Milk and Cookies

Yesterday Owen had his very first birthday party.

I wanted to have fun with it, so I chose a Milk and Cookies theme.

I spent the week leading up to the party cutting out and preparing the decorations,

planning the menu, and visualizing how I wanted things to be laid out.

All the cutting, scoring and stringing was well worth it because I think it turned out great!

We had a Milk Bar,

 And the most important part....the COOKIE bar.

We had quite a few different types of cookies, so I enlisted some help.

My mom made and decorated my Grandma's famous sugar cookies, and Val made her

delicious oatmeal raisin chocolate chip cookies and lemon ricotta cookies (not pictured). 

 

Then I made some chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes for the adults,

And mini chocolate cupcakes with cookie dough frosting for the kids.

Plus, Owen had his very own smash cake.  :)

 

 We were all excited to see what he did when I put the cake down in front of him.

We had his high chair fully ready for the huge mess we were certain he'd make.

 

 Much to our surprise, however, he wanted very little to do with the cake.

He would touch the frosting, get it on his fingers, and then just try to shake it off.

No huge mess.  No frosting all over the face.  No crazy energy buzz from all the sugar.

We tried to give him a little taste of the frosting, but he wasn't the biggest fan.

He ate one bite of cake, but left the rest which is perfectly fine by me.  I made him a vanilla cake

 from scratch with homemade cookie dough frosting and I will be more 

than willing to finish it off for him.  :)

 The other big hit of the party was the photo collage my mom helped me put together.

I was running low on time so I showed her my idea, gave the the pics and she

helped create this masterpiece.  It was awesome!!

We had 28 adults and 13 kids piled into our house.  

There was definitely chaos at times, but overall it was a great time had by all. 

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

 Owen is very excited about all of his amazing gifts,

and wants to say thank you to everyone for coming and sharing his special day with him.

Happy birthday little buddy!!

 

I hope you had as much fun today as we had watching you.

We love you!!

YAY!! SNOW!!

Owen finally got his first taste of the snow.

The way this winter has been going, I wasn't sure if his snowsuit and sled 

were going to get any use this year.

 

But the single inch of snow we got today covered everything nicely and gave us the 

opportunity to go outside and play. 

Owen's new measuring cup came for the ride because he just didn't want to let it go.

Hopefully the snow sticks around for a few more days so we can have some more 

fun in the snow.

One Year Old

Is it even be possible that Owen is already a year old?

 

It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital,

and now here he is...an adorable, happy, silly, energetic one year old.

He is really on the move now and it is nearly impossible to leave your back turned for even a moment.  By the time you walk out of the room and walk back in he will be halfway up the flight of stairs.  He's become fairly stable on the stairs however, so that makes it a little easier. 

He still isn't the greatest at getting down all of them, but he's mastered crawling back down

at least the first two which is progress from him simply turning around and falling backwards 

like he used to.  He's started taking small tries at standing on his own without holding onto anything and he's more receptive to walking along with us as we hold his hands.  

Walking is definitely in his near future.

He is talking a lot more now and has added a very important sound....Da Da!!  YAY!!  

Though he won't totally admit it, I know Ryan is happy this sound made it's way into his vocabulary finally.  Whether Owen knows what he is saying or not, it is always touching to 

hear a Ma ma or Da da.

Weight - 21.5 lbs (50th Percentile)

Height -30" (50th Percentile)

Favorite Foods - Grilled Cheese, Graham crackers, Goldfish, Cheerios, string cheese, hummus, cinnamon toast

We've tried all sorts of meats, eggs, cut up fruits and veggies, but he hasn't

been too fond of them yet.  He might try a bite or two, but then he moves on to the things

he know he loves.  I've been a little more adventurous with letting him try things that Ryan or I are eating and found a few more things he really enjoys.  Hummus!  Who would have thought?  We were walking around Costco and there was a sample.  He was watching me as I ate it so I gave him a little bite and he kept going back for more and more.  He also ate almost an entire piece of Domino's pizza.  I let him try a bite of mine and he ended up eating almost the entire thing!  I'm confident that slowly and surely his food repertoire will expand beyond 

cheese, carbs, and fruit/veg pouches.  :)

Favorite Toys - Frying pan from his new kitchen, Sarge (the toy army truck from the Cars 2 movie), Fisher Price Ballapalooza (thank goodness all my hard work putting this thing together has finally paid off), and the stuffed white rabbit Grandma gave him at Easter.  It was one of his favorites a while ago, he  moved on, but now it is back up on the top of his list.  I know that all I need to do is sing "Little Bunny Foo Foo" with the rabbit and I am guaranteed a huge smile.  How do you think we got all the smiles for these blog pictures?

Favorite Games - He loves playing chase.  Whether it is him and Ruby crawling around or he and I crawling around, he loves following after someone and in return having them crawl back after him.  He also loves to wrestle.  I always play with him on our bed upstairs and would jokingly tip him over and "wrestle" him.  When I was making the bed a few weeks ago I had the down comforter on the floor and all of a sudden I noticed him purposely diving into it like he does when I wrestle him.  So it's quickly become one of our favorite games.  I ask him if he wants to wrestle and he immediately falls over on the bed waiting for me to tackle and tickle him.

We've had SO much fun with him over the past year and it's been amazing to watch 

him grow and learn all of his new tricks. Staying home from work was the best possible

decision I could have ever made and I am so thankful I have the opportunity to do so.

Being with Owen every single day has been so rewarding and one of the best experiences of my life.  He's pulled at my heart strings in ways I never knew possible,

and I look forward to the many more years we get to watch him grow.

We love you Owen.  Our special little One Year Old!!

Happy Birthday Owen!!

They say it's your birthday....Da Na Na Na Na Na!

Well happy birthday to ya...Da Na Na Na Na Na! 

The day is finally here.  Owen's 1st birthday!!

I can hardly believe that a year ago today we were meeting him for the very first time.

Now he's grown into a cute, sweet and energetic little toddler.

We started out the day by Skyping with Grandma (complete with a party hat).

 

She and Grandpa even lit a #1 birthday candle and sang to him.  :)

Then I made him a very special breakfast of scrambled eggs and pancakes.

It was his first time trying eggs and he wasn't a huge fan, but I'm sure he'll grow to love them.

All that early morning celebrating can wear a little guy out, 

so we took a quick nap break to rest up for the rest of the day's festivities.

Next on our list of fun activities for the day was Birthday lunch with our neighbor Lisa.

The manager even brought Owen his own little bowl of ice cream to celebrate.  

He would take a little bite, make a face because of how cold it was, then continue eating.

He decided the deliciousness was worth the uncomfortable cold.

Then Ryan came home early from work to hang out with us this afternoon.  

We decided to take Owen out for birthday dinner.

He might not realize how special of a day it is yet,

but we still wanted to celebrate how important he is to us.

His night was topped off with another very special birthday dessert.

He was a big fan of the gingerbread cookies. 

 

 

Happy birthday little Owen!!  I hope you had a great day.

You are an amazing little boy and your dad and I love you SO much!!

You fill our days with smiles and laughs and not a day goes by

that I don't thank God for bringing you into our lives.

Your catch everyone's attention with your cute toothy grin and fiery red hair,

and you've captured our hearts from the moment we met you.

We love you lots little buddy!!

Happy Birthday!! 

 

New Kitchen

Owen's birthday present has arrived!!

Yes, he now has his very own kitchen.

He loves it!!  I love it too because it keeps him so busy. 

His favorite part of the whole thing is the little frying pan

that he now carries with him wherever he goes.

 

Up the stairs,

 

 Down the hallway to visit Marley,

Between that and his "lovey" there is always something along for the ride.

Thanks for the awesome birthday present Grandma!!

We love you!!