So, Ati's first birthday with our family was celebrated on July 11, 2012, and I'm only now posting about it! She turned 3 years old!

Well, actually Ati got a jump start on her birthday. She celebrated a day early with family - and what better place than at Jordan's!
Now, I know that everyone's going to hate me for posting this next one, but it's the best pic I've got of the whole crew - including some random people in the background - even if Neal is the only one aware of the camera.
The next day was Ati's actual birthday and she found herself consigned to a bowl of Cinnamon Life cereal. (She still hadn't developed a taste for hot dogs.)
Her face brightened, however, as she realized there was so much more to life than... well... Life...
Friends, young and old, had a chance to join in the fun.
Turns out that our neighbor, Jan, shares the same birthday with Ati!!
Let's take one more look at those cupcakes.
Hungry yet?
I was thinking of writing about some cool metaphorical significance here but it's late and so I'll just say this is a neat picture of a very colorful butterfly balloon from Mandy.
Final words of wisdom:
Birthdays should be celebrated with joy whether you're 3 or 83,
and family pictures will ALWAYS be hard to take and even worse to be in!
Thank you God for our beautiful little girl! May we treat her as the treasure she is.