Joshy's 1st Birthday Party!

We had so so so so much fun celebrating Josh's 1st birthday!  I wanted to make sure we kept his birthday celebrations separate from Christmas celebrations, so we had it this past Sunday.  We might always try and keep it the first weekend in December.  It's a crazy time of year, but it's also the most wonderful time of the year!  I really cannot believe he's almost ONE!  It makes me sad to think that he's no longer going to technically be a baby anymore!  I'll save my sentimental post for his actual birthday, but it's hard not to get a little emotional.  This was hands down, the fastest year ever!  I just love this little guy to pieces.

After a few pinterest searches, I came across a few lumberjack parties and I fell in love with the idea.  For some reason, I had it in my head that I wanted to do a brunch.  I knew Andy would be sold on both the lumberjack theme and the breakfast/brunch idea!  There's so much fun buffalo check plaid stuff out there right now, that it was hard not to get too carried away.  As always, I wish I would have taken a few more pictures during the party, but I did take some!  There were over 50 people there, so we had the party at my mom's house because there's much more room.   Andy had school this past weekend, so thankfully my mom was super helpful!  Ben was also a huge help!  Wish I could say the same for the birthday boy.  ;)  He ripped of his socks and started putting his mouth on the cart approximately 20 seconds after I got him in the cart.  Stinker!

I was so happy with how everything turned out!  As always, Andy was a master in the kitchen.  He made pancakes, waffles, bacon, Canadian bacon, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, and corn bread, and I'm sure I'm forgetting things!  I was more or less in charge of the desserts.  We had a s'more maker (which didn't get used!), pancake cookies complete with Starburst butter slabs, donut holes that I was going to turn in to acorns, and of course the fabulous cakes!  Our cake lady did such an amazing job!  They were exactly what I was envisioning!

The birthday boy definitely loved the spread!  He had his first bites of (Canadian) bacon and he was loving it!

I'm bumming that I don't have pictures with Joshy and all (or at least a few more) of his loving guests.  I know he won't remember this party, but I hope he knows that he is loved so very much by so many people!  What's not to love about this sweet face?

I wasn't sure how he would do with the big, loud crowd, especially when he was the center of attention, but he did so well!  He was a little ham!

He didn't devour the cake, but he did like it!

He actually didn't like it until Ben started feeding him.  It was pretty much the sweetest thing ever.

I did manage to get a picture with some of my girlfriends from high school!  It was so sweet that they came!

And the youngest party goer award goes to my friend Maggie's sweet baby girl Daphne!  It was love at first sight for both Daphne and Josh!

I was really excited about the photo booth that I made, but unfortunately it did't get used as much as I was hoping!  I know people took their own photos, and we did manage to get a few fun ones!

Overall, the party was a huge success!  Only 9 more days as an 11 month old.  My heart!!

Back To School & Birthday Fun!

I can't believe it's September already!  This essentially means it's fall in my books, though the 90 degree temps would suggest otherwise.  Not only is today Auntie Anna's birthday, but it was also the first day of school for BOTH boys.  I have to blame my lack of Auntie Anna birthday party pictures on my pure exhaustion.  Sorry, Auntie!  We will love you!

Last week, the boys had "meet your teachers" at school.  It took Ben about 15 minutes before the sunglasses came off, but after that it was smooth sailing.

Ben cautiously explored his new room, while Josh was ready to play the second he walked through the door.  

Today was their actual first day at school.  They were so good in humoring me for some pictures this morning.  

I just looked back at this post from last year and I realized that I did a much better job documenting things last year.  Again, I blame it on fatigue!  

Ben was so, so, so excited to leave for school this morning.  He was up by 6:15 and school didn't start until 9:30, so that left plenty of time for him to ask, "can we go to school now?" over and over and over.  He got new school shoes over the weekend and was even requesting to wear a tie.  He is really in to ties these days, but we ultimately decided that it was too hot for a tie today. :)  It was, however, perfect weather for the boys to wear matching shirts! ;)

Josh fell asleep in the car, so he wasn't even awake when we left him!  I was SO sad.  SO SAD.  It was the closest I came to crying but I was able to hold it together.  I felt like we were just abandoning him with strangers!  I didn't want him to wake up to people he didn't even know.  Thankfully, his teachers said he did wonderfully!  He is just starting to have some stranger anxiety, so I was relieved that he had such a great day. 

We all dropped Josh off and then went back to Ben's room.  Ben did a great job choosing the perfect spot to nap.  There are 2 rooms of 2 year olds, and there is a separate room where they all nap.  The penguins on the red mats and the monkeys on the blue!

He hung up his school bag on the dog hook.  He's the dog 2 years in a row, lucky dog!

He smiled at his old friends.

And he even smiled for a picture with momma.

It wasn't until Andy and I were walking out the door that the tears started to flow!  According to Ben, he only cried for a little bit, so that's good.  I know he loves school, so I'm sure it will just take a week or 2 for him to get used to it.  

I would write more but remember, I'm TIRED!  Goodnight!

Our July 4th Weekend

I'm a week late, but better late than never!  We had such a fabulous 4th!  Long weekends are always my favorite weekends, but this one was extra good!  Since the 4th was on a Saturday this year, I got Friday off.  (Woohoo!)  Andy worked a half day, so the boys and I went strawberry picking with my mom and Anna in the morning.  The season is essentially over, and I didn't want to miss out on one of my favorite summer activities!  I'm so glad my mom and sister were there!  It's harder than I though to carry a baby and bend down to pick strawberries.  ;)  I'm going to let the pictures do the talking.  There's a lot of 'em!

We missed Andy, but we still had a blast!  Josh loved his first strawberry!  Though we have yet to find a food he doesn't love. :)

The weather was perfection on Friday, so we decided to go to my cousin Jim's pool in the early evening.  It was Josh's first dip in the pool.  We think he liked it!  Our time at the pool started out with a scare though.  Andy and I were putting sunscreen on Josh, and Ben saw a ball in the pool that he apparently needed.  He walked down the steps and just kept going.  Andy jumped in to get him immediately, but it was still awful!  He was scared too and kept saying, "sorry, daddy!"  It was not a great start to our first pool trip of the summer, but it was all good after this.

We got up bright and early on Saturday morning.  We had to plan for the parade!  Andy went ahead to save a spot for us.  Both boys were still sleeping when he left!  We had been going to our current city's parade for the past several years, but this year, we went to the parade that I went to as a kid.  (aka the best parade!)  It went in the reverse order this year, which threw me off a bit, but it was still great!

Ben is not a fan of loud noises, so he was less than excited when the parade started with ambulances and fire trucks!

He recovered quickly.  I'm sure the donut helped.

Gosh I love him so much.  I couldn't pick a favorite pic.  Josh was an absolute angel during the parade.  Well, and all the time.  

After the parade, it was nap time for the boys before the next round of fun.  After their power naps, we went to the park where they always have games and other activities going on for the kids on July 4th.  It is right behind my mom's house, so we walked there from her house.  Ben was more interested in playing with the balls that he brought though.  :)

This is the life!

It was another picture perfect day.  After our trip to the park, we went to dinner at the racquet club with my mom, John, Anna, and Chad.  It was a fabulous spread.  Of course, Ben was more interested in the desserts and the other kids.  He watched the kids in the pool for almost the entire time.  

I most definitely could not pass up a festive drink!

We attempted a family picture after dinner.  Too bad I have no idea how to photo shop the boys heads so I could have 2 smilers.  Cute nonetheless!

All of the following pictures make me laugh…  At least I was photo ready the entire time.  Hah!  Better luck next year!  Or I'll learn to photoshop. 

After Ben's huge dinner of 3 bites of fruit, he was ready to swim.  Everyone else was eating dinner, so he had the pool almost to himself.  He got in some quick relaxing with Josh first. 

But this guy isn't one to sit back and watch, so it was pool time for him!  After a quick flex break, that is.

A pool + a basketball + daddy?  This is what Ben's heaven looks like. 

We were undecided all day as to whether or not we were going to go to the fireworks.  Ben did NOT enjoy them last year, so we didn't know how this year would go.  He was pretty tired after his busy day, but he was still in a good mood, so we just went with it.  We went back to my mom's after swimming and used the sparklers that we traveled all over town trying to find.  Ben was only moderately interested.  

We relaxed in the backyard until it got dark out.  I don't have any pictures of the big event, but Ben did just fine.  We could see them from the backyard, so we just stayed there.  They were a little blocked by the trees, so Ben went to the park (with everyone else) while Andy and I stayed back with Josh who had finally fallen asleep in his car seat.  Ben was scared but brave!  I'm sure next year will be even better!

We didn't get home until after 10:00!!  I don't believe Ben has ever stayed up that late!  Both boys slept in!  It was amazing!  We decided to go to the pool again on Sunday.  Ben has become quite the fish in his little puddle jumper!

He even jumps off the diving board!

We ended our fabulous weekend with a house warming party at our friends' house.

Well, I'm off to bed.  I'll be back soon for Josh's 7 month update!  These months!  So fast!