Bentley's 1st Birthday

I can't believe it really happened, but our baby is no longer a baby...she turned 1! 

Every day I realize how quickly she's growing up and becoming a little toddler, rather than a baby. Although she's not walking yet, she crawls around everywhere and pulls herself up on anything. She's a busy little girl, constantly discovering new places to go and things to play with. She loves helping me sort the laundry, find food in the pantry, and clean out the tupperware cupboard. What a good little helper I have! I actually put together a poster for her birthday of things she loves to do, foods she likes, etc. 

She's a pretty good little eater. Sometimes it is hard to get vegetables down her, but she will eat some and is really good otherwise. Her favorite foods that she gets really excited about are her oatmeal cereal, hummus, and yogourt (this is a new one). When we bring out any of these things she flaps her arms, smiles and giggles with excitement. She's got 5 teeth now, and one more coming in very soon! She just learned to clap at things, which is so adorable, and she can wave, but doesn't always do that on command. As for the things she loves, I think people would be the highlight. There's never a day where I want to stay home because this girl will go crazy if she doesn't get out of the house and see some other people. She especially loves to watch other little girls and boys and will point at them. Luckily she's got a great smile that she flashes at everyone so they don't mind being pointed at! She smiles and giggles constantly, and also loves to give hugs and slobbery kisses to other kids. She's definitely a happy girl!!

Well, for her birthday I couldn't help but throw a big party for her! She's my only child right now and I've been waiting to throw a cute party. So I went all out and invited my whole family, Jeff's family, and a couple of close friends. My family is especially large, so it gets big even to just invite family! The theme I went with was a "Winter Onederland." I thought it'd be cute because it's cold outside in January and I thought the party could be a place to warm up with hot chocolate and soup. I didn't realize it would be a chinook and 12 degrees outside...I should've done a bbq! I stuck with it, though, and it was delicious anyway. When people came in the door I had made a Time Capsule for Bentley to open when she's 18, so I made people guess what they think she'll be when she grows up. Then when everyone showed up, we started eating soup, buns, hot chocolate, veggies, and other goodies. I had some help from Cindy, Kellie, and Lena with the food, which was SO much appreciated! After eating, we sang happy birthday to Bentley and gave her a cake, which I had made (my first attempt, which actually turned out pretty decent). We put her on the ground to see if she would smash the cake, but Daddy put her hand in it for her and she was not very happy about that. I don't think she liked being dirty! She didn't even want to try the icing. So...the cake smash failed, but made for a funny video. Then we had Bentley open her gifts, and I didn't realize how spoiled she'd get! She sure does have some great family and friends! She loved all her new toys and clothes. We also had a cookie decorating table for the kids where they decorated snowflakes with different kinds of icing and sprinkles. I made a coloring table upstairs as well, which the kids seemed to enjoy. It all went very well and Bentley was happy the whole time. She loved having lots of people over!

  I asked Joce to take some pictures of Bentley for me and although she had a very busy day and wasn't feeling the greatest, she took some anyway. I was so happy with how they turned out!!

Well I have a 1 year old now! This girl is such a joy. She has the most contagious smile, loves to be a goof, and giggles at things with me all the time. Along with my husband, she's my best friend, and I can only hope we will continue to be best friends all our lives. Happy Birthday Sweet Heart!!

Christmas and New Years

Before we knew it, Christmas was over and it was the new year! I seriously can't believe how time flies, especially when you're having fun!

We had a great Christmas this year. I had a little more fun than Jeff because he happened to be sick on Christmas day which was a bummer, but we had a lot of celebrations beforehand which were great. Scott and Kellie threw a fun ugly sweater party and, with the help of my mom, I made some pretty sweet ugly sweaters. We did a white elephant gift exchange, ate plenty of yummy food, and played some fun games. 

We also went out for dinner, kid free, with all my siblings and my parents. We decided to try a new place called Santorini, a Greek restaurant. We ordered a full meal deal in which different courses were brought to us throughout the night and it was super delicious! We also had to finish it off with some Baklava, which was amazing. We had a great night chatting with everyone, although my dad wasn't feeling well which was too bad. 
We also attended another dinner put on by the company Jeff works for. It was some super delicious food as well, although it took forever for cocktail hour to end and the dinner to begin. It was really nice to get away from Bentley for all of these events, although I did feel bad that two of them were on the same weekend! She was a trooper though when we kept having to wake her up and take her home from whoever was watching her.
We took a trip to Cardston as well to celebrate Christmas with my Cooper grandparents. They weren't coming to Calgary this year so we brought Christmas to them. We ate some dinner and my mom put a little gift exchange together which was really fun. We actually drove there and back in the same day, but it was so nice because Bentley slept the entire way there and back! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures with my grandparents (I regret that now!), but I have one of me and my cousin, Devvyn to share. My grandpa wasn't feeling very well and it was very sad to see him that way, but we at least brought him some happiness for a little while and hopefully cheered him up.

 
 My best friend, Sarah, came home for Christmas (she's been living in Baltimore for Dane's job) and so it was fun to see her and her little boy, Parker. We took him and Bentley to Edo for lunch and hung out for the day. I do miss having her around more often!

 I also took Bentley to the mall just before Christmas and she had a great time at the cookie decorating centre with her friend Lucy. We tried the Santa picture again with no good results, unfortunately. It's always good for a laugh though!

When Christmas Eve came, we spent the evening with my family. We all gathered at Joce and Jeff's house this time and ate a variety of appetizers as well as ham. Then we had our traditional talent show and nativity, where Dad's magic is always a highlight and the kids play piano and act out skits. One day Bentley will be old enough to participate, but we sure have fun watching the others! It's always a great time to get everyone together. We also open our presents with my parents that night, so they came to our house afterwards to exchange gifts with us. It was a lot of fun and we always get too spoiled! I really liked the date night package my mom put together for us and the beautiful painting of the Saviour we received. I got my mom some funky lamps for her living room, as she had been talking about wanting a change, and for my dad a travel kit with talk tapes, chocolate and packing cases. Bentley also got spoiled with toys, books and clothes!
The next day was Christmas! We headed over to the Ady's house at 9am for present opening. Again, we got very spoiled with coats, clothes, spa packages, chocolate, and much more. Bentley got some fun stuff as well, we were definitely in need of some new toys! She loved playing with her new toy that Daddy gave her, a stand up baby entertainment system. We had a great time and once again Justin and Brent were both able to be there as well as Scott and Kellie, Don and Cindy, and the grandparents. After presents came a delicious breakfast, and then lots of games. Before dinner we went home to shower and get out of our pjs and then came back for some turkey. It was a pretty great day!
Jeff had most of the next week off as well so I had a pretty long and relaxing vacation. Of course sleeping in is never an option anymore, but besides that it was very nice. I even got to go to the mall by myself that week and buy some new clothes. Usually going by myself wouldn't be fun, but I enjoyed it more than anything. It was great to be Bentley free at the mall, since I never really am! We also got to go see the movie Hunger Games while Don and Cindy babysat for us, so that was a treat as well.
Our little Bentley had a great first Christmas, although she was just getting over being sick on Christmas day. She didn't really know what was going on, but always enjoys lots of people and the wrapping paper was fun for her as well. 

A week later it was New Years Eve and Melissa had asked me if we wanted to host a party together. We decided to go for it, but just do something small that started early and wouldn't last until midnight. I knew I wouldn't get to sleep in the next day, so I really didn't care to stay up late! How old are we right? We also told our friends that kids were invited so we wouldn't have to find babysitters. The night turned out really fun!! We asked everyone to bring an appetizer or dessert, and Melissa and I supplied quite a few appy's and drinks ourselves. There was a ton of food and it was so delicious! After eating we had a few games lined up. The first was unwrapping a big ball of wrapping paper and gifts distributed throughout it, while the next person in the circle rolled the dice until a certain number meant it was their turn to unwrap. I had made this big ball and taped it pretty good so it wasn't so easy to unwrap. I know it sounds like a teen game, but we actually had a great time with it! We also played Heads Up (the Ellen game) and Things In A Box. It was a fun night, and we ended up having 6 other couples there. Some put their kids to bed at my house for a bit, while others left early. We watched the ball drop in New York at 10pm our time and that was our celebration! 

We had some 2014 family photos taken by Tanis, and I really like them. Bentley was so good and usually just smiled when the camera was pointed at her. She's a little model! So I better share them...

Well, we had a great year. Bentley was born in January, which changed our lives completely. I realized how it feels to love someone so entirely. I'm a better person because of her, and I love watching her grow and laugh each day. I don't think there's anything better than hearing her giggle! We also bought and moved into our first home. Although I say first, this will probably be our last home as well. At least until we grow old and want to downsize. Jeff and I don't see a move anywhere in the near future and we are glad about that! Jeff also officially bought into his business with three other partners. It's been a crazy year physically, emotionally and financially, but it's only just beginning. Here's to another crazy but awesome year!!