Elise's First Birthday Party

Prepare yourself, this post is a doozie (as in quite looooong and lots of photos :)

We had Elise's birthday party at a building owned by the local church that hosts youth clubs, our Sunday evening church meetings, etc.

It turned out to be a great place to have it and we were very blessed to have many Slovak (and a few American) friends attend.  Of course we missed our families and other close friends, but we were thankful to at least be able to skype our families in!

I made these "polka dotted" cupcakes the day before her party, but somehow in transit they lost some of their icing and dots...oops.  They were still yummy.

The food table.  Jas made some delish BBQ chicken (covered by foil below) to add to our finger foods and it was a hit.

I cut out a bunch of dots beforehand and we had those in attendance sign a dot with a little birthday message for her.  I'll put them in her photo book and if she so desires, later in life she can read them :)

Mama and the birthday girl...goodness, I love her.

Zuzana made this beautiful cake for Elise as a sweet surprise.  It kind of put my poor cupcakes to shame, but it was incredibly sweet and tasty!  I'd say she's pretty talented...

(This isn't the greatest lighting shot, but I like it nonetheless)

E didn't quite get the whole candle blowing out deal (but really what one year old does?)...Dad took care of it for her :)

And here come the ever famous child-digs-in-cake-at-their-first-party pics:

I love how in that last one it looks like she's throwing up the I LOVE YOU sign!

Then it was time to open gifts (thanks everyone!).  Here is a shot where E actually helped in the opening (she didn't quite get that either...but I have a feeling it will come ;)

She wasn't thrilled to have that big bow on her head...but how cute is she, really!?!?  Then we took a mini photo shoot with the kiddos...

Cute kiddos.

And that's a birthday wrap.  Happy 1st Birthday, little!

TWELVE Months of Elise!

Today Elise turns ONE YEAR OLD!!

This one is a little blurry, but I love her expression.  And with that our monthly photos are complete...can. not. believe. it.  

How about a monthly recap?

Happy, Happy Birthday, sweet girl!  We are thankful that God created you and allowed us to be your parents.  You've filled our lives with such joy already and we look forward to watching you continually learn and grow.  You're a blessing...and you're SO loved!

On the Homefront

I've been a little absent from the blogging world lately...and as I was processing through why, here's what I came up with:

1)  I love this little blog here.  It has nothing to do with blog-followers, because well, that's not the goal of the blog.  It has everything to do with this space being my creative outlet.  I don't have much time to paint and draw as of late, but I can (usually) crank out a blog post and I really enjoy the picture-taking, life-updating, photo-editing process very very much.

I'm not fed up with blogging, that's not why I've been absent.   I'm here to stay :)

2)  I've just been tired lately.  Quite tired.  As lame as that sounds, it's true!

3)  Life has just been happening (maybe that's a big contributing factor to #2).  We've been busy, busy, but good busy, and a lot of things have been going on...

So, all that to say, we've just had a lot going on and I've been pooped :)  But I have been formulating this post in my head for awhile!  Here's the latest goings-on from the homefront...

A lot of my creative energies have been put into Elise's first birthday party preparations.  The theme is polka-dots (she told me that's what she wanted ;)  I've been cutting circles, planning her cupcakes, recruiting my hubby for a game or two, and thinking of lots of food options.  Still can't believe she'll be one on Monday!

I've also been working quite hard at meal planning these days.  Yes, I know, only approximately four years after we got married (haha).  I don't mind cooking, but I wouldn't say it's my forte.  I'm not great at it, just average.  But I have been being more intentional in planning and preparation and I'm seeing the fruit of my labor.  It's good stuff...especially this crock pot of mine :) (though as I look at this picture I'm cringing at the dirtiness on the outside...guess I should try to keep it as clean as the inside...whoops).

Elise started taking her first steps!!  She walked from one ottoman to the other one just this past week.  We were both quite excited.  We did catch a little of it on video and we'll get that up sometime.  She's also getting in quite a few teeth and expanding her vocab (uh-oh, ball, dada, mama, baby)....oh that girl is growing up.

And finally, here's our newest photo wall...many thanks to prinstagram.  I had them printed out and Jason's parents brought them over for us.  I have big plans to add many more to the wall (plus maybe a banner or some other fun things...we'll see how it takes shape).

And finally, two last random shots...

The general state of the floor...at least it's colorful, huh?

And this one, well, just because I like it :)

Hope your Thursday is a happy one!!

Little (almost) One Year Old!

We wanted to get some one year old shots of Elise, so Jason had the idea of taking her up to Koliba (a local park type area) for some outdoor photos.  It was a great idea.

My mom sent this little polka dotted balloon dress and I figured it was just right for her photo shoot.  The dress was perfect because her one year party theme will be polka dots...woot woot!  

(And yes those little tassel things are on sticks, but don't worry, she was under strict parental supervision ;)  No eyes were poked out in the photo-taking process, thankfully.)

We didn't get too many smiles out of her due to poor timing on our part (we had a pretty busy day and wanted to get these done, so we squeezed them in between nap times), but I love these pictures and want to remember that sweet little one year old face for years to come.  Goodness, please tell me it's a joke that she'll be ONE in a week and a half!!!

Happy soon-to-be Birthday little polka dotted cutie!

A Preview: She's Turning ONE!

Here is a preview shot from our little "Elise is turning ONE" photo shoot :)

I am currently in the process of editing the photos now, but let me just say, the girl is one small model of cuteness!

Stay tuned for more!

Today We Celebrate HIM!!!

Today we celebrate the birthday of my most favorite man in the world :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to an amazing husband, father, and best friend! 

 I LOVE YOU!

Biofarm

We got the chance to join our friends Boba, Kamil, and their lil cutie boy Filip for a trip to a local biofarm last week.

It was a good (but busy!) day for the farm and Elise seemed to enjoy it riding in her stroller.  Filip loved all the animals and made many animal sounds!  Elise, on the other hand, kept saying "woof woof" for everything...hehe :)

We saw some animals like these guys...

and we also hung out with this blind-in-one-eye (poor guy) horse, which ended up being my favorite picture of the day...

And then we ran into the shop where they were selling fresh cheese and bread.  Right outside the shop was this old-fashioned cart/buggy which we took advantage of for pictures (thanks, Boba!)

We picked up a few extra kids in that previous one...they were just along for the ride, tee hee.

That one above makes me laugh.  Apparently E and I have the same facial expressions, poor baby had to get those from me ;)

Boba also snapped the shot below of Jas tossing our very precious, fragile, bundle of joy in the air (can you tell it makes me a little nervous each time he does it!?!?)

And then we got a pic of the dada's, but the kids were fading fast at this point (it was nearing lunchtime...).  HAHA, I laugh every. single. time. I look at Filip trying to do gymnastics to get out of his dad's arms!

And finally I got this sweet picture of these three.  How cute are they?!

And then our trip ended with a little push through the woods while both babes slept.  Don't all trips to the biofarm end like that? ;)  But a fun day it was!

Water Days and the Way Home

This probably seems like the longest, most drawn out set of blog posts ever about anyone's vacation.  But here we are, the last of the Palmer family vacation pictures.

Most of our days were spent either at the beach or the pool (some days both!).  I was in heaven because I most thoroughly enjoy water...particularly beach water.

E did a great job and really seemed to enjoy herself.

She's currently obsessed with blowing kisses :)  It's too cute...here we caught her in action.

Little tutu-ed baby bum.

Then before we hit the road to head back to Bratislava, we just had to take one more walk on the beach.  It was beautiful.  It was hard to say goodbye (knowing it will be a good ten months or so before we get to the beach again), but we did it.

Sandy toes :)

And we had a fellow beach walker take a family photo for us...

Then we headed home.  It was a nice, long, seven hour drive (we decided to push on through and do the whole trip this time instead of breaking it up), but it was yet again a beautiful trip through the mountains. 

And with that we'll conclude pictures of our 2012 vacation.  So thankful we got to spend some time together in a new location and soak up some rays!  Until next time, summer, we'll welcome fall and all things spice-realted.  Woo hoo!