Burl's First Birthday

Burl is one.  A very big, active, loud one.  How else to celebrate by having a big, active, loud party?

For Sunday lunch, we had our family over.  We kept the food simple: pizza, salad, cake.

Burl had his cake.  He really enjoys using silverware, so he ate his Smash Cake politely with a fork.  Needless to say, there wasn't a lot of smashing.

1 baby=4 cameras.  Loads of pictures!

Then, we moved to presents.  This was by far the craziest part.  Burl was all over everything.  He loved opening, looking and playing with each toy.

He received a big car, little cars, balls, bubbles, a chair and balloons.

The chair and balloons were his favorite.  I'm not sure he knows that it's a chair.  He climbed and climbed and fell and jumped on the chair.

Burl was all over the place.  Somewhere along the way, I went sleeveless.  Catching all his close calls works up a sweat.

New toys, his littlest cousin, and a room full of people watching him...Burl put on a good show.

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Now that I have one year of parenting under my belt, I can say that I firmly believe one thing: it takes a village to raise a child.  I'm so thankful to have so much family in town.  Burl absolutely loves these people.  He adores each of his grandparents, and he loves to show off for everyone in this picture:

Our "village" is not limited to family.  We have so many friends that have made our parenting transition a great time!  

I'm trying to think of a clever way to sum up how our friends have supported and loved us well.  There is no summing it up.  Our friends pray for us. Encourage us. Tell us Burl is cute. Celebrate with us. Support us. Send us texts/emails/letters.

Ok...getting emotional over here...but I really can't imagine being able to raise a child without the community that the Lord has put us in.  

I'll get the tattoo, the bumper sticker, the T-shirt, whatever.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD!