It's her party

And she'll cry if she wants to. I'll get to the story on this picture in a minute.

Sunday was our little monkey's birthday party. It was relatively small - my parents, my brother, and some family friends came over to celebrate. First Elena and Kathryn unwrapped presents. This involved Elena yanking the cards away from Kathryn before she could read them, Kathryn ripping the paper just enough so Elena could finish the job, and playing in the tissue paper that Mama Janie stuffed into her gift (an entire package!).

She got a Popper from Uncle Ronny & Lauren. She spent more time playing with the ribbon than the toy.

Kathryn is showing Elena the gift she got her - a set of Fisher Price Monkeys. The cake for everyone who wasn't having a birthday
Elena's cake - pretty ain't it. It's a small yellow cake covered in Redi-Whip.
The birthday girl and her candle. Kathryn blew out the candle and then the tears began.
We have a couple of theories on this. 1) Sixteen people had just sung at her in sixteen part harmony and were staring at her, clearly expecting something. 2) The day care teacher has told us that she gets stressed when there is too much food on her plate. Once I cut the cake down to size and people backed off and she discovered what was under the whip cream, she dug in, well after she made her offering to the dog (dropping a piece on the floor). And proceeded to be the neatest one year old ever. So disappointing. No two handed smash. No whip cream in the hair. Just a dainty little pincer grip picking up cake and putting it in her mouth. (Sorry to my Mom for catching her putting cake in her mouth) We get more results out of Chef Boyardee.
Kathryn's buddy Natalie joined the party and gave Kat someone to hang out with.

A case of Champagne - almost. Dad, Carl is missing from the shot. Brian is showing Elena how her new magnetic matching barn works. Andrew is torturing my stuffed cheetah.
After the party started to die down, we took the little ones into the back yard to play. We're going to show this picture in their wedding slide show. Andrew is keeper. He refused to go home until he finished "kweening the twile" with the Popper. A boy that vacumns, perfect for my little neatnik. Right, have you seen her eat spaghetti?
My brother the engineer showed Elena how to build a bridge out of Mega Blocks. Elena showed him how to knock it down.
This picture was too cute not to post.

This is the last birthday gift. My friend Neil couldn't make the party, but came over yesterday and brought Neil the Penguin with him. They dress alike, so the name made sense. (Those of you who know him, get the joke) Elena loved this little guy and carried him everywhere yesterday.This was the biggest part of our Labor Day weekend. The rest was shopping, 1 year old portraits, and minor construction. My dad and Rob made plywood covers for all of windows that will install quickly in case of hurricane. Spending that kind of money pretty much guarantees that no hurricane will come near our part of the Gulf before we move. Yup, you have us to thank. But it makes us feel better knowing we could stay put for most storms and not have to take a 20 hour drive to Dallas.