Harper’s 1st Birthday!

I can not believe my baby is 1! I suppose I can’t even really call her my baby anymore, since the actual baby of the family is nesting in my uterus. Where in the world has this last year gone?!?!

For Harper’s birthday, we decided to go with a pumpkin theme since she loves pumpkins so much and it was fitting for the season {note: easy, inexpensive decorations}. This is the invite I made:

We started off the morning with pumpkin pancakes w/cinnamon syrup and fresh apple juice. It was a big hit!

Harper loves to share her food with us. She’s silly like that!

We blew up 20 balloons and threw them on the living room floor. Harper LOVED playing with them.

She also LOVED playing with her cousin Jaden. She is just so sweet to him…always giving him hugs and kisses. And since he left on Sunday, all I’ve heard this week is….Jaden, Jaden, Jaden….for everything! I think she misses him!

 

It took me about 5 hours to make this cake…but it was so worth it!! It’s pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting and it was so moist and perfectly delicious. Not to mention how darling it looks! {Yes, I’m a little proud of how it turned out}

Yes, Harper just took a bite of a piece of chocolate with tinfoil on it. Anything to keep her still for a picture…

Harper loved having everyone sing to her. I’m not gonna lie, I was getting pretty choked up! Oh and I’m also not going to lie about the fact that this is the most awkward position to have your picture taken. Squats, anyone? {Grandpa & Grandma Musson were on skype watching the whole thing…hence, the computer}

Harper wasn’t overly sure about getting her hands dirty at first. She sort of picked at it…and then tried to shake the icing off her fingers. Eventually she just gave in.

Harper was absolutely spoiled rotten. I really wasn’t expecting many gifts but she definitely has a lot of people who love her. She needed a little help getting at the wrapping paper at first, but eventually figured it out…sorta! {I am OBSESSED with the owl hat Aunt Brooke made…so cute!!!}

I think really she just enjoyed playing in the wrapping paper. Well, or maybe eating it…

And a cute family shot to end the night. Wow, I love my family!!

I would say it was a birthday success for a sweet little girl who deserves it! Harper is such a happy girl who brings so much love and joy to our family. She is always full of hugs and kisses and frequently offers them unexpectedly. She especially loves to give kisses to and rub her new little brother or sister. I couldn’t have dreamt up a more perfect little girl if I had to. We love you Harper girl!!!

Halloween 2011

For Halloween this year we took Harper to the local trunk-or-treat. She wasn’t quite sure what to think at first {I think she was thoroughly confused why everyone was dressed weird and people kept putting something in her pumpkin bucket} but started getting excited after awhile. She loved picking out the candy she wanted and putting it in her lil pumpkin bucket.

After the trunk-or-treat, we stopped at a couple local Halloween favorites {the donut makers} then visited a few people that we knew would love to see Harper all dressed up. We finished the night off with Grandma Bedke. It was a super fun night!

We love our lil Harper bear!

painted pumpkin - and daughter

Instead of carving pumpkins this year, I gave Harper the liberty of painting her very own pumpkin. It took her a second to get the hang of it {since she’s never been around paint before} but once she figured it out, she was loving it! Loving it so much that she decided she wanted to taste it {luckily it was non-toxic!}. She was so proud of her lil pumpkin!