Her first Birthday!!!

Our little girl turns one! What a wonderful year it has been, and we sure love our Katelyn Ruth dearly. She brings a ton of joy into our lives.
Her breakfast before we dashed off to church. :) After the service we went to the Windmill for lunch, back home for a rest, and then to the evening service. Then we all went to Henry and Heather's for a BBQ/celebration.

Katelyn is eating a pizza bun. :)

Everyone finding something to munch on.

The guys watching the sausages and hamburgers. Brad is a great bbq-er. :)

Rocking her cousin Jordan - she can do that now, cause she's one. She's big.

Then she had her cake brought to her (video below) and started in on her presents. I wished I could have gotten a traditional cake eating messy shot, but Katelyn didn't want to eat cake, and it was already getting late and on the fussy side, so we skipped it. :) But she did enjoy her presents, and here she's holding her little lamb from Aleita and puzzle from Valerie. :) She was blessed with gifts. :)

Auntie Nelly gave her an adorable teddy bear and a muffin - because at the Windmill, she's known as 'muffin'.

Uncle Marv, Aunt Marlene and the cousins came for the wedding last weekend, and they brought Katelyn a puppy. :) It is a cutie, and Katelyn loves dogs, but with everyone's blessing, we passed the dog onto a co-worker at the Windmill. But I'm sure when Katelyn is bigger she'll want her own little dog.

Uncle William pushed her around the yard with the puppy running alongside...it was so cute, and Katelyn giggled quite hard.

A Wedding and a Cake

Saturday was the wedding of Corinne and Gideon - sort of almost family to the Heikoops. Corinne is a cousin to Marvin - my sister in law's husband. :) It was a nice wedding, and Katelyn did well sitting through the wedding surrounded by animal crackers and toys. :) No flash photography occurred during the wedding, so that's the only picture from the ceremony.
We sang at the reception - "We Will Fly". It was fun to sing a song from my family's days with my new family. :) And it was nice to play guitars with my man.

The engaged couple...Ben and Deanna. :) To be married in less than 70 days! :) Congratulations to you two. September 3rd is coming up! And I get a new sista in law.

They are rather a nice couple I'd have to say. :)

The bride and groom with their cake...

Very happy too.

And here's Katelyn eating her first cake- angel food with strawberries and cream. She loved it. :)

When we returned home, and put the pre-birthday girl to bed James and I worked on her birthday cake til midnight. I went cooky and James was wonderful. It was kinda fun, except for the being very tired part. :)

The cake turned out cute - and James was the smart guy who thought of the number one on the top. (another cake layer) I'm so glad to be married to a baker. :)

around and about

We set up a kiddie pool in the backyard but Katelyn didn't like the idea of going in the water. She was rather terrified which seems funny, as she loves her baths, but oh well. She'll love the water one day. :)

Daddy and Kate surveying the rhubarb patch out back. James is making a lot of strawberry/rhubarb pies lately... :)

Katelyn playing with Oma's dolly. She loves playing with a baby doll which is rather adorable. It's so neat to see how they have that God-given mothering sense so young.

A bunch of us girls from the Windmill went bowling one night, and of course, Katelyn came along. :) She loved rolling the balls.

Camera case in hand and blue ball ahead - life is good. :)

Eleven Months!

Only one more picture to take before we have all twelve months! :) Katelyn has been so good and cute on top of that. :)
"Are you serious...I am almost one?"

Anne-Marie's Visit and Lots of Happenings!

On a walk with the cutie.

Doesn't that smile warm the cockles of your little heart?

This was up in Lion's Head for a friend, Alicyn's wedding. Anne-Marie flew in to Hamilton and stayed with us for a couple weeks, as she and Nelly were both bridesmaids for the wedding!

Nelly did the flowers for the wedding...and in between my frantic practicing (I was the pianist) I helped out a bit.)

Katelyn was soo good as she wandered the church, and A-M helped keep an eye on her on the Friday before the wedding. We went up on Thursday so we were a few days away from James, but he joined us for the wedding.

The rehearsal dinner. One of the tables.

The piano and some flowers. :)

The rehearsal. :) Playing for the rehearsal, well, it went awful...I felt so bad. I had never played for a wedding before, and had just gotten the music 2 1/2 weeks before. I am so not a solo pianist, but was honored to play for this lovely wedding. :) Lots of prayer and more practicing....

...and the day of, the Lord gave me peace and steady fingers, and it went really well. I was sooo thankful!

After the wedding! My man came up with a few of the family...

The 'get away' car. :) So nice.

The girls with the bride and groom. They all looked so lovely - and I was thrilled to be related to two of them!

Auntie Diane and muffin at the reception. Such a cute pair.

The reception was held on the Chi-chi-mon ferry boat in Tobermory, ON. Such a pretty view. Us sisters and daughter.

All of us girls.

And me and my James.

Alicyn and Jonathon McAlpine. Such a perfect match.

This is my only 'pro' picture... :) I thought it was decent enough with my camera. :)

Laughter and smiles.

Cutting of the cake. :)

The boat. :)

Then the next day, we went to a native church that Rob helped out a few years ago, and then traveled the long way home. We stopped by Lake Huron for a few minutes, to get out, and Katelyn got her first feel of water with waves. She loved it!!

The threesome of us. :)

The next day we went mini-golfing after a lovely supper at William's and Diane's place. :)

Anne-Marie - the winner of the evening! :)

Katelyn loved watching the golf balls move - and did her famous little squeal!

The railway track...my ball is the purple ball to the bottom right of the picture - almost at the hole. :)

Trying again and again....

Then the next day, we planted our very own garden. :) Katelyn loved being in the dirt!

She got so dirty by the end of the evening. :) We planted cucumbers, watermelon, honeydew, zuchinni, tomatoes, onions, carrots, peppers, lettuce, potatoes, parsley, mint, dill, and basil. :)

We had the pleasure of having Ronnie and Elizabeth over for a meal one evening. :) Lots of fun as we caught up with each other.

The newlywed couples. :) We were married one year and one day a part.

And we went garage sailing with Breanne and the little princesses. :) We all got some lovely things, and then went out to a Thai restaurant afterwards. (A-M took this picture)

At B&J's apartment after we dropped them off.

Anne-Marie and I had a fun time together getting our feet done. One of the first times for both of us. Katelyn did sit on my lap for almost an hour, and amused all the girls that worked at the salon. She shared her animal crackers, had her picture taken, and smiled at them. :)

The end result. :)

Then it was on 2nd Anniversary!!! We celebrated it by all four of us going canoeing down the Grand River. :) Here's the three of us. :)

Anne-Marie and the little rafter. :)

We took her car seat in the canoe and she feel asleep for most of the 1 1/2 hours in the water. :) Such a cutie.

And she wanted to touch the water - under supervision.

Canoeing. :)

The littlest Heikoops...

Isn't she a dolly? :) A little sailor in her sunhat.

The three ladies. :)

Then Anne-Marie was so sweet to watch Katelyn for a while so we could go out for supper. :)

Me. :)

Then we had dessert from Dairy Queen. :) A dipped cone in a cup just like Charissa does. :)

Katelyn loved Auntie Annie's purse during these past two weeks...it amused her so much!

At the horse farm down the road. Hannah (a niece) works there, and took Anne-Marie and Kate on a tour. :) It was Katelyn's first time seeing many of those animals: a goat, chickens, donkey, horses, a pony...etc. :)

At the park. :)

Sliding down... :)

Katelyn amused herself by wandering around the court while we played tennis with A-M and Tim. She loved going after the stray ball, or finding an old apple core to eat... :( but it's better than the bird wings that were scattered around one side. :)

Off for a game of tennis.

Nelly came and visited at the end.

The day Anne-Marie left - taking Katelyn out in her car.

Away they go. :) Such a cute pair - and it was so lovely to have Anne-Marie all to myself for a while, and have some sister time. Love her so much - and so thankful for all she did for us. :) Til next time!