Emmett's 1st Birthday Party

Our little baby turned one! The year flew by! We celebrated his birthday with friends on Saturday, April 16, 2011. We had a firetruck theme.

It was the first time I tried a theme and it was a lot of fun! We had yellow and red decorations, a yellow bucket for the presents, and a red bucket for the favors. I put the favors in clear plastic bags with red tissue paper lining the inside and twist tied the tops so they kinda looked like flames. I also made the boys matching shirts with iron on firetrucks. They turned out so darn cute! Of course we had our traditonal year of pictures. This time I put them on the wall instead of a tree since there was no way we were going to have the party outside. This also made it so I could write "Emmett's 1st year" above it. Candace made the most adorable cakes! It was yummy homemade chocolate "crazy cake" with some candy in the filling. She did a firetruck for the cake for everyone and a little circle cake with an E for Emmett.

 

 So cute! We decided it was best to do it quick since Emmett gets overwhelmed and lets you know he want to go to bed about 7:30. We opened presents first. He recieved 3 tub toy trucks, a light flahing/spining wand and a bouncing, jiggling, music playing ball from our friends Garrett and Stephanie (and Emmett's friend Teagen who also just turned one). The Marion family gave Emmett the coolest trike! Its a little giraffe and you push it along with your feet. The Kelley's gave Emmett a lift the flap John Deere book and his first cadbury egg. That is what he is asking me to open for him in the first picture of the collage. Alestair picked out some touch and feel flash cards for him. Emmett just loves them and Alestair loves to show them to him. On the way home from buying them Alestair had to show them one at a time to Emmett. It went a little like this "What's this? What is it? Its a pish. Say pish. Pish PIISH." and so one with each of the cards. Robert and I g

ave Emmett a most adorable frog Scentsy buddy. He loves it. It now goes everyewhere with us. Grandma Fee and Aunt Stacy sent a gift to him that got here just a few hours before the party. It had a new Sunday shirt and vest and two of Emmett's favorite books (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Down by the Bay).

 

As it is with most 1st birthdays, the best part was watching Emmett eat his cake. He had his foot resting on the table most of the time. It ended up being frozen still so we had to cut a slice for him but from there...you can see what happened. Robert put war paint frosting on him. He managed to not get his bib dirty at all. Alestair gave him instructions on how to eat cake. This was pretty amusing.



Candace, Tina and Candace's new little man Joel!



Emmett LOVES Joel. He loves Candace more
and hardly ever lets her walk by without holding him.
He throws a HUGE fit when she leaves or walks away.
He does not give kisses but does to Joel (and his frog).
Joel also got a hug.



Some very cute boys

 I love my adorable boys!

 Alestair is becoming a cheesemo. He sees the camera and wants you to take his picture when he says cheese. I did not teach him this but its pretty cute.

 He is pointing out his teeth. Nice and white!

One year ago on this same day Emmett wore a different shirt that also said he was a little brother on the very day he became the little brother.

Alestair was sleeping on the top bunk. I went to check on him and couldn't find him. I only saw his comforter. Well turns out he was in it. At the bottom of the bed. Only his little tooties and face peaking out.

One year ago

One year ago we got to meet this little tough guy! So cute and snuggly. He has grown from a no sleeper and super eater to a semi sleeper and awesome eater. He has gone from not fitting in newborn clothes and diapers to being in 18mo+ clothes and medium cloth diapers. His beautiful dark brown hair has changed to beautiful blonde hair. He has had broken bones and learned to talk and get around the house. He went from being the pestere to the pesterer. One year ago our sweet yet tough little Emmett Baird was born.

This year we will go from crawling to walking (hoping soon!) and from the 18mo clothes to who knows what size. He will probably end up weighing the same as his big brother and will have to learn what "no don't hit" really means. He will be able to walk Anabel and eat on his own. We are so greatful to have him that all of these things will be treasured just like the last year has been. We love you Emmett Baird!

We're going to the zoo zoo zoo!

For letter Z day we took a trip to the zoo. The Wooland Park Zoo is amazing! This would be the first trip to the zoo for both Alestair and Emmett. I know you would think that since I worked at the zoo Alestair would have visited earlier but there wasn't a very inexpensive nice zoo in LA and for some reason it hasn't happened until now. When we first arrived it was only us (me and my boys), Amber and Burl, and Georgia, Henry and Agatha. Alestair was really excited to see his friends. We couldn't get a good shot of all three of them. This was the closest. Alestair decided he would try and pick up Burl who is twice is size. He was grunting and groaning-it was pretty funny.

We saw the tigers that were just recently put in together in hopes that they would be able to mate. Which they did in front of us so Yay! for the zoo!

They have tons of places for the kids to climb on rocks and other things that look like what the animals make as their homes or toys. Alestair and Burl were big fans of the Meerkat burrow.

Emmett had a face off with a meerkat. It was pretty amusing. He was far more excited to see them than they were to see him and Agatha.





 



Alestair was also extremely excited to see an Anteater. Aunt Wendy gave him the "A Book" and it has an anteater and since then he has wanted to see one for real.

There was this really manly peacock that had his feathers up the entire day! He was fantastic! Alestair learned not to touch them when one boy did and the poor peacock tried to peck him.

Of course we could not miss the potomuses (or hicamisspotamusses). They have always been my fave but are now growing on Alestair :)!!!

We saw this giraffe while they were trying to move the girls and boys from one side of the pen to the other. On the other side was a mama and two babies. This guy though made the most amazing noise! I have never heard them make a noise before.

We also saw the asian male elephants (to the right) and the african male elephant (below). The african elephant has the biggest tusk I have ever seen on an elephant! It was amazing. He also had some very very long eyelashes that Candace wanted.

We found Becky and Audrey, Candace, Kristie and Joel and Heather and Mya just before lunch time when we stopped for a potty break. It was about here that I wanted to see elephants and hippos and wasn't really into looking for some big cats so Georgia and Amber (and munchkins) decided to go see the lions and then meet up with us for lunch. At lunch it started to rain...really rain. So Georgia and Amber decided to take off. The rest of us went to find somewhere to eat...that had cover. This was quite a task! You would think a zoo in Seattle had places like that mapped out but they really didn't. Below you see the Gals (plus Kristie) who stayed for lunch.



Mindy, Heather, Kristie, Candace, Becky



After lunch Heather and Candace had to take off so Becky and I took our kids on a real NW adventure! It was POURING by now. We were DRENCHED but we still saw a ton of stuff and found some really awesome quite parts of the zoo. To the left you see the Taiper. He/She was really cute. I made friend with him/her.

Becky and I took the kids to see the Northwest animals. This is the otters. There were fish on the other side with a big brown bear. From what the zoo personal said the fish were there for the bear's enrichment but he didn't really care to try and catch them. He did come down and look at them Alestair was really in love with the "pish" by this point and about had a heart attack thinking the bear was going to eat "his pish". He started yelling "MY PISHES OH NO OH NO MY PISHES!" Audrey was consumed with the diving otters. She was in love. It was hard to pull her away. after we came out we saw that the white artic foxes were there too! One tried to follow Audrey but she didn't notice and my picture didn't turn out.

From there we went to see the Austrailian animals. The Emus to the left weren't a big hit and you could hardly see the wallaby (to the right). The wallaby was very well hidden. Below you see the Kookaburra. Which is pretty cool.

From there we went back to the penguins where the boys and I started. Becky and I were drenched through our coats by now and Audrey and Alestair were wet up their pants. Emmett was the only one dry. Yet it was a very very fun day!

Becky and I just before leaving.



Me and my boys!

And so our day ended. We went home.

Lunch

Emmett and Alestair are hit and miss with Mac and Cheese but today was a total hit! They gobbled it up!

Alestair in the morning.

Alestair has been pretty fun lately. He must always have his shoes ready in case we go outside. He wants to stay in his jammies all day long (I really can't blame him). He LOVES to have you take pictures of him. He hands me the camera and says "Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeses" all the time. He also loves to take pictures himself. Those are on his blog which you can email me about. In the picture above he had chased Anabel around for the better part of the morning just after breakfast. She wouldn't let him come close (good choice on her part). Since she wouldn't be tied up he decided to tie up the chess table. I asked him what he was doing as he pulled it across the living room and he said to me "I take it for a walk. It goes outside now." I guess this was his substitute for a dog that wouldn't be walked by a 2 and half year old.

 He really wanted me to take a picture of both of us. As I said this is a big thing for him. He of course looks cute while after just getting up in the morning i look aweful!

 I love him so much he is just too cute! Look at those eyes!

The boy and his dog.

Boys Room Finished

Alestair's Bed. Bottom Bunk. The "wuberflies" on the wall glow in the dark.Beside the door/Above dressers.Top Bunk. Grasshoppers are all over.Above the crib and on the door.

As you walk in the room.