A WHOLE YEAR OF HAPPY!

My littlest little is an official one-year-old as of today! We had a small, quiet,  little celebration with our family and baby's godparents since hoopla can breed disaster when a one-year-old is involved. It was good and memories were made.
I stayed up a little late last night making the finishing touches (making chicken salad for chicken salad sandwiches and meticulously (slicing the most gorgeous tomatoes I've ever seen), preparing the baguettes for BLTs, and tossing curled pink ribbon anywhere that it would stay put so that the house could literally 'drip' with pink.
And for those who asked for the recipe for the chicken salad - scroll to the very bottom. Since I was making it up in my head as I went, good luck with the measurements! LOL!

Sweet Vanessa - what ever made you decide to bring a bouquet of carnations for ME?!?! From the bottom of my heart, thank you! I had forgotten how good it feels to have a reason to pull out the vase! And it was the perfect touch to the pink drip I was going for! "G" greeted our guests (cautiously) and got into the mood to part-ay!

Notice - the baby bottle on the cake is filled to the 1 oz. hatch mark because my baby doll is a YEAR!

This is the face of a future sugah-lovah of America! (Maybe we'll introduce her to zylitol and stevia a little early!)

The kids had plenty of time to entertain themselves while grown-ups visited (as grown-ups tend to do!) My little baby brother came for the festivities (see above photo with my mother) - and I must say - he's a good looking guy!

We began opening gifts. She wasn't quite sure why she was supposed to tear the paper wrapping, but with each round of clapping, hooting/hollering encouragement, she got the picture.
Each of the kids have a birthday table runner on which their guests write their name and well-wishes. Today we started Gianna's!

This spoiled little munchkin has been clanking the pieces to her new puzzle, reading her new books, cuddling her new baby doll, and climbing all over her new chair. Thank you for your gifts, but most of all - thank you for your friendship and celebrating our girl's birthday - whether it was in spirit or in person. You have blessed this family and our hearts are swollen with gratitude!

CHICKEN SALAD RECIPE
Whole chicken ( I love the Coleman organic from Costco!)
Sage
Worcestershire or liquid smoke
Costco's Salt-free Organic Seasoning blend
S & P
Celery (chopped)
Whole LOTTA red seedless grapes
green onion sliced
Sour cream
olive oil infused mayonnaise
Cayenne pepper baby! Gives it a little warmth.
Slather that big 'ol bird with a couple of tblsp. worcestershire (I ran out of worcestershire and finished off with liquid smoke - then dumped whatev was left in the little bowl into the bird cavity) and pat it down with about a quarter cup of salt-free seasoning. I have an old-school Suzanne Somers convection oven/rotisserie, so I opted to rotisserie. I'm sure you could bake it, grill it, what-have-you.
When the bird is done, let it cool and shred it because shredding it tells everyone that you love them! 
Chop up about 3 stalks of celery really fine. Throw in a fourth if you like. 
Slice about 4 green onions, but only use the green part. (I use scissors.)
use about a 1/2 cup of sour cream and about a 1/2 cup of the mayo
Mix that in with the chicken, celery, & green onion. 
Slice a large bunch of red grape into small pieces (I probably quartered each half of grape, but I was having fun cutting grapes... to each her own.. LOL!)
Toss the grapes in the chicken mixture. 
Sprinkle about 3 Tblsp. of sage (more if ya like it!)
Now, be very careful... take out the cayenne and pour about 1/2 tsp. in your hand (then toss that in the trash - whatever is left on your hands is what you can clap-off/brush-off into the salad) - JUST KIDDING - don't be scared... use that whole 1/2 tsp.! 
S&P to your taste
carefully fold together and viola!