More Than Just Cake

Cake may be the highlight of a one year old's party, but it's not the whole thing. Here's the rest of the party.

Could there be a more handsome birthday boy?

Daddy can never resist the jumpers! The kid in him comes running out and before you know it he is bouncing off the walls. Truth be told, this is one of the real reasons I get the jumpers for the kids parties, it's fun for the kids and adults :)

Of course we had some pinata action. Conner enjoyed holding the stick, but the concept meant nothing to him.

However, the concept of candy coming out it is one he totally grasped and very much appreciated! It's good to be 1!

While Conner through cake all over the patio, the older kids and adults got to decorate their own cupcakes with their choice of frosting and candies to go on top.

The next day Conner and Brooke had a combined birthday party for family, seeing as their birthdays are only 1 day apart. Plus, they are about the same size, so it looks natural having them celebrate together!

I think I was deprived of pinatas at my parties when I was a kid, so it always feels like a must to have a pinata. My kids very much appreciated 2 days of filling up bags with candy! Makenna showed no mercy on the pinata. She very much wants to be the one to bust open the pinata one of these days.

Brookie took some good swings, but in her soft Brooke sort of way

Kellen got in there too. Now the he knows there is candy to be had once that pinata gets beat enough, he is happy to let the poor pinata have it! Nothing gets in the way of that boy and some candy, nothing!

The birthday boy and girl! Apparently Brooke was not too amused with sharing her party?! Either that or she is annoyed that Conner is already as big as her! But they sure are cute together...definitely can tell they are cousins!

We thought it would be cute for both of them to have cakes together. We all saw how Conner attacked his cake. Brooke took the more mature, gentle approach to hers!

If you look closely at the picture above you will start to laugh, I guarantee it! Makenna and Kellen kept stealing fingers full of frosting. So I said to Sarah, "Wouldn't it be funny if I smashed Kenna's face in the cake?" She totally nodded and agreed! So I encouraged her to get close and when the iron was hot I struck and pushed her face right in!

Well, Makenna did not share the same humor that Sarah and I saw in it! Poor girl! I think she was mostly embarrassed. I explained to her that I was just trying to be funny, not mean. That I thought she would laugh about it. I also promised her she gets to smash my face in a cake on her birthday, to see the humor in it. I swear someday she will laugh at this! I'm still laughing!

Kellen was very disappointed that his mother would do such a thing to his sister and made sure to make the statement that that was not nice. He's just lucky it was his sister, not him! :)

All About The Cake

It's why you come to a first birthday party, right? To watch the baby graduate from infant to toddler through the ritual "smashing of the cake." I don't know why we have to stop this ritual after the first birthday...wouldn't it be great to see a 50 year old sit down in front of a personalized cake and go to town stuffing their face with cake by the fist full?

Anyway, for all those who missed this milestone in babyhood, here you go.

Knowing Conner and his "Go Get 'Em" personality, I sort of expected him to Dive right into his cake, both hands shoveling food in as fast as he could handle it. But to my surprise he took his time in the beginning.

I have often times thought Kellen just might grow up to be a Chef. Watching Conner eat his cake made me wonder if he will grow up to be a food critic. He took the job very seriously in the beginning, happily eating the cake and trying bite after bite, but doing so in a very contemplative manner. He did not think the task at hand was any laughing matter. But it must have satisfied the critic because he kept right on eating.

Kellen happily stood by his side, grabbing a finger full of icing when he could.

Apparently Conner did not appreciate this and smeared a big handful of icing across his face. My poor, sweet Kellen was very sad and offended by this. But once Mama cleaned him off he felt better and was right back to stealing frosting.

Kellen wasn't the only one sneaking a taste or two.

Conner was happy to share. Once the critique was done it was all fun and games for him!

In the end the cake eating became much more playing than eating. He was literally grabbing fists of cake and throwing them around him. Good way to tell he was done! Certainly the happiest full belly I have ever seen

Daddy at 1 year old

Conner at 1 year old

Mommy at 1 year old. I don't think he is an exact replica of either one of us, but there is definitely some stronger Daddy influence here than Mommy, at least in my opinion. Good thing I think his Daddy is Handsome as can be!!!

Who Ever Knew...

....That a haircut could be so painful?!?

Conner is usually so happy, easy going, quick to make friends, comfortable with mostly anyone and any situation. So taking him to get his haircut just sounded like a fun and exciting outing to me. I figured he would wiggle like crazy, but that was my biggest concern.

It started like this, "What is this place? What is this chair? Why am I wearing this ridiculous cape? Mom?"

His unsureity became a little more intense as each moment passed....

And then he lost it. Sheer terror on his face the entire time. You would have thought they were chopping the kids arm off....the poor thing. And the saddest part was he kept reaching a hand out to Daddy and Mommy, looking for someone to rescue him. I'm sure my response of just taking pictures and trying to get him to lighten up just further infuriated him.

Then I had the Genius idea of grabbing him a sucker. "This will get him distracted and quiet him down." It worked....

...for about 15 seconds.

In the end he walked away traumatized, but cleaned up and looking sharp for his party. His hair doesn't really look too different at all. We both like the shaggy look he has going on, so they basically just cut the back (which was forming a mullet/pony tail thing) and evened out the top a bit. He looks adorable to me, but it will be awhile before we go back...

Any Canvas for My Little Artists

The kiddos are obviously too young to know that every one's favorite thing about a cast is that you get to have people write on it. So the look on their face was just classic when I casually sat down, pulled out a sharpie and said, "Hey, who wants to draw on mommy's cast?" They were both over the moon. And they really did a great job turning an ordinary hot pink cast into a beautiful work of art. Makenna put the names of everyone in the family on there, drew me a flower, a heart and a picture of me wearing a cast. Kellen scribbled his little heart out and then got really excited when he realized one of his scribbles looked like a "candy cane". He was Very proud of his "candy cane" that he "drew" for mommy! I love my kiddos. I did not love my cast quite so much. But they made it a touch more tolerable.

My kids always think they need to do a silly face picture following a smiling one. I guess most kids do, right?

Can this face get any cheesier. Love it! At least he is once again smiling for the camera....you've got to appreciate that much!

One of the things I love about Kellen is that he is a complex individual, much like an ogre, with many layers to him. Those who don't know Kellen super well can see him as a more quiet, shy, introverted person. And he does have these qualities under certain circumstances. But in the comfort of our home, surrounded by people he loves and is at ease with, he is the biggest goof there is! He has such a silly side, I love it! And I love that not everyone sees it. You've got to be "in" with Kellen to really see him let loose. As little children do, Kellen love to wear his mommy and daddy's shoes. His favorite pair right now is this pair of mommy's boots. He calls them his "Hee High Boots". And hey, they are pretty great boots, can't blame him for loving them!

Bubbles, Kicks and Big Arms

This year the kiddos got to have swim class with Big Daddy. Mommy in a cast is really not conducive to pool time. So Daddy stepped up to the plate and got right in there with the kiddos. Kenna is old enough to be in a class without a parent, but Kellen needed a swimming partner. It was great to see Todd have the chance to do a class with the kids (since so often classes are during the day when he is working). It was so fun to watch them all have a "splashing" good time together.

Con and the gimp got to sit on the lawn and watch everyone else enjoy their pool time. He had a blast running around and playing with his little buddy Carter (they share birthdays and are just destined to be best buds!).

Kellen is not generally your water baby. Day 1 was met with some resistance, as anticipated. But within just a couple of days he was happily standing on the edge of the pool jumping in to Todd. Each day he smiled more and more and made such great progress. I was really Sooooo proud of him! Good Job Bud Bud!

Kenna did a really good job this year. She is really swimming phenomenally (which of course is relieving and exciting for us all!) It was really hard to get a good picture of her swimming since much of her swimming is done under the water and I had to take pictures from behind the gate. So naturally the only 2 decent pictures I could get are of her goofing off and getting in trouble. Yep, that's my girl being a fountain and spitting water on the side of the pool. And then there she is again, having been "benched" because she was not keeping both hands on the edge of the pool and listening. But I was proud of her because it only took one good talk with her and an apology to her teacher and then she was hands on and a good listener the rest of the session. Silly girl.

How cute are these boys?!