ALEGRIA'S 1ST BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!

Our Little Princess was up bright and early. She must have known it was her party day!

All morning, Alegria kept climbing in and out of the little rocking chair that Nefilinda brought for pictures...she loved it! :)

Our Little Angel!

When we blew up the pool set a few days ago, I noticed that the alligator pool was a little small. So I bought a larger, plain pool so that the kids could all play in it together. Here Cameron is blowing it up prior to the party.

The first to show up were our friends Andrea, Josh, and Little Josh Hawkins. Then Kim and Jace showed up, then Betony and William. Last, but not least, Melissa and Sariah showed up. all three boys (Little Josh, Jace, and William) are younger than Alegria. Sariah is a couple of months older.

We first played "Pin the Bill on the Duck." Each parent stood at the duck poster with their child and tried to help him or her tape the bill to the duck's face. Unfortunately, our duck remained bill-less. It sure was fun to watch, though!

Next we had Baby Races! Two-by-two, the babies raced each other...they stood at one end of the kitchen with Abilehi and when they were let go, the parent on the other side of the kitchen called them over to him or her. All but William walked, though some not as well as others...it was so funny! Alegria won every time...until she went up against Sariah. Then Sariah won.

Then it was time for cake and ice cream! Alegria really liked everyone singing to her, though I don't know if she actually understood that we were singing to HER!

However, she didn't seem to like the cake very much...

...at FIRST!!! Once she got over the slippery, creamy texture of the icing, she seemed to like it just fine!

Once everyone had had cake and ice cream, the kids got in their bathing suits and headed outdoors. The kids had a great time, though I think we parents got the most laughs out of it! Little Josh preferred playing with the water hose than with the other kids in the water, Alegria didn't have a swimming diaper (Oops! The only thing I forgot!) and looked like the Queen Bee with her huge bum/thorax, and Jace had the same problem with his diaper, but his diaper was worse and EXPLODED, leaving poor Jace heavy in the belly!

Here are a couple of videos:

Once everyone was dried up and dressed after swimming, Alegria opened her presents. At the party, she got a singing toy phone from Sariah, a brown outfit and glow-in-the-dark soccer ball from Little Josh, a taggie book and bug cars from William, two outfits and hair barettes from Jace, "Where the Wild Things Are" from Abilehi, and a night gown, bracelets, hair bows, and socks from Mommy and Daddy. She did a great job opening her gift bags with only a little help from Daddy and she loves every one of her gifts! Thank you, everyone!!! :)

After the party, Alegria helped clean up by bringing down the Pin the Bill on the Duck poster:

Say no to crack!

We had dinner later and then Alegria went back to playing on the rocking chair...

Afterwards, Alegria had a bath and got to wear her new night gown! She looks so cute in it! Then, of course, she came out to play in the rocking chair again before going to bed.

Alegria: "Look, Mommy and Daddy...here's the deal...if you let me stay up late and get me my own rocking chair, I PROMISE I won't ask again! PLEASE?!"

(For the professional photos that Fernando took of today's birthday party, please go to www.fernandoweberich.com, click on "clients" and enter "alegria" as the password, exactly as I've typed it (with no quotes and all lowercase). By the way, Alegria's earlier photo shoot pictures are on the same site as above. You can just click on the right arrow until you come to the birthday party pictures, which begin with a picture of Cameron, Alegria, and me in front of the American flag.)

Thanks again, Fernando (and Nefilinda) for driving all the way from College Station to take Alegria's 1st birthday party pictures! :)

And thanks to our wonderful guests who made Alegria's first birthday a truly memorable one!!! :)

It was a GREAT day today! We all had fun celebrating Alegria's 1st birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY (PARTY DAY) ALEGRIA!!!