Joel is 1!!

Stripped down and ready for cake! Notice that he's digging in before the candle has even been blown out- Naomi took care of that for him
Utensils are highly overrated!
He was mad because there wasn't more cake to eat
Clean-up time!

I love you, Baby

A year ago today, Baby took her last trip to the vet. Those were the last words I said to her. I had actually planned on blogging about what happened that day, but my vision is being obscured with tears just thinking about it. I guess nobody gets to know except Baby and me.

A Trip to the Firestation

The other day our new firestation had an open house, so I figured it'd be a good field trip for Hope. Off to the fire station we went. Hope got a fireman's hat when we first arrived. We saw their classroom, library, kitchen and living areas, workout room, and office areas. They showed Hope all their gear they had to wear, and then she got to explore the fire engine a little.
Of course, the highlight for Hope was the firedog mascot Sparky. When then said they had a mascot, I thought they might actually have a real dog; she would've been even more excited about that!
Right before we left, the alarms went off and the firemen had to go save somebody. It was fun for her to hear the alarms and hear the dispatcher tell them all the info she had, watch them bolt for the truck and take off.
So now Hope is the expert at all things relating to fire. We have our fire safety coloring book, fire escape plan (sans schedule for fire drills), and firehats for all the junior firefighters stationed at our house.