Zoralee is one

Zoralee's birthday was just perfect! A group of friends and family came to my cousins' house in celebration of a whole year of life for Zoralee Rena. She opened some presents (which a few rule-breakers had brought), listened to two poems from friends, played with Tate, Luke, Gauge, Chloe, and Lillian, and spent several minutes poking at her own Z cake. Otherwise, the rest of us enjoyed snacks and cake and ice cream, and watched a short video collage of Z's birth and first couple months (made possible at the last minute by Scott's computer savviness). Elisha brought a chocolate cake which we sprinkled powder sugar onto in a zebra stripe pattern, and my mom made a coconut cake, which we sprinkled chocolate shavings onto in the same pattern.

And get this. A day or two before her birthday, I was at the thrift store looking for a funky party dress for Zoralee, and I happened across a zebra-print dress (the one you see in all the pictures). I about fell over. It was $1.99. IS IT NOT PERFECT FOR A ZEBRA PARTY? Z for zebra; Z for Zoralee, see. My mom also got her the zebra hair ribbon, and we put on her black tights. I'll you what; the whole getup was enough to make a cute-sensitive person faint.

In over-the-top gestures of love, my folks flew up from Montana for the week, and Rachel flew up from Portland for a long weekend. It was so great having them here, not only for Z's birthday but just for hanging out together. And in the case of Rachel, being pregnant together! Yippidy-dooooo!

Here are some more pictures, courtesy of Elisha and Brandon.

Rachel uploaded this video to youtube. After the singing, it's not especially exciting, but here 'tis.