Dochia's First Birthday!

We were invited to Dochia's first birthday party.  Lindey is going to miss this little cutie!

Happy birthday, sweetie! May 29, 2014

Lindey's First Birthday Party

Yesterday Lindey turned 1!  I can't believe it's been a year since she was born.  What a year it's been!  I knew I wanted to have a little birthday party for her and invite all those who really went out of their way to take care of her and us.  We decided to have a BBQ.  My sister, Nichole, sent Lindey a box of princess party stuff--decorations, party blowers, balloons, plates, napkins, games, CD of princess songs, thank you cards--everything we'd need to put on our party. (Thanks Nichole!)  The only thing the box didn't contain was invites.  I made up some super cute ones with a few die cuts I had.  I knew I wanted them to match the party decor, so I pulled out my polka dot paper, drew up the little crown that was on everything and made it the size of the die cut baby I had. 

We had some fun with the wording on the invite since it was to be a princess party--hear ye, hear ye!...

For Lindey's cake I knew I wanted a cake for her to dig into that was all her own. I also knew that since so many people would be here I wanted to make cupcakes. I didn't want to make a big cake on top of all of that, so I decided on a small princess.  I baked the cake in my glass sugar bowl.  The little cabbage patch is a kid's meal toy from Burger King, I think.  It was the perfect size for Lindey!

Here are the treat bags.  They were filled with party blowers, Grips graham cracker packs, mini friut marshmallows, caramel  hershey kisses, and mini tootsie pops.  The kids loved them!

I made both chocolate and white cupcakes.  I was trying to get everything ready when Ian got home from school and offered to help frost the cupcakes. (Thanks buddy!)  Bet you can't tell which ones he did. lol  I appreciated his thoughtfulness.

The wind was blowing pretty hard as the party was starting, so we put the plates and napkins in ice cream buckets to keep them from blowing away.  I made a potato salad and stuffed strawberries.  Cindy brought a Jell-o Gem salad, Kristin brought deviled eggs, Aunt Shlisa brought a pasta salad, and Grandma brought a Jell-o Fluff salad.  We cooked hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken on the grill.  It was yummy!

My friend and neighbor Heather sells cute onesies and baby items (Tiny Socks and Co.) and she brought this outfit over for Lindey the day before her birthday. :)  Isn't it cute??  I couldn't get a good smile out of her.  I was about an hour late giving her her allergy medicine, so I don't think she was feeling all that well.  She did dance a bit to the princess cd for John, Morgan, and Talynn while I was inside getting dinner ready.  Glad John caught that one on video--it's pretty funny.  Enjoy!

Once we started opening presents, Lindey perked right up.  She turned into a little ham!  She loved this part of her birthday.

This little bug's antennas reminded us of Lindey with her piggie tales on top.  It plays music.  Micah gave her a pig like this for Christmas, but it recently stopped playing music.  We decided to replace it for her birthday.  She had to do a little bee-bopping while the song played.

Heather also made her this little outfit out of a pair of overalls.  The onsie has ruffles on the bum and has a matching headband.  So cute!

We gave her this little outfit.  It has a little cupcake with a cherry on top of it.  It has light pink bloomers with ruffles on the bum also.  Love that. :)

Aunt Shlisa and Uncle Thomas gave her 3 little baby dolls and a bigger pink baby doll.  She was in heaven!  She kept giving them kisses and hugs.  It was so cute.  They also gave her some pretty necklaces, and a couple of outfits.

 We gave her a purple baby doll.  I think she will love all of them! She wouldn't let go of the peach baby to open her next gift. :)

 She had a ball opening gifts. :)  McFarlane's gave her some Mother's animal cookies (may have to hide those once they are opened so the other kids don't get in them-lol), and a soft stuffed puppy dog.  Ms. D gave her some snacks, and Grandma and Grandpa hooked her up with yogurt bites, and a Tinkerbell beach towel.  I've never had a one year old be so animated and into opening presents!  It was fun to watch her.

A few things about Lindey--

She weighs 19.8 lbs., and is 29 inches tall.

We've discovered that she has allergies--worse than any of our other children, so that's not been fun.

Lindey has started walking.  Just in the week since I posted the video of her first steps she has started standing up on her own, can bend down from standing and pick something up then stand again, she is walking more often and is getting braver all the time. And faster too!  When she doesn't want to show off or be put down she straightens out her legs and pulls them up like she is sitting. She is definantly doing things on her terms.  She also is discovering she can climb.  She made it up on the trunk by the piano one day and was about to stand up so she could reach the ledge--eek!  She can get on the couches by herself.  We've gotten after the kids a few times for leaving her where she can fall to learn that she is putting herself there.  Gonna have to watch her a bit closer now.  She can get up there, but not back down.

Lindey still loves music.  Whenever she hears music she starts bouncing to the beat.  She can keep the beat better than some of my piano students! LOL

Lindey is a little chatterbox.  She keeps us laughing.  I love how excited she gets when she figures something out. (She still does her octopus arms when she gets excited.) :)   She is a happy baby.  Makes me smile.

We sure do love our little Lindey Lu!  Happy birthday sweetheart.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Happy Birthday Lindey!  Our sweet little girl.  Can't believe it's been a year...

Love you Lindey Lu!

Eli's First Year

I can't hardly believe that my baby is turning one today! It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we brought him home from the hospital. I wanted to do a few pictures of him over the last year. He's changed a bunch! :)

My sister, Nichole, took a few pictures for me when I was pregnant with Eli.

I felt great my whole pregnancy. I exercised every week day, and didn't gain that much weight with him. I was pretty shocked when he was born and was a 10 pound baby!

Eli just a few days old. We took this picture for his birth announcement.

Eli's first Melon Days! John's mom always buys the grandkids t-shirts, and a child's 4/6 was the smallest size they had. I made it into a onesie so it would fit him!
Eli at 3 months--what a cute smile!

Eli's halloween costume was a frog this year. He looked so stinkin' cute in it! :)

Eli at 5 months.

Eli's 6 month picture. His hair is starting to lighten up!

Playing outside in the backyard. 8 months old.

Eli's 9 month picture on the front lawn. Totally blonde now. So cute with his dark eyes!

Our baby boy, 12 months old (1 year!!). What a cutie~

Yea!! It's my birthday! (clap, clap, clap)

Eli now weighs 19 lbs. 4 oz. and is 29 1/2 inches tall. At this stage Eli has been walking for about a month now. He's getting pretty good at it! He tries to run, and it's so cute to see his legs going faster than he can go and trying to keep his balance. We rarely see him crawl anymore. It almost looks funny to see him crawling now that he's been walking. Since he turned 11 months, he now gives "5's". He loves to clap--notice his one year pictures he is clapping in both of them. Eli will eat just about anything put in front of him. I haven't noticed him being overly picky about anything. A few of his favorites are hot dogs, bananas, zuccini bread, and popcicles. He can say Mama and Dada to get our attention. That boy loves his daddy! His little face lights up when John comes home. He always wants to be held by him. He can say gramma, and he tries to say the kids names, although it doesn't sound like them. He has figured out how to yell and does so whenever he is excited. He can wave "bye, bye". He likes to point at things. You can ask him, "Where is daddy?" And he will point to him and say, "Dada!" If he wants something he will say, "Mama!" and open and close his hand like, "give me some". He is a happy little boy, and we are so glad he is part of our family. We love him so much! Happy birthday little buddy.