It's Your Party and She'll Cry If She Wants To

We've learned a lot about you during your first year of life, but one thing we didn't know, was you like to party!  June 14th we celebrated your birthday with all our closest friends and family.  The day started out rather sketchy.  Mom was convinced you'd had an ear infection due to your ear tugging and constant fussiness.  Waking up crying from you resisted nap sure set a bad tone for the festivities occurring downstairs.  But you put your party pants (tutu) on and let the fun begin!  Not only were you the cutest one year old ever, but you were sure the happiest.  I'll be honest, I spent most of the time trying to follow mom around but finding her feet in the crowed posed to be quite an undertaking.    That's because you had so many people come celebrate YOU!  I can relate, I had a memorable birthday party before...once.

You kicked off the party with greeting everyone with your pretty smile.  Your ability to wave sure came in handy and everyone loved it.  Playing with Nora and Colton was quite a fun time for you as well.  Those kids are walking all over the place, and at the time of the party you weren't quite there yet.  So mom enjoyed watching you crawl while the other parents had to chase their kids around.  

Birthday dinner was a delight.  Daddy worked very hard to grill for everyone and you ate like a champ.  Mom made sure to keep room for your homemade, sugar-free banana cake.  Boy did it look yummy!  

Then the real fun began.  Birthday cake time!  This was by far the best part of the party.  Everyone sang happy birthday to you and you even got a candle!  To say you loved that would would an understatement.  You were on cloud nine with all the attention, singing, and clapping.  You even joined in yourself!  You for sure wowed the crowd sister.  

Mom blew out your candle, made you a wish, and you dove in to that cake.  Let's get one thing straight.  Cake should be light, squishy, crumbly yet moist.   What you had was more like a biscuit.  Luckily, you know no different and thought it was the best gnawing ever and ate it up.  And ate and ate.  A mess just like always.

Then came present time.  Man, you sure got some cool stuff.  A fairy tale book made just Charlotte, some cute clothes, dog puzzles, donation to Wayside Waifs (shout out to my former homies!), a wallet because you love mommy's so much, a cool car to push you in, and even a donation to your college!  Talk about being spoiled.  You opened and played with each gift and card, putting your manners to good use.  

As the party neared the end mom started to get sad (me, relieved, that was whole lot of people here).  She got sad because so many people came to celebrate YOU.  Your first year and all the joy it has brought to so many people.  That is quite a special celebration.  We all loved seeing the happiness being with your friends and family brought you and how you can light up a room with your personality.  You my sister, sure are special and I'm so glad I got to celebrate this big day with you.  

Happy birthday Charlotte Ann.

Love,

Nelson