Happy Birthday, Maddie Mae! (Part 2 of 2)

My parents drove me and Maddie down to Pasadena to meet up with Brant and help us move into our new apartment. It was an overwhelming blessing to have them with us, helping us get settled and making our home feel more like a home. Thank you, again, Mom and Dad for being here for us.

One of the benefits of having them down here with us was the opportunity to celebrate Maddie's birthday with family in our new town. We celebrated by leaving our disorganized apartment for the afternoon, and driving to Santa Monica! We had a great time walking along the beach, exploring the pier, and putting our feet in the water. It was very crowded, but very Californian and warm! :) We are excited to make many trips to the beach, hopefully a few times every month! Wohoo!

Mom, Brant and Maddie, basking in the sunshine!Brant totally fits in as a southern Californian. We are going to like it here!Along the beach, they have all sorts of bars and rings to workout on. I, on the other hand, took the opportunity to swing and play on the rings because they looked like fun. :)The Birthday Girl!Tucker is not able to live with us in our apartment in Pasadena. Another huge blessing from my parents is the fact that they are letting Tucker live at their house. This is amazing for many reasons, but also very hard and sad for us. We miss him a lot. He was able to be with us for the few days my parents were here, before they left for Portland.Our little walker! She is so close!!My wonderful parents, loving the California sun!Us!Me and my girl.Grandpa and his Maddie Mae, dipping their toes in the surf.Maddie got a new set (her first set) of wooden blocks. They sure do taste good!
She loved listening to us sing to her!
Time for real birthday cake...hmmm...she isn't too sure about this sugar thing...
Maybe it isn't so bad!That is about all Maddie wanted to do with the cake. I think it was a little late in the day for her, as she was acting tired and not too interested. But it was still photo-worthy!
Saturday brought Maddie's true, real 1st birthday. We gave our gift to her - a new walker/car-type toy. It is super fun and she loves it! We love it too - there are no battery operated sound affects! :)Finally, a few pictures of Maddie enjoying her new bedroom. She got a fun new chair from Grammy and Pop-pop, which she LOVES to climb up and sit in, while "reading" her favorite books. Cute!!I can't believe this was where we were a year ago...And look at us now!Happy Birthday, Sweet Madelyn!! We love you forever!!