Head Banging!

Vake seems to be able to entertain himself for a while each day headbanging!

Cell Phones and Smiles

Vake's very favorite toy is a cell phone- I can sing basically every jingle that accompanies every press of every button. It is a great toy for riding in the car- he will concentrate on it for 15-20 minutes without interruption.

Vake is also (and I am sure I have said it before) the consummate ham- I don't know if we should chalk this up to my sorority days or what but this pumpkin LOVES A CAMERA.

Today, we are wearing one of our crab outfits in honor of Uncle Dennis, who just passed his social work exam!!!

I love to pose!

I really do. I tip my head to one side for the "especially cute" pose that I love so well!!!

And here's my "open mouth" shot. Love this one too...

Or I can do the sideways pose to the other side.

Footie Pajamas

We've finally outgrown our gorgeous toile pajamas from Aunt Stacy and moved on to footed pajamas from Aunt Deborah and Uncle Charlie.

Anyone out there remember footed pajamas? For some really weird reason, I have this vivid memory of a pair of maroon ones with a football scene on them- Mom will have to confirm. But there's nothing cozier.

Too bad we are already wearing a 3T- I don't think they make them much above a 6. And at the rate we're growing, we're going to hit that size by the summer!!!!!

Back to Nature Baby...

Those who know me know that I am not much of a nature kind of person. Not that I don't appreciate nature, but I can think of things I'd rather do than hike or camp.

So you can imagine my surprise when Vake picked out this outfit. A spotted owl shirt and camouflage (spelling?) pants. And big boy shoes.

"Hey Mom, can we go outside so I can look at some bugs?"

"Oooh. Will I find bunnies of the dust variety in my closet?"

I mean, really. Have you ever seen a cuter baby?

Vake and Stilly: best buds

Tonight little V was playing with his Aunt Liz's blackberry and sitting on his dog. Too sweet.

At long last, the BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!

Honest to goodness, there's no excuse but I have not had five minutes to sit and organize the still shots from V's birthday- and I haven't even begun to do the screen shots from the Flip...
But we did have a great birthday party...

Here are the favor bags for our guests...
And the sign welcoming everyone to the party- with sweet little pictures of my wonderful little boy taken during his first year.

And we had balloons everywhere- always a fan favorite...

Eric made the cake- it was carrot cake with cream cheese icing...a not so funny story about the icing is that I wanted it to be bright white and had one of my characteristic controlling freakout moments because of the color tones of the icing. No lie. It was definitely one of my finest moments...

The cupcake picks all said "Happy Birthday Vake"

Sweet little fondant animals...

I decorated the chandelier, too!

We had mimosas. If you were Eric, who had to live through the cupcake frosting incident, a few of these definitely helped...

The party invitation- all animals all the time

Even Aunt Courtney came to visit!

And we LOVE balloons. LOVE them.

Really LOVE them.

REALLY really love them.

Oh hello there- did you come to my party? I am wearing one of my TWO birthday outfits!

Well come on in!!!!

I am so happy to see you!

Oooh. This spoon has some of Daddy's frosting on it. Yum.

I also had a good time opening my presents!

What a happy birthday!!!!

Puzzled?

Sweet pic that Taren snapped at the Children's Museum- I've been crazy busy just trying to get caught back up to even again but just settled two big matters which should really free me up...