Two weekends ago, our friends from Jacksonville came for a visit. Lee and Heather Borders stopped at our house that Friday on their way down to visit Heather's mother for the weekend. We know Heather and Lee from Dan's days at Auburn. Heather and Dan played water polo together, and since then I have stolen her as a friend. Although I might have to disown her since she has conned me into running a 5K in September. Let the training begin.

Hannah poured tea for Heather

On that Saturday we went to TurtleFest at Loggerhead Conservatory in Juno Beach. It was a free event open to the public. We had a great time, but I think the girls will enjoy it more next year because they will be able to do more activities.

waiting on the bus in the shade

Hannah is the same size as the Kennedy Ridley Turtle...smallest one at the Conservatory

looking at some of the turtles

nice little snack

Gotta love the little playground the Conservatory has available for toddlers.

When it got a little to hot to be outside, we went to listen to Storytime provided by the Conservatory Volunteers and Board Members (a/c was cranked!). Gryffyn enjoyed this time by walking back and forth in the back of the room with a little help by holding my hands. Hannah liked sitting a watching the story being acted out, but would have enjoyed participating more (next year!).

Getting Hannah's face painted after Storytime...

This is a cutout to take pictures with...it is suppose to be a kid hugging a whale at night. You REALLY have to use your imagination for this one.
Both girls were awesome about riding on a bus. We had to park at a different location then where the Conservatory is because parking was limited. The Conservatory had designated areas to park so you wouldn't get a ticket or get towed. From that parking area, they had 3 school buses that rotated every 15 minutes to drive people to the Conservatory. Hannah really wanted to buckle herself in. It took me a second to realize what she was trying to do because we didn't have seatbelts when I rode the bus in school.

On Sunday, our friends Nils, Shannon, and Armani came over to swim. It was lots of fun and Armani taught Hannah how to jump from the edge correctly, while Shannon helped Gryffyn perfect her blowing bubbles skills.



This past Sunday we were water bound again by going to the beach. We went to Juno Beach which is about 15 minutes away from us. It was lots of fun, but going to the beach with kids is very different from our first Florida days. Now we have to take a tent to keep the girls somewhat shaded, take a big blanket to fix all of us, and laugh as neither of the girls want to get in the water!

Today Gryffyn is one year and one week old, which means DOCTOR VISIT TIME! This also means shots...yucky! Before I get to the pictures from the doctor appointment, here are some pictures from yesterday afternoon. Gryffyn has been crying a lot lately, mainly from teething. It is completely understandable that all she wants is to be held and cuddled, but sometimes that is unavoidable especially when you have to cook dinner and it happens to be chicken. So how do you distract a crying baby while you cook? Have her "cook" with you. Now I tried to distract the girls in their Pink Polka Dot Kitchen, but that was too far away from my kitchen. So I just gave each girl a tubberware container and a spoon...lots of loud noise occurred, but no crying....so I'll take it!

We found an awesome doctor in Jupiter (next town over) right after we moved here called Gardens Pediatric. The girls love the doctor, nurses, and even the receptionist! Plus, the office has a fun play area in the waiting room that the nurse cleans frequently!

playing in the waiting area

stopping finger bleed after checking hemoglobin levels (which were good)

Applesauce treat while we wait for Gryffyn's shots

Gryffyn weighed 21.8 pounds and is 30 inches tall. On the development scale, she has reached a majority of her milestones: pulls to stand, crawls rapidly, seats self on floor, cruises on furniture, plays peek-a-boo, bangs two blocks together, drinks from a cup, says "Momma" and "Dada", feeds herself by pinching fingers together to grab, shows interest in music and rhythm.

When we got home, Gryffyn seemed to be really hungry and ready for lunch. I guess she thought I wasn't planning on feeding her when I opened the refrigerator so she decided to fix lunch herself.

Hot dogs and rice seemed to be a wonderful choice for both girls. Now that Gryffyn is one, she can start trying dips and sauces, which Hannah has loved! Gryffyn tried ketchup today and I think she really enjoyed it!

Today was PARTY DAY! Gryffyn turned one on Thursday, but we decided to throw her a birthday party today so our friends could join in the celebration.

Here are a few pictures of the decorations.

The table with ladybug placemats

"Happy 1st Birthday Gryffyn" banner hung in the kitchen

"Year in Review" banner

I love that her birthday is close to Easter...makes it easy to find pink and green candy!

"Berry Berry Good Lemonade" with ladybugs attached

gotta deck out the highchair in pink and green

These next pictures are close-ups of the "Year in Review" banner. It was EXTREMELY hard to choose only one photo for each month.

Newborn--Aunt B visiting in the hospital
1st month--sleeping through the night
2nd month--baptized by Pastor Griffin

3rd month--Hannah realizing Gryffyn is a playmate
4th month--Introduction to Eeyore
5th month--jumparooing to sleep

6th month--chilling in shade with cousin Hunter
7th month--smiling during Skype video with Daddy
8th month--wearing Auburn hat after a BIG WIN!

9th month--checkup at doctor
10th month--dishwasher climber

11th month--showing off fangs
12th month--rocking the chopsticks

Ladybug cups

ladybugs leading the way to the party

gotta decorate the front door frog

Here are pictures leading up to the party. Thankfully I have an awesome family who knew I needed time to finish getting the house ready for the party. Gryffyn went down for a nap at 9am and Dan took Hannah to the park close to our house for a little over an hour. I was able to finish getting everything ready without a 2-year-old or 1-year-old being underfoot...very relaxing.

Hannah saying "woo-hoo" for a party!

While Gryffyn continued to nap, Hannah rode her bike on the driveway.

Armani arrives in a pretty pink party dress!

I think Gryffyn likes her swimsuit, but doesn't completely understand how to wear it.

standing with Armani's help before swim time

saying hi to Cheyenne, or stealing her toy

Cheyenne Meadows

"swimming is fun, but licking the gate is more fun!"

Neleze and Cheyenne Meadows

Bink "borrowed" Eeyore during his nap time. We are so happy he and his fiancee made it to the party! They had a wedding to attend last night, a triathlon to compete in this morning, and then came to the party.

The big ladybug cake: Strawberry cake (with 2 1/2 cups real strawberries) and cream cheese frosting. I made it ALL, except for the chocolate edging. It turned out pretty good for my first cake!

I also made a Gryffyn size cake.

Share and share alike...

Kristin and Bink

Shannon and Cheyenne

We played pass the baby a few times, but everybody knows that I am Cheyenne's FAVORITE (outside of family) because we are BIRTHDAY BUDDIES. We share the COOLEST birth date ever...August 27th!

It was a GREAT day, but I am EXHAUSTED! So goodnight to all!