Penny Pant's First Birthday

This beautiful girl turned 1 this week! I can't believe she's been in our family for a year already, yet I can't imagine her not in our family. She is a child of many highs and lows. When she's sick or teething she will make sure you know it. She will fuss, and shriek (boy can she shriek) and she will make sure you give her lots of attention. But when she is happy, she also makes sure you know it. She gives the sweetest, crooked smiles and the cutest belly laughs. I love her cuddles when she first wakes up from a nap, I love how she'll stick her hand over part of her face to play peek-a-boo with you, I love it when she says "hi" with a cute wave and I love it when she gets all the kids to go "ahhhhhh" with her in the van. She is the perfect addition to our crazy family.

Since Tyler affectionately calls her Penny Pants and the name has stuck Tyler made her a Groovy Pants Cake. It turned out perfectly:

We invited 4 families over to celebrate Penny's special day but apparently sickness is in the air and only 2 of the families could make it- our next door neighbor's family and my friend Tina and her family came. Penny was unsure of the whole cake and singing thing but she didn't cry (not like her brothers have in times past). She did try to touch the candle once and was a little put out that Tyler stopped her. Steven blew out the candle for her.

When it came time to eat the cake she was not too into it.

Tyler tried to get her to lick some frosting off his finger but she knew how unsanitary that was and gave a pretty good pout instead:

I did the proper thing and fed her some with a fork and then she was hooked. It didn't take her long until her face was blue and her fingers too but somehow her shirt remained unscathed. She's a proper lady this one is:

Cake coma:

The kids were pretty big fans of the cake too:

Party friends, Tina & Maizie: 

Our next door neighbor's The Farquharson Family, minus Eva who was off with the boys somewhere:

Penny had no interest in unwrapping her presents so of course her brothers helped her out but she was pretty thrilled by the contents of them. She seemed to especially love the car that her Grandma& Grandpa Brady got her:

Tina and family got Penny a box of tissues (brilliant idea really!) and though she didn't play with it much her birthday night, she had a blast with it the next day:

Lucy, however, does not believe in playing with tissues. She only uses them for their actual purpose, boogers!