Gingerbread Birthday Bonanza!

It was a gingerbread birthday bonanza tonight at the Barrett's house! Miss Sidney turned 1-year-old today, and she had a party to end all parties. Her party guests included her big sisters Camden and Riley, Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa and Grandma Barrett, Grandpa and Grandma Taylor, and Aunt Tiffy. As you can see from the pictures, she loved her dinner which consisted of chicken pot pie and crackers. She also loved the gifts from everybody, and when the gingerbread girl cake was placed in front of her, she couldn't quite believe that she was really allowed to dig into it. She thought that would be too good to be true, but when she figured out that she wasn't dreaming, and she really could have the cake all to herself, she certainly dug in. In fact, the cake had to be removed at one point because she was eating all of the frosting too fast :-) She also got to try ice cream for the first time tonight, and by giving it to her, I think Lindy has created a little ice cream monster--she loved it! Lindy decorated the house to look like the inside of a gingerbread house, and Sidney got all kinds of fun presents. She wished that Cousin Eliza, Auntie Sarah, Uncle Joel, and Uncle Rich could have been there tonight, but she was glad that they at least sent presents. Because I too gave her presents, she decided that she likes me now. She didn't when we first got there this evening--she was very suspicious of the mysterious stranger who had returned for the second night in a row, but we bonded when we ate chicken pot pie together, and she decided that I kind of fit in with the rest of the family.

It's pretty cold outside here, but we haven't had any snow since Thursday--unlike the Midwest which is getting hammered with winter storms again. Poor Greg is snowed-in up in Athens. I think that I made it home during the small window of good weather--because today they cancelled a bunch of flights out of Chicago again. Tomorrow we will be having more birthday celebrations here--this time for Mom. Since I arrived home kind of late on her birthday on Thursday, we decided to wait and have the party on Sunday afternoon when everyone can be here. So the birthday celebrations will continue! It will be fun to go to church here tomorrow and see all of the ward friends. I haven't seen them since last April! Next week all of my social engagements will begin--I have many people that I will be having lunch with, many visits to make, and many errands to run. It should be a busy but very fun pre-Christmas week.