Mommy's Toys

The last few days have been very exciting for Cassandra.  I think next year she will really enjoy Christmas.  This year she enjoyed seeing the lights and playing with the train.  She also had fun with the animated and singing creatures that Mommy (and Grandma Hodges) so love.

Cassandra's First Birthday Party

We started Cassandra's Birthday Party with food.  After all, how can one be expected to open presents if one doesn't have the energy reserves.  The Empress went ahead and had us feed the guests too since they brought her presents.

Afterwords, we moved onto presents.  Cassandra had a fun time opening the presents.  I present the following as a sample of how much fun she had and how entertaining she was.

To me, it looks like she has just sat in her new car and is reading the instruction manual.  After careful reading, she tries out her new car and is excited at how it responds. 

Next, it is time for the traditional first birthday cake massacre.  Mommy has made Cassandra her own cake while the rest of us got something smaller than the size of our heads:  Cupcakes!

And here is Cassandra destroying said cake...

  

  

  

She did eat a little ice cream as well.  She eventually just grabbed the whole scoop from Mommy.  She didn't seem to mind the cold at all, either holding the cold scoop of ice cream or eating it.

Here is a short video.  I can't wait to show this to her date when he comes to pick her up for prom.

And a few final pictures documenting just how messy a 1-year-old can be.  Cassandra is now playing with what is left of the cake. 

Mommy takes it away to prevent the mess from getting any worse and to document how much is left.  (Note:  We did put down a drop cloth under the high chair and the high chair's cover is machine washable.)

And here is the silly monkey showing off afterwords.  She didn't intentionally use the cake as shampoo, it just looks that way.

 We did clean her off without using Grandpa Wendel's suggestion of a garden hose (although it was tempting and the weather was nice out).  However, she still smelled like sugar afterword.  Given my experience working in a donut shop, this really didn't surprise me.  After bidding her guests adieu, she did get a bath and we removed a bit more cake from her left ear and her nose.  Another story for the prom date is about the piece of cake that was going in and out of her nose as she was breathing.  Ah, good times.

Happy Birthday Cassandra

Cassandra is one year old today.  It is hard to believe that she is only one year old at times (like when she is happy) and it is hard to believe she is only a year old at other times (like bedtime, ugh!).  Anyway, here is a happy picture.

Her actual birthday party will be tomorrow due to scheduling issues.  Stay tuned for the cake monster.

More Christmas

It is the day after Christmas and Cassandra slept well after all the excitement of yesterday.  Of course, we will be having more excitement today as we will be seeing the other side of the family.

By now, Cassandra has gotten the hang of things.  Gift bags are really easy for her to open.

That's right, it is a Christmas Chicken.  Jealous?  It dances in a circle to the "Chicken Dance" song.  For those with bad memories, this song was played at our wedding (we aren't the only ones) and therefore my brother thought it would be the perfect present for Cassandra.  All she cares about is that it had a bell on it that jingles when she picks him up.

Here is Cassandra opening another present ... and then trying to show the gift to Daddy.  I've noticed my reaction times have improved by a significant margin since Cassandra was born.

It is LEGO Duplos.  Big surprise the family thinks she would like those, right?

Christmas Night

After a nap and dinner, Cassandra is ready for another round of presents. 

One of the gifts Cassandra received is a chair.  Here she is trying it out.  It took a few times for us to get her to understand that she needs to turn around and sit down.  Her initial attempts involved climbing up onto the seat and then attempting to turn around without falling over.  We won't be leaving her alone with this until we are sure she won't try to climb it again.

Cassandra still doesn't quite understand chairs very well so watching her get out of her seat is as entertaining as watching her get into it.

What's Christmas?

We start out Christmas day by visiting family.  Knowing that she will need a nap, Cassandra visits and exchanges presents with her in-town aunts, uncles, and cousin.  Grandparents will happen after nap time.

Cassandra has not really been around for a present opening.  Therefore, we have to help her.  After opening her locking beads, she relaxes with her new toy.

Cassandra is starting to get the hang of opening presents (once we rip an edge for her to pull on) but is really more interested in the bows.  She started running around the room taking the bows off of everybody's presents.

Here she is trying to gnaw it open because no one has started the opening for her.

Cassandra can't start opening a present without help.  She is really glad there are people around to help her.

Christmas Tree

Here is a picture of Cassandra inspecting the Christmas Tree.  She has done very well with the tree despite her young age.  She occasionally tries to shake the tree to get the bells on it to ring  Also, once in a while she pulls an ornament off of the tree.  Of course, she immediately brings it over to Mommy or Daddy and is smiling the entire time.  She looks so cute doing it but it is becoming a bit tiring.  When we see her doing this, we tell her "No."  She just smiles bigger and does it anyway.