The One with the 1st Birthday!

I've really been slacking on these posts.  Just so much to share and so little time.  Summer is full of fun and not as much free time in front of the computer to post on the blog.  Forgive me, readers :-)

Other than a slight last minute change of date, Lilly's first birthday party went off without a hitch.  The party was originally scheduled for Sunday, June 29th (pending pool completion).  We wanted to be able to use the deck and backyard and, preferably, the pool too.  Thanks to some construction delays...but, really, thanks so our ever so flexible family and friends, we pushed the party back to the following Saturday.  The pool was open (albiet, a bit chilly), the weather was perfect and the company was even better.

While I tried not to look at Pinterest too much while planning, (I can never live up to that!) I did decide to do a smash cake.  I found a great little healthy recipe of basically bananas, flour, eggs and applesauce and baked up a nice little 4 stack of goodness.  Our cautious little guy wasn't really into it though.  She preferred mommy to break off nice bite size pieces for her to devour rather than diving right in on her own.  I'm sure it might have been different, and resulted in more entertaining pictures, if we gave her the full sugar/goodness cake...but oh well!

Missouri Botanical Gardens

Since we moved to St. Louis, I've been wanting to go to the Botanical Gardens.  I've heard great things and who doesn't love walking through beautiful gardens?!  Clearly, I wanted to take my mom as well.  Unfortunately, 9 times out of 10 it's too hot to go and be able to really enjoy it during the summer (hence why it's taken us 2 years to get there).  Luckily, we got that 1 day that was unseasonably cool.  Combine that with the fact that it happened to be a Thursday when I'm off work and we had the perfect day for our first visit together.  We strolled through the beautiful grounds, through the lily gardens, herb garden, rose garden, oh my!  We ended in the children's area where Lilly got to enjoy the splash pad.  Well, until a little boy ran her over and knocked her straight on her face :-/  All in all it was a wonderful visit and I'm pretty sure mom was happy I kept insisting that we go even after her many, "we don't have to go anywhere or do stuff to entertain me...we're fine just staying home and hanging with Lill".

Chihuly glass right as we walk in?  Mom's going to love this place!

"Make it look like my hair"

Amazed by the humongous hastas

Lilly walking in the lily garden

Hydrangeas the size of your head

The corpse plant - some fancy plant that blooms once a year for just a few days and smells like, you guessed it, a corpse.  Luckily we missed the day that it gives off that wonderful smell :-)

G & G come to visit!

My mom and dad (and Cody!) just hit the road back to Michigan after a wonderful 10 day visit.  While it's always difficult to see them go, having them here for an extended stay and getting to watch Lilly interact with and make memories with them is totally worth it.  The visit included two fun-filled weekends of BBQ's, breaking in our new pool, 4th of July celebrations and the big 1st birthday party and they also got in a full week of fun while Corey and I were at the office.  They went to the mall, to the park, took walks in the wagon, went to eat and just hung around the house enjoying each others company. I know how much Grandma and Grandpa cherish these moments with Lilly and I'm thankful for cameras so that we can capture some of these moments to remind Lilly of when she gets a bit older. Come back soon, G&G!!!