Final birthday recap, I promise ;)

Levi got some great birthday gifts!  Thank you to everyone for your generosity!

He wasn't sure what to do, so Momma helped him out.

To follow are some of the bigger kiddos playing in the water

I asked them to give me a big cheese, and this is what I got - not bad.

"Yippee!!"

Luke's turn!

Now Caleb's turn!

Levi watching the big kiddos

{do these two look alike?  everyone thinks so}

Snack time!

I have no idea what's going on here.  :)

Silly girl!

I see you!

Make yourself at home, Luke! :)

Later at night, we found an itty bitty frog.  The kids wanted their turn to hold it, I'm surprised they didn't squish it to death.  

Then I remembered the bug catcher 

They all wanted to take him home, so we decided to let the little fella go.  

It couldn't get away fast enough!  HA! :)  

Thanks again for a wonderful birthday party and celebrating our sweet ONE year old ;)

Birthday Cake!

Levi is definitely my child, he loved his cake!  I'm pretty certain he would have ate the entire thing had we not taken it away.  He made a pretty good dent in it!

"Let me see what the fuss is all about"

"Hmmm, that's not bad"

"Let's see how much I can put in there at once!"

"I love it!!!  This is fun!!"

"Let's see how messy I can get!"

"I should have been eating this all along!"

"LOVE ME SOME CAKE!"  :)

Levi's 1st Birthday Recap - Part 1

Yesterday was Levi's 1st Birthday Party!

I had so much fun planning it and we all had a good time!

*lots of pics*

His cute little shirt!  Jacob had one too on his 1st birthday, so happy to have them as keepsakes.

So there was some confusion between myself and Sam's Club on Levi's smash cake.  

I thought I was ordering a small smash cake and they apparently interpreted that to mean a huge 10" cake.
Kris came home with cupcakes for the guests and a cake {that could feed 50 people} for Levi.

At an hour and a half before the party, I frantically said, "that is not going to work!"

I wish I had taken a picture of it.  It was soooo cute, but it would not even fit on the tray of his high chair!

Kris took it back, and they threw this one together.  It's not perfect, but oh well...

I ordered these adorable cupcake toppers off Etsy. 

I made this cute little banner for his high chair.  Big shout out to Amy for cutting the perfect circles for me!

Click on her blog for an adorable brother & sister!

Cute fruit kabobs

A HUGE THANK YOU to Melissa for graciously giving me the backdrop!

She made it for her son's first birthday party last month and hated to see it go to waste, so she offered to give it away, and I snatched it right up! :)  Thank you so much!!!!  I loved it!!!  

Check out her blog for one adorable little boy!!

We had a canopy outside for snacks and also set up a slip 'n slide and a little pool for the big kiddos.

I found the gumball machine idea from Sarah's Blog.  She is one talented lady!

Wasn't sure what I was going to put in it, didn't want anything to melt in the heat, finally it dawned on me:  Skittles!  Visit her blog for neat crafty ideas and her handsome little Manny! :)

I knew I wanted to incorporate "Snack Shack" somewhere, and when I saw these little wooden summer decals at Hobby Lobby and the pedestal (on clearance!), I knew what I wanted to do.  Another thank you to Amy and her awesome Silhouette machine for cutting the words out for me!

My sweet friend Melody gave me the idea for the #1.  I bought it at HL but didn't know what to do with it until she stumbled upon this post and sent it to me.  Loved how it turned out!  And super easy to make!

For party favors, I gave each kid a little freezer mug. 

The favor tag is also from Etsy.

On the mantle I hung his monthly pictures :)

Levi was asleep minutes before the party started, and I thought he might be overwhelmed with everyone and all that was going on, but he was sooo good!

I will leave you with this.  His look is priceless!
He's thinking, "uh... what the heck is this?"  Makes me laugh! :)

More to come!  The kid loves cake! ;)

12mos

Levi, H*A*P*P*Y 1st B*I*R*T*H*D*A*Y to you!!!

Oh happy day!
I could cry tears, but they would be nothing short of JOY!
That had to be the fastest year of my life!!

So what are you up to at 12 mos?  Let's see...

*you weigh 21 lbs

*you wear a size 4 diaper

*you have 8 teeth

*you say ma-ma, da-da, and bye-bye

*you adore your big brother and he loves you!

*you are one fast crawling machine.  you have taken off using the walker, but haven't shown any  interest doing it on your own.

*you wave hi and bye like a pro!

*you pull up to everything, and love seeing your reflection in the oven, dishwasher, refrigerator (so cute!)

*you take one good nap a day (sometimes 3hrs)

*you give the best, sloppiest sugars.  and sometimes you initiate!!  so sweet!!

*you love to eat and when you see us eating you crawl like a mad man to us and start licking those lips!
*some of your favorite foods are bananas, jello, oatmeal, avocado, mashed potatoes, cream corn

*you have the sweetest, softest little voice.  and we just love to hear you babble, especially in the car :)

*you love bath time!!  as soon as you hear the water running, you make a mad dash and get the biggest smile on your chubby little face.  

*you are such a momma's boy and i absolutely love it!!! :)

{the pictures above were after a bath, and I didn't comb his hair.  clearly it shows! HA!}

Last year in review...

It has been an incredible year!!  Being your mommy is so rewarding!!!

Bringing you into our family has been seamless, you fit perfectly!!

I thank the Lord for you and especially for your healthy heart!!!  

We love you to the moon and back and back again!!
Today we celebrate you!!

Ice Cream and Father's Day

Saturday night Meme and Papaw came over.
Jacob was so excited!

After dinner I heard the ice cream truck outside.

Meme and Papaw chased him down with a shoeless Jacob

What a fun summer-time memory to make!

Funny story:  As I was walking down towards the van, I overhear Meme saying to the driver, "it's his birthday."  I thought now why would she say that, is she trying to get a free ice cream??  

Then it dawned on both of us, she was confusing Jacob for Luke!  Silly Meme!  Wrong kid!

***********************

Kris celebrated Father's Day this year with 2 boys!

{Levi was happy, I promise!}

There's a smile!

At church, Jacob made this cute keepsake!

{not sure why both prints are of his right hand?}

Also Happy Father's Day to my dad,  Papaw.

p.s.

I just had to throw this cute picture in of sweet cousins.