Birthday Boy!

Charlie James is 1!  We did most of our celebrating at his par-tay a few weeks ago but that didn't stop us from partaking in some cupcakes on his actual birthday.

We got away with minimal birthday celebrations on his birthday this year, but I know that might not always be the case.  It will be interesting navigating this Christmas Eve birthday in future years!

I just can't believe he is already ONE!  What a crazy year it has been.  I continue to wonder.. will we ever have a year without a major life change.. let alone multiple?!  I've read that having a baby, losing a job, starting a new job, and moving are all in the top ten most stressful life events.  We have yet to have a year without one, two, or three of those happening in our ENTIRE 11 year marriage!  Goodness, let's hope 2015 comes through as a year of consistency.  I'd happily welcome a year without one of those.

As stressful as life with a baby can be, this little mama's boy has also brought so.much.joy to our family.

 Please forgive these pictures.  Trying to get a picture of a 12 month old?  Nearly impossible.

Ready to see the doctor at his one year appointment!

Charlie at one year old...

• Weighs 22 pounds, 2 ounces (64%) and is 30 inches long (50%)
• Has ZERO teeth..and, according to the doctor, none close to popping through!
• Is a crazy fast crawler 
• Cruises along furniture and uses his walker but doesn't seem very interested in walking on his own
• Still loves his paci.  He has to have one in his mouth and another in his hand before he'll go to sleep.
• Loves to drink his milk from a sippy cup and is officially weaned  (sniff, sniff)
• Eats basically all food - even without teeth.  He loves oranges, strawberries, hot dogs, graham crackers, dried cranberries, applesauce, peas, corn, cheese, cucumbers, yogurt, and SWEETS!
• Signs more, all done, please and waves hi and bye
• Says mama, dada, kitty, hi, uh-oh, Babu, and bye
• Has become extremely attached to his mama.  It's a bit ridiculous, actually.  If he sees me and I'm not holding him, he's all out crying until I pick him up. 
• Loves to play with torment our kitty

Happy 1st birthday to our most favorite Christmas gift!  We love you, Charlie boy James!  

1st birthday celebrations

So, even though Charlie isn't officially one for another few weeks, we celebrated his birthday a few weeks ago.  My sis in law is a smart woman and suggested that we do a combined party for the boys. My nephew Abishai turned one in October and Char turns one in December, so November was the perfect month to celebrate both of these little men!  Plus, splitting the work = bonus!  Also, who doesn't love two little boys in matching outfits??  Total score!  

We love a good theme so went with The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  My rockstar friend Meg and Pinterest helped us with the ideas.

Loved these caterpillars with a picture of the boys from each month.

My bro and sis in law hosted and it was a full house!  Lots of kids and noise and chaos.  On our drive there, I was overwhelmed thinking of how amazing it is to drive 45 minutes and be able to be with family for the day.  We are so thankful!

Standing room only for present opening!  This was serious business.

These two boys are such amazing gifts to our families.  So special hearing the dads pray for their boys!

Note the matching outfits... amazing, right?  ;)

Cake eating was hilarious.

My favorite part was Charlie deciding hands were not necessary.  

I can't get over the cuteness!

This might be my favorite picture of the day!

It ended in disaster.  But we all survived.  

Oh and bonus - when your sis-in-law is a photographer, you get awesome party pics!  Thanks for the pics, Rox!

It was a crazy, hectic, amazing, exhausting day!  We are thankful for family who love us and our boys and that helped us celebrate them!  Oh, and thanks for letting us use trash your house, Engstroms!  ;)

Turning six

Claire turned the big SIX last week!  She had been planning her 'girls only Lego party' since her fifth birthday, so the stakes were rather high.  ;)

The day of her actual birthday was a lot of fun!  It started with opening presents, donuts, and chocolate milk.

Claire got a new bike (thank you Craigslist)!  Too bad she won't get to try it out for another four months!  Stupid winter.

She had to get some Lego building in before school!

Her sweet teacher made her day at school extra special.  She had asked us to write special letters to Claire and send them to school.  On her birthday, her teacher read the letters to her in front of the class.  She also got to wear this special birthday crown all day.  Justin was working from home that day so over his lunch break, he went to school and had lunch with her.  Then he read a story to the class.  I think that might have been the second happiest day of Claire's life (second only to the day her baby brother was born).  ;)

After school, Claire and I got to go on a special birthday date.  I took her to get her very first manicure and it was so much fun!

I love special time like this with this sweet girl.

We decided to have her birthday party the following day, on Friday, right after school.  She invited three friends and they all walked home from school with us for the party.  Like I mentioned, it was a Lego party.  We had a lot of fun planning it!

I thought a Lego cake would be sooo easy to make. Umm, no.  Not easy.  This was way hard to frost. 

Claire came up with this cool idea on her own!  

The girls designed their own Lego person because no party of Claire's is complete without art involved.

You can't have a Lego party without a little 'guess how many Legos'!

The party was great for the first hour!  The girls were sweet and had fun.  We ate snacks, played games, decorated Lego people, had cake, and opened presents.

Such sweet friends!

Claire even insisted that everyone share their picture and describe it to the group.  Future teacher, perhaps??  :)

About a half hour before everyone was going to get picked up, Claire said she was tired and laid down on the couch.  Umm, so NOT like Claire.  A few minutes later, as I was going to encourage her to go play with her friends, I realized she had FALLEN ASLEEP.  So weird.  I could not wake her up.  It was so embarrassing when all the moms came to pick up their daughter and the birthday girl is asleep on the couch.  Yeah, weird.  So everyone left and I finally got Claire to get up.  She told me she didn't feel well so I suggested we go get her pajamas on and go lay down, even though it was only 4:15.  We got to her room, she sat down on the bed, and started puking everywhere!!  I could not believe it!  Poor girl had come down with the stomach flu.  She told me later that she didn't fell well at school but was too excited about her party to go to the nurse.  :(  How sad is that?  I felt terrible that her friends had been there and probably are all puking now.  I had no idea she was sick.. what a nightmare!

After all was said and done, I think she still had fun... although she wanted nothing to do with the leftover cake.  Poor child.

We are so thankful for these six years.  Claire has made every day brighter and more exciting because she is in it.  I am a proud mama!