The Day We Finally Celebrated Brooke's 1st Birthday

So today Brooke was finally feeling well enough that we decided we could (finally) officially celebrate her first birthday. Katelyn and I started out her special day by bursting into her room and singing to her. She loved it and actually clapped and squealed to show her appreciation... so of course we kept singing and she kept clapping. The next big event for Brooke was getting to ride forward facing in her car seat. At first when I put her in her seat, she kept turning around looking at the back of the van, but as soon as I buckled her in she wasn't at all confused anymore and started grinning from ear to ear.

That evening Brooke got to go to Build-A-Bear and pick out her own stuffed animal (with quite a bit of help from her very eager big sister). She ended up with a Build-A-Bunny which she loves to snuggle with. She also enjoyed when the employees rang the birthday bell and sang "Happy Birthday" to her. That was definitely Kyle's favorite part too :)After that much excitement we decided to head home and let Brooke try her birthday cake. At first she wasn't quite sure what to do with it. In fact, it wasn't until I gave her a taste of frosting on my finger that she actually knew it was something she should eat. Once she started, she didn't stop. She just slowed down enough to drink a bottle of milk and then she was right back at it. Most of the time she made "yummy" noises while she ate... she thoroughly enjoyed herself.
Katelyn waited as patiently as she could for a taste, but eventually resorted to licking frosting off the highchair and Brooke's elbow. Brooke eventually shared, but she teased Katelyn a little bit too. They both loved the cake, so much that when Brooke was done, Katelyn asked if she could have a "piece" of the cake even though it no longer resembled anything but a pile of soggy cake and frosting remnants.

Here is a video of Brooke and her 1st birthday cake.
With Brooke on a nice sugar buzz we gave her a quick bath to clean off the frosting and then she was ready for present time. Her first present was a darling baby doll from Grandma Carol which she loved, but she was anxious to get to the package from Katelyn.She didn't want to unwrap it however, she wanted to ride it. Here is a video of how well that turned out.
After recovering from that, she continued to open her presents and enjoy herself. Then it was time for cake #2 - a triple layer chocolate torte. I don't think Brooke fully appreciated cake #2 but she loved that it involved more singing and more frosting because she did more clapping. It was a wonderful day and she definitely enjoys partying one year old style.