Landon's First Birthday Party and Forgiveness

Landon's first birthday party was all set for January 30th. The invitations were printed and mailed, the favors were put together, the decorations were made and the cake was planned...I kinda like parties and a kid turning 1 kinda gives a party lovin mommy a great reason to throw one! Well, about mid-week our friend and meteorologist Todd Yakoubian (okay, we don't actually know the guy but Jim did go to school with his sister!) predicted that Mother Nature might throw a kink in our plans! I wished and wished that Todd would be wrong...he WAS wrong the last time so I thought there might be hope! No such luck...he. was. right. On Friday I decided Mother Nature and I could no longer be friends because no "real" friend would threaten to call off a kid's first birthday party, right? Turns out she isn't bothered by any "de-friending" threats and we got sleet and snow and ice and yuck! Lucky for her we were able to move the party to Sunday and lucky for us most of our friends and family were able to come...so, I decided to forgive Mother Nature.

Our little guy is growing up so fast and we had a great party with our friends and family. We decided that this year instead of gifts we'd have our guests bring items for Landon's buddies at Our House. They do such a wonderful thing for our community and we are happy to help support them. We collected lots of puzzles, crib sheets, toys and other fun things for them and we can't wait to deliver them! Landon enjoyed his party and loved being the center of attention. He had fun playing with his friends and was completely exhausted by the time it was over. It was a memorable day for us all and he has been such a blessing to us!!!

Here are A LOT of fun pictures from Landon's fun day!

Landon's Happy Birthday banner! My friend Erin makes these and they're so fun! Check out her site: http://www.deesignsbyerin.com.

I made a banner using pictures from each month of Landon's first year.

We had snacks...




Cake!

Chick and lamb cake pops...

Cookie centerpieces...

The Waterin' Hole

Fun party hats for the kiddos!


Look at this hat my mommy is making me wear! I want the horse hat back pronto!

Burke, let me borrow your bow...anything's better than this silly hat!

Maybe my hat isn't so bad...you want to wear this duck hat?

Cheese! Birthday parties are so much fun! I can't wait for mine!

My mommy thinks I'm cute!

Parker was there!

And his cousin Lauren came too!

Here's Lily...we hang out together in the cry room at church!

My cousin Hannah is so much fun!

Mary Haven liked the cake pops!

and here's Asher!!

My mommy thought it would be fun to get a picture of all the kiddos...we didn't!

Applause applause!




Ooooohhhhh a cake!

I need to dig into this thing!

I'm not so sure about this...

On second thought...this is yum-o!!


Mary Haven's been working out so she could beat Aunt Judy at arm wrestling!!

She won!!! Yay Mary Haven!!

Hey, that's a cool cup!!

Not so fast Landon...it's pink and it's mine.

Toddler social hour...


Whew! Turning 1 is exhausting!! Thanks for coming everyone!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Landon!!

Playdate at Burke's new house!

A few weeks ago we went to visit Burke and her brothers at their new house. Their new house is awesome and the kiddos had fun! They tried to steal...I mean share each others sippy cups, they played on the fun activity table and just had fun being the cutest babies ever. Burke's big brothers got an air hockey table for Christmas this year...we didn't play this time but next time I'm definitely going to lose...I mean play a few games! :)


Mooooommmmmm....you're embarrassing me in front of Burke. We're trying to play here.

Cheese!!

Outta my way dude...there's something on the table over there and I want it!

How can I get over there fast before my mommy stops me!?

Silly girl...her mommy was right there. She didn't stand a chance. :)


Fun playdate! We can't wait for the next one!!

"No No" Landon

How will we ever be able to discipline our little guy with a straight face when this is the face we get when we tell him "no no"!? All I can do is burst into laughter every time he does it...and he's no dummy...he's already caught on!



PS - bibs...yes, we've got them, gazillions of them...we obviously just can't be bothered to use them!

Fun times in the Crescent City!

Jim went to a conference in New Orleans in early December and I flew down to hang out with him while he was there...I almost didn't get to go because I got sick a few days before I was supposed to leave. Luckily, I started feeling better and decided I could be sick there or sick at home so I decided to go! I'm SO glad I did! It was our first trip together since Landon was born and his first time to spend the night without both of us. He had a great time at Nana and Papa's and we had a great time too!! It rained most of the time we were there but we "managed" to go to Pat O'Brien's for a hurricane when I got there on Friday...and as it turned out the rain actually did us a favor. Had it not been raining we would have sat outside and we would have missed the Piano Bar! We ate at K-Paul's for lunch on Saturday and had the BEST Po Boy either of us has ever had!! Then we walked through a few art galleries and got Landon a Blue Dog print and I got a small Michalopoulos print...he's one of my favorite artists. We have a big print of his that we bought the first time we went to New Orleans and I love it! We also bought a large print of Pirate's Alley done by another famous local artist. I can't remember his name...and it's all wrapped up right now. I can't wait to have it framed! I'll post pictures when we do. That night we went to Mass at The Cathedral of St. Louis. It's absolutely breathtaking inside and we were chosen out of around 150 people to present the gifts and were given a special blessing by the Priest! Such an amazing and totally unexpected honor!!! After Mass we had dinner at Cafe Adelaide. We had planned to try Emeril's restaurant, Nola, but we didn't call for reservations in time so the concierge in our hotel recommended Cafe Adelaide and it was fantastic! We stopped by Cafe Du Monde for beignets on our way out of town on Sunday...it was the perfect, powdered sugary end to a perfect trip!! We were excited to get home to Landon...and we may or may not have "argued" over who would get to hug him first when we got home! Ha! Life is good!

Self portrait entitled "Piano Bar!"

It was raining, I look mess, I'm wearing Jim's raincoat...but I insisted on having our picture made in this chair! ha!

Best Oyster Po Boy on the planet...gone!

Landon's Blue Dog...he doesn't care about it now but he will when he's bigger. The kid's going to learn about art! :)

Amazing!!! The homily during Mass taught us a good lesson in being humble and was awesome...and at the end, instead of announcements, the Priest talked about the Saints...not Saint Andrew or Joseph...he talked about the football team! New Orleans locals are serious about their football! ha!

Cafe Adelaide just before the Bananas Foster Sundae that was "oh my goodness" good!!!

Sugary clouds of heaven!

Blonde birthmarks and fire trucks!

We took Landon for his first haircut over Christmas break! His hair wasn't "long" anywhere except over his ears but we decided it was time for a trim...of course we couldn't just do it ourselves...we had to have it "professionally" cut because the chairs at Pigtails and Crewcuts are just so darn cute and really, all first haircuts should cost $20, right?! ha! He was SO good and loved steering the fire truck! Ms. Angel did a great job cutting his hair and told us that Landon's blonde spots on the top of his head are birthmarks and are likely to become more pronounced as he gets older. Whew, will sure save us some money on highlights!

Having a "pre-game" bottle...check out the hair over the kid's ears!

Steering like he's been driving for years!

What are you people about to do to me here?

Don't mess up the back! I was working on my mullett!

I've got this...LRFD look out!

No hands!

New haircut...silly face!

The official first haircut family photo!