First Birthday

My baby turned one on Wednesday!  Aside from the decorations we put up the night before, the birthday celebration was saved for the party on Saturday.  But here's a few pics from his special day.

In the morning we went to the kids room at the Science Center in Baltimore with some friends.  Here's some of the fun stuff our preschoolers did.



And the birthday boy with his friend. Not sure he cared too much for the outing as his beloved morning nap was delayed, but he did pretty good.


When big brother went down for his nap we took a few birthday pics outside. He's such a happy boy (seriously, always happy!), I can't seem to decide on a favorite.  12 isn't too many to share, right?




Not sure how well it shows it, but I finally got a pic of him squeezing my neck. Love his hugs ♥

Independence Weekend

We had a nice holiday weekend!  Hot Cup smoked a pork shoulder and made barbeque sauce, corn salad, and passion fruit lemonade.


Hot Cup's brother and his wife stayed with us for the weekend.  They recently moved to the area and it's been fun to see them more!


Fireworks are rather loud and our kids didn't care for that.  I kept both of baby's ears covered most of the time as seen in the last pic, but sometimes he decided he was okay without it for a minute.  Our toddler mostly peeked around in order to see them from his hiding place behind me.


The 5th we picked raspberries & blueberries. Our baby would have preferred to grab the thorny bushes but mostly stayed in the shade of his stroller. Our toddler ate on site pretty much every berry he picked, so I guess it's good he didn't pick too many.

Husband

My husband had a birthday! The official celebration was 3 days early at my parents' home, and shared with three others. The cake he picked (from CakeLove) was called Gingerly and was ginger/lime/cinnamon, with a lime-flavored Italian Meringue Buttercream. Yum.  (Not sure why I always have to mention the cake, haha.)

At our toddler's last birthday he was a little too overwhelmed to blow out the candles so his dad helped out, so it was fitting that he blew out his dad's candles for him. Look how sweet.

(He also ate his dad's cake, when he hadn't eaten his own birthday cake.)

He's an amazing man and wonderful father.  He does a lot around here; sometimes I take pics of the homeowner stuff he does but they don't seem to make it to the blog (sorry babe, maybe someday).  Love him.

June

June was a fun month. Our boys continue to grow up (what's up with that?) and are almost becoming friends. Our toddler not only agrees to hold his baby brother but gives him a little kiss before every nap and at bedtime.  He likes to make sure he has a toy to play with.  And will laugh and play with him.  As they interact more they have more sweet brother moments but the less friendly moments seem to be part of the deal too.  Our toddler started out with pretty reasonable requests - "don't crawl out pants," "don't play big stool," "don't crawl outside," and the like, but now says "no, mine!" "hey!" and "no! no! no!"

One day I was setting up a blanket and some toys outside and our toddler was watching me through the screen.  Our baby must have been coming for the door to watch too cause I hear "no [baby]!" and the door slam shut.  For some reason he didn't want the baby to look out the window too.  And then I was locked out!  I should have grabbed my keys, made sure the door was unlocked, and let our toddler outside, but I hadn't.  I was a little more frantic than I needed to be (my baby cried a bit) but I eventually talked our toddler through unlocking the back door, something he doesn't to a lot but had the day before.

Everything is either light or dark (shade of color). And big, medium, or small.  And all animals are a mommy, daddy, baby, or (and especially) [his first name].

And now for tons of pictures.

Caterpillar art.


Our toddler spends every spare moment asking to go outside.  Sometimes we go to the park but more often he ends up playing on the deck.


Silly boy in daddy's shoes.


Taking care of George, with piggy back rides.


That water is pretty loud.


We love the kid-sized tables at the mall.


There are always new fun ways to play with his car collection.


Daddy's birthday present.


My mom and baby sister visiting.


Playing croquet with my big sis.