butterfly birthday bash

lena had her 1st birthday (& 1st birthday party) this weekend! it was the best weekend & it's still not over..... there are plans to open some more presents later today & enjoy some more cake (& of course she's wearing her butterfly romper).... anyways.... friday was her birthday & we kept it low key with dinner & opening family presents. & then saturday was her party!! it was butterfly themed but we didn't get all crazy. no bouncy castles, pony rides, helicopter tours.... we have a few years for that right? hahaha.... but i think it was an awesome party, the kids had fun, the grown-ups had fun & we all celebrated little lena!! (still can't believe she's ONE!)

so we decorated with butterflies, we had a butterfly coloring station, bubbles & bubble machine, pizza, pasta salad, chips salsa & 2 kinds of guac (lena's favorite food is avocado, so ya know), gummy worms, teddy grahams, cheese & crackers, veggie tray, pink lemonade, juice boxes & beer & wine for the big kids. & the cake! my friend maryann makes AMAZING cakes & she made cupcakes & a smash cake for lena! it was beautiful!

lots of our friends came out.... lots of lena's friends came & the only people missing were family back in the states.... BUT they were there in spirit & on the slideshow we made that ran on our computer the whole party. it was full of photos from lena's 1st year. we had pics of lena with grammy, grandma & grandpa, grandpa & granny ann, aunt ash & cousins, great aunts, great cousins, friends from the states & pics of her aunt jenn & cousins mayer & grayson (who sadly have never met each other due to germany & guam being so not close to each other, but will someday soon!)

my favorite part of the party (one of several, but this has such sentimental meaning) was the time capsule.... we had a space where guests could write a little note to lena to open on her 18th birthday. we have some notes coming in via email & snail mail too from those not in attendance. but i think it'll be such a neat thing for her to see & open & have a look back in time. i peeked & read some & couldn't help by get teary. i can only imagine what an amazing young woman lena will grow into. so much love!

and the cake! well, it didn't go as smoothly as it probably will after we have a few more of these under our belts (we'll be pros by the time she's 8).... but really... maryann had her smash cake on a nice plate that A. i didn't want her to knock off & break on the floor & B. just wouldn't even fit on her high chair tray. so jeff & i decided to grab spatulas & carefully move it to her tray. well, as we were doing this i realized we hadn't sung to her & there was no lit candle, so i quickly started us all in singing of "happy birthday" & then prayed that my little one didn't reach for the lit candle that i then put on the cake on her tray well within her reach (good mom i know). needless to say i said "make a wish" very quickly & jeff & i blew out the candle. whew. rough start (but no fires or broken dishes). so then the girl had cake. she didn't get all crazy with it, but she had some bites & then just wanted down. i think it was a lot for her, everyone staring at her, the other kids surrounding her cake like starving little vultures (it was cute, but yeah you'd think these kids were cake addicts needing their fix). so we'll try round 2 later tonight & see if she makes the mess we're all craving to see!

so that's about that. we are tired today, happy it was a great party, but feeling bittersweet..... love seeing our little girl grow, but sad to see our baby fade away..... but we always have the memories (& the pictures!)

the dinning room

outside butterfly color station & bubble place

the spread & max under the table

color station

bubbles & my baby

yay!!

lena's face says it all....

"the candle!!! & everybody sing!!!"

the vultures circling the cake (notice the cute headband antennas i made for the kids?)

the fam

part of the table scape.... i used flower pots to hold the silverware

the beautiful cupcakes

her time capsule (with a fluffy butterfly pen of course) & the notecards are made from card stock from our wedding (that i also used to make her mobile - click here to see it)

some of the beautiful butterfly artwork (i used teeny terra cotta pots to hold the crayons & markers too)

florida, flights, guam.... all is good

ok ok, i've put this off for too long..... i honestly just haven't felt like blogging. but everything has been great. jeff made it back from his deployment, we spent 2 awesome weeks with his parents in florida.... hanging out, visiting the ballet & old friends, going to the park, the beach, shopping & getting in as much target & chick-fil-a before going back to the land of have-nots.

the flights back to guam went much better than i anticipated. lena was a doll..... people kept making comments about how quiet she was, how good she was, how sweet she was & each time someone came & gave us a nice compliment i felt like we were being jinxed & the next flight for sure was gonna be a major melt down. but nope, didn't happen until we got into my friends truck from the airport back to our house in guam. baby girl successfully completed another ridiculous 24+ hours of world traveling. she is the champ. (of course now i've jinxed myself for our trip when we move back, yikes! oh & she'll be almost 2 then as well, boy are we due for it!)

so now that we've been back in guam, we've unpacked (i hesitate to post a pic of the boxes i shipped back.....), been to the beach, jeff's been playing soccer & volleyball (lena & i've been his cheerleaders at a couple of games), we celebrated our 1st thanksgiving as a family..... it's been great. i do miss target of course, oh & my family, heehee.... but guam is more beautiful than i remember & i'm enjoying it more than i thought i would. i guess i feel that it'll go by really fast. i mean lena is almost a year old, can you believe it, a year old?!?!?! so i am appreciating us being here. it really is a special place. even without target. now i leave you with some pictures of our time in florida.........

at the pumpkin patch

the park

harborwalk

lena at halloween as a flower fairy

trick-or-treat

toes in the sand

with grandma & grandpa

on the plane (of course she has her own travel pillow, she is a world traveler after all)

and yes, the boxes..... sad but true....

in my defense, i came over with 2 suitcases & jeff came over to the states with his stuff. well, he left those things with me when he went to iraq, so lena & i had to cram everything from 2 suitcases into 1. that & retail therapy. what can i say?

he's home!

jeff returned from his deployment a few weeks ago..... it is amazing to have him back! & today is veteran's day! so thankful for those who serve!

lena's faux 1st b-day: a seasonal stateside celebration

so we had a party for my dear miss this weekend. she doesn't actually turn one until december, but we wanted to celebrate with family while we're over here in the states. & of course celebrate my favorite season. so we had a fall b-day & we'll do a summer one once we're in guam. how appropriate that she'll have a summer b-day party in december. OOG! (only on guam)

momma & the birthday girl

but yes, we had lovely fall decorations (pumpkins & gourds we bought at the farmers market) & leaves from outside.... NOGAA (not on guam at all) & we served a big pot of chili, apple cider & lena's "cake" was a pumpkin muffin we got from a vendor at the market too! so fall-ish! & we had some of lena's favorite foods.... broccoli & guacamole. of course.

the cousins came & cohen mowed grammy's yard all evening & then after mowing he took off his pants & undies & went streaking. (no pics... too dark, but really so funny)

i bought her a birthday headband to wear (& you might be seeing it in the guam festivities too) it is just so dang cute.... it lasted about one minute.

clearly i'm enjoying this much more than she is....

lena did not like her pumpkin spice muffin so mom felt bad & caved & gave the girl a taste of the good stuff.... ice cream! i think it goes without saying how she liked that.

"where's my cake??!!!"

presents!

baby's 1st money.... cha-ching!

& shared her new toys with her cousin until he decided he wanted the ball. girlfriend may be petite, but she's scrappy & ended up with the ball!

it was a great party, minus having daddy there. but he will be there for the actual day! not much longer now at all!! yay!!!

miss representation

go to this site, see the film, spread the word, inform yourself, teach others, stand up for women's rights. i've always had issues with the portrayal of women in the media. so glad to see a mass movement emerging that can hopefully shift the oppressive & damaging societal norms that exist in our culture.

http://missrepresentation.org/

i heart

my heart is with these mountains..... i love the blue ridge! there is something just so special about this area. maybe it's different when you're from here, i dunno. but i really miss it when i'm gone. look at how beautiful!!

today is ah-mazing!

free at last, free at last, yeah yeah..... but really, i am so free of those crutches & the knee machine. the dreaded knee machine! 7 weeks - done! i am walking & it feels good. today is the official day of freedom, but honestly i cheated & started walking a little on wednesday.... shh...

but yes i logged a whopping 131 hours & 42 minutes on the knee machine. imagine if i had done the prescribed 6-8 hours a day how many more hours that would be??? i think on the best (worst) of days i probably logged about 4-5 hours. but no more i tell ya!!

even though i was tied to this thing for 7 weeks, it really did help! ;)

it feels great & it's a beautiful fall day here! the weekend is supposed to be awesome & i can get out & enjoy it! only thing missing now is my husband..... but the time will come. counting down now..... not much longer!! but then we go back to guam.... which i have mixed feelings about. i strangely miss guam. but i do not want to go back for the holidays.... i want to stay here, watch the leaves change, feel the brisk air, see my breath in the cold, celebrate the holidays for realsies with the correct season. not hot jungle. just doesn't go. but we have one last thanksgiving & christmas & then we're off to somewhere that hopefully has seasons (4 of them)

where lena can bundle up like this.....

such a cute snuggle bunny!!

whatcha got against babies?

so this sunday we all went to brunch. we had a groupon coupon to a restaurant we've never been to downtown on the market (name withheld, but if you really wanna know i'll tell ya) anyway, so we get there & it's a pretty nice place & i'm of course on crutches, hobbling in, already self-conscious & say "we've got 3 & a high chair". so the waiter asks if we have reservations & i say no & he says hold on. so we're waiting & i look around & notice no babies, no kids. more self-conscious. but this is where it gets crazy, he takes us to the back room.... the back room! we're the only ones in there & it's nice, don't get me wrong, but we clearly we're put away from everyone else. yes there were more tables in the main dinning area, plus patio seats open. but our waiter was nice & lena of course was a doll, sat there quietly, ate nicely (we only got one drip on the tablecloth)..... but ya know, some places are like that. so we experienced our first anti-kid discrimination act. & honestly it was no big deal after it's all said & done, we still had a nice brunch, had the room to ourselves & got to go out the back door like celebrities, or maybe that it was closer to the car for me on the crutches.....

but who could hate on a face like this?

maybe if they know she eats like this.....

good thing we didn't have spaghetti.....