Happy Birthday! We had two firsts this weekend-Natalie's first birthday, and the first time we've had BOTH sides of our families over for a birthday party. Since our house is much bigger now, we were able to have both sides, along with Natalie's godparents, over for her celebration. We had everyone over for pizza, stromboli, and salad. As you can see in the above picture, she had a butterfly cupcake cake, made my my sister Kristin. She also made Matthew and Lucas's first birthday cakes, so it was fitting that she make Natalie's, too.
When it was time to blow out her candle, she had plenty of help from Matthew, Lucas, and they're cousin Mabry. She wasn't overly interested in her cake, so we didn't get any smashing pictures of her and she didn't get messy at all. She ate a few bites that we broke off for her, and Derrick tried to get her to eat some but she wasn't overly interested. 
She did, however, proceed to tell everyone that she is "So Big!",
and when you ask her if she is 1, she puts up her right pointer finger. Too cute! She was most interested in the gifts that came in gift bags, as she could pull out the tissue paper one by one. She lost interest after the first two bags or so, but she had plenty of help. Matthew, Lucas, Mabry, Charlie, and Eliana made sure every gift was opened. She got a lot of clothes and some baby dolls. She LOVES her babies. She also got her first purse, as well as a xylophone and a walk behind/ride on zebra, a stroller, and a Fisher Price piggy bank. 
One of the GREATEST blessings our kids have in their lives is that they are growing up around their grandparents and that they have six great grandparents who are still living.
All six were here for the party. In the picture above is Natalie with her Hurst side great-grandparents-Omi, Opa, Grandpa and Joyce. In fact, at one point my grandma (Great Ma) and Natalie were snuggling on the couch together playing babies. She had lined up all of Natalie's dolls and stuffed new toys and they were singing Jesus Loves Me. 
Precious! It was an awesome evening with our families and our friends.
