A Wild ONE!

On Thursday, July 13, our sweet August Michael turned ONE!  It never ceases to amaze me just how quickly time flies.  It seems like only yesterday we were waiting for his (or her-since gender was a surprise) arrival.  This past year has FLOWN by!  Maybe it was because we were only in Missouri for a year or maybe that's just the way things go.  The older you get, the faster time moves.  

This year was great.  Andrew has been such a great big brother and we've loved watching Aubrey take on her role as big sister.  She's such a little "mama" and takes excellent care of her little brother.  The love between the three of them is so precious, it makes my heart want to explode!  The Lord has been good to us, that's for sure!  

August started his birthday with pancakes.  And even though he looks less than thrilled, he enjoyed them (as he does all food, if you can't tell).

 Andrew and Aubrey helped him blow out the candle after singing "Happy Birthday."

Later that day, Aubrey had a big appointment...

Granna wanted a photo shoot with all her grands!  She has such great vision when it comes to these photo sessions.  She set everything up and Erica Amos worked her magic to get some great shots!

(Doesn't my baby look all grown up with her haircut!)

 And since we had the photographer there, we might as well get in a smash cake session!

 Gracie did a good job helping to decorate the smash cake!

 Sweet baby thought that the yellow polka dots must have been the yogurt bites he's used to, so he kept trying to pick up just the yellow spots.  

On to the party~

In honor of our month long AMAZING adventure, we went with the camping/woodland animal theme:  August is turning a WILD ONE! (My amazing mother did all the decorations! She's talented like that!). If it hadn't been for her, we would've had a cake and sang "Happy Birthday."  LOL So thanks, Mom, for making out boy's day really special!

 I feel like my kids always get the short end of the stick when it comes to my cakes.  I'm always so busy getting everything else together, that the cake is always rushed and I never get to do "exactly" what I had planned.  Oh well.  It was still cute!  (And thanks to my Sister for saving me a couple of hours by doing the tee-pees.  

 Speaking of my sister, look how cute her fruit owl was!

 Jack and August with Grumps

 (I love that he wore the hat!)

 "Who me? You're all singing for ME?!"

 You know how hard it is to get a good picture of all of us?

 He takes eating very seriously!

 Though he was happy to share with Uncle Adam!

 I hardly took any pictures, really.  The majority of these were taken by other folks.  I was trying to enjoy the moment!  It was such a special day.  We had family and friends with us to celebrate our boy.  It was so nice having everyone together.  With us living so far from family, that hardly ever happens.  We missed all the ball players in my family who were off at different tournaments.  Thanks to everyone who came out to make his day special.  

Andrew and Maggie have been friends since they were babies.  Since her Momma is my BFF, it's only natural that they get along so well.  Just like with me and Erin, they picked right up where they left off and had a great time together. 

 Water fun!

August wasn't the only one that had a birthday while we were home.  My sister turned 33 on the 15th!  Drew and I were able to spend some time with her and Jefforey without the kiddos. (Thanks Mom and Dad). We went to dinner on Friday night and then on Sunday night we got to play some games at their house.  Good times were had by all!  I sure do miss my sister!  Living so far away starts to wear on you after a while and spending some quality time with her was good for my soul.  I always count down the days until we can do it again!  Love you Sis!

And just like that, our trip was over.  Next stop...VIRGINIA!

Birthday's Birthday's Birthdays

Well, December is here and that means we kick things into high gear around here.  Not only do we have all the normal hustle and bustle of Christmas, but also 3 birthdays and 2 anniversaries.  Our Anniversary is first.  On the 4th Drew and I celebrated 9 years of marriage.  We had big plans (and actual reservations) for the weekend following our big day.  My parents would be in town to keep the kids.  (More on that later)  Anyway, so this year we had to have Andrew's party a week early due to some pretty busy plans on the 14th.  Plus another little boy in his class was having his party that day and once it gets so close to Christmas people get very busy.  Needless to say when Daddy celebrated his 35th birthday, on the 5th, Mommy was busy baking Andrew's 3 tiered birthday cake, so poor Daddy had to settle for red velvet cupcakes with his favorite swiss buttercream frosting.  (See, I did manage to somehow squeeze them in.)  So after Dinner we had a mini party for Daddy.  

And the best birthday present Daddy got....snuggle time with his little girl.

I spent all day Friday finishing the cake.  I think I went to bed at 4 am.  We had to be up early Saturday for a basketball game before the birthday party.  Mind you, it was 78 degrees on Friday and 80 degrees on Sunday.  Wouldn't ya know it was cloudy and about 55 on party day.  But that didn't stop the kids from staying outside.  The 61 foot bouncy obstacle course might have had something to do with it too!  This baby was delivered bright and early.  Andrew had to get a pre-game bounce in before we left.  

 Today was also Andrew's first basketball game of the season.  They won!  AND He scored the first points!  His party day was off to a great start!  Here's the birthday boy with his Wild Kratt's jungle themed cake.  (If you haven't heard of Wild Kratts, it's a show about animals on PBS; very interesting.  It's also on netflix)

 The party gang

 Apparently it wasn't too cold for ice cream.

 The birthday boy also requested a pinata. 

...which also doubles as a great hat.

Now his ACTUAL birthday was the following weekend.   Sumper had a little surprise for him that morning.

He takes after his mommy.  He is NOT a morning person!

 Sumper got Andrew a DVD he has been wanting for a while.

 After church we took Andrew and his 2 girlfriends to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch.   We didn't have much time because we had to be back for our choir musical that afternoon.  I made Andrew this cookie cake to take to his class at church, but he decided he'd rather have it at his other party, so we packed it up and took it to Chuck E. Cheese.

These are some "cheesy" kiddos!

Aubrey enjoyed herself....she liked watching all the kiddos run wild in the place.  

(It was a little too much for Mommy!  That place stresses me out!)

So after all that, we have a 35 year old and a 7 year old.  The 7 year old might as well be 35.  He's growing too fast and time just won't stop!  He is still such a blessing.  He is the kindest, most loving child I've ever met.  He's tender hearted and compassionate, yet he's very focused and persistent.  He's smart and funny and he's the best big brother!  You couldn't ask for a better kid.  He is my sunshine, my sweet boy, my firstborn.  Happy Birthday Andrew!