Cate is 1! … Almost!

But let’s back up to Friday …

That’s when I started celebrating my birthday, even though it was the day before I actually turned 29. My sweet husband took me (and Cate) to breakfast and then planned lunch at one of my favorite restaurants here with his family. That night he grilled kabobs and then we went to see “Made of Honor.”

We dubbed that my Faux Birthday. I don’t even like the word “faux,” but it seemed to fit and grow on me the more times we said it. And we said it many times!

Anyway, I kicked off my real birthday by going to some yard sales with Peggy, Jaclyn and Angela. We had a beautiful morning and found some bargains, mostly on children’s clothes and books. Then I finished getting ready for Cate’s party before my mom, brother, grandpa, niece, sister and brother-in-law showed up.

But I’ll stop with the story telling and let the pictures (and some narration) tell the story of Cate’s first birthday party!

Like, I said, my family came to party with us. Milla was especially excited to see Cate. Above, Milla is pretending to sleep on Cate’s lap. For those of you with this popular toy house, you’ll understand the sun/moon feature. Well, Milla had the moon showing, so she was pretending it was night. Cate didn’t care much about her game and was more interested in taking the barrette out of her hair!

Cate was excited when even more guests showed up. Here she is with her great-aunt Jennifer and great-grandma.

On to the chaos that was opening presents …

Cate didn’t know what to think. But Milla (she’s 4 1/2) and Tuvia (she’s 3 1/2) were all about helping.

I went the cupcake route so I could have them look like roses. You know, to go with the theme of the day in Kentucky: Derby Day.

Greg is trying to tell her about blowing the candle. It didn’t really work, and I only tried because she’s pretty into blowing right now. She likes to make funny sounds, especially when she’s watching herself in the mirror.

This picture above is her face when a few dozen people are singing “Happy Birthday,” all looking at her. Like the unwrapping of gifts, she wasn’t so sure!

On to her cupcake …

… Keep in mind, she’s never had dessert beyond strawberries, graham crackers and vanilla wafers. As you can see, she was more into the actual cupcake than the mound of icing.

Cate wasn’t alone is shoving the cupcake into her mouth. As you can see below, Ethne (who will be 3 in September) was pretty into it too!

Cate likes to pull up … on anything. Like the door. Or my legs. Her second-cousin Zac played games with her through the door. And I got a big grin (below) when she pulled up on my legs this morning.