Birthday Celebration!

Vivi turned One!

and I cannot believe it!

Below are several of the pictures from her birthday celebration.

We had some friends and family over - water games outside (it was over 100) and then yummy food and of course, cake and ice cream!

the set-up

 This wasn't the best pictures - but I wanted to show all the cute balloon clusters - Daniel spent so much time putting this up! It was really sweet! 

And when they fell down, the kids had so much fun playing with them!

I was calling for Vivi to look at me, of course she didn't - but the other two friends did!

 Trying out the water!

 Ready to get out ;)

The Stapley's children (Joseph and Natalie)

 We had lot's of butterfly decorations, so when Daniel found this pinata - he snatched it up!

 

 Good friends - the Arters Eric and Sadie

 The set up outside - the kids just played and played. The grass was sopping wet afterwards!

 Getting a drink from the fountain

 My cousin Will's daughter - Josie

Vivi and her friend, Kieren's daughter.

Vovo Naty and Vivi

Singing Happy Birthday "Parabens"

Watermelon

Vivi's not much of a melon eater, but she has started to tolerate a little bit of watermelon, and by tolerate I mean that she actually puts it in her mouth, chomps on it a little while and then spits it out. (Before she wouldn't even put it in her mouth.)

So, her she is, chilaxin and eatin' watermelon. I was cracking up and had to get a video of her. She's so silly, just like her daddy!

What I can do...

Some of the cute little things Vivi can do...

- When we ask her what a monkey says, she makes a little monkey sound, "ooh, ooh, ooh" and smiles! (I have a picture of this, but believe or not, our camera broke during her party! Hopefully we can get the fotos off the memory card.)

- When we say, "Manda beijo" (send a kiss) - she puts her little hand on her mouth. Sometimes she starts to eat it or lick it, other times, she actually moves it back away from her mouth.
- She knows how to wave "tchau" (bye) - waves hand side to side.
- When we say, "Vem" (come here), she'll copy our hands by closing her hand (bringing her fingers to her palm) - she'll do this anytime she wants us to pick her up or get her.

- She loves to squat or bounce up and down, but doesn't walk much yet - she gets around way too fast by crawling.
- When we tell her "Vo te pegar" (I'm gonna get you), she crawls as fast as she can away and squeals so loud! We always end up laughing.
- When she doesn't want to eat anymore food, she'll start slapping the food on her tray as hard as she can, and laughs as she does it.
- When I brush her teeth at night, I have to tip her up-side-down to get her to open her mouth. She loves this and will always open her mouth when I do this.
- She absolutely loves balls, of all sizes - she'll even get excited about peas because they're round, but then spit them out once she's tried them.
- She loves the dog, but the cat more. The cat does not like her. Slight problem :)
- She is always captivated by Xuxa - a Brazilian woman who makes children's videos.
- Bed time is our favorite (at least I can say that since I'm typing) - because it's just Mama and Vivi time.
- She likes babies, but loves little kids - they can chase her around and she loves to be chased.
- At church, when we taker her out in the foyer, we'll ask her where Jesus is. She'll point to the picture of him they have on the wall. It's so sweet.

I could go on and on and on... How do they learn all of this in such a short period of time???

Eating her cake at her birthday party. 

Fulfilling her duty by making a huge mess!

(Do you like her butterfly cake and cupcakes we made?)

1 Year Update

Vivi turned One! 

I was on my way to work on the 31st and suddenly it hit me... Last year at about the same time, we were driving to the hospital, to give birth to our little girl! I was overwhelmed by the amazing love and joy that has filled my heart with her presence. We are truly blessed to have this sweet little spirit in our home.

Hole In The Rock

In Tempe, there's this great little place by the zoo called Hole in the Rock. There is literally a huge hole in the mountain(ish). 

It was a beautiful Saturday morning, so we decided to get out and take Vivi. These pictures are a couple of months old, when the weather was a little colder, hence the jackets.

 Starting out!

 Our little mountain climber!

 View from the "hole" in the rock

 Wild flowers growing out the side of the mountain - gotta love Arizona!

Tchau!

Stuck?

Vivi sometimes to get herself into some tough situations. 

I'll here her holler out for help. 

But she always manages to get out.

 Stuck under the chair - trying to get her toy

 Almost...

 Yep - success!

Just showing off!

Bed Time

Every night before we put Vivi to sleep, we have a bath, then put on our pajamas and then - it's off to brush our teeth. Vivi absolutely hated it when I brushed them at first. Then, one night, she started to like it and would actually let me brush them. She lets me do it every night (mostly) and will open her mouth and smile sometimes.
While we were taking this video, we are speaking Portuguese to her and sang a few songs that she likes. One is about the 5 little ducks. When the momma duck calls her little ducks, Vivi makes the duck hands. Then when the little ducks go out to play, she waves her arms. It's adorable!
Then there is the Happy Birthday Song. She always claps to this, so we sing it - a lot (and a lot is an understatement).
It's a long video, but has all kinds of good stuff. She's getting so big!