one year!

I'm still somewhat in denial that I'm the mother of a one year old... again.

But whether I'm ready or not, he is and he's made sure to rub it in my face!

Nick is still a sweet little thing, but there's some toddler vinegar starting to creep in...

Some of it came through when I tried to take some pictures of this freshly turned one year old... he's not as patient at putting up with mom and her camera like he used to be, that's for sure! But some toys and a tube of chapstick managed to get him still long enough for me to catch these:)















Nick still isn't walking, but he's been standing confidently for at least two months now. He managed to take ONE TINY step yesterday so we know walking is coming soon!


And I'm sad to say this was about how happy he was for his birthday. My kids have a knack for being cranky on their big days...


Originally I wasn't planning on having a party for Nick's birthday. But Rob convinced me to have one, mainly because we've made great friends here and they all love Nick so much. So I figured it would be mean not to let everyone share in his big day.

Here is Nick right after he woke up, the morning of his birthday:

Ready to PARTAY!!!

Rob reminds me all the time that I am weird. And he is so right. I decided to have a germ party. Hey, I'm the mom to little boys allright? And they love the Yo Gabba Gabba germ song and this germ book we like to check out from the library AND my nickname for Nick is booger. So I think it was appropriate.

Here is the invitation I designed:

And the cupcakes:


I had a ton of fun putting the goodie bags together! I had to get creative (I mean let's face it, germs aren't exactly common party themes) but I think it worked out.

I just used simple lunch sacks and made little paper germs to use as name tags.

Each bag held a couple sheets of make-your-own-"germ" stickers (they're really monsters), "germ" finger puppets, fuzzy "germ" creatures, and hand sanitizer.

Remember these from when you were kids?:


Or these?:

I was so excited to find them!

Now for the party itself...

We decorated balloons to look like germs:


Nick was not into pictures at all during the party but I snapped a few anyway:


Michelle (she reminds me of you Shelley!) and Nick's "girlfriend" Isabelle:


Nick and Kimmie:


Nick and Billy:


These two together crack me up. We know Billy from Oklahoma, and the first time I met him was at Rob's platoon dinner. Billy came up, introduced himself (Rob already knew him from class), then took Nick (who was only a couple months old at the time) and carried him around with him for the entire social hour. It was so cute to see this big Army soldier holding my tiny baby:)



Singing to the birthday boy! He was so confused at the roomful of people looking at him and singing at him:


And was not sure why there was a candle in front of him:


I blew out the candle for him and took it out, but he just stared at the cake (still a little confused at what was going on). Rob finally helped him along by pretty much shoving the icing against his lips so he could taste the goodness:


Getting the go-ahead from dad after tasting the icing:


And digging in! Or almost. He started out timidly by just licking icing off his fingers:


Then he started getting into it!:


Going to town:


Showing off his messy face for the camera:


He officially loves cake.


And I snapped this photo quick so the camera settings were all wrong, but I wanted to put it up to show what Nick did for the next couple days:

He contentedly played with his new toys for long periods of time, it was great! It enabled me clean the house back up after wards without too much interference from my mess maker:)


It was a fun party and this little boy got spoiled with all the love and attention (and gifts). His sweet spirit is felt by everyone!!!