Kate's first birthday party

Kate had her first birthday party yesterday. She was so good! There were a lot of people and she just got passed around and smiled like crazy when she was eating her cupcake. It was adorable! Her theme was cupcakes - get it Cupcake Kate... anyways... I made (and Katie decorated) a million cupcakes and each kid got a cupcake with m&ms, mini chocolate chips, gummy bears, and three different types of sprinkles to decorate their cupcake with. Each kid also got an apron with their name embroidered on it - they were adorable, if I do say so myself. :)

Here she is waiting for her guests to arrive.

 The camera was on the wrong setting during present opening - so about 100 of them are so blurry you can barely see her, but this is the least blurry one available.

 It was really nice outside temperature wise, but since there was a wind advisory we did all the food and cupcakes in the garage. It worked out really well... doesn't make for a very pretty backdrop for pictues, but oh well! Here are Connor and Ryder decorating their cupcakes.

 Here is Seth, Aly, Lily and Violet.

 And the Lands - sitting at the table they brought haha - there would be no party without Katie - no cupcakes, not enough kids tables... Thanks Katie!

 Oh my gosh she is adorable.

 Connor with the final product - a lot of sugar.

 Kate telling us she is one.

Kate is doing so many awesome things! She picks up sign language amazingly fast and we are surprised every time! She signs more, eat, all done, up, milk, water, no touch, and night night - she actually does what Connor used to do when he was a baby - when she is tired and ready for her nap or for bed at night she will crawl over to the steps, sign night night, and say na na (night night) and just wait for us to take her to bed. Adorable. Awesome.
She also does "how big is kate? soooo big!" and puts her little arms in the air. As you see above, she shows us she is one.
She says mama, dada and night night.
She also claps, waves and blows kisses. Up until a couple days ago her clapping consisted of one hand hitting her elbow of the opposite arm. Not exactly a clap, but a couple days ago she just started doing it right! The first time we noticed her doing it was in her crib on the monitor. It was pretty cute - her clapping all by herself in her crib.
She also pulls up on everything! First it started with the couch, but now she can do it up against the wall or fridge, and even a car seat to see an unsuspecting Baby Quentin Harbert and play with him!
She isn't quite into the "cruising" part yet, but if you put a toy she wants at the opposite end of the couch she will cruise on over to get it, but she doesn't do it much just on her own.
Her personality is starting to show through a bit. She does NOT like to be told no. It is pretty funny. Sometimes I have a hard time keeping a straight face when I tell her no. She knows when she isn't supposed to do something because she will look at me while she is doing it and do the sign we made up for no touch - just wagging her little finger back and forth. It is so cute.. Sometimes she does it without signing no touch and if I just say her name in my Mommy voice she will look at me and sign no touch. She doesn't usually actually stop touching, but she knows! haha... She also makes this sad pitiful face when she wants to do something and I tell her no. It is pretty cute.
She is such a sweet little girl and is so loved!