birthday festivities

warning: this is a picture heavy post. randy's mom was very sad that she could not be here for diane's birthday (we missed you, jeanie), so i promised to take lots of pictures and post them. thus, i did not weed out too many pictures. 

diane wasn't too into the whole present opening process, so madeleine and rachel helped with that. she was very excited about the resulting presents though.

her new baby doll from randy and me.

a blanket for her baby doll from randy's grandparents.

opening a book from randy and me.

diane loves books right now. she just hit the stage where she will walk up to me with a book, hand it down to me, and plop herself down on my lap. i love this stage.

okay, jeanie, i am not just saying this to make you feel better about the fact that you weren't here. the dog was a huge hit. she loves it. after she opened it, she didn't want anything to do with her other presents. she loves the light that lights up on his collar. madeleine is pretty enamored with the dog, too and it may have caused a few tiffs.

onto the cake. beth made a cake for rachel, my mom, and diane. we sang to rachel and she blew out the candles and then we stuck a candle in a piece of cake (unlit - i know my child) and sang to her.

for some reason, this upset her.

but, she got over it and ate her cake. she wasn't quite as dainty as madeleine was on her first birthday, but i have yet to have a child that really gets into the whole first birthday cake thing. maybe i'm doing something wrong. quite frankly, i'm just fine with it.