New Orleans and City Park

This Saturday we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather (it's been in the 70s) and spend the day in New Orleans, about an hour and a half drive from us.

We walked around the French Quarter and listened to the street performers.

Stephen liked these guys, even though the bass player looks ridiculous :o)

Had lunch at Crescent City Brewhouse then drove over to City Park.

The park has "Storyland" for little kids and Alice's favorite part was splashing her hands in the fountain and picking up leaves.  Guess she is not quite old enough yet to enjoy playgrounds.

On the pirate ship with daddy.

Then we walked around the park a little, it's really big so we didn't get far.

I loved all the beautiful oak trees covered in spanish moss.  Pictures really don't do them justice.

Was surprised to see swans in the bayou.

 Overall a fun day enjoying our new life in the deep south :o)

Alice: 12 Months

Weight:  18 pounds

Height:  28 1/2"

Appearance:  She's got 2 teeth on bottom and her two front teeth on top.  Her hair is getting more curly in the humidity here.

Quirks:  She still tribbles some.  She also now does that bubbling noise when you stick your tongue in and out fast.

New Skills:  Turning pages in books.  Stacking blocks.

Likes:  Saying "yeah!", climbing on or in things and playing in her kiddie pool.

Dislikes:  Being away from mom or dad.  We've got some separation anxiety to work though unfortunately.

Firsts:  She moved for the first time, from Tennessee to Louisiana.  Had dairy and meat for the first time, that's right, Alice is no longer a vegan :o)  Went into the pool for the first time (see below)

Saying "yeah!" in our empty house in Tennessee.

Alice in one of her toy boxes, yes she got in there all on her own silly girl.

Here is what she likes best, getting in her toy box and throwing out all the toys.

I especially love the over the shoulder toss she does.

This was the most difficult photo shoot yet.

Most of my pictures look something like this:

Or she would grab one of her toys.

Now that this Alice month-by-month series is over, lets do a couple comparisons.

Alice at 1 month, 6 months then 12 months:

So crazy right?!

It's no joke when people say they grow up fast!

Smash Cake!

After her photo shoot and a much needed nap, Alice got to have her birthday cake.

It took a while for me to figure out what to make her for her cake.

I have been pretty careful about what she has eaten so far in her life.

She has mostly only had fruits, vegetables and grains.  No dairy other than goats milk yogurt.  Almost no sugar and no processed foods.

So I wanted to make sure her cake wouldn't be full of ingredients she hadn't had yet and give her a tummy ache.

And I wanted it to be blueberry since she loves blueberries.

So I made a cake I found online where you take a container of organic frozen greek blueberry yogurt and mix it with flour and baking soda and bake it.

It was super easy and tasted kinda like a blueberry muffin.

The frosting I made was coconut milk whipped cream.

Also super easy and tasty.

The first taste.

I think she likes it.

Still going at it all dainty like.

Then she started smacking it.

Both hands in.

Face in.

Foot in.

 "I have conquered you cake!"

Then she sat back down to finish demolishing the cake.  She actually ate very little of it, which didn't surprise me.  I figured she would mostly play with it.  It is called a "smash" cake after all.

Sharing with mama.

All that was left.

Then we threw her in the kiddie pool to get cleaned up.

After that she got to open her birthday presents which had been arriving in the mail all week and we had pilled up in her room.

Lots of fun toys, books and cute clothes.  (Thanks everyone!)

And that was Alice's first birthday.