Happy 1st Birthday, Brooks!

Saturday,  we celebrated Brooks' 1st birthday!  Shelly did such a amazing job at making his party adorable.  

By looking at Blair can you guess the theme?

Such a cute table set up!

I made the cupcakes for the party!  Dr. Seuss was such a fun theme!

Little Dr. Seuss shoes....

Presents!

I have to share this tradition with you all.  

In the picture below, you will see the Poppi plate.  Poppi is Randy's late father.

All of Poppi's grandchildren used this plate and now every great-grandchild.  

The plate is given to every great-grandchild on his/her 1st birthday from the great-grandchild that recently had it.  

This plate has really been passed around these past couple of years.  

Molly had it for 1 year and 10 months.

Molly passed it to Jackson. Jackson had it for 3 months.

Jackson passed it to Claire.  Claire had it for 14 months.

Claire passed it to Garrett. Garrett had it for 13 months.

Garrett passed it to Chloe. Chloe had it for 3 months.

and now....Chloe passes it to Brooks.

Cake time!

Thank goodness for technology!  

This is how Justin got to see the party....

They used Skype.  Did I even say that right?  Should I say "They Skyped him?"

  

Jackson really wanted to be a part of the......hmmmmm, what do I say here?.....he wanted to be a part of the skyping....he wanted to Skype too....   ?????

You get my point!

Bounce House!

Jackson loved this hat!

Happy Birthday, "Baby" Brooks!

We love you!

Everything Needs a Purpose.

Garrett has always loved putting little objects into a big object.  (e.g., blocks in a box, cars in a basket)  This is a skill I often appreciate because he is a great assistance when it comes time to clean up.

I have this vase sitting on the console table under our TV.  Yesterday, I had to laugh when I walked by and saw this:

It was filled with wood letters and a pair of goggles.  

Notice the lid he placed on top, it doesn't belong to that vase but it is such a perfect fit.  

The lid came from this little vase thingy.....

....which Garrett thought was a the perfect spot for his drink.

It all makes perfect sense.  In Garrett's eyes, everything needs a purpose so he was just helping me out. 

The most amusing part of it all was when Aaron got home from work.  I said "Hey, look at the console table in the living room."  He looked and responded with "Why did you do that?"  in a serious voice.  I then said "AARON, Seriously!!  [which by the way, 'seriously' is Jackson's new favorite thing to say...kids are great at making you realize the things you say too often] You think I did that?!"  He replied back with "Oh....did Garrett do it?"  DUH!!!!  

Mommy and Me Day.

The boys and I had a nice day together.  We started off by going to story time at North Park.  They have a story time called Tickles for Toddlers for 2-3 year olds.  I find it amusing that both of my children fit into that category.  However, when I told the boys that they could both go because it was for two AND three year olds, Jackson said "Well Mommy, I don't think I can do that because I am three AND A HALF."  Little stinker.

I only took pictures of them in the library before story time started because I didn't want to be THAT mom with the camera in such a small area.  

I love watching Jackson and Garrett around other kids.  I think they are going to be good little students one day.  They will be the boys that are angels at school and CRAZY at home....which makes me wonder if it would be a good or bad thing to teach at their school when I go back to work.

After story time, I took them to the Lego store.  They are completely into Legos right now.  Aaron's brother, Michael, got them a fire station Lego set for Christmas and I feel like every second of every day I hear from the playroom, "MOMMY!  COME BUILD THE FIRE STATION WITH ME!!"  I will build it with Jackson, Garrett will knock it down when I leave the room, and then I hear "MOMMY!  GARRETT BROKE IT!  MOMMY! COME BUILD THE FIRE STATION WITH ME!"  It tends to be a never ending process.  

Even though we have more than just the fire station, I feel like most of his Legos came as a kit (fire station, gas station, etc) and when Jackson was younger, I made the mistake of always helping him build what they were 'supposed' to be.  So, now even though I will show him how it doesn't have to be JUST a fire station, he has a hard time naturally thinking that way about those Legos.  Make sense?

Today even though we did buy another kit, I was sure to come home and make several things right from the start - a house, a ship, the tower like the entrance to our neighborhood, a dog, and just random things so he didn't think Legos always have to be like the picture on the box they came in.    

After the Lego store (I wish I would have taken a picture of them there) we ate lunch - 

I know, not the best pictures, but I am just documenting our day.

On the way home from the mall, we stopped at Target because the whole way home my OCD was setting in and I was really worried on how I was going to store even more Legos when we already had trouble storing the ones we had.  I decided on this basket and wrote Legos on the front on the chalkboard.  I figured it would hold them all and it is big enough that if needed they could actually play basketball with their Legos when it is clean up time.  Legos make me so very thankful that we have a playroom that we don't have to walk through or clean up every night.  

Tonight, the 4 of us had to run to Lowe's (I feel like we always HAVE to run to Lowe's).  While Aaron was getting a cart, the boys hopped onto these.  I could only imagine the damage they could cause on these!

  

You're a Mom.

I LOVE this and had to share it with you all....

So.....Do you know who Elmo's fish is?

Savannah's Mini-Vacation.

My sister had to go out of town this week for work, the lady that keeps Savannah went out of town this week as well, and of course my brother in law Ricky works....so my sweet little niece Savannah has had a mini-vacation at her Aunt Kelli and Uncle Aaron's house from Saturday to Wednesday!  She is the sweetest little thing!  So easy, laid back, sleeps from 8:30pm until 7:30am, loves watching Jackson and Garrett play....the perfect little baby!  

I have only really taken pictures this week with my phone so that I can send them to my sister throughout the day, so I'm sorry about the poor quality of these pictures.  I really planned on taking somewhat good pictures of the 3 of them together, but for some reason I forget to do it throughout the day.....or don't have the motivation to do it throughout the day.....or one child is hungry....or tired....or stinky....or the boys want nothing to do with the camera...or nothing to do with each other.......the list goes on and on!  Maybe tomorrow!

Savannah in her jumper.  

(Of course my sister has the child that FALLS ASLEEP in her jumper!  I ALWAYS wanted a kid like that.) 

Savannah wakes up before the boys.  Every day when the boys wake up, the first thing they do is look for Savannah!  They each walk into kitchen with messy hair, holding their blanket, squinted eyes, and ask, "Where's baby girl Sa-bana?"   Here is Jackson telling Savannah good morning and asking her if she slept good last night.  They love each other!

I was making Jackson's bed and Jackson said "OH I KNOW!!!  Let's make a pallet with baby girl Sa-banan!!"

Here Jackson is telling her "Look Savannah, here are the toys you have to pick from - a bird, an elephant, a mirror, a turtle, a tire spinning thing.  They are all really fun, but if you don't like them, I am sorry, but you need to pick one, okay baby Sa-banana?" 

Where is Garrett?!?!  He has been great with Savannah too, but for some reason I don't have many pictures with him.  

After dinner tonight, Aaron took the boys to the pool and Savannah got to hang out with me while I did some things in the kitchen.  We had a nice talk.  I taught her how to make Zucchini Bread, I told her that her mommy is a great cook, but never eat anything she bakes (hahaha!!), I taught her my cleaning strategy for cleaning up the kitchen, I taught her why we must wash our hands after cracking eggs, I taught her what a 'big T' meant and what a 'little t' meant (I thought I needed to teach her that since she would never learn that at home....her mom just "eyeballs" it!;) I taught her some family cooking secrets (okay....so we don't have any..... I just made some things up!)  and I taught her much much more!  And if you can't tell, I was cracking myself up the whole time!  Doesn't having a baby in the kitchen make you feel like you have your own cooking show?  She was cooing at me and smiling, so I just kept talking away!