Happy 1st Birthday Abby and Emily!

The girls' first birthday has now come and gone. We had a great day celebrating our first year with Abby and Emily on Saturday. We had lots of friends and family come and help us celebrate and we still have more celebrating to do next weekend with some more of Taryn's family!

Emily the horse:

From update 3

Abby the chicken:

From update 3

Of course the party was a costume party since the girls were born on October 31 (Halloween)! We did a farm theme for the family - Byron was a farmer, Taryn was a pig, Emily was a horse and Abby was a chicken. The girls didn't seem too upset with their costumes and for the most part went about their business as usual, even with all the people around.

Family pictures:

From update 3

From update 3

We started the party with lots of pizza and hanging out - the girls LOVE pizza! Then we sat the girls in their high chairs with their own cakes. Emily was not happy about the cake at all. We tried to put her hand in it but she wanted nothing to do with it. She cried and refused to eat any. We know she likes cake, but she just refused to get messy. Abby on the other hand was a little reluctant at first and then she went crazy. She seemed quite happy with the cake and dug right in, eating it up. She didn't even realize that we had taken Emily out of her chair. After a lot of playing Abby's eye got itchy so she tried to itch it and got frosting all over her eyes. That was the end of that. We cleaned her up and served cake to all our guests.

Farm cake:

From update 3

Abby testing the cake:

From update 3

Emily not enjoying the cake:

From update 3

Abby eating:

From update 3

Quite pleased with the cake:

From update 3

End of the fun:

From update 3

We then opened gifts. The girls got all kinds of great toys and clothes, but they weren't particularly interested in opening them. Abby was more interested in sitting and reading her bible on the floor while Emily was very excited to play with every new toy that was put in front of her. The girls have played for hours and hours with their new toys since the party. They have been having tons of fun playing with everything!

From update 3

Abby busy with her bible:

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Checking out a new toy:

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We made two walls of pictures of Abby and Emily from birth through 1 year. Here's the birth - 3 months wall:

From update 3

4-12 months:

From update 3

Decorations after the party:

From update 3

The girls have changed so much over the past few weeks. Their personalities are really starting to develop and they are so much more interactive. One of their favorite new activities is to be chased around the house. They love it when we get down on the floor and chase them and growl at them - they laugh hysterically. Sometimes they turn around and growl back and team up and charge at us!

They are getting good at repeating words. Their favorite words:

- kick
- stinky (their favorite, they usually say it "tinky")
- hi
- mama
- dada (Abby actually says Dad instead. She says it very clearly, it sounds so funny as she overemphasizes the D's)
- cheese (they sometimes say deese instead as they aren't very good at "ch" yet)
- this and that (usually dis and dat - they say these words when they are asking what something is: dis? dat? they like pointing to my rings and saying "dis?"
- Pats (Patriots - they say "dats")
- Hi

I love when they repeat words, but my favorite new trick is when you ask them how old they are they hold their index finger up (1). It's SO adorable!

Abby has taken a recent liking to walking behind their push toy (finally). Something must have clicked in her head because she went from sitting as soon as you put her behind it to running behind it over night. She thinks it's the greatest thing.

We want to thank everyone for coming out to celebrate the girls with us on Saturday. We appreciate all of you - even those who were unable to be with us this weekend - and are thankful that you have been part of the girls' first year! We're looking forward to what the next year has in store for us.

Pictures from the day (the collage is difficult to see on the blog, if you click on it you can see it better):

From Collages