Ross Family Blog: July 2011

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Kendall's Pink Lemonade

During the early days with Kendall, and those long feeding sessions, I became hooked on crafting blogs! I came across the best idea for Kendall's party on Tip Junkie and have been planning it in my mind for months, it's perfectly girly and summery all in one! So, last weekend Kendall turned ONE, and we threw her a Pink Lemonade Party! Not only is it a classic summer drink, it also happens to be one of her Daddy's favorites...so what about the pink part? Well, Kendall made me eat strawberries every day throughout the pregnancy! So it just made sense! We think she had a blast spending the day with her favorite people, her family and friends, and oh boy, she is one loved little girl! Not only is she blessed to have all of you wonderful people in her life, but so are we. It's hard to imagine parenthood without all the support and love we've received along the way so far. We are truly grateful to have all these amazing people helping us love and raise our sweet little Kendall. THANK YOU EVERYONE! So here are the pictures of the big event!

Kendall and I had a little photo shoot a few weeks ahead of time to create a fun invitation.

Here is the birthday girl modeling her birthday outfit.

A special 1st birthday bow made by Mommy :)

Welcome to the Pink Lemonade Party!

The food table (part way through the party---that is why you don't see any food! A special thanks to Bernie and Keith for helping me cut and kabob the pink and yellow fruit). The banner read: Happy Birthday Kendall!

Kendall's applesauce cake, specially frosted and sprinkled by Auntie Riss.

A few of the details: Gerber daisies, strawberry lemonade cupcakes (thanks to Aunt Kelli for loaning me her cake tower), and Kendall's 1 year picture (thanks Eric Strate Photography!)

Lemon drops, pink salt water taffy, starburst, and specially made pink lemonade lolly pops made by Kendall's Mimi.

Cute pic of K & Daddy, and notice on the right you can kind of see the Lemonade drink station...forgot to get a pic. And the bubbles underneath the drink station were the party favors.

Kendall from birth to now in pictures, plus her "coming home" outfit. This really shows how much Kendall has grown this year!

Pompoms and balloons (al a Martha Stewart!)

Daddy

Mommy

(and an "intense" Kendall)

I love these pictures because it shows how much she loves her cards...she's been playing with them, nibbling on them, sorting them, and "reading" them all week!

A dainty little bite to start out...

She's great at sharing

A family pic

Eventually she started to dig in a little, but she actually doesn't really like to get super messy when she eats (she takes after her dad I think).

The cousins

Aunt Kelli

Mimi

Auntie Riss

(Kendall was singing "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to....")

It was such a fun day! I loved working on every little detail, and I would do it all again in a heartbeat. In fact, I'm tempted to start planning next years party already...I love to craft! Thanks again to everyone who came to celebrate on this special day, but more importantly in this journey that we've been on for Kendall's first year in our lives. We seriously feel so blessed!

Happy birthday Kendall! We love you so much!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Sweet, Silly, & Social: Our ONE year old!

One year old dolly picture

Kendall's very first dolly picture at the hospital!

On July 15th, 2010 I decided I should buy a parenting book...I thought I had a little over a week to read up. Little did I know that the very next day we would actually BE parents! That day literally feels like YESTERDAY. Keith and I are in SHOCK by just how fast a year has gone by. But wow, it has been seriously AMAZING! The past couple days we've had a great time "reliving" all the special moments and surprises leading up to Kendall's birth. Those memories are all still so fresh, and I hope they always feel that way. We are truly blessed by Kendall; every single day she brings us so much joy and laughter. As I've documented our feelings and milestones over the past year I know I've said over and over that each new stage has been our favorite, and as we enter the toddler world the feeling is the same. We are LOVING every minute of Kendall these days. It seems like she is absorbing so much lately, every day she has a new trick or understands something new that we say or do. It feels like she has recently turned that corner from baby to toddler. Even though her size sometimes is deceiving (she's about 17lbs and on her birthday a lady at the grocery store asked me if I was sure she was old enough to be sitting in the front part of the cart!). Here is some of the latest with Kendall...
*We think she has quite the sense of humor for a one year old. Actually, she is a riot! She knows how to ham it up and loves an audience. Her crowd favorite right now is the "intense" face with clenched fists---the more laughter she gets the more she does it! We hope she doesn't pop a blood vessel or something!
*Her all time favorite food is avocados! She screams and pounds on her high chair if she sees me with one and can literally eat an entire avocado in one sitting (too bad they are stinkin' expensive right now)! Generally she'll eat anything we give her, and so far she has no allergies. We've also made the switch from formula to whole milk and she has done pretty well, although we still need to get her to take it cold from a sippy cup.
*She is a little love bug! She has always been cuddly, but recently she learned what it means to hug and she will hug us as well as all her favorite toys. On her birthday she was hugging all her new dolls that were still in the packages! If you ask for a kiss you will probably get a slobbery, open mouth, bitting style of kiss. And she can give hi-5's and blows kisses, too.
*Kendall knows how to bust a move! She has the cutest little booty shake and anytime there is any sort of a beat she is groovin'!
*Anything can be a toy for Kendall. She likes to pull all the kleenex out of the box and rip it into tiny pieces. And she also loves to put things inside of containers or take things out. Her other favorite activities include playing with her kitty cats (she has 3 now!), and "reading" all her books. This is how we usually find her when she wakes up, reading to her kitties and binkies (she is still a great sleeper and usually wakes up super happy---unless she is teething (3 teeth in and one is almost through))! She also loves to share the things she is using (including food).
*She is on the move! She hasn't yet taken independent steps, but she is getting really brave with her cruising and loves it when we help her walk. We think she's pretty close to walking alone! She also is very quick going up and down stairs and can safely get herself off of the couches. We think we'll have a climber---but luckily she isn't tall enough to do too much of that yet!
*Our favorite thing that Kendall does is talk...and boy does she love to talk! NON STOP! She sounds like she really has something to say, but still doesn't really have any actual words beyond Mama and Dada and uh-oh. Occasionally we think she is saying Kitty, or bye-bye but it's pretty hit or miss.