Finally...THE PRESENTS!

So, I actually got to open my presents before the singing and the cake, but it took us a little longer to put together the video to post on the blog...I send a big thank you out to everyone who gave me a present and to all my friends who came to my first birthday celebration. An extra big thank you goes to my Grandma Shirley, PaPa, Aunt Debra, Bryan, John, GranSmoky, Opa, and Uncle Silly Mark for remembering my birthday and sending gifts from afar!

Papa got a little fancy with this video (practicing for momNpoparazzi) - hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed opening my presents! YAY!!!


Here are some of my friends that came to my party.
Miss Mia (Ellie's in the background with Mama)

Here I am "opening a present" from Ollie and Viviana, but I'm actually just totally fascinated with Viviana's beads. (In the background is our friend Oz and Ollie & Viviana's Mama, Jen).

Here I am playing with Oz, Quinn, and Mia.

Here's Quinn checking out my cool lion ride. His Mama, Amy, is in the background.


And THEN, my big birthday present came out. Thank you to all of my grandparents for making this birthday present possible! I LOVE IT! Watch and see how much!


Here's a few still shots of me and my new piano.

I was born to play!

Rock n Roll!

Love this little bench!

Happy 1st Birthday to ME! (Part 2)

So here's a little bit more video from Papa's camera. It's the birthday song again, but there's more to this one...blowing out the candles and eating cake too! (The lighting, sound, and general quality is better too - AND we had time to edit it too! )

Happy 1st Birthday to ME!

So, yesterday was my BIRTHDAY! I didn't really know what that meant most of the day. Mama kept singing to me and getting big smiles on her face. Papa kept talking to me about it. But I still didn't get it...until...the people started showing up...and they had presents! And then there was a cake and everybody sang the birthday song to me! And then we played with all my new toys and books! All of us, grown ups and kids alike! YAY! How much fun is that! Mama says I have to wait a whole year to have another birthday again, but she said (with a twinkle in her eye and a grin on her face) that something called Christmas is coming really soon and it's almost as fun as a birthday...sometimes BETTER! WOW! I'm not sure I believe it!

Here I am sitting in front of the birthday cake Mama made for me. She used a chocolate cake recipe that GranSmoky got from her Mama, my great Grandma Frances. Our friend Lindsay let Mama borrow a pan that was in the shape of a giant cupcake - that was pretty cool. You can see me in this picture, all my friends are singing to me and I'm contemplating whether they are in tune or not...they were!

Mama took a little bit of the cake and made a special little "K" cake for me to eat after everybody was done singing and Mama helped me blow out the candles...and I did eat it! (We have really cute video of all of this, but it is on Papa's camera and we need his help to get it on the blog.)

Here's an unedited video of all my friends singing to me (from Mama's camera). It's not the greatest video, but boy was is fun to have all those people singing, and the cake had candles on it and they were on fire! That was really cool!

There's lots more to come! Keep checking back!

Sandman - Part 1

So after playing in the wet sand and trying to chase Mama out into the waves, I headed up to the dry part of the sand where GranSmoky was waiting with a whole bunch of toys! She showed me how to pack sand into a bucket using a shovel and how to build sand castles and all sorts of neat stuff like that. I showed her how I can eat sand and fight off rogue twigs! It was really fun!


PS HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!

Beach Baby - Love that Sand!

So once Mama put me down in the sand, I was OFF! Uncle Silly Mark was there to make sure the waves didn't get me or Mama while she was on camera duty with her back to the ocean. I was kind of chasing her straight towards the water...so we were both lucky that Uncle Silly Mark was there.

The sand was cool and damp and had this crazy texture. And then there were surprises like shells and rocks and sticks and stuff in it too! I can't wait to go to the beach again sometime!

The Beach - At Last!

Well, finally on the Monday afternoon after we arrived in North Carolina, we were able to go down to the beach and check out the water! Man, the ocean is so cool. I kept wanting to sit right down and splash around, but Mama said I had to wait til the next day when, at the very least, I had a swimmy diaper on. GranSmoky was on my side, but Mama wouldn't have it. We still had lots of fun and you can see that Uncle Silly Mark was on camera-duty so that Mama could make sure I didn't just crawl straight out into the ocean...which I really would have, little sea turtle that I am...I just love the water so much!

At the Beach...Almost

Well, when we finally got to the Outer Banks of North Carolina (yes, yes back in October) we had to wait out a storm they call a Nor'Easter. Basically it was really windy and pretty cold, and the waves were all the way up to the dunes on the beach so there was really no place for us to play the first 2 days. So, while we were kind of trapped in our rental unit we had to find ways to amuse ourselves. I thought the little hidey hole under the sink where the pots and pans were stored was most amusing and spent quite a bit of time there.

*Warning: While I found it quite amusing, Mama wants to let you know that the video might not be the most compelling cinema you've ever seen...but I look pretty adorable, so she thought you'd all forgive her.

Happy Birthday GranSmoky!

Today is my GranSmoky's birthday. She lives all the way in Pennsylvania and we miss her very much and wish we could be there with her to play and sing and eat chocolate cake!

Mama, Papa, and I went outside this sunny Seattle morning to make a little birthday greeting for her.

We love you GranSmoky!

Kieran's First Halloween

So, this year I got to experience "Halloween". I got to celebrate back east as well as in Seattle. In these pictures you'll see me back east in Allentown. Mama's cousin, Diane, invited us to join her and her sons, Ben & Evan, in their neighborhood's Halloween celebration the Sunday before Halloween. Well, this was a last minute thing and Mama hadn't planned on having a costume for me back in Allentown. We quickly went to this 2nd hand kids store that GranSmoky likes to shop at and found only two costumes that would fit me - I could be either a pumpkin or a bunch of blueberries. Mama wasn't totally sure about the blueberries, but the pumpkin seemed like what all kids wear there first year out. So Mama took a chance on the blueberries...and it was a good one!

Sunday finally arrived and it was a gorgeous October afternoon in Pennsylvania. We headed over to the celebration. First there was a "parade" where all the kids, dressed up in their costumes, and alot of the parents too, walked through the neighborhood (there was also a big fire truck that came out and led the parade and made a lot of noise!) and ended up at a little outdoor party in a cul de sac, where there were hot dogs and doughnuts. From there, all the kids took off to trick or treat. Mama and I tried to trick or treat for about 3 houses, but we kept getting stuck in the middle of the throngs of kids and were seriously slowing down poor Evan's attempts to keep up with the bigger kids...so we bailed and went back to Diane's house where we got to see all the dressed up kids up close and in person as they came to the door looking for treats. I was totally fascinated by all the kids in all their crazy get-ups. I think next year will be more fun though because I'll be walking and I'll probably be able to do some real trick or treating!

Me, in my blueberries, & Diane before the parade.

Here we are with Mama waving at Diane's husband Rick. Evan is just to the right of Diane. He was not too crazy about how loud the fire engine sirens were. I was totally fascinated by the trucks and sirens, but I don't think I would have wanted to be any closer.

Leaving On a Jet Plane

So it's been a while since Mama and I have been on the blog, but we went on a trip to this place called the East Coast. We got back last Wednesday evening, were recuperating for a couple days, when Papa and I got sick either with some kind of flu or food poisoning...we're much, much better now and Mama and I finally have time to get back to all the video we took while we were on our trip.

So, in order to get to the East Coast we had to take this thing called an airplane. Mama says I'd been on one a few times before, but I was so little I don't remember it...and man! are there ever things to remember! Even though it was wayyyy past my bedtime, I was not tired at all! Did you know there were buttons and belts and slidey things on the windows? And THEN...when I had tried all those things out a few 100 times, Mama had packed a bag full of toys for me to play with. She didn't want me to have the crinkly plastic wrapped cookies that she brought for herself which was a bit of a bummer, but there was so much more in the bag that I barely noticed when she took them away.

Eventually, after a bottle or two I settled down to sleep, kind of. It was what Mama calls a red eye flight, so it was really really late, but all the seats in the airplane creaked everytime anyone moved and every time I heard a creak I kind of started half awake and then fell back asleep again. I don't think Mama slept much at all on our first flight, and I was too excited on the shorter second flight, but eventually we landed in Philadelphia where GranSmoky and Opa were waiting to pick us up. Mama and I were very tried all day Friday. We slept as much as we could because we were going to get up early the next morning and take a long drive all the way to North Carolina to the beach at the Outer Banks!