BabyBradleyBlog

Ever's Firstest Birthday!

Grandma Cindy made her cake. I gave her a photo of a sticker that Ever has on her bedroom ceiling and she did a great job of turning it into a cake. (TWO cakes, really. One JUST for Ever)

It was chocolate, and not only did it look pretty, it tasted great too!

Then we sang "Happy Birthday" to her while she looked at us like she was quite unsure of our sanity. :-)

At least she didn't cry.

Ever was presented with her very own chocolate birthday cake!

She was rather impressed, I think. More impressed with the cake than with our singing, for sure.

She must have been thinking, "Are you SURE you want to leave this right here?!"

I assured her that the cake was all hers.

So, using her little pincher grasp that she's been perfecting since she was 4 months old, she pinched and poked and prodded. As usual, she had that very intense "I'm focused on something new, don't bother me" look on her face.

Once she determined that this colorful, shapely object was satisfactory to her sense of touch, she bent down to explore her sense of taste.

We all had a good laugh. None of us has seen a baby eat their first cake that way. Usually they grab large handfuls, then stuff it in their mouths, get it all over their face, in their eyes and nose and then smile. Or cry.

Nevertheless, she looked upon it, tasted it and beheld that it was good!

See the benediction of her smile upon the glorious cake? Perfection!

Perfect enough for a second, more experienced bite...

...and perhaps a little furtive glance to be sure no one was going to realize they had mistakenly left a WHOLE CAKE on her tray.

And who attended this fancy, schmancy shindig for EverBaby?

Two of our favorite families. We prefer small gatherings. Even so, this group filled the house. We had Brandon's "adopted" family and our friends, The Johnston Clan.

From left to right above: Cindy Armenta (Shawn's momma and the cake maker extodinaire), The Back of Eddie's Head (Carly's son), Carly(Shawn's girlfriend), Shawn Alger (Brandon's best friend and "soul- brother"), Kim (Cindy's sister), and Adam (Another one of Cindy's four sons).

There were some other guests too. On the left below is Shawn and Carly's baby girl. On the right is Shawn and Carly's Food Baby

And...

In this photo above, we see some more of Cindy's family and some of the Johnston family. There's Adam again. Standing in the corner is Rachel's boyfriend Zachary. Rachel is Cindy's daughter and is standing beside Zachary. Just below rachel, sitting at the table is Emma Johnston. The little green arm belongs to Jillian. And Jillian belongs to Kim (from the photo up above). Beside Jillian's arm, at the front of the photo is Abby Johnston. She's Emma's sister and they are both the daughters of Scooter Johnston, my very dear friend standing near the curtains messing with her hair.

And is that all? Oh no, that is NOT all.

Below we see Jesse Johnston, Scooter's fine husband, sporting his fine baseball cap and watching Logan and Gage Johnston (no pictures of either fine young man available) play a fine video game. Jesse is a great guy, but tends to do better in smaller groups. When he arrived he grabbed Ever and loved her up as he usually does, but once the house started getting full he staked out a spot in the living room. That's Abby, his daughter, beside him and Liam Johnston, his youngest son, on the other couch at the forefront of the photo. The whole Johnston Clan is good peoples!

NOW is that all? Oh no, I say, NO. That is NOT all!

Poppa was there, standing lovingly beside his Baby Girl. What a good Daddy he is.
The BESTEST Daddy EVER!
And at left we see Manuel Armenta, Cindy's husband. He's a great guy too.

Not appearing in these photos is Delacey, my eldest daughter and Ever's big sister. And Delacey's "friend" Marshall. Presumably they were more interested in each other than a baby party. :-)

NOW, back to our main character ... Ever Ela-Kai Bradley!!

Little Miss Cutie Bum would like to share her cake. What a sweetie!

She is making quick work of it too!

THIS is what a One Year Old Birthday Girl should look like!

Of course, fun only lasts so long. Once you've demolished an entire cake, explored it's texture, taste, and treatiness, it is time to move on to bigger and better things.

Come on, let's blow this cake bakery!