Canyon's First Birthday

Happy 1st birthday to my little Canyon.  I can't believe it's been a whole year already.  Where does the time go?  It seems like just yesterday I was holding you in my arms for the very first time.

And what a year it has been.  Rolling over at one month, crawling at 4 months.  You took 4 steps on your own today & you've already mastered going both up & down the stairs.  You are definitely my mobile child.  And I love you.

For your 1st birthday breakfast I made sure you got your waffle (your favorite thing in the world), a pack of baby food, & your first ding dong.

I think we scared you a little bit when we sang Happy Birthday to you.  It was SO early in the morning & everyone was singing so loud.  But you sure are cute.

Happy 1st birthday Canyon!!

You ate the baby food & waffle in no time flat, but the ding dong made you nervous.  Mommy smashed your hand into it so you'd try it.  The reaction was priceless. . . 

Yes, I think you liked it. . . a LOT.

When Daddy got home from work we had dinner & then opened presents.  You got some really fun things from your family.

Opa & Oma gave you a fun little cube with blocks.  You LOVED this thing.

Your favorite thing to do it stack the blocks on top nicely, then go into Godzilla mode & wreck it all.  It's quite funny to watch.

Nancy sent you all sorts of fun summer outfits, a swimsuit, & some new sandals.

Mamoo got you a marble racer & you LOVE watching the balls go around & around.

Mimi & Baba got you a little toy mailbox.  You love putting the mail into the mail slot.

Your brothers & sisters got you a "Toothless" toy.  You reach for it every time we went to Target so we knew exactly what to get you for your birthday.  They were SO excited to give it to you.

And mommy & daddy got you some summer pajamas, some bowls, & some spoons. . . things you need right now since everyone else gave you such fun toys.

After presents we went back to the table to let you eat your own birthday cake all by yourself.  Mommy made you an orange & blue cake to smash & eat.

At first you didn't know what to do.

You thought it was funny that everyone was watching you.

But then you actually tried it.

And realized it was REALLY GOOD.

Then it just became a whole lot of fun.

And then you got it up your nose & in your eyelashes.  It wasn't so fun anymore.

But you kept eating because it was yummy.

What a sweet, happy baby I have.

I love you little man.

What a mess.  Time for a bath.

It was a great day.  We didn't know it at the time, but it turned out Canyon had pneumonia during his birthday celebration.  He had to go to the hospital yesterday to get everything taken care of, poor baby.  He's such a good baby you just never know when he's sick.  Now he's home & on meds making him his old happy self again.

Happy Birthday Canyon.  We love you.  You've been a wonderful blessing to our family.

Bladen's 5th Birthday Party - Transformers

For Bladen's 5th birthday party he asked for a Transformers themed party.  I didn't even know where to start with this one.  Having 3 girls first, I've done my fair share of "princess" cakes.  These boy cakes are giving me a run for my money.  But I'm loving trying new things.  Bladen said he wanted his cake to look like the Transformer symbol so I found a cake pan & tried my best.  I asked him what color he wanted the symbol to be & of course he wanted it to be red, white, & blue.  So, let's just say I learned how to do a lot of new things making this cake & honestly I had a blast doing it.  It turned out really well & Bladen loved it which is what mattered most.

Happy birthday big boy!

My friend Nancy sent all the table wear for his party.  She loves searching for themed things & she found a ton of transformer things in CA.  Thanks to her, the table looked fantastic.

Bladen insisted we put out all his transformer toys where his friends could see them.

Bladen couldn't wait for his friends to arrive.  We have 8 five year olds who live right here in our neighborhood so the guest list was easy.  He was SO excited.

And the sweet little guy asked if I would take a picture with him.  What a sweetheart.  I hate being in pictures, but did it for my little guy.  I love him so much.

Once all of his friends arrived, I let them watch the first episode of "Rescue Bots" while we colored Transformer Rescue Bot coloring pages.  After that we played a "pin the symbol on Optimus Prime."  The kids love being blindfolded.  They all peeked & put their stickers in the same place, but it was still fun.

Next I had them have a transforming race.  We have 4 transforming dinosaurs.  I split the kids up into 2 groups (boys & girls. . & Craiger got lumped in with the girls) & had them race to get the cars changed into dinosaurs.  It was funny watching how fast they worked trying to get their transformed first.

The girls were much more laid back about it.  But they did pretty good for never touching a transformer before.  Craiger won of course because he transforms those things all day long, but it was a good race between the girls.

After that I had them show me how to be a transformer robot. . . 

& then a transformer car.

They used their transforming abilities to transform their way through our obstacle course.  If the tape was high, they had to transform into a car. . . if the tape was low they had to be a robot again.  They loved this & did it several times.

Then we had a huge transformer race outside in the backyard.  They had to start out as robots & when I yelled go I held up a robot picture. . . when I switched the robot picture to a car picture, they had to continue racing, but transform into cars.

It was pretty funny watching them go back & forth between a car & a robot.

After the race it was piñata time.  We all know how that works.

CANDY!!!

After letting them all collect candy, we went inside for cake & ice cream.  Bladen was SO excited to show off his cool Transformer cake.  He wanted to eat a blue piece & had been waiting all morning for it.

And finally we ended our party with present time.  Bladen got some really exciting things from his friends.  We're so blessed to live around such great people.  We love our neighborhood kids.

Ryan, Danny, & Megan (the adorable triplets) gave him a really
neat hot wheels race track set.

Malia got his a Spiderman action figure & the neatest little
Spiderman Legos.   I haven't seen the Lego Junior line yet, &
they are perfect for this age group. . . they're not huge like
Duplos, but they aren't as hard as the real legos too.  He loves these.

Grace gave him a Space puzzle that he LOVES to put together.

And Grant got him a really cool blue lightsaber.

Happy 5th birthday Bladen.  We love you.