a one year old

Last year Rylie Jane came to us in the middle of a summer thunderstorm on the 5th of July. She came with fiery-red hair, pearly-white skin, and deep-blue eyes--our little 4th of July baby.

Her soul is so sweet, fun, curious, and good. I am constantly falling in love with her pure zest for life. Always discovering, always expressing, always sharing. She loves to share. Whatever it is: an exciting book, a new toy, a piece of her watermelon, a leaf in the grass--the first thing she does is hold it up for one of us to experience. With the biggest grin you've ever seen. If you take her gifts, happy squeals and giggles will follow. I could just kiss her all day. (And I do!)

She crawls all over the place but is so silly and stubborn when it comes to standing and walking. When we try to get her to hold our hands and walk, she lifts her legs up like she's in a sitting splits position and claps them together. It is hilarious. She is SO flexible. I know babies are flexible, but she is freakishly flexible. That might be because she has zero fat in the way. She's a tiny little thing.

RJ's favorite things to say right now:

Yeaaa! (In response to any question)

Whoaaaa.
Uh oh
Baby

Peepee (piggie)

Puppas (bubbles)

I can't believe her first year is already up. We have had so much fun together and are excited (and nervous) for this new toddler transition. Bring it on, year two!

I wanted to make Rj's first birthday special, and I'm so happy that my SIL was able to come and capture the memories for us. I posted a LOT of photos here. (But if you want to see even more you can look on Facebook.) Here are some photos of the perfect birthday girl.

To decorate, I took any colorful decor from inside our house and brought it outside. It turned into a little carousel-esque party. With the perfect mini cake from Cupcake Chic, homemade candy kabobs, my cousin's hello maypole felt balls, and so many loving and helpful family members nearby, everything came together and it was magical. Here are some of the details.

Cousin Gavin is obsessed with making RJ smile.
He's really good at it, too.

RJ and best friend Zenna

Her older cousins picked out this perfect present for her. Baby Ariel = Baby RJ!

Giving piggie kisses

Cousin Tyson swooning over RJ from a distance.

Cousin Jackson eating all the candy and
testing out the new toys :)

And then of course we had to do the traditional first year cake smash! She was in heaven.