blowout birthday bash

"Oh, great I've just been invited to a 1 year old birthday party!  I hope I'll have a legit excuse of why I can't attend."

The only people that would really want to attend a one year olds birthday, other than the parents, are the grandparents.  I thought about not having a party for RA, but it was out of the question!  Aaron and I had survived year 1, and we NEEDED to celebrate.  If not to celebrate her life, to celebrate us still being alive through it all plus celebrate all the SUPPORT we'd had weathering the storms and celebrating the joys!  We had to have a party!  My thought was if we had delicious snacks and cocktails then there was no way people couldn't have fun.  For those who felt like they were stuck in their worst nightmare they could have a martini and forget there were dozens of wild hipped up on sugar children running around in a way too small house because you can't throw an outdoor party in Sitka because it WILL rain.  Then Aaron asked if we could make the party alcohol free, we had a wide variety of friends coming with different alcohol backgrounds and he thought it would be more respectful of them to just serve punch.  Ok, no drinking your blues away. 

Somehow, because I have GREAT friends that are willing to give this 1st birthday party thing a shot, I think the party might have been a success.  Sadly we had no blood family there, but it felt like everyone there loved us in the gracious way family does, even when your house is too small and the kids are too loud and the cake isn't gluten free. 

Ruthann was such a joy to watch at her party.  By looking at her trucking around on all fours, it is as if she knew the party was for her, she knew she was the host.  She was so kind making her way to greet everyone that entered, smiling and cooing and sitting in the middle of the room clapping her hands and watching the bigger kids zipping around doing cool bigger kids things.

However, when it came time for her candle to be lit and the birthday song to be sung she did look like she wanted to hide in the other room, decided she didn't want to blow out her candle after all, decided Puffin was way cooler, so were her friends and this socializing was WAY better than cake!  Plus, candles are dangerous and will singe your eyebrows (that is what happened while practicing blowing out candles, oops).

 I enjoyed looking around the room and feeling love.  I truly FELT it. 

Ruthann did too.

So to those of you who came, thanks.  For those of you who couldn't, well if you're reading this blog I know if you would have if you had had a telaporter. 

And you can still participate in our one fun party game!  So grab your uncomfortable party hat, blow your party favor and get ready to play....

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW RUTHANN?
(Answers to follow... they will not be upside down though)

Q1:What would have been RAs name if she were a boy?
Q2: What is RAs nickname?
Q3: Where was RAs first trip?
Q4: What mnts. in Sitka has RA climbed?
Q5: Name 3 places outside of Sitka that RA has visited?
Q6: What was RAs first solid food?
Q7: What is RAs most prized possession?
Q8: How many teeth does RA have?
Q9: When did RA begin crawling?
Q10: What percentile, for weight, is Ruthann?

A1: Isaac Rutherford, Aaron liked Isaac, Rutherford was my grandfathers name
A2: Squeaks or Squeakers, she received this nickname week 1
A3: Juneau, Aaron had a YL conference, RA was 6 weeks old.  We ferried over
A4: She's climbed 2 mnts.: Verstovia was her first at 10 weeks, she's climbed that twice and Gaven several times!
A5: Juneau (month 2 and a month ago), Anchorage (month 2), Oregon (month3),  SC (month 4 and month 10), Brazil (month 10)
A6: Avocado, the only food she doesn't like now.  Her second food was sweet potatoes.
A7: Her water bottle, yes, weird.
A8: 0, this was a trick question sorry.
A9: month 11, she scooted for a week before she began crawling and still crawls happily today.
A10: Her parents had no idea on this one either!  But RA is in the 75th percentile at 23.0 pounds on her actual birthday.  Until recently she has been above the 90th percentile.

Pre party festivities... Thanks Grandma Oregon for the clothes!

Thanks SC abuelita for the books!

Braydon I'm so glad you're my neighbor!

Here is the food spread!

The sunshine cake for our sunshine baby!

learning to be alaskan

Ruthann smelled the yummy smoked salmon, so did Puffin!

belly meat... this is red salmon, my favorite type to eat smoked!

Ruthann learned how to pick berries from our yard this day.  She also ate lots of leaves. 

Here's me teaching her the ropes.

Here's all the chicks, can you find the rooster?  oops!

Here is Ruthann naked on a warm warm Sitka day, (we're drinking milkshakes) those do happen every now and again.

We were going to go out to Barnoff Warm Springs to soak in the hot tubs but the bad weather kept us away.  Ruthann was actually singing in this picture.  We keep her in a cooler when we go out on the boat. 

Here is Ruthann on her first trip out to Pirate's Cove, she loved the dirt!

She's been hiking on the trails nearly everyday!

Here is Ruthann on her 2nd summit of Verstovia

This is the Routon family out on a boat ride on a sunny day!  Can you imagine a happier baby? 

One mornings catch... my mouth is drooling just looking at it.

Alaskan sized burger.... don't worry we split it 4 ways!

IT has been so fun introducing Ruthann to the Alaska I first fell in love with 8 summers ago.  Ruthann hasn't missed a beat.  She gladly joins us in all of our crazy endeavors.  We have yet to find an adventure that she hasn't loved.  She doesn't even seem to mind crazy rainy boat rides.  While hiking up mountains she just sings tunes the whole way.  We typically climb Gaven Mnt. every week and when her dad joins us for hikes we like to go up Verstovia.  Every day Ruthann goes and hangs out with our newly acquired chickens and she can't get enough of the berries.  She has eaten her weight in salmon and even shares her leftovers (which their is rarely any of) with her favorite puppy dog.  Puffin puts up with her as she is learning to pet her and not pull her fur.  Often times their time ends with RA getting licked to death.  Ruthann laughs and laughs.  Her 1st birthday is Saturday.  I can't believe it!  We've got so much more to do, learn and experience together in what I can already tell is going to be time that passes too quickly!