Therese Turns One!!!

On Monday Therese turned one year old! We stayed home to celebrate, and began the day by all working together to make her strawberry shortcake for breakfast (and for dessert after dinner).

Happy Birthday little TT Marie :-) She LOVES strawberries.
Therese ate this all up--it was a huge serving! She loves to gesture to things she wants more of, like strawberries, by pointing and saying "Eh! Eh!" this is her universal word for just about anything. "Hi" "Bbbb" (for ball) and "Eh!" for everything else...that's the extent of her vocabulary at age one :-) I keep trying to get her to say "Mama" but alas...

Opening her birthday present after breakfast! (This was incredibly difficult for Greta to watch...in fact, the whole day Greta was rather melancholy...I think she was glad when it was over the next day!)
Rip that paper!
We got her a wooden toy with 4 wooden balls and a mallet--you pound one ball down and another one pops up. It was a hit! Therese loves balls, and when she clinks them together they make quite a satisfying sound :-)

Do you notice how much hair she is getting? And it looks like it'll be wavy!
What a happy babe! She loved being sung "Happy Birthday" to. Her face completely lit up when we lit the candle and sang to her in the morning, and then again after dinner, it was so cute.
A little angel glowing in the sunlight :-)
Photo shoot! Therese loves to sit in these baskets.

She's had her two bottom teeth--as you can see in this photo--since Christmas, and just this week 4 top teeth have started popping out. I can't wait to see how she'll look when they come in fully! It looks like there might be a sizeable gap between the two front teeth!
A few days ago Therese figured out how to crawl up onto Greta's bed all by herself. What an accomplishment! Today the two of them spent about 20 minutes playing on there happily together while I prepped some food in the kitchen.
This past year little Therese has brought so much joy to our lives.

We love you so much baby girl! Happy First Birthday!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Greta!

Today Greta turned 3!
We got her a Calico Critters family of bunnies and a house to go with it. She was really excited about it!
When she opened her card (which said on the front "Birthday Girl") she pretended to read it and said "Dear Greta, your wish come true!"
Special birthday breakfast from the bakery up the street.
Such a sweet big sister!


After I got home from work today Greta wanted me to lay down on her bed with her and then she told me "You should take a picture of that", so I proceeded to take MANY pictures before dinner.
Bouncy Greta! She loves to jump everywhere, she's quite a little gymnast lately.
3 years old! We are even reading her her first "chapter book". My mom got her "Pippi Longstocking" and a few days ago we started it--Greta listens really well and requests it every time we read to her now. Lately she has conveyed some apprehension about growing older--she is really anxious about turning 5 someday and she said really quietly and dramatically the other night "I never want to grow up and marry a man"!

3 should be a fun year :-)

Birthday Party!

Yesterday was the girls' combined birthday party at our house. Greta and I started off the morning making strawberry cake (her request)...unfortunately our cake stuck to the pans. Matthew graciously re-made the cake later on with Greta, and, with proper shortening and flour on the pans (instead of the vegetable oil I had used), they did not stick for him! Greta enjoyed helping with some extra baking, wearing an apron, and licking the beater :-)
At long last the party arrived!!! In the morning one of the first things Greta said was about her party...things seem to take forever to happen when you are a kid! She got through the morning, happily had a quiet play time in her room, and then FINALLY got to get ready for her party! I don't think I've ever seen her get dressed so fast! She got her party clothes down and started putting them on without me even helping her one bit! Soon friends began arriving and she was so happy to greet them at the door. She had been rehearsing things she would say to them for the last few days, "Oh, Liv, do you like my party clothes? I have lip gloss!", or "Benn and Eric, I will share my toys with you!", and I did hear her sing "Happy Birthday to Greta!" to herself a few times as well.
After some playing she really needed some snacks. And having so many yummy treats so easily accessible was quite a novelty!
My mom made all 3 of our outfits...Therese's dress has many happy people on it. The clothes suit Greta and Therese's personalities really well!
The balloons were a big hit!
Some pre-cake snack...Therese's nap was cut short for this party and she was very quiet and observant for awhile. Towards the end of the party she became more vocal, smiley and animated. She especially loved looking up, gesturing towards, and vocalizing at the streamers and balloons!
After some playing and eating we had a mini-dance party in the girls' room.
Watching the dance party.
It was busy in the girls' room! Greta often dances around on her own, so I think it was extra special to have so many friends around with the music playing. Liv is one of Greta's favorite friends, and she is there in the pink dress.
I think Greta is re-applying her "lip gloss" (chapstick!) here!
Therese and Margeaux, born a couple months later--Margeaux is Liv's younger sister. We had mostly friends from our neighborhood over for the party, and one friend from Regent.
Matthew was the photographer, so these are the only pictures of him from the party! Unfortunately we failed to get a family photo :-(
Watching the dance party...
Getting the cake ready...the 1 year old candle is the same candle that was on MY first birthday cake! :-) Thanks for saving it mom!
Happy Birthday dear Greta and Therese!!!
In honor of Greta's love for picnics, we ate cake as a picnic in the dining room. Greta was the first one ready! (by the way, this blanket was knit by Matthew's Grandma Jewel when he was a boy...isn't it pretty?)
The kids were incredibly patient waiting for the cake.
Jonathan, Benn, Eric, Greta, Liv, Alexander, Therese and Jocelyn.
Oh, little birthday babe :-)
One of the gifts Therese got are these little bathtub animals. Once everyone had gotten their balloon and party bag and had gone home, it was so quiet! Both girls spent some time independently playing with some of their new things.
Clap hands! Therese loves to do this! She can be in the middle of something really important, but if someone says something about clapping hands she drops everything to do it!!!
Time for a little post-party reading...
...and a rest--this is classic Therese--she loves to lay her head down on things...it is adorable!!!
The girls had much more energy than I imagined they would, and no meltdowns occurred. Therese had plenty of energy to try out this nice solid wood rocking horse Matthew found at a thrift store right before the party yesterday. We got them presents to open up on their actual birthdays, but he wanted them to have something new from us on their party day too. It is a welcome addition--the girls are into it! Therese tries to get on all by herself, and wants to stand on it too...

The party was exhausting, but it went well and was so much fun! Thank goodness the girls share a birthday month---I think they might grow up having shared parties!