Highlights from Jude's 1st Birthday

Aug 30, 2009 marked 1 solid year of Jude's existence on this good planet. And what a doll he's been. It seems like only yesterday he was 1 mo old suffering from both the consternation of painful gas and the humiliation of his parents dressing him as a pea pod. But now, at the age of 1, our little guy is a walking, talking (at least he thinks he's talking), grinning, laughing, and personable young man. We celebrated his big "o-one" with friends and family down in Portland (as virtually none live up in Seattle save for the Steeles). At Cook Park, we enjoyed great food and fellowship, culminating in ceramonial rites of passage such as "blowing out of the first candle" and "stuffing the face with cake." As this was Jude's first and last taste of sugar until his second birthday, we wanted him to really get into it and enjoy it. As you can see from the pictures below, Jude didn't disappoint. At first he gingerly picked at the frosting, moving to a delicate finger swipe, then on to full-force fists and wrists mashing and molding the cake into a lump of unidentifiable sugar-stuff. Enjoy these chronological photos from the afternoon party!

Jude's beautiful Costco cake. Thanks to Heather's connections, we got Costco to make a special duck design.

Happy Family.

Rob and Rachel blowing out the candle before Jude could grab the flame.

Jude considering the texture.



Fist in the cake!





Happy Birthday Jude!