John's First Birthday Party!

We have the book "On the Night You Were Born" memorized.  It's such a sweet story about the grander and the merriment of the miraculous night that a child is brought into this world.  It reminds me so much of the way we like to celebrate things- with excitement and a lot of people included in just that.  So I thought it would be the perfect theme for John's first birthday party.

We decorated the house with stars and moons and ladybugs and polar bears and we had a cake made that stole the show.  It featured all of the favorite characters from the book and had the words from the last page, "Heaven blew every trumpet and played every horn on the wonderful, magical night you were born" written on it.  We also had a "smash" cake for John that looked like the book and had the words from the first page written on it.  And there were cupcakes with ladybugs and ducks.  And of course, there were a lot of pictures of John scattered about.

Friends and family came from near and far to celebrate our sweet John-John.  It was a wonderful celebration.  He liked walking around the party holding onto peoples hands, playing with some of his buddies in the yard (after the rain stopped) but wasn't so sure about everyone staring at him, blowing horns and singing in his face.  :)  We'll give him a couple years.  :)

After cake, each person got a balloon and released them together to make a wish.  We released balloons when we found out that we were going to have a boy, so we thought we'd care on the theme.

It was a fun party that lasted well into the evening, hours after John was already tucked snuggly into his bed.  I hope someday he looks back at the pictures and feels all the love that everyone was giving him that day.  He is so loved.

John is ONE!!!!

How did it happen?  Seriously.  Wasn't my baby boy just born?  I can't stand it.  

My little John boy is one.  We are so proud of him and so filled with love for him.  It's been a thrilling year watching him grow and change.  I loved every minute.  I can't believe he's one.  We have so much to be grateful for.  

12 Month Old Stats: 

18 lbs 15 oz.

30 inches long

John loves music, "dancing" (swaying side to side), smiling, "walking" while holding onto your two pointer fingers, cruising, play with toys, pretending to stir (plays with an empty cup and spoon), crawls FAST on his hands and knees, pulls to stand and cruises everywhere, almost walking.  

 

Marin's First Day of Kindergarten!!

Somehow I blinked and all of the sudden Marin is going to Kindergarten full day and John is turning one.  How did this happen?

Marin is so ready.  And I'm glad for the full day option.  Part day was shorter than her preschool was. It's just silliness.  But it doesn't change the fact our family will never be the same.  Specifically my role, as mom, will never be the same.  My good friend Lara once described it as, "the end of something very special"  It's the perfect way to describe it.  Never again will all of my babies be home with me all day.  Never again will I be able to control exactly what they do all day.  Or who hurts her feelings, or be able to kiss every booboo.  I know she's not exactly going off to college, but she'll be gone for 7 hours each day.  That's a long time away from her mama.

The first morning she admitted to me, "I'm a little bit nervous."  And I sat her on my knee and stroked her hair and told her that she was a kind little girl with a beautiful smile and that she was going to make friends easily.  I told her all she had to do was to smile and say, "hi".  Then I proceeded to give her a list of all of the people that she knew that I had met in Kindergarten.  And all of the people that she knew now that she had once not known.  To which she responded, "Mom, I think we're wasting a lot of time."  She was right.  I told you she was ready.

She was nervous at first.  We put her on the bus and then raced to school like the other moms and dads do to meet her at her line letter and walk with her in to school on the first day.  She was quiet on the playground that first day.  But after we walked into her classroom she found a little girl she knew from preschool and I heard her lean over and whisper to her and another girl, "Guess what?!  My mom put jelly beans in my lunchbox!"

I have since met another mom who has a daughter in Marin's class and she shared with me that when Marin met her she tapped her on the shoulder and said, "Can I tell you someping?  Our backpacks are from the same store!"  Instant friends.  If only everyone could get along as easily as they do in Kindergarten.

Marin LOVES Kindergarten.  I don't even have to wake her up in the (early) morning to get ready for school now.  She set out her outfit the night before and gets dressed first thing in the morning.  The first day she came twirling off the bus happy as could be proclaiming, "I LOVE Kindergarten!  I LOVE it!  I can't WAIT to go back tomorrow!"

Let's hope this enthusiasm holds through college.  :)