One Whole Year

I can't believe how fast time has passed. Elise is already one year old. She is such a big girl. She has come so far from the little helpless baby that we met on the day she was born. She is a walking, running, talking energy machine of a little girl.

Alot has happened since my last update. For one, Elise is now an expert walker. She is still wobbly sometimes, but she is really good! Kenny actually got video of her running away from home. She walked out to the backyard, out the gate, and kept going up the hill without turning back. That girl is dangerous.

Elise turned one on May 31st, and of course, we had a huge birthday party for her. My sister flew in from California to help and join us in the festivities. Before I had Elise I never would have imagined that I would be one of those moms that gets all into the birthday parties and goes all out, but I guess I have become one. I even made Elise's birthday dress. I almost didn't put it on her because I thought it would look like monkeys had put it together, but I think, in the end, it came out looking pretty good. The party was awesome. We had a pretty good turnout of about 60 people. Elise had a blast, and (I hope!) everyone else did too. Here are a few pictures of the event:


Elise having fun in the moon bounce



Mommy let me down I wanna go break the PINATA!!!



Elise attacking her cupcake cake

Thanks to Charlotte for taking pictures. I was so out of my mind crazy that day so she took over picture duty for us.
The birthday party took place the weekend before her actual birthday. On her real birthday we took a little family hike at Martin park. We had a really good time together. Elise had fun getting dirty, climbing through the flowers, and seeing new creatures. Here's some pics:







Later that day, we went over to my mom's house where she had made Elise a second birthday cake. We were happy to be able to have another celebration just for us on her real birthday.



Elise and I also took a second trip out to California. We went along with my mom and little brother, Adrian. While there, we got to join in celebrating the graduations of my cousins Jorge and Eric. We got to see alot of family that I hadn't seen in a very long time. Elise had fun playing with new people she had never met before. She got to explore new places and things. It was so much fun to take her to Disneyland again and the Wild Animal Park where she came close to and actually woke a lion, and fed some ducks and lorikeets. It was precious. Pictures to come soon.

When we came back home, we decided to have pictures taken to commemorate her first birthday. The session was a little difficult because Elise just wanted to explore the studio. She was not interested in staying still and smiling at all. Despite our issues, I think we got some pretty good shots. Judge for yourselves:













I guess the last month or so was a little busy, but we had so much fun. Not that the fun is ending, but, well, it's all been fun.