Happy Birthday to Penn Rye!

All day today Tavin has been singing, "Happy Birthday to Penn Rye..." so that had to be today's title.  It was a family affair celebrating the youngest member's first birthday.  That's why we decided to go out for a family treat...pizza!  Koen and Tavin LOVE going out for pizza and they do so well with the restaurant wait and then they chow down!  Penn had a funky day actually running a fever again (who knows why this time) and so he wasn't very adventurous in the food department and wasn't interested in trying pizza, but he did enjoy his baby food as usual.  We brought his cards and present with us.  That was so fun to watch. Here he is enjoying his homemade card from Tavin (Tavin says that it says, "Happy Birthday to Penn Rye, I love you.").

Koen's card was very clever.  He said, "We are Penn's fans."  He came up with that on his own (if you don't know, the Pens are the hockey team here, so it's a play on words).

Next Penn "read" Aunt Abbie's card.  He's very thoughtful.

Then he opened his card and present from Gramma and Grampa. The card was fuzzy and he loved that.

But he was super excited about the book he received.  It has a big button you push that makes a funny monkey sound.  He caught on right away and did it over and over and over...

Here are the big brother on-lookers.  So patient with all the attention on Penn (and no pizza at this point).

When our pizza came the attention shifted from Penn to satiating those T-Rex-sized appetites Koen and Tavin have.  They ate an incredible amount of pizza and Penn played with Tupperware and random toys I had in my diaper bag.  Finally after the pizza was cleared, our server brought over a surprise piece of chocolate cake for Penn (she thought he was so cute and was super sweet about it being his birthday).  Penn wasn't in the adventurous mood, but we attempted a bite anyways (he denied it).

That was OK though because the rest of us split it and polished off just fine.  Here's Penn and I at the close of our celebratory dinner out.  I can't believe my baby is one!

And of course, just to pull at my heart strings and yours.  Here's a glimpse of Penn exactly one year ago upon his arrival on 6/26/2012.

Oh, Penn.  Happy Birthday!  I can't believe it's been a year.  In some ways it seems to have gone so quickly, but as I think back through all the sweet memories, all the ways you've changed, all you've learned, how you've grown, I know it's been a big year.  You have been such a blessing to me.  We've shared moments when I could just cry because I was frustrated, scared or overwhelmed with life at the moment and no one else would know.  We've had super silly tickle-fests as I blow kisses on your tummy or nuzzle my nose in your neck.  I love our prayer times before your naps and bedtime...just me, you and the Lord - so many important, comforting and personal conversations.  The countless snuggles have been so precious to me and I will hold them dear to my heart for the rest of my life.  Your sweet smile that so easily appears has warmed my heart, brought me joy and changed the tone of my days on so many occasions.  This year has been amazing enjoying you and the addition you are to our family.  I thank God every day for you, Penn.  I love you.  (Starting to tear up, so I'm going to end now before my keyboard gets soaked).