Grace is ONE!

Happy birthday to Grace! On Thursday, November 4th, Grace celebrated her first birthday...

In keeping with tradition, she was served a number one pancake, even though she's not a huge fan of pancakes. (It's hard to make a pancake out of rice cereal or baby food.) She did eat a few bites, though, and I think she appreciated the candle and the singing :).

She had a lot of help opening her presents.

Such a big girl! Now, we're hoping that she might actually learn to walk if she can push this stroller.

She got Chick-fil-a for her birthday lunch! Again, she's not quite ready for the chicken nuggets -- only two teeth and a little behind in her feeding development -- but, she really enjoyed her french fry!

Her mommy likes owls, so I'm sure Grace does, too, right? I love making my children's birthday cakes, and this one was no exception! (After I made it, I decided maybe it should have said, "Hoooo's 1?")

Knox and Owen were really excited about cake. I mean really excited. Owen had actually been crying off and on the entire day because he could see the cake but was not allowed to have any. Knox loved singing happy birthday and helping Grace blow out her candle.

Precious birthday girl!! She liked the hat and the attention but started crying when we brought her the cake and started singing. I will refrain from posting those pictures on such a happy post.

...she warmed up to the idea of birthday cake pretty quickly, though! She didn't make a huge mess. I'd say she gets 2nd place after Owen in the first birthday mess contest. She had a big handful of icing but didn't get too much of it anywhere else. Can I just say how thankful I am that she was able to eat birthday cake?! I have been concerned about this moment ever since she came home from the hospital in August!

Birthday love from Daddy :).

Miss Jessica, our RUF intern, stopped by to help us celebrate, too!
(Grammy was also here, and I failed to get a picture! :( Grammy, I'm so sorry! You may not be as upset as I am, but I wish I hadn't made such an oversight!)

Look at our growing family! Now, the kids are 1, 2, and 3. It's hard to believe they are all growing up so much!

I could write a long post about the significance of this birthday, but I think most of you know how significant it was. We are so, so, SO thankful that Grace is healthy and that we were able to celebrate this special day with her! God has been so good to us in the midst of a really hard year, and I am looking forward to what the next year will hold. I have a sense of relief and hope as Grace's 2nd year of life begins. Happy birthday to our precious, precious baby girl!