charlie’s blanket

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Handmade gifts are things to treasure, things to hold dear and things to love on. This is something that our sweet Charlie knows very, very well. Over the last few months Charlie has become rather attached to his blanket; a beautiful blue hand knitted blanket made for him by Jamie’s paternal Grandma, Memere. If I look away for a minute and lose track of Charlie I can usually find him in his room pulling it out of his crib, I find it randomly all over the house these days- in the kitchen, in the office, you name it I have found it there. He loves to snuggle with it and bury his head on it and while he is sleeping or falling asleep he holds it in one hand and has his thumb in his mouth… sweet precious boy! The other day it desperately needed to be washed (after being drug through the whole house for days) so I tossed it in thinking that it would be clean and ready before his nap- man was I wrong! It was still damp so we tried putting him down with Jay’s blanket and he cried and cried until about 20 minutes later when it was dry I brought it in to him… he was fast asleep within 2 minutes of getting his blanket- stinker! I love that he loves it and I love that it was made for him by such a special person. Thank you Memere for taking the time to make such a wonderful gift- Charlie LOVES it! Oh, and Happy Birthday too ;)

I was finally able to grab a few non-phone photos of Charlie loving on his blanket (he tends to stop whatever he is doing to crawl over and see my camera- so candids can be tough) so here they are…

Coincidentally, the book he’s looking at in the next three pictures was also given to him by Memere and Great Aunt Odette

The only photo of Memere and Charlie that I can find right now. It’s from the day of his Baptism- he was SO chunky!

And a few phone photos too… same PJ’s as above different day ;)

trying to walk with his blankie wrapped around his feet

the birthday boy

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I really wanted to post a few of Charlie that I took throughout the day on his birthday- he was such a sweet boy the whole day and I want to remember it, so here it is.  And since I know that you all are probably getting tired of the birthday posts (especially since it happened almost a month ago) I will try to make this my last ;)

Opening presents from Mommy and Daddy in the morning. It was really hard for Jay to hold back, you could almost see him physically restraining himself- bless his heart.

Jay finally getting to help

Cake time… Charlie was hilarious with his smash-cake. Check out the video at the end (thanks Uncle Jeremiah for taking it) the photos don’t really do it justice. He smashed it and played with it for quite some time before actually taking a bite and when he finally did it was almost like he was saying “Hey guys this isn’t half bad!  Why didn’t you all tell me it was food before now?”

This photo reminds me so much of one of mine when I was a little girl. I am not sure if it was the angle or what but man do I think he looks like me when I was young here!

Getting hosed off after eating cake- yes, it was warm enough to be hosed off outside and yes, he loved it!

the cake smash video-

one year in flash (take two)

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When I started thinking about Charlie’s first birthday party I was having a really hard time picking a theme that suited our family as well as Jay’s One Year in a Flash Party (original idea from here). And after thinking about it for a bit I realized that I could just do it again and I am so happy that I did- I really enjoy going through our photos to find a years worth of memories. We threw a One Year in a Flash Hot Dog Party (Hot Dog Party courtesy of one of my favorite blogs, recipe for crazy) and loved it.

Here are a few of the details from the party along with links to where I got things.

The invitation- I used Artboard to design his invitation, nothing special just a few cute photos of my sweet little boy and some party details.  We also did a time capsule for Charlie like we did for Jay and that info was sent along with the invite too.

 The drink table- We served sodas, the perfect complement to a hot dog in my opinion, and water. I used mason jars since I always have a ton hanging around instead of cups and got the paper straws from TJMaxx and amazon along with these really cute paper trays that we used instead of paper plates. We have a ton left over so I see them making an appearance at the next shrimp boil ;)

I used our big chalkboard to show off some of our month by month photos- I LOVE looking at these and seeing just how much they change in one year!

I saw a few chalkboard stats online (pintrest, etsy etc) and decided to doodle one for Charlie. I loved it so much that it’s actually still up but I will have to take it down soon…

I printed a bunch of photos using a coupon code at shutterfly to get all of these photos. I am pretty sure I only paid shipping for these which was like $4- yay!

The only other decorations that we had up were a one-year-old banner which I forgot to take a real photo of but here is one from my phone along with some framed photos. I printed the photos from mpix (my favorite photo printer) and used some frames that we had in the storage room to frame them.

Party favors- my go-to sugar cookies (I like edible favors since I don’t want to give someone something that they don’t really want anyway)

I printed the favor tags on my own, designed using Artboard (a Mac design program) and used the camera image that Nan designed for Jay’s party- thanks again Nan! (Check out her Etsy shop)

I wanted some chalkboard signs pretty desperately but I didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for them so my lovely husband cut a bunch of shapes out of mdf for me (I drew what I wanted on the board for him) and I then I just painted them with chalkboard paint :)
here’s a phone photo of the progress and then one of the table where one was used

the food table… I used brown wrapping paper along with striped wrapping paper on the table (which was great to clean up) and made the cones for the popcorn out of the same paper. Our menu was hot dogs with all kinds of different toppings, including a Tulsa Dog and SoCal Dog, Mac and Cheese Bites, Strawberries, Caramel Corn (my Grandma’s recipe- it’s FANTASTIC!), and the best vanilla cupcakes with Whipped Vanilla Buttercream Icing.

It was a great party, many thanks to all that came. We can’t thank you enough for celebrating our guys with us!

lighting of the tree in WP

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Recently, Jay has become super excited about Christmas lights and Christmas trees (all to be expected) so we decided to meet Jamie on Park Ave to watch the lighting of the Christmas Tree. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a pretty tree and it was cool to watch it light up all at once but the hour plus that we waited to see it happen (with a one year old that hadn’t napped in the afternoon) was less than desirable. Honestly, the two best things that came from the trip were
1. knowing what it’s like and not really having to see it again
2. the glow-sticks that were given out after dark!!

Charlie swiped Jay’s glow stick while we were getting our picture taken and had a blast with them the whole way home. Jay, Jamie and I had so much fun playing in the bath with them after Charlie had gone to bed. Here are a few photos Daddy took with a slow shutter speed while we were sending the “lightning fish” swimming through the water.

I think it is so funny that Jay has no clue that his glow-stick is being swiped!

the tree

Jay is in the tub in all of the following photos- at times you can see him better than you can at others depending on how much he moved during the shot.

By the way, in case you couldn’t guess we would recommend a glow-stick bath if your kids (or you- no judgement here) ever happen upon some glow-sticks. It was cool!

sweet one year old photos

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This makes the second post in two days- pure craziness I know!  I am seriously making an effort to catch up with things, specifically my photos and this here blog, but I make no promises- I mean come on it’s the holidays and I have an almost 3-year-old (2 and 3/4 if you ask the Bird) and  1-year-old… so let’s be realistic ;)

Jamie and I took Charlie out the weekend before his birthday to have a little one year old photo shoot and I am SO glad that I did!  I couldn’t adore these photos more :)

he looks like Jay to me in this next one…

a letter for my one year old

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Dear Charlie,
Just over a year a ago you took everyone by surprise by arriving 2.5 weeks early.  You joined our family; you fit so seamlessly with the three of us and added that little something extra that we didn’t even know we were missing.  Joy and Happiness are the best words to describe you, little guy…  you are just plain happy to exist.  You have been the most content little thing since entering this world and honestly, it’s hard not to be happy when you are around.  Now don’t get me wrong I don’t mean that you are smiling from ear to ear at all moments, you can be quite a stoic little one at times, but when you do smile and when you do laugh it lights up the room and tugs at my heart in a way I didn’t know was possible.  I am not sure I can accurately describe how much I delight in you or just how deeply you have rooted yourself in my heart but I will try…

Simply put you are amazing little one. You are playful and serious, you are easy-going and SO opinionated all at the same time. You are daring and bold yet so cautious and reserved.  You stand on chairs and push toys but tense up when you are held above or tossed (like Daddy likes to do) above heads.  You are a mess of contradictions little one and because of that you keep me on my toes.  Lately, you have been into EVERYTHING that you can manage to get into and then some.  You open cabinets and drawers with child locks on them, you dump bucket after bucket of toys out (I think just so you can hear the crash), you push buttons, any buttons that are within reach- keyboards, power back-ups, remotes it’s all fair game.  You love to walk behind push toys/laundry baskets (well really anything that you can push and move) but have refused to stand or walk on your own.  Don’t get me wrong I am by no means pushing you to master this skill, I know what happens when you little people start walking, but it is funny to me that you haven’t even considered trying.  Crawling however, you have tackled that beast and mastered it and you are fast! When you set off you get where you want to go and you get there FAST.  Like I said earlier, you constantly are keeping me on my toes.  You adore bath time and going outside.  Whenever the water starts or whenever we head towards the back door or pull the stroller out you flap your arms, squeal and smile the biggest smile.  You are constantly pointing at stuff and “telling” us about things and talking to us.  I love your curiosity.  I love the way you talk to me. I am not fluent in Charlie but man do I wish I was, you have so much to tell! I know that my chances to have quiet peaceful moments over the next 18 or so years are slim, and even though there are times I would give anything for silence, I still enjoy the sound of your voice and your laughter filing our house more than anything.  I love the way you continuously crawl to visit Daddy when he is working from home; you love people and can’t get enough of them.  I love your dance moves- you dance as soon as you hear any music playing- bobbing and rocking along.  I love the way you laugh and giggle while playing with your big brother- the relationship you two have melts me.

The passing of my babies’ first year is always bitter-sweet; I want so badly to bundle you up, snuggle you in and hold on to my little baby forever but that would mean missing out on all the wonderful things that are to come… If I could bottle up just a little of the sweetness you are right now- that smile, that laugh, those dancing legs- I would in a second but honestly I can’t wait to see what is coming because I know that it is going to be amazing.  You will do great things, you will love deeply and you will touch so many people along the way.  Thank you sweet boy for allowing me to be your Mommy and taking me on this adventure with you, the best is yet to come.

I love you sweet boy!  Happy, belated, birthday!

Love,

Momma

 

griffin

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Jay Bird asked for wings the other morning, so I dug through some stuff and found the wings from his Jay Bird costume two years ago. They still fit and worked like a charm. Happy boy= happy Momma :)

Jamie thought he looked like a griffin- body of a lion, head of an Eagle…

a sweet mess

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The other day I was out front with the boys while they were playing with the water table and I looked over to see this sweet mess.  Charlie was covered in dirt head to toe and having a blast. I love this sweet happy kiddo :)

this is one of Charlie’s new silly faces

pumpkin pickin’

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We headed out the pumpkin patch last week with the boys to go pumpkin picking.  In the years past we have headed out to St Lukes they have a great patch and great people working it but since it isn’t close to our house and we were going before supper on a week night we decided it was best to stay a little closer to home (a good choice that was confirmed by the crying and tears from tired hungry boys on the ride home).  I fully intended on bringing home a large pumpkin to carve along with a few small ones for the kiddos to paint.  However, when we got there Jay couldn’t be bothered to pick a large pumpkin he just wanted to load and unload the small pumpkins in and out of the wagon and pull it up and down the aisles.  It definitely wasn’t worth fighting with him to pick a large one when he was perfectly happy towing the small ones around and while he did that Charlie crawled on and around any pumpkin we would sit him next to.  We ended up bringing home $2.25 in tiny pumpkins and both boys had a blast- definitely a win as far as I am concerned!

sorry for the overload of photos, I am making up for lost blogging time ;)

this is one of Charlie’s new silly faces