the best first birthday party

Lucas's first birthday party was absolutely perfect!  We are beyond blessed to have had so many of our close family and friends by our sides to celebrate.  We had grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, and friends all under one roof to celebrate our little boy.  Jon and Kelsey even FaceTimed in to watch Lucas eat his cake!  The love that these people show us is overwhelming.  They love us so well, and we are so thankful.

I know Lucas won't remember his first birthday party, but it was such a special time.  We had so much fun decorating and cooking and planning!  And it was an unseasonably warm and beautiful day.

The birthday boy didn't know what to think about all of the good food and cute decorations!

We had cupcakes and a small smash cake just for Lucas (which he did in fact smash). 

The cupcakes the cutest little toppers on them that had owls and 1's on them.  Lucas's smash cake had his name on it, and I made his party hat from scratch (even though he refused to wear it)! 

Absolutely in love with mason jars and striped straws!

An airplane flew over while we were getting things ready...

{side note: if you haven't heard, this is the motion Lucas does to alert people around him that a plane is flying overhead.  hilarious.}

Our little family outside, waiting for the guests to arrive!

This is how family photos go these days...

Check out the adorable banner my friend Brandy made for Lucas!

Dad!  CAKE!

Ok,  here we go. {Check out Uncle J & Aunt K on FaceTime from Pittsburgh!}

hmmmmm...I can eat this?

This is a much quicker way to eat the cake...

Wouldn't keep the party hat on long enough for a picture.  He wanted to get back at that cake!

No time to pause for a picture, mom and dad.  Must.Keep.Eating.Cake.

Wow, buddy.  Just wow.  Thank you for literally smashing your cake.  Awesome.

Time for some group pictures!  Wait for it......

aaaaaand SMASH!  Into Nana's face!  HILARIOUS! 

Look at J&K's faces!!!  

Now we must share our cake with Granny.

And PaPa.

And MiMi.

And Daddy.

All that cake makes a boy thirsty.  This was when Lucas almost puked.

The finished product!

Time for presents!  Lucas was so good and sat and helped us open every single present.  (After getting hosed off in the sink.)

the movie Cars!!!

 He was so excited, it was adorable!  He saw the cover and started saying "vroom!vroom!"

nooooooooo!  Wolfpack gear, yuck!

After the party was over and the guests left, something really exciting happened, but I'm saving that for another post.  So stay tuned :)

Time to take a ride in our new wagon!

Someone was getting a little tired :)

To this day, Lucas would still rather push the wagon.  Strong boy.

prickly grass

airplane!

What an amazing day we had!  Thank you everyone for celebrating with us!  and HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCAS!

ONE.

Lucas,

I'm not usually one who is short of words, but I've been working this post out in my head for over a week now simply because I couldn't figure out how to express all of the words I want to say.  You're ONE!  I can't believe that one whole year has gone by since we welcomed you into this world.  I remember your wiggly self being in my tummy like it was yesterday.  And now you're not a baby anymore.  You're ONE.

Every month, I've documented pictures of you and how much you are growing.  I want to remember every detail.  At your one year pediatrician visit, you weighed 22 pounds and were 30 inches tall.  You have 6 teeth (4 on the top, 2 on the bottom) and a full head of blonde hair.  You are a flirt.  You are silly.  You are wild.  You are perfect.

You have grown into such a sweet and joyful little boy.  Your smile is contagious and really you make it hard to concentrate on anything else in the room when you flash your big dimples and new teeth.  It's too much.  

You are 100% boy and it is adorable.  You don't know what sounds different animals make yet, but when we ask you what sound the truck makes, you light up and say "vroom!vroom!"  When you hear airplanes, you shoot your chubby little arm into the air to point up to the sky, but instead of looking up to the sky you look around to everyone around you as if to notify them that there is a plane flying overhead.  So courteous of you!  You love anything with wheels.  The bigger the better.  You wake up happy and sit and talk in your crib for a while.  When you're ready for us to come and get you, you say "da da da da" and get louder and louder until we get the hint.  It's okay that you call for your daddy, you love him a lot.  And it does my heart good.  You love to play rough with him, getting tossed in the air and rolling around on the floor.  You like to build towers with your blocks and crash your dump truck through them.  You love to watch daddy fix things...and one day soon I know you'll be right there beside him with a hammer in hand.  But those snuggles?  Those are mine :)

You clap your hands and are so close to walking and crawl like a mad man.  You eat and drink and share food with the dog.  You give kisses and wave bye-bye and smile a lot. 

You have taught your daddy and me so much.  We are better because of you.  We know a different kind of love because of you, a love that is designed to be like the love of our Father.  We pray for you and pray that you will grow up to love Jesus.  

When I was putting you to bed on the night of your birthday, I rocked you for an extra long time.  I cried tears of joy for who you are.  (I know, moms cry sometimes for silly reasons, but this was a good thing, I promise.) I have wanted to slow down time over the past year, but at the same time I love seeing you grow and develop.  It just keeps getting better!  Every stage of your little life, I think "this is my favorite."  But I keep saying it over and over and over, because it keeps getting sweeter and sweeter.  

You are such a blessing, little boy.  We thank God every day for the gift that you are, and we are continually on our knees in prayer and thanksgiving that you have been entrusted to us while we are all on this earth.  Thank you for teaching us more than we could have ever imagined this year.  It's been sweet, and it's been fun.  We love you!

moving day.

Remind me to never move with a small child again.  Actually, remind me to never move again...period. It is HARD work.  We had lots of help from some great friends, but I feel like we haven't stopped packing/unpacking/organizing/cleaning for months!  Confession, it's actually March 22 today.  Even though I back-dated this post to when it happened.  It's for my sanity in my virtual scrap book, so back off about it!  I know it's been f.o.r.e.v.e.r. but this is why.  It's been a busy month.

Packing was hard because of the little guy's discovery that he can CLIMB.  The kid isn't walking yet, but somehow he has managed to climb boxes like a jungle monkey.  That kid is 100% boy.

Lucas's favorite part of moving by far was seeing the big moving truck.  He is obsessed with trucks.  Obsessed.  Every time he sees one, he says "vroom!vroom!" And it's adorable. 

Of course on the day that we got the truck and were ready to load up, it was freezing outside.  And windy.  Like 40mph winds.  So Lucas and I watched from inside mostly except for a quick run outside to see the big truck.

We loaded everything except for the mattresses and the crib, and the next morning tied up the loose ends and headed to the new house!  We had guys helping us unload and girls entertaining Lucas.  I was too busy helping and directing traffic to take pictures except for this one:

And yes, that's the love seat in the breakfast room.  And don't worry, it only stayed there for a few hours.

Then came the unpacking.  There were boxes on boxes and boxes on boxes and boxes everywhere.  We kept unpacking and the pile didn't seem to get any smaller!  Lucas helped:

And now we're in the new house and we love it.  We are getting settled and slowly regaining our sanity. My mom and dad came the next weekend and helped a ton with organizing, and then my mom stayed the next week until Lucas's birthday party (!!! we'll get to that soon) and really helped get things the way they needed to be.  And she helped me pull off a fantastic party in a new house barely over a week after moving.  We are nuts, I know.  More on that later.  And maybe you'll see some pictures of the house if I ever get caught up on posts!  (Don't hold your breath for that happening any time soon, friends.)