Party, party

This is a picture heavy post so I'll just tell the story mostly with picture captions:
Our new balloon wreath. My mom has a bit of a wreath obsession (sorry, Mom) so I got some grief about my own potential wreath obsession with this one. But, I plan to hang it up for each of the birthdays every year. It was super easy to make (except my fingers got a little sore from pushing in the pins, but it was well worth it!). Found it here.
Then I put the cricut machine to work. I used it to cut all the ovals and the letters for the banner. I cut the triangles free hand with just a little measuring and marking. I went with different colors of ribbon for a more playful childlike feel. And I think the clothespins are just fun. This table held Max's first year scrapbook and some favors for our party guests - chocolate drizzled caramel corn. I seriously recommend you make this stuff! It's easy and so yummy. I had leftover melted chocolate from one of the desserts so I just drizzled some over the caramel corn while it was cooling on the parchment paper.

Just some of the balloons. Max loves balloons. I know Seth did NOT care for balloons at his first birthday party and I don't remember Luke's reaction, but Max loves them so we used a lot of them. I was thrilled to find these turquoise ones, quite by accident, the night before the party.

Then we had some yummy food. My mom bought these great warming trays and I think I might be the only one who's used them so far. They worked great. We made little smokies with bacon and brown sugar and baked them in the oven then transferred them to the trays and they were still really good after awhile in the warming tray. I also made little cards that said what the food was because it makes me crazy to have to answer that question over and over (just a strange quirk of mine).

I loved how a lot of the food was inspired by friends/family - a dip recipe from my oldest and closest friend, a chicken wrap recipe from my sister, a buffalo chicken dip recipe from a couple of different friends.

I made this banner with a picture of Max from each month over the last year. It was fun to see how much he has changed.

Normally, I would opt for food, then gifts, then dessert. But, I knew a few people had other places to be and I didn't want anyone to miss out on dessert so we did food, dessert, gifts this time. The dessert was cake pops and chocolate chip cookie dough truffles with a few cupcakes too.

It's tough to see the glowing candle, but it's there. I also used the cricut to cut out the balloon shapes and letters for his little high chair banner. I thought he might cry when we all started singing but he handled it pretty well.

He started out calm and rational with the cupcake - picked it up and took a bite out of it.

Then it started to crumble a bit, what with the impact of his mouth and hands. This caused a perplexed look.

Then there was a bit of angst that all this icing goo was sticking to his fingers.

Then there was the need to pick the icing goo off of his hands, which, of course, was not possible.

Then there was a bit of flinging to try to remedy the icing goo situation on his own.

Then there was the desperate plea for help.

Sure, dustbusting a person is a tad bit unconventional, but it worked (just on his shorts and shirt). Then it was wet washcloths and baby wipes in an alternating fashion until his fingers no longer felt like he would stick to the wall if he got too close to it.

Then we moved on to presents, which, of course, he had very little to do with. Seth and Luke opened pretty much everything, which was nice because at least it kept things moving!

Amazingly, I haven't seen either of the older boys try to replicate this yet.

After presents there was a lot of visiting and then everyone took their treat bags and left. I told David that I thought it was a bigger letdown than Christmas. NOT the party - I thought it was fun, just that it was over. I had spent the entire week cleaning, re-cleaning, grocery shopping, making cake balls and truffles, and then in a few hours it was just done.

Max was ready for a nap and the rest of us curled up with blankets and a movie. After Max got up we took his 12 month pictures with his last sticker (see previous post).

And then it was bedtime - at least for Seth and Luke. David had been invited to go out with some of his friends and declined the invite because it was Max's birthday, but since it was nearly Max's bedtime I didn't see why he should stay home so we decided he would go. I bathed Max, while I cried my pitiful little eyes out. Then Max got to play with his new toys for a few minutes, since the older two didn't really let him do that much when they were awake!

And that was how Max spent his first birthday - being loved on by friends and family. We love you, Max!

Twelve months, the good and the bad...

This sweet boy celebrated twelve fun filled months with us this past weekend. Party pix to come soon, but first a little about Max at one year. He likes to make us smile. He has a great little smile that sometimes involves a little head tilt and touch of the chin to the chest and a little looking up with his eyes to make sure we are reacting. Sadly, only close friends and family see this precious look. I know the people at the gym and the nursery workers at church think he is a misearably sad baby, because he seems to cry nearly the whole time he is with them. I actually got pulled off the treadmill because he would not stop crying.

[Side note: she wanted to argue with me about how old he was because, I guess, she forgot to find out the name of the crying baby who needed his mommy and came only with a vague description of an eight month old. Except that he was actually just a smallish eleven month old at the time! And, I am NOT a runner - it's a lot of jogging and then walking to recover, but having to stop basically cold turkey to go retrieve a baby really makes for some aching legs the next day.]

Anyway, back to Max. He loves to eat. He still only has two teeth so he's not eating too much table food but he doesn't seem to mind. He has had some grilled chicken and loved it. And (my boy) loves the carbs - throw me some bread mama! I caught Luke feeding him spicy trail mix a couple days ago and he let that ooze back out of his mouth so he definitely has some opinions!

He is pretty good at playing on his own in the same room with Seth and Luke for quite awhile. But, then he seems to suddenly remember that the rest of us exist and he takes off crawling for us and needs to be held for a few minutes.

He has some "words" that he says. Seth and Luke tickle him a lot. They come up and tickle under his chin and say, "tickle, tickle, tickle." Well, Max has started crawling up to us and saying something that sounds just like, "tickuh, tickuh, tickuh." He also says "Ni' Da'y" ['Night Daddy] to David at bedtime. And I think he always makes the same sound when he sees Seth but it's a nonsense word. But, I do think it's consistent so it probably means something to him. He still doesn't say 'Mommy' often, but the other day he crawled right up to me, wrapped himself around my leg, and let off with a big long string of "mommmommmommmomm."

I finally let him start sleeping with a blanket in his bed because, if he went to bed without one and his laundry hamper was anywhere near his bed he would reach out his superhuman arms and snag some dirty laundry to hold in his hand while he sucked his thumb in his sleep. I really thought I was moving it far enough away from his bed, but I was starting to think he was getting out of bed to get the clothes (not really, but you know what I mean!).

He also has some mad dance moves when he hears music that he likes. He's not walking on his own but he will pull up and bounce. Or stop where he's at and just sit and dance. As far as walking goes, he does "walk" around the kitchen holding onto a kitchen chair. The walk-behind toy (with wheels) moves a little fast for him still, but he's catching on.

And that's our sweet littlest guy at one year old.

Now for the bad:

I am really struggling with this milestone and would be lying if I typed anything else. Max is our last baby and I'm having trouble letting go of him being a baby. I know he will always be the baby of our family so I might need to stress that point for a little while. I spent most of Tuesday crying. We finished the formula and he wanted nothing to do with milk, neither in a sippy cup (which he's not yet mastered) nor in a bottle. I have still been nursing him just for the last feeding before he goes to bed and planned to stop when he turned one and switched over to milk. But, since he wouldn't drink the milk, he was crying and pleading with his eyes (is that possible at just barely one?) and I was crying and it was just a mess.

So, I nursed him and put him to bed and then I laid on the couch for an hour. So what, you say? Well, here's the thing. Probably the hardest part, for me, of being a stay at home is that the job never ends. After all the kiddos are in bed there is still something that needs to be done. [Yes, my time management skills are lacking, I'm sure.] Laundry, load the dishwasher, pick something up, etc. So, I feel like I rarely sit down for that long. And definitely not lying motionless on the couch trying not to cry.

I do not remember feeling this sad about the older two turning one. This transition is rough. Truthfully, I'm typing all this out (1) because it's somewhat therapeutic for me and (2) because I hope I can look back in a few weeks and think about how silly it was for me to be so upset.

Hot dog!

Okay, I was trying to come up with something cutesy as it related to 'catch up,' as in catching up on some long overdue posts. But my mind just kept wandering to ketchup and mustard and relish. Which, of course, led me to the hot dog. I think I must have Memorial Day cookouts on my mind. Although, I've been informed that we will be taking on a major landscaping project around the back deck over the long weekend so I'm not sure I will be permitted a full fledged cookout. From the looks of the forecast we may have to invest in some plastic handled yard tools to avoid being zapped by lightning. But, isn't the ground easier to dig in when it's wet anyway?

Well, that was a long and boring intro into what will likely prove to be a long and boring post. But, we did have three fun-to-us activities in the last week or two (excluding Max's birthday as that gets its own post), so here goes:

First, I took the two oldest boys downtown for the 500 festival kids' party last weekend. It was a rainy and dreary day so we decided that Max would stay home. Since he's a tad bit young to do this solo, Dave stayed home too. Other than the nearly half hour it took us to park in the parking garage, it was a good time.

The boys got to see a race car.And make pirate hats. There's a pirate cartoon that they love so this was good fun!And if you know my boys, you know that their entire world revolves around fire trucks at this point. If we leave the house they often want to know how many fire stations we will be driving by. And if you can "spot" a fire truck just out on the road, it's huge. So, standing on one with the help of a real fireman was quite the adventure! Everytime we came to a booth/display/exhibit, I would ask them, "Do you want to do this?" Without fail, Luke would nod 'yes' and Seth would shake his head 'no.' Thankfully, seeing your little brother having all the fun seems to coax an older brother into having some fun too.After all this fun, we surely needed refreshment.And this is what I brought home with me - one very sleepy pirate who fell asleep in the car and stayed that way, even after being carried inside and placed on the couch. I'm counting the day as a success if it knocked him flat!

***Next was Seth's end of year picnic for preschool. The weather was PERFECT! Rain was forecasted but it held off. Seth had a great time running and playing and eating lunch outside with his classmates. I was very fortunate this year to be able to go on nearly every field trip and attend every party. It's really important to me to be involved at his school.

We finished at the park, after an unfortunate skinned knee(s) incident, and headed home to show Dad and Luke all the bandaids. Then we decided to take Max out and see what he thought of the swing in our backyard. He is the first of my boys to enjoy the swing! Seth and Luke only just this year decided it was fun. [Thankfully, because Dave spent WAY too much time building the swingset for neither of them to enjoy it.]

***Our next big event was Seth's preschool graduation. We were invited to a party to see how much he had learned - counting to 100, writing his name, letter sounds, and some basic sounding out of words, etc. While that was fun to see, it was much more amazing to me how much he has changed physically since school started. His teacher took a picture of each student at a little 'meet the teacher' day before school started and it was shocking to me to see that the little timid four year old I had sent off to preschool (with much trepidation myself) had finished his year as a sweet and VERY social five year old who loved, quite possibly, every minute of school. When he started school, I'm not sure I was committed to going back to the same place next year but his experience was so awesome that it didn't take me long to commit. He has grown, physically, mentally, and spiritually, and I couldn't be happier!

today

I got breakfast for Seth and Luke. I got Seth dressed and off to school (via Dave) and Luke dressed.

I cleaned both of the upstairs bathrooms. Little boys are gross. That is all.

I considered ordering groceries online and having them delivered to my front door.

I got Max up and gave him a bottle.

I loaded Luke and Max into the minivan.

I picked Seth up from school.

I "ran into" Target. An hour later I left with: a few groceries for Max's party (the ones that were on sale this week at Target); tissue paper for favor bags for Max's party; two little boys who had scoped out all the new Cars 2 movie propoganda; 3 pairs of shorts exchanged for Seth [must be rough to have the elastic waist pants fall off your skinny waist, huh kid?]; two little boys nearly in a fistfight, who knew Mom had nothing left to threaten them with in the checkout aisle as they had now seen the Cars 2 toys; and a three year old with very wet pants.

I drove home with a screaming baby - very uncharacteristic of this baby, and a three year old who kept insisting he needed my sweater because he was cold. This happens when your pants are too wet to wear home.

I came home, unloaded the kids, groceries, bags, wet pants, three children, and fixed a gourmet lunch of (1) snbutter and jelly, and (2) toast with jelly. Oh, and a few potato chip crumbs for me. Because I forgot I had turkey deli meat. I tried to throw away the full cup of yogurt and put the two lids I had peeled off the other yogurts into the fridge.

I changed Max's diaper - a blowout which required changing all the clothes he was wearing. Also very uncharacteristic of Max. I'm not liking where his day looks like he's heading. I'm hoping it's just more teeth looking to join the lonely two he has in his mouth. I digress. Max is now napping in his pajamas because those were the only clothes I had for him downstairs, and today i wasn't brave enough to leave the other two downstairs while I ran up for clothes for Max. I am jealous of both the nap and the pajamas.

I fed Max some fruit and cheerios.

I put two boys down for naps/rest with all of us screaming at each other because they could not follow the simplest of tasks and my fuse is short.

I gave Max another bottle and held him tight while he fell asleep in my lap. I repositioned him and put his head on my shoulder where he snuggled in and slept for awhile, before I moved him to his bed. He was so warm and cuddly that my hair that was up against his face is now curly from his sweaty little head (I am NOT complaining about this).

I took Max up to his bed and found Luke in the (clean) bathroom making a terrible mess.

I started a load of the boys' clothes. I have NO clue how two people this small can generate SO much laundry.

I listened to two little boys (in separate rooms) choose not to nap, but rather jump off beds, dump out multiple boxes of bandaids into one pile, and generally destroy two bedroom.

Now, I must go make a dinner that they will refuse to eat so that I can tuck them into bed promptly at 6pm. Because I'm pretty sure that's their bedtime for today!

Daily pix...

Yes, I'm actually still at it! I cannot say enough how much I am enjoying making this book! I am working on an order of recent pictures (and a few to finish up Max's first year book which I am feverishly trying to finish before his birthday party), so I thought I'd share just a few...

Someone thinks he's a big kid.

Watching chickens hatch in their cousin's classroom via webcam. They loved this!

I think he would wear these boots to bed if I would let him!

It was muddy and Dave was grilling out so they were told not to go off the deck. I love Seth's arm on Luke's knee.

Sometimes you just have to sleep where you are.

Easter 2011

Well, I think I might have finally swept up the last of that pesky Easter basket grass yesterday so I guess it's time to share our Easter day here on the blog.

But we must start with some back story. My parents sold their house (yeah for them!) so we decided to have our Easter dinner here so they could keep on packing and not have to worry about the state of their house. It was a nice 'excuse' for me to really work on cleaning the house.

Then Max and Dave both started to sound and feel crummy. Max was up for awhile Friday night (which is NOT like Max at all) and Dave was coughing and miserable. Dave was a real trooper though and helped me finish up everything Saturday. Unfortunately, this eventually meant that Max and Dave missed Easter Sunday service. We were planning to go to church with my parents so Seth and Luke and I did that, but it really made me sad to go without Dave and Max (ridiculous because obviously that's not what Easter Sunday is about). Nevermind that it was Max's first Easter and he was missing church. I was a bit of a mess on the way to church (again ridiculous), but finally decided that Max was just saving a first for me for next year.

One of my favorite (non-religious) traditions is taking family photos while everyone is all dressed up. For the first time ever I bought shirts for the boys and a dress for me almost a month ahead of time. No last minute running around or any of my usual craziness. I was ready for these pictures! Yeah, that didn't really go so well either. Seth hates having his picture taken. Dave didn't go to church so he wasn't really dressed for the photo. Luke is crazy. And Max's eyes are all red and pitiful. We don't have time to discuss all the things about me that I wasn't thrilled with but I will tell you that it rained. My hair does not like rain.

So, here are a few pictures:

Here's the more important part of this post - I made the boys listen to this song all the way to church and home and now Seth calls it "the Easter song." It's fantastic. In fact, I probably should've just posted it and skipped all the nonsense about who missed church and how I let my selfishness ruin parts of the day and why the pictures are crummy. So, just take a listen to the song!