So Allyssa is already one year old today, and from the looks of it, she is really enjoying her first piece of birthday cake! Mom made the cake and dad made the frosting, all from scratch so you know it was from the heart! Ok, enough corniness, it’s time to tell you all about how the day went.

We decided to hold the party at Laura’s Dad’s place in Holmen since that is the area were most of the family lives. We drove down Friday night so we would have all morning to prepare the 20 pounds of BBQ Ribs and the 20 pounds of Taco meat for the lunch. Laura had a bit of running to do before the party and I stayed at the house to make the food and frost the cakes she had baked the night before. We were expecting 42 people and wanted to make sure nobody left hungry.

The party started at around 2:00 as relatives started showing up. The house quickly filled with people who know and love Allyssa. Turns out we weren’t as prepared as we had hoped. Where to put the presents? Where will all these people eat? What about the decorations? Oh well, the party started and we were all enjoying just being together for such a wonderful occasion.

I wish I could say the whole thing went off without a hitch… oh, wait, I can say that! As far as I know, the only problem we had is that nobody wanted to sing Karaoke out in the garage. I had my youngest brother Shay bring his equipment hoping that someone would enjoy it. But the weather didn’t cooperate. It was so cold and windy that we had to keep the garage doors closed and the volume a little lower. There is also something funny with the electrical in Holmen because every time Shay does a show there, his best amplifier doesn’t work right. Oh well, at least the younger kids enjoyed some music.

Allyssa received a lot of wonderful gifts even though she wasn’t very enthusiastic about opening them, Hey, give her a break, she’s only 1 and every new toy brings a new level of excitement. Her favorite so far seems to be the Purple Mini Van my sister Shawna found. She carries that thing around all the time. Not that she doesn’t enjoy her other toys, she just has her favorite, for now.

And then came the cakes, yes, I said cakes. A Black Forest cake, a white cake with pure white buttercream frosting, and a peanut butter cake with fudge frosting. That Black Forest cake, two layers of devils food with cherry filling and a rich fudge drizzle frosting, seemed to be the favorite, and that is what you see Allyssa eating in the photo above. Surprisingly though, that peanut butter cake Laura found a recipe for was very good, and one we will surely add to our normal list of recipes.

All in all, the day went very well, and Allyssa seemed to enjoy it, though we know someday she won’t have memories of it – but there is always video! If I can ever get the footage from my brother Scott maybe we can share some here. I also learned a lesson about cooking – 40 pounds of meat is too much for 42 people. Anyone want some of the 10 pounds of leftover taco meat we have?

This weekend Laura and I spent a wonderful few days in Red Wing, Minnesota on our first of what we hope will be many mini-vacations. With the new job and a little extra money coming in, it’s nice to be able to get away, even if it is on a terrible, rainy weekend in a city only a half hour away from home.

The picture above doesn’t really look great, because the lighting in the pool area of the hotel was not very bright, so getting a good picture was hard, and even though I pointed her out, Allyssa just wouldn’t look at mom or the camera. This picture was taken just minutes after we got in the water, and though it took her a little while to adjust to the water, she really enjoyed swimming. We did learn that that modesty at her age isn’t as important as comfort. In the photo she is wearing a shirt which we quickly found made her feel cold when the cold shirt was out of the water. The next time we took her she did not wear a shirt.

This won’t be the last time we take her swimming, but unfortunately we haven’t found a public pool in the area so we will just have to go swimming in the St. Croix River. It’s so clear and inviting we can’t wait for the weather to warm up some so we can enjoy the river. I don’t think we will be purchasing a boat any time soon though – gotta get a better car first. Driving this full size van we have is just too much on gas. Until then we can enjoy the river from one of the two beaches in town.

Someone once told me that Allyssa should have her own place to keep her things to help her build her independence. So we decided to give her the bottom two shelves on the book shelf in the living room to keep her toys. Of course, they don’t usually stay there and she hasn’t yet learned to put things away, well, except for herself.

The other day we saw her trying to crawl up onto the toy shelf for some reason. We didn’t get a picture then and we wished we had. Then today she did it again. For no reason, she clears off the bottom shelf then climbs in. I love my daughter and I love playing with toys, but even I think this is going too far! At least she is starting to put things on the shelf – maybe we should teach her that toys go on the shelf, and the baby belongs in daddies arms where he can love and protect her forever.