Leighton's Birthday Party!

Happy Birthday Leighton Rylee!!  Leighton turned one on April 14th and Chelsea had his party this weekend.  I made his invitations and they were rock star invites so when I was getting Charlotte her shirt for her party I couldn't resist this one for Leighton to wear.  Jim and I also picked him out the shorts cause really, it all looks awesome together.

Here is the birthday boy with his Gramma and Papa.

And with his Mom!  He smiles and does a hilarious cheesy grin for the camera.

Leighton loved opening his presents.  He got a lot of clothes and some toys too.  I have never seen a kid so excited about clothes before.

CAKE TIME!!

At first he really hated touching the cake so he would just lean down to eat it.  It was so so funny! 

Yum Yum!

By the end, touching the cake definitely wasn't a problem.  He was COVERED in it!!

But he cleans up well and ended the day with all smiles!

We also got a picture of all of us kids and grandkids.  Love it! 

Copy Cat Shirt

Charlotte looks just like her shirt!  She wore this at daycare the day after her birthday, and she even got to take treats to all her friends.  Adorable.

The Best Day Off

Well the time has gotten away from me AGAIN and I am behind on blogging...how does that happen?  Anyhow, I couldn't let Charlotte's birthday come and go without a post of her actual birthday.  Jim and I both decided to take the day off and all hang out together. 

We began by meeting Jesse and Cheryl for breakfast since they were still in town.  We met at Mimi's, one of our favorites.  From there we headed to pick up a couple of things for Charlotte's pictures!  We got her one year pictures taken the afternoon of her birthday and although it took a long time, they turned out good (some better than others) and you can see them all here.  The password for you all is Charlotte.

After all of the picture taking fun we came home for a little bit.  We played some in the yard where Charlotte enjoyed the taste of a tulip.

And we took some family pictures...cause that's how we roll.

This is the same time we took the picture of all of us in front of the house that is on the previous post.  We seriously set up a ladder and pressed the timer and VOILA!  Picture perfect!

For Charlotte "birthday dinner" we headed to Spaghetti Works mostly because we wanted to eat there!  We enjoyed ourselves immensely and so did she.

She colored...

Showed us that she's one...

Drank the last of her formula (before switching to milk!)...

And chowed down on garlic bread.

The longer we were there the more worked up I got.  You see, I had been in denial ALL DAY that she wasn't one yet.  After all, she wasn't born until 6:26 pm and it wasn't yet 6:26 pm.  I teared up a couple of times sitting at dinner and finally set my alarm on my phone so I didn't miss it. 
Shortly after we finished up it was ALMOST time.  We were down town and headed to a set of bautiful trees.  The alarm rang...and again we took some pictures.  This is our EXACTLY one year family.

There really is no one better than this girl.

After wrapping up we headed back tot he house, picked up Odie and went to a walking trail through one of Des Moines most beautiful neighborhoods, Waterbury.  We ooohed and aaahed over the gorgeous homes, dreamnt of our furture, and had the most perfect ending to our day.

Happy Birthday Charlotte Harper!

2010 In Front of the House Pic

Finally...The CAKE!!

Ok...I know I am a little picture crazy which is why I have 3 different posts for one birthday party, but what can I say...it is too hard to narrow them down. 

Lets begin with a picture of us singing happy birthday.  I wish we would have gotten it on video, she totally LOVED all the attention!  Oh yeah...we changed her out of her party dress so she didn't get it all cakey so instead she was wearing button leggings, a shirt that says "and today, I eat cake", and a tutu for fun.

She started off slow...

Happy with every finger full of frosting.

after finger full...

after finger full...

after finger full...

after finger full...

She only shared one bite with Papa.

After quite awhile of slow moving she finally dug in!

Now shovelling it in by the fist full!

Not much left!

Don't worry...She'll get it!

 So exhausted...taking a break!

Oh holy YUM that was good!

Dad clean me please!

Happy Birthday Cakester!

Time For Presents

After everyone had been playing, chatting, and hanging out for a bit we rounded everyone up to open presents.  First we gave Char our gift we made her.  Jim cut everything out and put it together and I painted it.  The one side was clearly the cow jumping over the moon.

The other side had the nursery rhyme written.  The cats playing the fiddle were boomer and milo, the dog laughing was Odie, the dish was Jim and I and the spoon was Charlotte. 

She loved it!

Jesse and Cheryl got her a hilarious t-shirt!  I LOVE it!!

She was very excited to show Jim her new book.

Jim's sister got her a little tyikes trike and Jim and I got her a helmet and seat for our bike.

She was one very happy girl!

Everyone was so generous and she walked away very spoiled.  She got lots of books, toys and practically a whole new wardrobe.  We can't thank everyone enough for a wonderful time!