It is hard for me to write this post, because I can hardly believe that my little angel is one year old! Today was her birthday, and now I can't help but feel like she's slowly becoming more of a little girl and less of a baby. It's really exciting, yet heartbreaking at the same time. I'm so proud of all her accomplishments, but I want them to slow down a little! She's growing up way too fast, but she gets sweeter and more charming every day. 
For her first birthday, we decided to have a rubber duckie themed swimming party. Everything was pink and turquoise and yellow. It was a huge success, everything turned out perfectly, and super cute. Because I know some of you are into this stuff, here are some pictures of the decor:
We had pink and yellow lemonade, plus pink and blue juice for the kids. We also had 2 bowls of "duck food" (pretzels and popcorn).
Peyton's Grandma Marianne made bathtub cupcakes and we put a hot pink mini rubber duckie on each one. The ducks even had "1" on their chests!
We did goodie bags themed around the water (squirt guns, sunglasses, bubbles, ottor pops, and candy of course), pink for the girls and blue for the boys.
Kid's Table, with Peyton's chair at the end
Peyton was a good sport about the singing, even though it all went over her head. She liked looking at the candle, and thought it was great watching her cousin Trent blow it out.
My mom had to show her what to do with the cupcake. Once she got the idea, she was in heaven. True to form, she was quite dainty eating the cupcake. She just kept grabbing little clumps of frosting with her "pincers".
We let her guests open up the presents they brought for her, since she had no clue what was going on. It was chaos, but the kids loved it.
Peyton's guests included her best friend Peyton Janeck, her cousins Sam, Macie, Marley, Max, Gabe, Trenton, Ike, and Taryn, and our friends Abby, Alec, and Brock Banton (I have already arranged a marriage between her and Brock). I'm so glad Peyton already has a best friend that's only 4 months older than her to grow up with. Trevor and Brittney- you can't ever move or we'll all be so sad!
The best part of the night was swimming! The kids all had a blast, and Peyton LOVED going down the big water slide. She was cold in the water at first, but ended up having so much fun.
Uncle Chaz took her down the slide her first time. She obviously liked it. She was laughing and signing "more".
On her actual birthday, we went to dinner at Red Robin with my mom and sister before they left Portland. The waiters and waitresses all sang to her and gave her balloons and a sundae. It was again over her head, but she loved the sundae!
I absolutely cannot believe my little girl is one. It has been without a doubt, the best year of my life. I am so grateful to have this angel baby in my life. There is no one else whose momma I would rather be. Happy first birthday, baby. You are my sunshine. I love you more than life itself.
We went to this awesome park, Magnolia Park, and let Peyton swing on the swings, play in the water feature, and teeter-totter. We had lunch at our favorite: Panera. We went to the duck pond and fed the ducks. They even took chips right out of Cheyanne's and my hands! We went to Peyton's favorite place; Pump it Up, Jr. two times. Peyton likes it more and more every time we go. She gets so excited the minute we walk in the building.
Standing Up - another favorite thing of Peyton's
Look at those silly teeth! She's got her bottom middle 2, and one on the right, then the top I teeth and the 2 front teeth are just barely popping through. She loved the slide!
We went and got manicures and pedicures and Cheyanne went with Peyton and I to our Baby Sign Language class. Thursday my mom and brothers came into town, and we had a second itinerary of events planned. We went to the Portland Children's Museum. Peyton was a couple years too young for the Museum, but we let her play in the "Baby's Garden" which was for kids under 2. She was in heaven. She was allowed to crawl and climb and play and do whatever she wanted without anyone stopping her, since everything was totally baby-friendly.
Peyton's favorite part- the slide she could climb up and go down
We also went to story time, which she seemed to like, at least for a little while. We went to OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and saw their current exhibit: CSI. It was pretty neat, but the best part was the interactive part of the museum, where we got to play around with all sorts of neat stuff. My mom and the kids also got to go on a tour of the submarine there. I had to stay behind with Peyton, but they had a great time. While they were on the submarine, I took Peyton to the little kid's section of OMSI, and it was even better than the Children's Museum. It had all the same stuff for the bigger kids, and also a space for babies only that Peyton loved. 
We went to the Lake Oswego Farmer's Market, and ate some delicious food. We also did something I've been wanting to do since I moved to Oregon: we went to the coast! We went to the Seaside Beach and walked around the "Prom" (Promenade) and played arcade games, shopped, and ate tons of food. We were really happy because we didn't get rained out. The best ting we did there was go to the Aquarium. It was in interactive aquarium, so we got to feed the seals (who did tricks at our command to get the fish). We also got to hold a bunch of different creatures: starfish, sand dollars, sea snails, crabs, and we got to touch sea cucumbers, sea anemone, sea urchins, kiten, tube worms, and an octopus! It was so fun! 
That night my mom babysat Peyton for a couple hours so we could go to our brother-in-law's surprise 40th birthday luau. It turned out really cute. 
Sunday we went to church. The boys got to go to Jade's class, and Cheyanne got to go to my sister-in-law Ashley's class, so everyone was happy. After church we went to the duck pond again and played Frisbee and ran Tinky. 
I love this picture because Peyton is pointing to the ducks. So cute!
Then we went to Magnolia park again and the big kids played tag while Noni let Peyton play on the toddler playground. Peyton loved every single second of it. She was so happy! She loved going up and down the little slides and crawling all over all the play structures. 
This picture is priceless. Also if you look closely, you can see Edward Cullen in the background!
She loved swinging high with her Auntie
Everyone is having a great time and the best part of all is they're here to celebrate Peyton's birthday with us today and tomorrow!
