LOTS More Birthday Pictures

Ok, so here is the recap of the party. We had a great time and I still can't believe that my little guy is turning one. So many emotions but that is for another post. Enjoy all the pictures. Click on any of them to see them bigger if you would like. Or, right click if you want to save them to your computer.

I had planned a few games for the party since I knew we would have a few kids there to keep entertained. The first game was "Kiss the Frog" (like pin the tail on the donkey but with a frog and lipstick). Andrew was super excited to play this game so we wanted to make sure we did before he had to leave for band practice. Not so sure how I felt about putting lipstick on my BOY, but he still had fun playing along.Alexis kept wanting to peekRachel came really close to getting the frogs on the lips. Most of the kids got pretty close, too close to call a winner.My little Shelby 'Renee' came just in time to join in the game. (Her middle name is really Ann, but I like to think she is named after me with the middle name Renee.) And for not being an artsy person, I think my frog drawing turned out pretty good if I might say so myself.I had asked Andrew the morning of the party if he would like to play "Happy Birthday" on his trumpet for his brother. So, that morning I printed off the music and he practiced it a few times before we went to the park. He did a pretty good job considering he had only had the music less then 6 hours. He is a remarkable trumpet player with LOTS of potential. Can you tell I am a very proud mama? :)We also played a frog bean bag toss game. The object of the game was to toss their frogs and attempt to land them on the lily pads. It was kind of a free for all with no set rules, but they still had a great time and got to keep their frog shaped bean bags.Up to this point Aiden had been sleeping through all the games and eating. We woke him up so he could enjoy his cake. He was pretty grumpy at first and just wanted to snuggle.

After a little snuggle time we stripped him down to avoid the icing mess on his clothes. He was still pretty sleepy and acting shy.

..and not so sure what to think about this thing being put in front of him.

He slowly stuck a single finger in the icing to taste it.

This stuff is pretty yummy. It helped that there were lots of girls around him, watching his every move and making him laugh.

"Aren't you going to wipe this stuff off my hands Mom?" (check out those eyelashes)

Hey, this is my cake. Back away from my cake!!!

Trying to lick every last morsel off his hands.

Happy Birthday, sweet baby boy!!

Big kisses from Auntie Faith for the birthday boy.

Alexis enjoyed the cake as well, though I think more frosting landed on her nose then on Aiden's.

The sugar rush has set in and he is pretty much done by this point.Hey, don't even think about eating my cake Daddy!!!

Daddy flipped him upside down to shake the crumbs out of his diaper.

Grandma was still trying to teach him to walk. Gotta work for your presents I guess. (He did end up taking his first step later in the day.)

Daddy got to sit with him and open all the gifts.

He loved the toy given to him by his sister, a noisy toy that violently vibrates when picked up. His little chubby cheeks would shake when he tried to hold onto it. We will see how long that toy lasts in this house before driving mom and dad crazy.

His cousin, Candace was helping him pop the bubbles.

I wanted to make sure we got pictures of everyone that came to the party.

The Hileman family: Zach, Tracy, Gerry, and Brooke

Cousin Candace

Grandma and Grandpa Howse

The Seaburg family: Jen, Robbie, Katee, Greg and Emily

Darcy and Rachel

Tammy Dulaney

Auntie Faith, Shayna, and Shelby

Sara, my wonderful photographer and friend.

Natalie and Joci.

And of course Mommy and Daddy, who love Aiden VERY much!!!!!

*Not pictured: Nana and David, who seemed to escape the party before getting their pictures taken.

Quick Birthday Party Post

Well, today was THE big day, and we had a great time. The weather was awesome, 84 degrees and lots of sun. Aiden was a little out of sorts since he had a short morning nap, and actually slept the entire first hour of his own party. I will have lots more pictures to share tomorrow when I get the photos from my photographer (it was awesome to sit back and enjoy the party and not be stuck behind the camera the entire time!!).

Sporting his new frog sunglasses."Look at my new wheels. Watch out world, here I come."

Darcy did such an awesome job on the cakes!!! Everyone loved them. (Pictures of him digging in will be posted tomorrow hopefully)

It was awesome to see Darcy and Rachel again. I am very blessed to have Darcy in my life to help answer all my cleft questions. She is so willing to share her experiences and for that I am very grateful!! Beyond her invaluable advice, she is an incredible person to know.

Check out that cute, 'hop to it', bum.
And now he is officially a big boy in a big boy carseat. Shhhh... don't tell the cops that he doesn't actually turn one till Tues. He simply no longer could fit in his baby seat. It had been stretched to the longest length and could barely be clipped in without pushing down pretty hard on his shoulders. He loves facing forward and has lots of room to grow!!

It's Crunch Time

We are about 48 hours out from Aiden's 1st birthday party, and there is LOTS to get done. The goody bags have been stuffed, the gifts have been purchased, the balloons have been ordered, and lots of emails have been exchanged on the details of the cake. Dale's car has not been working the past two days so he has taken my car to work both yesterday and today. I am very thankful that we have two cars, but it sure makes it inconvenient when I have SO many errands that need to be run. Instead of getting it done during the day time, we have been jumping in the car the minute he gets home and then try and get some of it done while dragging three kids around. Tonight will be no different. I need to get his car fixed, the food picked up so I can get it all prepped tomorrow, and the kids all need haircuts. Wishing some of these things could wait till tomorrow but I have an all day walking field trip I am volunteering on for Andrew's class, and I know I won't have the energy to do it tomorrow after school. So I am hoping that Dale and the kids are ready to hit the ground running when Dale gets home at 4:00. In the mean time I am trying to get everything done here at home.

I need to work on the games while I have some time this afternoon. I am planning on making some lily pads for the bean bag toss, and I need to make a huge frog for "Kiss the Frog" (like pin the tail on the donkey, except with lipstick and a huge frog). We are also going to do a frog hunt and play leap frog. I am really hoping that my expectations are not too high for this whole thing and that we will have a fun time.

Add on top of all of this the Box Tops I need to cut, sort, group, and mail off by Saturday. Being the Box Top coordinator queen is fun until it is crunch time. The postmark deadline happens to be this Saturday of course. I have collected all of them from the classrooms and now just need to go through them all, check for expired and ripped ones, and then sort them into groups of 50, fill out the proper paperwork, get them in the mail, and then update my spreadsheet and fliers for the classrooms. We have already collect $948 this year alone. That is 9,480 box tops that me and my family (trust me it is a whole family effort) have dealt with in the past 6 months and we are geared up to reach our goal by this deadline, which is $1,000.

Wishing I could clone myself for the next few days so it could all get done. I am going to need a nap on Sunday! Thank goodness I don't have to super clean the house for the party since it is going to be at a park. Just praying for no rain at this point, but things look good in that department as of this morning's news. So for now there are will be no more posts till after the party on Saurday. Wish me luck and send any spare energy you might have.

Family Get Together - Part 3: Play Time, Food, and a Nap

From the oldest cousin, Jacob; to the youngest cousin, Aiden, fun was had by all!!!Jacob and Andrew have been best buddies from day one. Even though they only get to see each other about once every 6 months, when they get together they don't skip a beat. Andrew was planning on being a stow-away in their car and was wondering if I would notice he was gone. DUH!!! I think I would notice in about 2 seconds and miss him dearly.Auntie Grace loves to shower Aiden with kisses and was hogging him most of the day. Not that he minded at all. :)This was Uncle Rob's first time meeting Aiden. Aiden wasn't so sure of him at first, especially since he picked him up and was wearing a hat (something about ballcaps scare him). Once Rob removed the hat he settled down but was still a little leary.Auntie Faith (sporting her Red Bull.. yikes), was actualy able to steal him away from Grace for a moment. My grandma makes THE best pies (sorry Dale's mom, who is a close second)!!! I have not had a chance to enjoy a piece of one of her pies in a LONG time, but they still taste as good as I remember them from my childhood. I even begged scored a few pieces to take home that we will enjoy after dinner tonight. YUM YUM!!Boys just hanging out, waiting for the grub to arrive.The kids loved being able to sit together while they ate.This family has some serious olive lovers.Shelby took some time out from the chaos to enjoy a good book. And of course they all LOVED their ice cream cones. This was the pretty clean phase. Hands were too sticky later to even take the time to snap a different picture, but they loved it so it was worth it.Best buds, sharing some ice cream.How appropriate that George is holding on to this sign. :)Aiden tried to stay awake for the whole thing but just couldn't do it. He finally gave in and took a quick hour nap during lunch time. That was his only nap for the day and he was SUPER grouchy for the 100 mile drive home (fun times). He gave up the fight when we were only 10 miles away from home. Luckily Dale was able to transfer him straight to his bed and he slept till 6 the next morning.
We are looking forward to having most of them together again next weekend for Aiden's first birthday party at a park near our house. We just wish that everyone could have been there. Not all spouses could be there, Dale included, and my brother and his two kiddos that live in North Carolina of course were not able to make it. They were missed dearly.

Family Get Together - Part 2: Music Time

Andrew wanted to have the opportunity to play his trumpet for all of his cousins. They all seemed to enjoy listening to him and were impressed with how well he is doing in such a short time.

Aiden seems to be following in his big brother's footsteps in the music department.

He loved playing the drums and got pretty carried away.The guitar was another favorite, though I think he liked the strap more.Playing the keys with Auntie Charity.

I can't for the life of me figure out how to bring Andrew's Talent Show video over from Vimeo to show it in this blog. My computer doesn't like me today, so click on the link above to go to it if you want to see his great performance. He was super nervous since he was first up, but he did an awesome job.

Family Get Together - Part 1: Poses

This weekend we were able to get 11 (out of 14) of the cousins together in San Diego. They all have such a great time playing together.

My Grandma is currently visiting from OH, and it was great to all get together and spend time chatting while the kids could run off energy on the playground equipment.

4 sisters: Faith (25), Charity (34), me (32), and Grace (30)The sisters with our mom (In the middle....we didn't get any tall genes from her) :)4 sisters, Mom and Grandma.Carter kiddos: Desiree (4 1/2), Tatiana (21 months), and Caleb (2 1/2)Howse kiddos: Andrew (9 1/2), Aiden (11 months old), and Alexis (4 1/2)Scriven kiddos: Clint (2 1/2), Jacob (10 1/2), and George (5)Heil kiddos: Shelby (3) and Shayna (6)

But Mom....

...how will people know what is going on in our lives if you don't blog every day?" (actually spoken by a very smart 9 year old). Didn't know I had blogging fans out there, or maybe those are just my husband and children who ask me as they walk in the door if there is anything to read on the blog for the day.

I had to take a break from blogging the past few days due to a severe sinus infection, amongst other stuff. I could barely hold my head up, my nose was dripping like crazy, my lungs hurt just to breath, my jaw and neck were getting stiff, a fever of 102.7, had a cough that would not stop and felt like knives cutting my throat each time, and when I inhaled through my nose I would get a lightning bolt of pain shot into my left eye. Not fun at all!!!

So, I bit the bullet and called for a pre-registration appointment with our urgent care. That pre-registration idea is a major God send. Most times you go and wait for hours (read about Aiden's awful experience with that), but with this whole new system you can call and get a pre-arranged arrival time. I got there 5 mins. before my time, checked in, gave my co-pay, and sat down to get comfy for the long wait. Little did I know how great this experience would end up being. I was called back by the triage nurse at 5:01, sat back down out in the lobby and then was called back to a room at 5:04. The doctor entered at 5:12, not nearly enough time to read the magazine article that had captured my attention. The longest part of the appointment was waiting for the nurse to come back in with a shot of antibiotics in the hip that hurt like heck. Then I had to take a nap wait for 20 mins to make sure I didn't have a negative reaction.

I walked out of there at 5:40 with two prescriptions in hand and an order to come back tomorrow (well, technically today as of this post) to be rechecked. I was disappointed that he didn't give me an off work order though. I had asked for one but when he asked what kind of work I do, I replied, "I'm a mom so could you print it out, my kids don't read cursive very well," he pretty much just laughed at me and wished me luck with getting enough rest.

So here I am, still feeling yucky and wondering when the relief is going to come. I am travelling to San Diego tomorrow to spend time with my mom, all my sisters (3) and their families (12 kids total), and my grandma who is visiting from OH. I really want to be feeling good not just for selfish reasons, but because I don't want to get anyone sick. Doc says I am no longer contagious once the antibiotics have been in my system for 24 hours so we are covered there, but would be nice to enjoy my time instead of being miserable. Hoping to make a turn around in the next 18 hours. Prayers are appreciated.