Feliz Cumpleaños, R.!

Time for our second birthday this month... Today R. turns 1! The countdown has been on for awhile as the big girls (especially 10 year old S.) LOVE celebrating the babies' birthdays with them. I don't know how many times S. has asked me in recent weeks how much longer until it was R.'s birthday, and last weekend she picked out a special dress for R. to wear when we celebrated. Now, when she told me she found a dress for R., I immediately thought of the dress she is wearing in the pictures. It was the dress Saret had on when she arrived to the hogar at 3 years old and has been stuffed into a drawer ever since. I knew it would be far too big on R. but clothing sizes don't matter at all to S., so I assumed it was the one she'd chosen. I was so pleasantly surprised when she later showed me the dress she'd set aside for R.'s birthday, and it was a cute little pink gingham dress. I don't know when the plan changed, but when I showed up at the hogar after school, R. was already dressed and ready in this pink dress... The one I suspected all along! S. was thrilled it was R.'s birthday (R. is BY FAR her favorite!) and was so proud of the fact that she'd gotten R. ready for her party all by herself. We tortured the kids by making them wait until dinner time to celebrate, but finally the time came...

I hope you like the pictures below! As you can see, smiling and looking at the camera for pictures aren't exactly things serious R. excels at!

 R. is a super picky eater and while I certainly hoped she'd try a marshmallow, I wasn't surprised when she refused to even hold it!

 It took a lot of tries, but we finally saw a smile!

 I never fail to forget to bring candles to our birthday parties... Seriously, every single time we have to use a match as a candle!

 Showing off his empty plate in hopes I'll reward him with a marshmallow!

A.M. loves birthdays more than any other person I've ever met. At each party we have for the kids, she asks me how many more months until it's every other child's birthday and then asks "Is that soon or far away?" Our little ritual makes me laugh!