Happy Birthday, Princess!

November 3 is a landmark day in the Lott family. One year ago, on November 3, our daughter was born. What a miracle she is! We are so thankful for her. Although it is hard to believe that she already one year old, I can truly say that we have enjoyed every day of this past year.

She is growing so fast! She has 12 teeth. She is walking along furniture quite well, but doesn't seem to have any desire to walk by herself yet. She is already saying many words. Her current favorites are "hot, yucky, and doggy." She already has a sense of humor, and loves to tease. She also loves to play chase. When her daddy pretends to be asleep, she kisses him to wake him up. She loves books. She's becoming a good eater, and really loves "people food." She plays very well with other kids, and especially loves boys. We hope she will outgrow that a little bit! We are so incredibly grateful to God for her, and pray that we can be the parents God wants us to be.

This is Halle and her daddy on Sunday afternoon.

Halle and Daddy a few minutes later, taking a Sunday afternoon nap.

Halle's first birthday cake, for her party at church on Sunday night.
The cake table at church.

Blowing out the candle!

"How do I look?"

Her first bite of cake.

Digging in!

"You should try this, Dad."

Trying out the spoon

Grampee Lott feeding her ice cream.

Playing with new friends, Rachel and Ben.

Gramee Lott and Halle

Grampee, Gramee, Beau (cousin), and Halle

"Is my crown straight?"

"Hi!"

Halle and Ben (Halle really loves Ben. She tries to get him to carry her around at church all the time.)

Halle opening presents (with lots of help from Mom). This is a "November" teapot.

Her own Steeler box (made by Judy Foster)!

Her new telephone

Modeling the hat Gramee bought for her.

The following pictures are on Monday, her actual birthday. We got up in the morning and got ready to leave. We drove to Greensburg, because we were buying a mini van. We've been shopping for one for a while, and it just worked out to buy it on Halle's birthday. I would venture to guess that most babies don't get a car for their first birthday!

My beautiful little birthday girl!

"Daddy bought me a van for my birthday!"

We went out to dinner with Grampee and Gramee that evening. Here, Grampee is feeding Halle salad. She loved it!

My little doll baby again. She was the talk of the restaurant (as usual).

She smiles and waves at everyone.

Expressing her opinions

Playing with Daddy

Our family

Playing with Grampee

Gramee feeding Halle a lemon. She actually really liked it, and kept going back for more.

Who's eating the lemon here?

Silly Daddy

Back home, playing with the new blocks we got her for her birthday.

The pajama princess!

We had a great day on Halle's birthday. She still has one party to go! Her family birthday party is on Saturday. I'll be sure to post pictures of that as well.

Our Vacation

We went to Clinton, MD for our vacation, and did some sightseeting in Washington, D.C. It was my first time to go to D.C., and I loved it. There's so much to see. We had such a great time! We stayed with Dr. and Mrs. Creed. They are dear friends, and wonderful hosts

We did some sightseeing during the days, and played Rook in the evenings....it doesn't get much more fun that that!

Halle had a wonderful time, and found a new set of grandparents in the process. She's really a good baby, very flexible. She had lots of fun exploring a new place and finding new toys.
It rained while we trying to see some of the sights (as you will be able to tell from the pictures), but we still had a lot of fun!

The first night we were there, we drove (rode) to D.C. to see the city at night. It was so beautiful. We were trying to take pictures from the car, so this is the only that really turned out.

We spent a day at Mt. Vernon. I really loved that. These are the statues of the Washington family that are in one of the buildings (I can't remember the name of it!).

This is the model of Mt. Vernon. It is really amazing. Everything is replicated exactly.
Daddy and Halle on the front porch of Mt. Vernon.

Halle playing peek-a-book with the camera from Daddy's shoulders.
A view of the Potomac River from the porch at Mt. Vernon. Isn't it beautiful?
Waiting to go inside.
In the gardens
On Thursday, we went to D.C. It was sort of rainy, so we went to the National Air and Space Museum. We spent the whole day there, and still didn't see everything! It's amazing!


On Friday, we went back to D.C. We started at the Capitol. This was about as close as we could get. Security is really tight since 9/11.
A nice man offered to take our picture, so we're actually all in this one!

As soon as we left the Capitol, it started raining...hard! So, we decided to visit the Library of Congress. It is beautiful! The exhibits were fascinating too, so we spent a couple of hours there.
Halle liked it all. She was a little noisy for the Library, but no one seemed to care.

After lunch, we decided to visit the Lincoln Memorial. The rain had let up a little bit, and it was just misting, so we decided we could walk to it. Unfortunately, there was a lot of construction, and we had to walk pretty far. We hadn't been out of the vehicle a minute when it started raining again! We all got good and wet. Thankfully, it was warm, and didn't hurt us a bit. We just looked a little soggy!

That's Brian and Halle down there below Mr. Lincoln's feet. It's hard to believe how big it is!

Our view from the Lincoln Memorial. Even in the rain, it was lovely.
Halle with her newfound friend, Dr. Creed.

We had a wonderful vacation, and made lots of good memories!