PEPS Birthday party

Yesterday, our PEPS group got together for a group birthday party at The Little Gym. Anya, being the oldest (along with Ardashir) got to relive her birthday glory, while the younger ones got to see a taste of what's to come in the next few weeks. It was fun. Unfortunately it took place when Anya normally has her second nap, but she rallied and we only had to leave a little bit early.

babies and balls

Anya completes her first flip on the bar and is quite pleased with herself

Benjamin and one of his countless expressions

Anya is not cooperating on the balance beam.

babies and bubbles

Happy first birthday, little one. The world is a better place for having you in it.

Horoscopes for Wednesday, October 29

If today is your birthday: All the dramas and challenges you are about to encounter will somehow empower you and leave you far more confident about your ability to attain worldly success. You will be more of a force for good in the lives of those you love.

The Party

Sunday, we threw a birthday party for Anya, attempting to keep it as small as possible while still inviting our good friends and family (thanks, Bobby & Amy for coming up!). Afterall, the party was just as much a celebration for us - that we survived the first year of parenthood and managed to keep our daughter alive in the process. Our little house sure gets packed quickly. Fortunately, the weather was unseasonably warm (and beautiful), so we opened the back door and let the kids loose in the back yard.

We must say having 12 kids literally running around the house/yard and screaming, falling, crying, yelling was a lot more fun than we would have thought. We really had a great time (and more importantly, so did Anya). It also nice when your parents point out that you have a lot of good friends. We couldn't agree more.

Everyone was extremely generous despite our request that no one bring gifts. Really that's the surest way to get the best loot. Sort of like when you mark an email as low importance, you KNOW everyone will read that first.

Chris's favorite part was when the dog was running amok in the back yard with all the kids. Poor Laika really gets short shrift these days, it's nice to see so many kids making use of the dog's best qualities: playfulness, gentleness and extreme caution around children. He was very proud.

Despite (or maybe due to) all the chaos, Anya was in her element and had a great time. She played with a few of her friends and toddled around the house, balloon in hand. The older kids helped her open presents, and she seemed to get a kick out of all the paper flying around and the attention paid to her. Our little social butterly, so not like her mom in that regard. As mentioned in the previous post, she was rather indifferent to the cake, which is fine with me. All in all, a good day. Her next birthday will be much, much smaller if we can get away with it, though.

Birthday girl in her throne, with birthday hat and birthday balloon

Riley, Kalea, Molly, and Eloise help Anya open presents

Anya climbs her present for the best leverage in order to open it

with Great-grandma Scheuer

First Birthday Cake

Anya's first cake (minus wearing a birthday hat, since she snapped herself in the face with the elastic and cried a few minutes before this was taken).

She was rather indifferent to the cake and frosting. I think mostly she didn't care for the texture of it all over her hands.

More on the party later...