Happy Birthday my baby girl!! I can’t believe it’s already been one year! We’ve grown so much in this last year. What an experience it’s been! This last year has taught us patience, more love than we could ever imagine, how to laugh and let go, how to keep going even when we’re sleep deprived, how to be creative, and how to count all of our blessings. Here’s to many more wonderful years!
This year for her first birthday, we went to Fargo, ND, for Jeff’s sister’s wedding. Kerry and Mike got married on Claire’s birthday, so it was quite a day for everyone. All of us were in the wedding, so we all got to get all dolled up. Claire will probably think that every birthday is supposed to be a huge celebration like this one (although she obviously didn’t really know it was her birthday). It was great to spend a full weekend with the entire family for the huge celebration. Kerry and Mike looked fabulous, and the wedding was beautiful. I was such a proud momma of my beautiful little flower girl who behaved so well. Her cousin Gavin pulled her down in a wagon, and she waved at everyone like she was Miss America as she went down the aisle. When it came time for the dance, she was all about getting her groove on. She smiled so much and kept trying to catch the lights on the dance floor. So cute! We got some great video and photos. Jeff and I snuck upstairs for our own little private birthday party with just the three of us. Jeff got her a little cake and we sang Happy Birthday. She loved the cake and was thrilled with the candle! We ended up calling it an early night and crashed because we had her actual birthday party the next morning and we wanted to save our energy.
Click the picture above to play the video
Kerry had rented a room for the wedding guests to come down for breakfast rolls, and she offered for us to do our little celebration for Claire there as well. We had a few friends come in town for the celebration- Claire’s godparents – Greg and Andrea Sayre, and other close friends, Scott, Nichoel and Isabella Skramstad. It was great to see them!! We got Claire all dressed up again and she got another birthday cake. Claire had a blast. Then everyone left and we headed back to the room to relax for a little bit. As Jeff and I were hanging out there, we decided to see if Claire could make any first steps. She’s been cruising a lot, so we thought maybe she would kind of be ready. Well guess what?!! She took about 3 steps on her own!!! We were so excited! Jeff took her down to his parents room to show them, but she got a little stage freight. Oh well. She ended up showing them later her first few steps.
All in all it was an incredible weekend. We enjoyed a beautiful wedding, Claire’s birthday, and got to spend some great time with the family.
