Laura's First Birthday

It's about time I posted about Laura's first birthday parties!! Sweet thing -- she caught a virus just days before her birthday and broke out in terrible blisters all around her mouth. Even now she still has a faint red haze. Oh well. Even a funny looking mouth can't hide her joy!!!

I finally got inspired for the cake a week before the event and then managed to order a lamb cake pan from amazon three days before Easter when they had only 3 left. It arrived in time! It took two attempts before I had a cake worth eating and this attempt has the fallen head repositioned to the left of where it should have been sitting!!

Laura was not too excited about cake....which I'm happy about. She does love ice-cream!

And then there were presents to open.

And a shopping cart to push around!!!

Laura is into pushing things now and we are happy at this step towards independent walking.

Michael used Laura's party as an opportunity to hand out gifts from Japan. Laura got a stuffed rabbit.

Cousin John spent the evening pushing the shopping cart around:

And the rest of the kids dressed up in their Japanese party outfits!!

Laura was happy to see Grandpa:

We also celebrated with our Bible study group, which made for even more fun:

Not sure about the cake business:

But she does decide to try and feel it:

And the rest of the kids dove in and ate it.

And more presents from friends:

The lilac bush my Dad gave me when Laura was born was in full bloom for her birthday. The flowers decorated the birthday table.

And I found a spring teacup for Laura to match the fall one I bought for Rachel when she was the same age.

All in all it was a great birthday! A celebration of God's grace to all of us this past year and something to remind us to trust Him for the months ahead.