Was there ever a boy more loved and honored on his first birthday?
Look at this!
Shelby and Dan and Hailey and Lindsey made this beautiful garland out of crayon shavings and waxed paper. This photo just doesn't do it justice--it practically looks like it's got lights on it when the sun shines in!
And here's the kitchen wall. I really didn't think about the whole sunshine-baby-in-the-middle-of-the-winter thing, but it is really too perfect. Our kitchen feels like it is exploding with color and sunshine! I can tell it makes a difference in our days when we're surrounded by cheer.
I mean, c'mon! This is my breakfast view!
Julie and Chan couldn't make the party, but sent along their pieces by email...I love it! And Grandpa's up there a couple times...and the cute ilo bag says "mr. sunshine" on the other side, thanks to Abbey!
Asa made a concrete poem for ilo (which he just learned about at school).
I love the Billingsley family triptych!
This was my offering-- my first try at hand-felting a picture. It was fun, but the result wasn't quite what I was expecting. From far away it looks great, though!
Mom, Bethany, Hannah...
And a couple of my favorites (they all are, really!)--Matt's is....you guessed it....the binary sunset on the planet Tattooine. And Samara did that sun in the corner. I love it!
Samara and Asa also painted boxes, and Asa and Phin John (who was sure all ilo wanted was a ball for his birthday, which is about right) felted these tennis balls (there's another one in the rectangular box from Asa). We cut the balls open a little to put a bell inside and then they felted them like we felted the rocks a few weeks ago. This was so easy and Phin was right--it's ilo's favorite!
Asa made this book and it's just precious. It's a counting book and if I hadn't already put a hundred pictures on here, I'd show you every page...but here's my favorite page-- 5 people in our family, without ilo! Asa reused art from our art recycle pile which is why the pages look painted kind of funny. I think it turned out great.
Actually this is my favorite page.

I made ilo a little play tent. I've been thinking about this for a while and decided this week to just do it. It's made of the least expensive (and most see-through) muslin, and it's as basic as a tent can be. I think some red running stitches on the side might perk it up a little, but I was looking for something simple and fun to crawl around in that wasn't an assault to our senses. This sure isn't! I thought I'd use dowel rods, but they were several dollars more expensive than mop handles, so I went with the mop handles, of course. Makes for an interesting top. Then I just used a little leftover leather twine from an old project to tie the top. It's super-easy to put away, too--you just pick it up.
So far, Phin John likes to sit in there and think.
But honestly, the best gift of all has to be the one that arrived today. Aunt Carrie pulled together a CD for ilo of all his favorite people singing sunshine songs for him. It is totally impressive and had me crying after about two songs. It's got Carrie and Ryan and Adelaide and Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Bethany and Aunt Hannah and Aasne and Audun and Doug and Bethany and Creed and Lochlan and Beth and Joshua and Maddie...all singing lovely sunshine songs for our sunshine boy. It's beautiful.
ilo, I hope you're reading back over this someday because we all want you to know--
We love you!
We're so glad you're ours.