Veta and Hazel helped Gemma to blow out her candle.

Gemma is now one year old!  We celebrated her birthday at a newly discovered Land Park (as thus referred to by Hazel to differentiate from the Water Park, which we frequent weekly) that had a fabulous castle-like toy and a lot of trees.  The girls enjoyed a lively game involving a princess in a tower with a dragon guard and a hero prince, followed by the birthday cake.  Gemma has now taken up to seven steps in a row and her four incoming teeth on top are finally starting to poke through her gums a little bit.  One of her new words is “hush,” which she learned from the mermaid lullaby I often sing to her to get her to sleep (thank you, Backyardigans!)  She likes to try and sing it with me and can hold a tune surprisingly well for a one-year-old!

Gemma loves her daddy to throw her in the air!

   

Gemma enjoyed feeding herself her cake with a little help from Veta,
although a lot of it ended up on her face and in her lap!  I'm so glad
we did it outside!

                   

While I was in the shower the other night, Hazel took it upon herself to put Gemma to sleep.  I don’t know how she managed to get Gemma to cooperate, but somehow Hazel tucked her in with a couple of stuffed animals and rocked her to sleep.  My girls are so wonderful!