Lydia is 1!

Where did this last year go? I am amazed that Lydia is already one year old! A lot has happened this last year -- Lydia's surgery, living in the States for almost six months, moving back to Brazil. However, now that her birthday is here, it seems as though the last year flew by.

I'm trying to keep up my mom's tradition of making a special cake for the girls' birthdays. As soon as I found a package of ladybug stickers for Lydia's helmet, I knew what I wanted to make for her cake. My mom found a dress with ladybugs for Lydia, so I knew there was no backing out!

I stayed up until 3:00 in the morning, baking the yellow and chocolate cake from scratch, making the icing, and decorating it, but I think it turned out pretty good.

Lydia's ladybug cake

We invited a few friends over to enjoy some cake and ice cream, but most of the pictures are ones we took before we cut apart the masterpiece.

Lydia and Emily

I had to add a couple pictures of Mike and me since usually our blog is limited to showing pictures of the girls.

Lydia and "Mommy"

Lydia and "Daddy"

I caught this one right before she scooped a finger full of icing from the cake

I had to add one picture of Lydia with her helmet that inspired that cake design. Although I think she was pictured-out by the time we put the helmet on.

Ladybug stickers on helmet, ladybug dress, and ladybug cake

Oooh, it's squishy.

Yay! I made a mess!

Lydia's mouth was sooooo red by the time she was done!

Happy birthday Lydia! It's been a crazy year, but you are such a trooper! You always bring a smile to our faces and we look forward to see what the next year holds!

~Kelli