PAR-TAY!

Marie in her birthday suit post cake-eating.

Mom and Daughter having a heart-to-heart.

Noah's Ark!

Opening presents is hard work!

Marie needed a few extra hands
to tear through her heaping mound of presents.
Now Mom has the job of finding
a place for all of the new toys!

The cliche, albeit ridiculously cute,

first birthday cake-eating photos:

Marie inspecting her prey.

The cupcake meeting its end.

Oh! I can't take it! Put the poor cupcake out of its misery!


The aftermath of the attack.


She's so proud of herself.

Here are the aforementioned

February 14, 2006 Valentine's Day photos.
Dance = Tuesday
Marie's arrival = Friday

Long John Silver's = tasty

The Meehans, Varneys, Crows, Andersons and Mastons.

Jami-Noel is a great dancer, so naturally
I asked her husband if I could cut in.

I have to say, I enjoyed gaining
every single one of those 50 pounds.

Well, she was almost a Valentine's Day baby.
One year ago for V-Day, Joel and I went dancing.
365 days later...
Here are the contents of my belly from that evening!
(the baby - not the Long John Silver's we ate):

A COUPLE OF FIRSTS:
First Museum / First Pizza

We took Marie to the children's museum a couple of weeks ago. She had fun splashing in the water with Daddy. All-in-all, I'd say she had fun, but was not too over-stimulated. It was definitely worth the cold that she presumably caught from one of the other 50 kids there.

This was the non-walker room. No shoes allowed. No walkers allowed (besides parents).

A silly mirror.

Marie had her first taste of pizza last weekend. It was cheese with whole wheat crust. After she was finished, she just kind of layed on the floor for a few minutes in a pizza coma. It was a definite success.

"I just ate a little slice of heaven," says Marie.