For Father’s Day, my sister and I took our little girls out on the boat with my dad (plus, uncle Mark and little Marky). They weren’t too fond of the life jackets, but otherwise had a fun time “driving” the boat and watching other boats go by!

We can’t wait until some day she can enjoy it a little bit more! And the day wouldn’t be complete without a little beach time!

We head to the beach quite a bit since it’s such a short walk away! And now that she has beach toys for her birthday, she’s not eating as much sand… well maybe!

Though every time we go to the beach it turns into bath night!

Today it was finally warm, so we filled the pool in the morning, hoping that after nap time it would be nice and warm to enjoy a little splash – but I forgot how the sun moves and the pool ended up in the shade most of nap time, so it was still cold.

Em loves to splash in the bath so she had some fun, but if the water was warmer, that would have definitely helped. However she enjoyed playing in the grass more. Silly girl.

Today we celebrated Emerald’s 1st birthday with our family and a few friends! The weather was kind of looking like rain so my original plan of having it outside didn’t quite happen, but we ended up being able to have everyone outside at the end!

We started with her favorite – chicken tacos!

Then we opened presents! Holy cow this girl has so many toys – And I may have not opened them all and will slowly introduce her to them throughout the year. She got a kitchen (which I’ll be painting and making it super cute, stay tuned), a table and chair set, a wagon, a lawn mower, some beach stuff, puzzles, mega blocks, clothes, and lots more!

Then we had another cake smash! She was a little more comfortable this time being in a high chair, but still wasn’t too sure if she should eat all that sugar, silly girl!

We’re so thankful for everyone that was able to come and celebrate her special day!

The day is here – can’t believe our baby is one years old. Does that mean we can’t call her a baby anymore?! I was so sad the few days prior, basically in denial that she was going to be one. But the actual day of her birthday it was so fun to celebrate her little life (and that we survived our first year of parenthood)!

The past year we didn’t know what to expect (what new parent does?). She definitely turned our world upside, but in the best way possible, she is one of the best things to have happened to us and we love her more than she could possibly imagine.

The day of her birthday we both took off of work to celebrate. We got her up and let her play with balloons in her crib. Next, up donuts for breakfast (on her birthday plate), then time for opening presents! She got two baby dolls, two books, a beach ball and a teepee! She made out pretty good!

Then it was nap time followed by a quick lunch at home and we headed to the zoo. I think she noticed the animals a bit more this time, but it’s hard to tell! We also rode the train which she loved. Then we headed to Olive Garden for dinner since she loves breadsticks, then we let her smash some cake, but she was so tired, she could have couldn’t have cared less. Oh well, Happy Birthday baby girl, we love you soo much! We are so thankful we get to be your parents!

We hope to keep up some of these birthday traditions, like making them a special birthday plate, taking off work and doing something fun!

And since we love capturing every.waking.moment in either photos or videos, here is Emerald’s first year, it went so fast!

It can’t be, this little girl is 11 months, meaning she is almost one year old!

This girl is all.over.the.place! She’s pulling up on everything especially when she is trying to find the remote, a cell phone, watch bubble guppies or wants to sit on our laps.

She is a pretty good eater, especially her favorites like cheerios, yogurt, carrots, and anything with fruit in it – uh oh, she’s got a sweet tooth already! Speaking of she has 5 teeth already and it’s looking like lots more are about to come in – thankfully she is a great teether – and sleeper, I’m not sure how we got so lucky!

She says a few more words this month: mama, yaya, baba, adah, and a few other things we can’t quite make out yet.

She loves that the weather is warming up and we can venture outside, even if it’s just for a few minutes to swing or play in the grass. She loves taking walks to the beach especially when we get ice cream and share a few bites with her.

This little girl is constantly making us laugh with her personality coming through more everyday, but with that comes a little bit of a temper when she doesn’t get her way or we don’t let her do things she’s not supposed to. She listens well when we say “no” but also says no to herself when she does something she’s not supposed to be doing, little stinker. But oh how we love her so!

It’s getting much harder to take monthly photos of her – we usually have to bribe her with food now!

And here’s a day in the life of Emerald…