And now for the good stuff

I still can't believe my little princess is one. Where did the year go??! She is going to the doctor tomorrow morning for her one-year check-up so I'll keep you posted on how she's doing. She has a bit of a cold right now so all these pictures feature a red, runny nose. Poor girl.

Anyway, let's start off with another cute shot from breakfast (this was while she was "dancing"):

After her morning nap we decided to open presents. It is the time of day when she is usually the happiest so it just made sense. Here's a picture of her with her sweet haul.

Let the chaos begin!

A little souvenir from Daddy's trip out to San Francisco last week

We should know this by now, but apparently we are incapable of learning from prior mistakes. NEVER open the toy first. Open the clothes first, then the toy. Otherwise the kid will just go ballistic when you try to take the toy away in order to open the next gift. We had to take a ten minute break so Sadie could play with this $1 bowling set from Ethan.

Looking very serious- opening presents is hard work!

More cute clothes from Mom and Dad

Sadie was a little overwhelmed by all the action going on, but had fun ripping the wrapping paper

More cuteness (the dress is pretty cute, too)

I love a good sock in the morning, don't you?

I love how "chill" Sadie looks in this picture

Adorable striped shirt from Aunt Claudia and the cousins! (it arrived this morning, like an hour before we started opening presents- impressive! And thanks for the toy for Ethan- he was SOOOOOO excited!)

Surveying the damage

I only got one shot of the cake with the candle lit before Ethan blew it out. It didn't turn out. Seems to be the way my luck is going today. Whatever. Maimed though it was, Sadie still enjoyed her birthday cake and made a huge mess. She had cake all down her shirt and in her hair. Nice.

We love you, sweetest girl! Hope you had a fun first birthday.

By the way, I forgot to mention that Sadie is officially walking! She walks everywhere now. She is still wobbly and falls down a lot, but it is the cutest little zombie walk you've ever seen. She definitely gets an A for effort!

However big you think you are...

Happy first birthday, sweet baby Sadie!!!!! I can't believe it has been a year. Wow. My kids' birthdays are always bittersweet for me. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am extremely sentimental. I know birthdays are a time to celebrate and look back on a wonderful year of milestones. And I do celebrate. But I also look back and miss the sweet newborn days, the tiny person who slept on my chest so contentedly with milk dribbling down her chin. I know she will never be this small again and I get super emotional about it. I've already cried twice today (one unrelated to Sadie growing up but we'll get to that in a minute). I know, I know- buck up, woman. I'm trying. Anyway, I wanted to share a little slideshow of her throughout the year so you can see how she has grown. I think it is plain to see that she is the cutest girl on the planet. But I think I might be biased.

The day started off nicely. Sadie woke up, I fed her (can you believe I have now officially nursed for a year?!?!!), we went downstairs and I started making Norwegian waffles, Sadie's favorite. While I tinkered around in the kitchen Sadie explored her new favorite playground, my lazy susan.
Then we all had a nice big breakfast of waffles and orange juice. We listened to "Sexy Sadie" while we ate and Sadie danced along. That girl loves a good beat.

Then my mom called to wish Sadie a happy birthday before she had to go to work. She sang the happy birthday song over the phone, and Sadie licked it in approval. After we hung up, I went out to the dining room to clean up the rest of the breakfast dishes and that is when the horror began. But first, a little background (patience, good people).

For the last several months, I have been contemplating what kind of cake to make for Sadie's birthday. In recent years I have really found joy in baking and decorating so I was really excited to try my hand at a fancy birthday cake- and a GIRLY one at that. I love pink and brown together, and a lot of her clothes and bedding are in that color scheme, so I decided to do a polka dot cake in shades of pink and brown. Yesterday I mixed the cake, baked it, cooled it, put on a crumb layer of frosting, all ready to put the fondant on. This was my first attempt at an all-fondant cake so I was a little clumsy and slow but got it done eventually (read: three and a half hours later). I was extremely pleased with how it came out, despite a few beginner's mistakes, but those were easily disguised by the proper camera angle. I decided to take some pictures of it last night once I was finished. Here's what it looked like:

Not perfect, but not terrible for a fondant virgin. I was excited to watch Sadie blow out the candle and dig in to her first taste of birthday cake.

Unfortunately, Ethan somehow had some alone time with the cake this morning. It now looks like this:
Every single one of those little polka dots is gone. Here's where that second crying fit comes in. I actually wept. WEPT. Probably four or more hours of hard work, down the tubes. I have no words. I haven't been that angry in... oh I don't even know. Up to his room he went, though it seems insufficient punishment for his crime. Sigh. I am hoping that one day I will be able to look back at this and laugh heartily. But right now... I am still in the "blinded by rage" category.

More pictures to come, after we open the presents and eat the now mutilated cake. Deep breaths...

Montreal is French for Ghost Town

We just got back from Montreal and Burlington. Probably should have waited until summer to visit but both cities were beautiful. Burlington is home to Phish and Burton snowboards. Montreal - to bugs and butterflies.

Sarah and Ethan in front of Burlington City Hall

Sarah being creeped out by bugs at the Montreal botanical gardens

Ethan and Paul at the Montreal botanical gardens

A butterfly emerging at the Montreal botanical gardens

Montreal's Olympic stadium

Sarah with Montreal in the background

Sarah and Ethan in front of Montreal's city hall

Notre Dame Basilica

Ethan and Sarah at Montmorency Falls

Quebec City Never Sleeps

Actually, the entire city feels dead by 5 PM. Go figure. We spent the day in Quebec, nevertheless loving the vibe despite occasional sleet and rain. Sadie lasted the entire day without a nap and as his souvenir, Ethan chose a tomahawk. Onto Montreal tomorrow.

We're on International Travel

Okay, so we only four hours north of our place in New Hampshire but it certainly feels foreign. We're spending a few days in Quebec City before heading down to Montreal and, with everything in French, we certainly feel like we're overseas.

We're experimenting with "micro-blogging" and are going to try to post pictures real time. Comments will likely come later - after we're done gorging ourselves on crepes.