first time, we had a live band every night for worship time, which was awesome (except the night it started raining on the sound equipment...). Of course, we had the typical games, crafts, and Bible story time. It really was a great week. We had 200-250 people there every night. I think it was a success. One other new idea we did this year was "VBS Sunday." We invited the kids to come to church on Sunday and sing their VBS songs in "big church." They also recited their memory verse and watched a video of pictures from the week. Then we took them up to our children's worship room and did one more special VBS lesson. We got several visitors from this which was neat to see. The church was packed, and the excitement seemed to be at a new level. As if we weren't crazy enough, we went back to the park on Sunday afternoon and had a big cookout with inflatables for the kids. This was also a huge success. We had a few families in the community show up to this who weren't at VBS, so that was really cool too! I think we really have a good working plan to go on again next year. Praise God for making this a great event!
(Hannah with her tree that Josh planted for her last year when I was pregnant.)
What a weekend! Hannah turned one! I felt a mixture of excitement and sentiment as we celebrated her big day. This has definitely been the fastest (and maybe the best) year of my life.
On Saturday, we invited all of our family over for a big birthday bash. We set up tents and tables and chairs in the backyard knowing that there wouldn't be nearly enough room for everyone inside. This worked out perfectly. We could not have asked for better weather, especially for late August. It's possible that Hannah will never have such a cool day again for her birthday! It was high 60s/low 70s all day long. The breeze was nice, and there was no humidity! We thought that people may be inside and out, just in order to stay cool, but it turns out that it was cooler outside than inside!
We had a big cookout with lots of yummy food. My dad volunteered to grill the meat, and my mom did all of the serving so Josh and I could just enjoy Hannah. We really appreciated that.
After dinner, it was time for cake! I made all of the cakes myself, and I was really happy with how they turned out. They were pink and brown ladybugs to match the invitations that I made. Hannah had her own little ladybug. I also made lots of cupcakes to match so everyone could have the kind of cake they like. I'm sure the cake scene was very typical of a first birthday, but it was hilarious nonetheless. A huge semi-circle of people formed around Hannah in anticipation of that first bite. Everyone was snapping pictures like crazy and talking to Hannah. My dad said something like, "How is your first press conference Hannah?" That was the perfect description of the scene. Hannah stuck her hand right in the icing and licked away. I finally broke the cake up a little with a fork, and she put a few hunks in her mouth. It was so much fun to watch her enjoy! Once she had enough (and before she got sick), I took her inside to get cleaned up. What a mess!
Then, Hannah and I dug into the mountain of presents. I was impressed that she sat on my lap to open all of them! She got all kinds of nice things, including a beautiful Amish toy box from Grandpa & Grandma Gurtler, a homemade Cinderalla dress for DisneyWorld (and probably Halloween) from Grandpa & Grandma Sudlow, a ladybug riding toy from Grandpa Downing, a tricycle from Great Aunt Beth and Great Uncle John, a Cinderella doll and baby doll that burps from Great Uncle Art and Great Aunt Linda, and all kinds of clothes, toys, and books from everyone else. She loves all of her presents and we are having fun starting to use them all. She also has some super cute clothes for fall now too!!!
(Hannah took off with her birthday money :)
Josh and I spent the afternoon and evening at home with her. She rode her new ladybug toy outside and we looked at all of her presents. Then, we watched all of the footage that we had taken of Hannah over the last year. This was the first time we had watched any of it. It was amazing to see her before she could hold her head up. We watched the first day she could roll over, crawl, walk, eat from a spoon, etc. We had exactly an hour worth of tape. It was a perfect recap of her first year.
I am so thankful for such a healthy, happy, beautiful baby girl. I cherish every day with her. She brings us so much joy. Happy Birthday Baby Girl. Your dad and I love you sooo much!
