Mack's BIG Day!

My Mack turned one on thursday, June 7th and I, of course, had to work that day. Jeff kept reminding me that babies dont know when their birthdays are so not to worry, but i hated to not spend the entire day with the baby i had given birth to just one year ago! It made me sad! But then, we did his one year pics that evening (and ate CFA... what kid doesnt love CFA on their bday?!) so i felt a little better... like we did something that was all about him, youknow?! 

Jeff and I (aka:I) decided last year as we spent an outrageous amount of money on Rhyan's 2nd bday party (not intentionally, but it adds up quick) that we would from now on do a 1st bday party ONLY. At least until they're old enough to have "Friends" and WANT a party. Till then, we'll do the 1st party and then an outing of their choice for the bday celebration after that. With cake and icecream for family at some point close to their bday, of course. Gotta have cake and icecream :-) 

So, for Mack's first bday, I chose to do a sesame street party. Why? Because I liked the invitation :-) No, mack doesnt really watch SS. But you gotta choose something, right?! haha... So we planned the party for Saturday, the 9th at 11am. Unfortunately, Jeff (who coaches baseball in the summer, too) had games that day. One at 9am and one at 1pm. Seriously? :-( But he tried to help out by getting up early and enlisting a little help in blowing up some balloons!

And then my Mom came over around 9:30 to help get everything set up. It took a lot longer than I anticipated (it always does) but seriously, idk what I would have done without her.

I found this cute idea on pintrest for fruit/veggies plates.

Elmo!

Big Bird

C is for Cookie! MONSTER that is!

And whats a party with Oscar the Grouch?!

 All of the "adult" food: chicken salad sandwiches, meatballs, spinach dip and crackers, chips and fruit and veggies. Bottled water or sweet tea to drink. The kids had uncrustable pb&j's and juice box's in addition.

 The invitation that i based the whole party off of :-) Click to enlarge and read!

  

 

 

 My friend, Terrilyn came and took some professional pics for us (as her gift to Mack! how sweet!) and she captured this... his FIRST time EVER standing alone! He had stood alone for literally 2-3 seconds at a time, but this was his first time lasting SO long! What a priceless moment! And i love his face :-)

 And my sister in law, Liz, captured some great pics as well. The Thank you's: A fish tank (with gold fish) and a "boo boo pack". We have loved ours around here!

 

We opened gifts after we ate, but Mack wasnt a great gift opener. He loved the first gift he got: a little people zoo truck from Lindy and her family. And that was it. That truck was the only thing he wanted. So we all got to enjoy the awkwardness of everyone watching as I opened Mack's gifts for him and he played. Nice :-)

We decided to get Mack's cake made at publix. I was hesitant because it wasnt one of the ones to choose from... i was describing what I wanted and having to get one made. Overall, it was ok. But i like things like this to be perfect and it wasnt. A little disappointing, but not bad, i guess. It tasted yummy :-) 

OH! and I had planned on putting a "1" candle on top, but couldnt find it the morning of so i improvised w/ this big bird in a car.  And apparently it was a little heavier than i anticipated :-) (btw, i found the candle as i cleaned up from the party... boo!)

The SMASH CAKE!!! Mack dug right in, no hesitation. And loved it :-)

And last, but not least, a couple of outdoor shots. Jeff was in his coaching attire b/c he literally came to mack's party in between games :-(

The Ford Boys!

Mack was chowing down on lunch and being super messy. I was worried about his clothes so i threw this bib on him (Daddys little princess). My cousin Lindy admonished me and made me change it and promised that I'd be glad. And i was. haha!

I love this one of Spud, our opportunist dog, taking advantage of some sticky birthday fingers!

Thank you again to all of our family who came and for the Baynes and Bridgers for helping us celebrate Mack's life! We had a great time with everyone and feel so blessed!!!

Lindsay's having a BABY!!! And while another boy would have been delightful, the fact that this baby (her 3rd) is a GIRL makes it just divine :-) And totally worth celebrating!

So we did!

I had not yet finished Lind's gift (I mean, Kendall's) but Ang had made her this beautiful blanket! And given her a couple of ADORABLE winter dresses. This little girl will be styling like her Momma!

We had a wonderful time catching up and cant wait to meet Miss Kendall Jane!

This was the night before Mack's 1st bday party so I had to head on pretty early for prep for the party, but we had a great time and absolutely love every minute I get to spend with these girls! I'm so grateful for childhood friends who are lifelong friends!!!!

Mack is ONE!

My baby is not a baby anymore! He's officially a TODDLER! *sigh* 

My fabulous friend, Terrilyn, has done ALL of Mack's pics in his life, thus far (thanks to her great BABY CLUB!) We had chatted briefly early in the week of Macks bday about how my Mommie has been wanting me to get a pic of Rhyan in her flower girl dress and Terrilyn asked if I could do it on Thursday evening of that week. Of course i could! (she was, btw, doing this at no charge because she's a fantastic friend who uses her gifts and talents to be a pure blessing to others and she wanted to do a pic of rhyan for mommie! I cant say enough wonderful things about how generous she is!). Then, on the day of the pics, she called me and started talking about all the props she had for Mack... wait, what? We were going to do Mack's pics, too? I was totally NOT prepared for that, but sometimes its best to roll with the punches. I was by myself w/ the kids that night b/c Jeff was in school. But Shlaine saved the day by picking up some CFA and dropping it by the location of the pics (one of their neighbors beautiful back yards!) The kids actually did great, the weather was perfect and i was SO glad that we went for it...

So, Mack had his 1st year pics done ON his birthday!

Enjoy!

This was a cute idea but he would NOT leave the rock's alone! He would pick one up, put it in his mouth and then offer it to me.  Silly boy!

 I absolutely LOVE this pic of my babies. 

Rhyan in her flower girl dress! These two were Mommie's favorites and she wanted BOTH in an 8x10!

 My sweet girl!

This one says it all... my boy is ONE!

Oh, my sweet Mack. I cant believe you're one! We adore you and your fun personality!

Start to Summer!

Summer is great. And hard. I love that Jeff gets a break from work. He needs it (well, and before anyone who works all year long gets mad, Jeff also teaches during the summer and coaches baseball and is in his masters degree... so its not much of a break, but he does get some much deserved days off!) But, dang-git, its HARD to get up and go to work while your husband and babies enjoy sleeping in!

On my first day of work while Jeff and the kids stayed home, I got a pic posted to my fb wall by my sweet hubby. He set up this precious little picture and it made the day SO much better! I mean, Spud is showing his butt a little (haha) but my sweet kiddos and the message from Jeff absolutely made me smile :-)

Dont boys know that it doesnt take much to make a mama happy!?!

I wanna see da babies!

A few weeks ago, i purchased 4 lovely hanging baskets for our back deck. I've wanted hanging baskets out there every spring for the last 5 years but i'm cheap and wouldnt ever buy them. This year, i splurged when i found some really pretty double inpatients at home depot on sale. Rhyan loved them because they were pink, so i was sold.

We got them home and hung up that very night. And Rhyan and i took on the responsibility of  watering the flowers daily (they seem to wilt if we go 2 or more days without watering them) and have had great fun doing so. Then, one day, we noticed a nest!

The next day, there were TWO eggs in it!

And so the waiting began. At least 5 times a day, Rhyan would say "i wanna see da eggggggs, mommy!".
We would take the basket down (and the mama bird would fly off which would scare the crud out of me every time, no matter how much i expected her to do so!) and check and make sure the eggs were ok. We'd never touch them and she'd remind me each time "we not touch dem, mommy. we just look!". And so we did.

And then, on day, there were no longer any eggs... there were BIRDS!

Oh, how sweet :-)

And a few days later, we saw the carcass of one of the precious babies being eaten by a bigger bird. Oh my. Life is cruel. We told Rhyan it flew away.

The only downside to the whole thing is that the blasted nest messed up my beautiful flower. I mean, i let it go b/c its the creation of life. How often do you get to show your kids this kind of stuff?!

Well, apparently, more than once a season for us.

A little lovebird has made a nest in the OTHER flower now and there is an egg waiting to hatch.
We are, of course, watching it closely.

Fun times, friends!

Memorial Day (evening)

As i mentioned in my last post, we typically celebrate Mama's birthday on Memorial day. This year was hard, not having Mommie home with us and I'm sure it made it harder on Mama since it was her bday (well really it was the next day but like i said...). So we were pretty happy when not only did Mama get to join us for the parade, but some of our family stayed with Mommie at the hospital long enough for Mama to get to eat dinner with us, too! And Jonathan came, as well!

We grilled out some hamburgers, hotdogs, corn, had broccli slaw and baked beans. Yum.

My friend, Carrie Anderson, also joined us. She livens up any show :-) 

After dinner, we let the kids try out the pool for the first time this year!

They LOVED it!

dont you love Mack's "Tattoo"? Its my address stamp that my sister in law, liz gave me... 

He's bad to the bone :-)

Rhyan jumped in and the water was cold on Mack...

But he loved it, anyways :-)

LOVE thsi girl!

And i LOVE how my babies love each other and play together so well (for now...!)

This pic cracks me up. Rhyan was literally jumping in and mack's all lounging over the side, drinking water out of a bowl. These babies make me smile :-)

Rhyan is getting some air!

Poor Spud... he's our entertainment. Put him over water and he instinctively paddles his feet!

Rhyan, getting ready to run and jump in the pool. And Carrie, her "counter" who would count her down and say "GO!"

Mama and her grandbabies (mack cant be bothered to pose for pics...)

OH, and we also enjoyed some ooey gooey brownies. Double YUM!

Happy Birthday, Mama!