She's ONE!

Well, not really. She won't be one for another 11 days. But she's going to turn one in the armpit of the world, Watson Lake, so we figured we'd celebrate here in Kodiak where people know her and we could have a chance to have one last get-together with our friends.

Using the trusty internet to procure all the rubber ducky themed things you could imagine, I started making preparations for the party about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I finished yesterday, finally, since things like having our entire life packed into boxes got in the way. Rubber ducks, by the way, were the theme because the girl is truly fascinated by them. If she's having a melt down or just needs a toy, the rubber duck (or, one of the bazillion she has) never fails us.

Taking advantage of the federal holiday status and another day off from work, we loaded up lots of stuff into the car and truck and toted it out toward the base to the rented space we had to use (figured the guy who loaned us his house might not appreciate us having a party in it). From here, I'll just use pictures:

All dressed up - Ducky onesie: check! Yellow tutu: check! Headband complete with feathers: check! And small-pink-rubber-duck-turned-choking-hazard: check!

No, that's not a birthday present... that's her own push toy, but we had to keep her occupied!

Fluffy butt! Couldn't resist!

The cakes! The big one was a full-on, yummy carrot cake with regular (cream cheese) frosting. The smash cake was also carrot, but with a hollowed out center filled with whipped cream. And the frosting was only whipped cream... in an effort to decrease the likelihood of sugar shock!

Close up of the cake... aren't the bubbles cute? Plus we added two more ducks to her collection!

Showing off the bib Grandma sent her. She'll wear it again (probably with some residual orange frosting that I'm not sure is going to come out) on her actual birthday. Maybe she'll get a free sundae at dinner (that I'll eat).

Mommy and Michaela! There are very few of these pictures in existence! Thanks, Zoya, for offering to take it!

Hmmm... cake.... I'm not sure what to do with this....

No worries!! I figured it out!!

No, really... I got it!

Opening one of her presents. If you'll notice, her hair looks a little wet. Yeah, no, it was actually crunchy at this point. She got so much "frosting" in there it was ridiculous. We tried to wipe it up a bit, but the result was just this nastiness. Needless to say, bath was the first order of business when we got home!

And, finally, the damage to the cake. I think I only saw her eat one or two (BIG) bites of cake. The rest of the time she just got as much frosting as she could. She MUST be her daddy's daughter (and her Mimi's granddaughter) with an immediate love of anything that tastes remotely like Cool-Whip!

We took some video of her playing with her cake, too, but it'll have to wait. I've already had to fight with blogger tonight for pics, so this will have to do for now!

Happy (almost) birthday to my sweet girl! I can't believe that a year has already gone by! At this time last year, I was eagerly anticipating your arrival and feeling VERY large (scroll to the bottom of that link). I'll wait til next week to gush completely, but it was so fun to celebrate a year of my baby today! A lot because of how wonderful she is, and a little because we're surprised we've survived a year as parents!!