It is the baby’s first birthday. She was born on leap day, so we can try to delude ourselves into believing that our baby is not yet a year old. We can try, but, amazingly, it has been a year.

Grammy, Bobby, Erin, Sarah, Eric and Olivia came over to celebrate. The baby had a happy time opening presents. She most appreciated the excitement of her siblings as they opened her presents. She was allowed to play with them—eventually.

We were lazy—she is the third, after all. Instead of preparing an entire meal from scratch, we got takeout pizza from Fazzini’s. We feel guilty about this. We had thought about preparing a shrimp pasta with sausage on the side, but this seemed easiest. Besides, she is particular about pasta whereas she is not nearly as discriminating about pizza (she ate nearly a whole slice herself!). We did make a salad and hors d’oeuvres and still had time to spend with the rest of the family enjoying the party.

Boppy watched a little golf. Eric, Sarah and Boppy watched the North Carolina/Maryland game, which Carolina won 85-83. But the baby and the other kids were definitely the center of attention today.

For dessert, we had some leftover alphabet cookies, some newly baked brownie cookies and a Cold Stone cake. The cake got a little smushed in the freezer (we really need a wider one), but the baby did not seem to mind.

We had to get the cake from Cold Stone since that was the source of her first ice cream experience a month ago. She similarly enjoyed this one and was quite the sight—as a one year old should be.

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