Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Very Hungry Landon

Saturday, the 14th, was the big 1 year shindig. We drove down to the River to celebrate with the family and Grandma Judy came too!

I had decided to do the Very Hungry Caterpillar from seeing the post on Party Like A Kid. It seemed like a simple theme that you could build on. A cake theme, serve foods from the book. Red and green. Pretty easy and low key.

I was really excited about the cake. So I made the head cake and Grandmama made the cupcakes. This was also my first attempt at cake decorating/arranging...so be nice. I borrowed the 6" pans from a friend at work. The antennae were black licorice(which is hard as hell to find). I then cut slivers to make the hair...which turned out looking like the cactus that Yoshi eats. Note to self for a Mario party in later years :).



Next up was the decorations. I ordered a VHC banner, cupcake holders & cupcake toppers from the Eric Carle Museum. They were cheap enough that I didn't feel like a huge waste but still good quality. I then typed out what the caterpillar ate on each day and got some clipart from around the web. I put them on little cards around the table. This was probably a bit much but whatever...didn't really cost anything. I then made grape and strawberry kabobs to look like caterpillars :). Also we didn't have anything to put them in so I stabbed them into the other half of the watermelon! O creativity.






























Also to go a little "green" we reused the Woodstock biodegradable plates, cutlery & cups! I originally had bought all the stuff at the party store and started thinking about the investment we made down there for the stuff. K's Uncle bought about 150 place settings of Preserve tableware in lime green(so they matched!). I called him and he was like SURE and delivered them that day to us! I highly recommend them. Very sturdy and dishwasher safe. We did have one cup get all wacky in the dishwasher...but not too shabby. O and I saved about $20 bucks and I only used about 25 of place settings! Think of the other gatherings we have...whooo hooo. Here is a picture just for reference:

Well we had a lovely day down on the Pungo and so we used the community tables out on the lawn, pumped some music and chowed down. There was a nice breeze and not too humid...also we could hose down the high chair once we were done :) Even the doggies tried to hang around for some scraps.




I wanted Landon to have a shirt to remember the day so I did a simple iron on print. I used the border pattern from the book to make a big number 1 on the front. Simple and easy.











Then we let him at his cake...now time for a photo montage(cue 80's movie soundtrack):


























































He then got in the pool to rinse off and then PRESENTS! He racked up of course. He got a lot of books, a little musical truck, blocks, a drum, 2 tractors, a nerf gun(yeah thanks Sarah!), and, of course, bows and paper!





















The big presents came from the Grandparents...surprise surprise! Grandma Judy bought him a giant water table. We are keeping it here at home and he is loving it...when it isn't 500 degrees
outside:











And then Grandmama and Grandaddy worked to refurbish Grandaddy's old Radio Flyer wagon just for Landon. That means it will serve 3 generations! The minute he saw the red, he was pulling towards it:





















Then we finished up with some swinging and some snuggling with Aunt Sarah and Junior God Mother Aly:











Anyway, long story short...he had a FANTASTIC first birthday :)

Landon 1.0

Well I have TONS to post including:

1. The party
2. A year 1 letter
3. And NO MORE PUMPING!

But for now, I will give you Landon's 1 year stats and finish with a slideshow that sucked up way too much of my time.

Height: 29 inches (25%)
Weight: 20lbs 9 oz (15%)
Head: 18 1/4 inches (48%)

Ladies and Gentlemen...we have ourselves a bobblehead :)

He is progressing just fine. He can have anything he wants to eat. We are finishing off the last of the formula and moooooving on to cow milk. Holla!

Without further ado.....Landon Year 1

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

WHIRLWIND

Man life is a little hectic right now. First off, Landon turns 1 TOMORROW! Jebus! If it was only just that announcement, I wouldn't feel guilty for the lack of updates but we went through about a week and a half of moody fussy baby to having SUPER SMART BABY all of a sudden. I guess it was teeth and developmental stuff because he has been happy these past 2 days to levels I haven't ever seen. He doesn't even cry when getting his jammies on! Here is a chronicle of things he is all of a sudden doing
  • Trying to put the letters in his fridge magnet to play the music. It was the cutest the other day when he finally got it in there but couldn't push it to make the sound. But he just sat there dancing anyway.
  • Making new sounds: 'mama' and 's' sounds!
  • Playing the "so big" game. We say "How big is Landon?" and he spreads his arms. I am trying to get it on video but it hasn't worked yet.
  • Standing alone. He lets go of whatever and just hovers...then crouches back down like "ok that was enough for now"
  • Learning to turn his cart. He will run it into the wall and try to pull it back and slide to the side. He usually goes the wrong way but good try kiddo.
  • Books. He is seeming to like paying attention to books. This Thomas book with windows seems to be a hit. I actually read him a WHOLE BOOK without him grabbing or chewing on it this morning.
  • Brushing his teeth. We got him a toothbrush about a month ago and every night he WANTS that thing. I brush his teeth first and he takes the brush to finish up. It is so cute. Then I ask "are you done?" and he hands it to me and we rinse it and put it in the holder.
  • Sharing. He wants us to bite the puzzle piece first and then he does. Shoot the toy in the hoop first and then he does.
On other fronts, I am working on his party this weekend, working by booty off at work(we have 2 developers leaving next week!), making a end of year slideshow(to my specifications...i.e. taking much longer than it should), and trying to live a life....AHHHH.

Hopefully the slideshow will be done soon and I can post and then I can blog about the party!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Pushing machine!

Landon has learned to push rolling toys...we are totally screwed:


ONWARD MY MINIONS!