Party Time!! (with a little picture overload)

Kaela's 1st birthday party was a success!  We thought it was going to rain all day but thankfully it stopped just in time and stayed nice out the whole time! We set up a big bouncy house for the kids to jump in which seemed to be a hit.  We had lots of friends and family who came to celebrate Kaela's big day with her which was really great.  Kaela had a lot of friends come including Knoah and his family (Tonya, Will, Jacob and Hannah) and Owen (with his mom Cat)!

We were so happy they could make it and really appreciate them making the drive to share in Kaela's big day.  Plus those boys are sooo cute, it's always fun to be able to grab them up and give them lovin.

I was a bad mother though and didn't give Kaela her own cake.  I made these two big cakes that took up quite a bit of time, I didn't get around to making Kaela her own. Instead we gave her a piece of cake, which she enjoyed very much!

Kaela got lots of super cute clothes, some toys that she LOVES including a little table from Knoah and his family that is perfect for her to pull herself up on, some of the 'little people' toys, and some dolls.

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Will was all over the place so I didn't get many pictures of him, but by the time I did get to him he was sooooo messy from food, playing outside and just being a busy 2 year old boy :)

Thanks to everyone who came and for all the great gifts! We appreciate it all so much and are so lucky to have you all in our lives!! I will end with some more pics my other close friends and their cute kids.

Jacob and Knoah         Kaela didn't make it to the end of her party!

My friend Jen's daughter Selah

Elora and Tyler bouncing

can you say CUTE PICTURE!! Jacob, Knoah and their daddy Will

Hannah always smiling                 Ava such a cutie pie

Tyler and Kaela playing together (Tyler is a sweetie...and soo smart, hopefully Kaela's taking it all in :)  And Chris with his boys Michael and Zac

Back From LPA National Conference in Detroit!

We are home from the conference and had such a great time!  We met so many great people and families from all around the country (some even out of the country).  It was really such a great feeling being around all these little people and thinking how in 13 years Kaela and a large group of these kids, will be the teens we saw sitting in groups along the wall, dancing at the dances, and AWAY from their parents :)  Everyone was so nice and welcoming to us first timers.  One very exciting bit of news is that we actually met someone there who has Metatropic Dysplasia just like Kaela.  Her mom was there and I heard her mom say her daughter had Metatropic at one of the events and I just about jumped out of my skin! I went to talk to her and we met her daughter Heather. Heather is 18 and graduated at the top of her class and is now on her way to college to be a teacher!  We were thrilled to have met someone with the same thing as Kaela. I never would have expected too since it's so rare (80 some known cases)...but we did! AND they live in OHIO. Ohio is right under us! It's just very exciting.  Heather has gone through 13 surgeries and was very open about sharing her experiences.  All people with Metatropic are different, so we don't know what to expect in terms of Kaela and surgeries. We of course hope that it is far less, or even better, none, but we just won't know for some years hopefully.  One thing we hope Kaela does share in common with Heather is being at the top of her class and having the great attitude that Heather has.

We did meet the docs, but I will post later about that.  I will post some pics too. Unfortunately I don't know that it would be okay to post pictures of other kids here since I don't have permission so I will post some familiar faces :)  Now we can't wait to go to the convention in New York next year!!! Hope to see all of you that we saw this year and many more of you there next year!

Will showing off his dance moves (blue stripped shirt)

Happy 1st B'day little princess

Happy Birthday Kaela! Kaela turns 1 today on the first official day of summer! One year ago today, in about 1 hour from now (10:40 or so) Kaela decided to make her grand entrance on our bedroom floor! Apparently she wanted out and NOW because about an hour after I THOUGHT I was in labor she was here!!  One exciting day for us :) We feel so lucky to have you in our lives Kaela. You have changed us in more ways then you will ever know and for the better in every way! We love you little Ka!  We are glad you chose us!!

XOXO 

Mommy, Daddy and Will

Off to the conference