We celebrated Aubrey's first birthday last Sunday evening with our friends the Crane's, and our friend Melissa and her sister, Emily. Melissa was a nanny for one of the families in our ward in Bonn. She just graduated from BYU and came out to NY with her sister. Melissa held Aubrey when she was just a few days old so it was really neat to her here as we celebrated Aubrey's birthday. The pink cake was a big hit. Aaron was so excited when he saw the cake that he picked it up and brought it over to Aubrey who was sitting in the living room. Fortunately, he quickly and carefully obeyed when I asked him to put the cake right back where it was. We sang happy birthday and the boys helped Aubrey blow out the candle. Aubrey was quite the dainty eater. She would take little pinches of her cake and then gracefully put them in her mouth. Her before and after pictures are not as dramatic as the boys were. Aubrey is a sweet and adventurous spirit and we are so glad to have her in our family!
The big changes in the kitchen were: knocking down the wall on the left, moving and replacing the window, removing the soffits, replacing the cabinetry, and countertops, replacing the appliances, replacing the old lighting with recessed lighting, pendant lights, and undercabinet lighting, and replacing the vinyl flooring with hardwood. We added knee walls and columns to the separate the dining/kitchen area from the living room. It really makes a nice transition between the rooms.
