First Birthday!

The First Birthday.

Sigh.

It was happy. It was sad. It was wonderful.

Sheer joy on the face of a girl in a tutu

Yay!

 Our little girl is so big now! I got her all dressed up for her birthday and that intuitive little girl knew that it was something special. I don't know that 1-year-olds have the ability yet to comprehend a "birthday" but she knew it was an extraordinary day and that she was being showered with a gazillion smooches, hugs and giggles. (a gazillion more than usual that is) Being a Tuesday, and Nick being out of town finishing up a day of cucumber diving, Colette's actual birthday was pretty low key. We spent lots of time together and had a few dance classes to teach in the afternoon.

How does it get better than a mid-giggle grin, with a hint of dimples??

Saturday we celebrated right. After morning naptime, Opa, Lynn, Derek and our friend Denise came over for a finger foods lunch, presents and cake. Colette seemed attentive to opening each gift and exploring what was inside. She even took the time to read the cards with Dad. A new baby doll probably wins as her favorite gift, which she immediately started pawing at through the box and once she actually got her hands on it, she showered her with wiggly hugs and sloppy kisses.

Lots of love for her new baby doll

Momma and babies ducky bathtub toy from Auntie Diane

Her very own fishing pole from Opa

Pushing baby doll around in her new stroller from Auties Tracy and Kittie

 Btw, this is pretty much her favorite thing to do now. She walks all over the house, the dance studio and at daycare.

Well received kisses from Boomer dog

Her "birthday cake" was a frosting and sprinkles covered banana bread with chocolate chips and raspberries! It was well received - but as we know there isn't much that Colette isn't interested in eating!

Now to cover a little bit that has happened in the past six weeks - because it's been a lot! Nick and Derek flew off to Chicago for a very last minute guy's trip including a road trip to Green Bay for a Packer's game at Lambeau Field. In case you didn't know, apparently Lambeau Field is like the Holy Grail for all Packer's fans and Nick was no exception. He was so excited about it that I even had hard time being mad about him leaving on a fun-filled vacation without me . . . with one day notice. And here we are, the Packer's family sporting all our new duds!

#1!

Dance has been in full swing now for six weeks. And it's been a big change! With ten hours now at the studio and one night that I'm there until 9pm, it's taken me this long to begin to adjust. We're still working out the kinks but getting there. Colette comes with me for the afternoon classes and for the most part she has a blast. She loves watching the big girls dance and the girls just adore her. (sometimes with a bit too much enthusiasm but you gotta love 'em) She has a snack and scoots around, pushes her baby doll in her stroller all around the room and even gets in on some of the dancing. I kid you not - I caught this girl standing up on her tippy toes yesterday and this momma was impressed! I'll get a picture if it happens again!

First class with two of my littlest dancers

Colette's dancing is one of a kind. She'll start her groove with the slightest of encouragement, whether that's asking her to dance or 2 seconds of a melody that catches her fancy. Sometimes it's a whole body wiggle, other times it's just that little baby booty and then there's just the crazy legs that seem to also spur uncontrollable giggles.

We were treated to a spur of the moment, sunny-day boat trip with Derek. We packed up some lunch and toys and had a wonderful day. Nick and Derek got in some practice diving time while Colette napped and I enjoyed the sunshine and peacefulness.

Colette had a pretty cozy nook in the front of the boat

Getting ready for the plunge!

More baby doll love, kisses being given here.

 One Saturday morning a few weekends ago proved to be very unexpectedly exciting. Sometime around 7:30am Nick received a text from Derek that he and a friend, Mike, were out moose hunting but had a shot a bear . . . that was stalking and then charging them. Derek and Mike came over for a cup of coffee and then headed back out with Nick and Boomer so they could blood trail the wounded (and hopefully now dead) bear. After a very long trail through some difficult terrain, they found the bear. . . . unexpectedly very much still alive and posturing up much too close to them. Luckily for all of us this bear did not last much longer. And the biggest news yet? This turned out not to be a black bear, what we have commonly on the island, but a large, territorial, and now very angry brown bear! Scary stuff. The boys called the State Trooper who came out to our house and dealt with all the legal issues, and unfortunately had to confiscate the hide. Brown bear was not open for hunting on the island . . . although the general consensus of our community is a big "Hooray!".

As long as this link stays live, here's the news story that ran on our local radio station, coincidentally on Colette's birthday! Boomer is now more famous than ever and I've had many people stop me in town or at work to admire and pat "Boomer, the bear-tracker."

Colette leaned in to touch the bear all on her own

But was not very pleased when Daddy placed her on top all by herself

October 13th Colette and I participated in Petersburg's 13th Annual "Beat the Odds Race for the Cure." This is our annual cancer-walk fundraiser. Niccole and I walked together, with our babies in strollers and fully equipped for the lovely downpour we had that morning.

More pictures of Colette eating. This time around is yogurt, she's trying to figure out this whole spoon thing for herself.

Baby in a Basket. She ended up in the position on her own but couldn't find her way out.

 And since today is another very special day - Happy Birthday to the love of my life, a wonderful husband and amazing Dad. Happy Birthday Nick!



* I apologize for the terrible formatting on all these pictures. In my pictures folder they are rotated correctly but the blog has decided otherwise and I seem to be lacking the technical ability to fix it . . .