Santa's Helper Doing Laps

Apparently putting a Santa's hat on Stella encourages her to do laps around the house:

Christmas Card 2012

This year, Mom came up to visit with her new DSLR camera and took pictures of us at the surrounding parks at Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.  We got a ton of good pics (all that can be seen here).  It was difficult to decide between all of the pictures, but we ended up going with the 4 above.  My favorite though is this one (that's in the center of the card):

First Time at the Zoo

Previously, we had gone to Deanna Rose where Stella got to check out some animals, but today we took her to the actual Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita where she was exposed to a much larger variety of animals outside the barnyard persuasion.  She lasted a good few hours and seemed pretty interested in the animals, especially the tunnel in the rain forest where the fish swim right in front and over the top of you (top right).

Not Stella's 1 Year Birthday Party

Our good friends, the Leaches, had a 1 year birthday party for their daughter today.  They are always creative with their get-togethers and had a The Very Hunger Caterpillar themed party from the adult food to the wall decorations to the cupcake display.  We all enjoyed it.  Stella hasn't been around other kids her age as much as we'd like, so this was a great opportunity for her to socialize.  Above is Stella and the birthday girl post smash cake.

First Steps (oh, and Happy Halloween!)

I was expecting Megan to dress up Stella in a princess costume, so I was surprised when she get got her a gnome costume.  There must have been something magical about that gnome costume, because she took her first steps in it.  Right after we got her in the costume on Halloween day, we wanted to have a photo session.  She's been pretty good with standing up on her own, so I tried to pose her in a standing position.  As soon as I did, she took a couple of steps towards us while we were trying to snap a picture of her.  We were definitely taken back when she did this.  I wish I would have got it on video, but at least both of us were there to see it!

First Time at Deanna Rose

We had a lot going on this weekend.  My dad and I went to KU's homecoming game Saturday morning (we almost actually beat Texas), and then Megan and I went to the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert Saturday night.  My brother also came in town with my parents to go to the Chiefs vs. Raiders game on Sunday.  Since we had time to kill on Sunday, we decided to take Stella to Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead.  I'd always wanted to take her and today seemed like a perfect time to.

I know Stella loves animals from our walks that we take to the nearby South Lake Park where she likes to watch the ducks and geese.  I think she has a thing for feathered creatures because she was fascinated by the birds at Deanna Rose too, including the bald eagle, owls, and turkeys there.

I don't think she was as interested when the goats molested me for the handful of food I had:

Mom was happy because she got to take the "fallish" photo with the girls that she wanted:

The last thing we did was check out this barn that had E.T. in it.  I have no idea how E.T. was affiliated with the barn, but I took a picture of Stella with the alien anyways:

We only got to scratch the surface in the ~1.5 hours we were there, but I think we will definitely be returning and spending more time on the stuff we know Stella will like.

1 Year Birthday Party

Today, we had Stella's 1 year birthday part at my parent's home in Derby, KS.  We chose to have it there instead of where we live so we could increase the chances of as much family coming as possible to celebrate this special occasion.  We were fortunate to have a good group of friends of family that made it (with Grandma Judy bearing gifts from others in MO that couldn't make it).

Megan did a great job of planning and getting everything ready for the party.  The party was princess themed complete with tiara topped cupcakes and a crowned smash cake.    We also had plenty of BBQ from  Hog Wild.

It was basically like Christmas for Stella based on all of the great stuff she received from everyone.  Here is the princess herself decked out in a tutu before opening her gifts:

In addition to all of the party pictures, I also have several videos to share from this momentous occasion:

• A photo montage that we played on repeat at her party.  This is only a small special selection of the 1000+ pictures I have taken of her so far
• Opening gifts
• Gingerly getting at her smash cake (despite previous practice with a cupcake)