Down here in the south the leaves have finally begun to change, and due to the past few extremly W-I-N-D-Y days many of those beautiful leaves have sadly made their way down to the ground. But just as much as I love looking a the colorful leaves on the trees; Grayson loves playing in the leaves once they hit the ground. We took him to play in the leaves in a public lot on our street that houses some strange green electrical box…let’s hope it doesn’t give of cancerous waves. *fingers crossed*  Our yard is filled with dog poop in the back (cuz we don’t pick that stuff up), and the front yard simply didn’t have many leaves in it yet.

He loves the bubble mower he got for his birthday and really hasn’t had the opportunity to push it around outdoors much. Indoors, he is constantly pushing it around, and terrorizing the dogs with it. Hehe. I mean, poor puppies.

He can’t quite get the speed up yet to make the bubbles come out on his own, so in steps Daddy. The child loves bubbles so much that as soon as he saw them pop out of the mower he left in hot pursuit of those soapy little floating orbs.

Then he pretty much left the mower all together to go roll around in a giant pile of leaves.

I love how he looks like a tiny lumberjack in that red plaid shirt. Thank you, Target.

It’s like a ball pit, but with leaves.

This one is going in a frame. I love how you can barely see him. He had a blast rolling around in the leaves.

By the way, he has on a cloth diaper in these pics. They tend to bulge out a bit more than sposies. I swear that’s not  3 days worth of poo & pee in his dipe. Although the pic below might look like it.

Have you played in the leaves yet this fall?

Just look at this baby. You think he can’t get any cuter, and then…..BAM! I go and throw a bow tie and Tom’s on the kid.

This post is dedicated to friends, family, and fun had at the party.

Here’s the Papa Bear excited and waiting for the par-tay to start. See that t-shirt he’s wearing? It’s his favorite. You will come to know this shirt if you read this blog often. Sorry. Want proof? Read Grayson’s birth story. I guarantee you will see him wearing it in the delivery room. I love how he is beginning to make this his “special occasion” outfit. I mean, I love Robert Randolph and all, but…

Once again I found myself in the dollar section at Target picking up a few sets of these foam blocks. We wanted all the kiddos to have something to play with while the ‘rents were busy socializing. Boy oh boy did I pick a winner. Grayson wouldn’t stop playing with the things. I swear, about 60% of the party you found him on the floor doing this…

The ever so gracious host took a break from playing blocks to greet arriving guests and accept gifts in exchange for admittance.

Let’s just say that there were kids EVERYWHERE. Remember in Part 1 when I said there were 500 kids at the party? Well I may have over estimated a smidge, but I was close. Check this out…

Me and the birthday boy. Don’t you just love that bib? I found it on Etsy, but it was already sold. So, I convoed the seller and she just happen to have one piece of fabric just big enough to make one last bib. I just checked her shop and she currently has another one for sale. I guess she picked up/found more of that fabric.

Proud and just a tiny bit nutty grandpas.

And for Brody, his favorite part of the party were the balloons. This kid is so classy that he matches the balloons he plays with to his outfit. Now that’s style!

I love this shot of him sitting with the balloon, and inspecting the string. Presh.

Don’t mind us. We’re just to cool dudes maxin’ and relaxin’ with our sleeves rolled up checkin’ out some totally hot babes.

And then Brody tried to make a run for it. He would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for that whole not-quite-tall-enough-to-reach-the-handle thing.

Up next, smash cake and presents! Stay tuned.

Missed Part 1 of the party madness? Check it out here.

Even though his actual b-day wasn’t for another 5 days, on Saturday August 13th, Gray invited over about 500 of his closest friends under the age of 2 and partied RoBoT style.

This photo is just a glimpse of Gray’s 1 year photo shoot. There are more super cute photos to come. I just need to find the time to edit them.

Since the three of us can barely fit in our house on a day to day basis we thought it best NOT to have his party at our home. Plus, I don’t really care for cleaning. My parents have the perfect house for parties. They have a nice open floor plan that flows, and a dining room that is HUGE, so you can shove a ton of people and wild 1 year olds in there with out people running into to many things.

When I decided on a robot party I found invites that I really liked, but just couldn’t justify paying $50 for something I was going to print out myself. So I drew some inspiration from those pricey invites and designed some myself. What do you think? It was a blast designing them. I have a ton on geeky type fonts now. Looks like I’ll have to find something else to design so I can use them all.

See the binary on the invite? Guess what. If you decode it, it says “Happy Birthday Grayson”. How geeky am I? After the party was over I realized that I should have made a binary banner. How cute would that be? A banner made of zeros and ones that actually means Happy Birthday Grayson. If anyone out there is throwing a robot party please try this banner idea and send me a pic of how it comes out.

I did make a banner using real words.

I’m kinda in love with chevron right now. Trust me, you will notice a trend.

If you put a camera in my hands I take way too many photos. It’s an illness I tell ya. To prevent me from missing special moments during my son’s very 1st birthday party I asked my friend Scott to step in as camera man. He was already going to be there with his little girl and wife. It really helped not trying to be in two places at once.

Since it has been a million plus degrees with a humidity level of 110% here in the south; we decided to keep the food and main party happenings indoors.

We set the food and cake up on the dining room table. Note to self, setting up a food/desert table on a round table is much harder to layout than one would think.

Those two empty silver plates held some of the most delicious bread you will ever lay taste buds on. It’s called Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pulls, but it’s appropriately nicknamed Crack Bread. T-rust me, you’ve got to try this stuff. I will post the recipe soon. Here’s a pic of the bread that I took with my phone.

Did you see that cake? Um yeah. My baby sister, Stephanie, made it for me. She’s been dabbeling in the cake/goodies making game for a few years now so I thought who better to make Gray’s birthday cake than his Aunt Toof. Didn’t she do amazing? She mocked it after a cute little felt robot I found on Etsy. I used paper straws for antennas. As for the tiny banner I used the free printable from TomKat Studio. I changed the font and color of the bunting to match the robot theme a little better.

The head of the robot was Grayson’s smash cake. Just wait until you see the size of this thing next to my kid.

The cupcakes were out-of-the-box chocolate with homemade buttercream icing. YUM! I designed the cupcake toppers and wrappers myself. I kept changing my mind about how I wanted them to look. Up until the week before the party I was tweaking the design constantly. When it comes to graphic design I am never 100% happy with my final product. But what artist is happy with there designs 100% of the time?

See those silver bolts and nuts scattered throughout the table? I picked those up in the dollar section at Target and then spray painted them to look metallic.

I thought about ordering cookies from Etsy, but I was afraid that with this super hot summer the icing would melt and screw all the cookies up while in route to me. I wanted just a few cute cookies with royal icing so I gave it a stab. Thanks to YouTube I learned how to make royal icing and how to ice a cookie with it. Not horrible for my first attempt, but I’m certainly not going into business anytime soon.

In addition to the G’s and gears I also made 1′s, but I just don’t have an up close photo of them.

These little guys were super yummy, but the coloring didn’t come out quite right. I think the cooking spray I used mixed with the blue coloring and turned them a tad green.

I also made some little food labels and table tents.

Originally, we were going to have robot cake pops, but my sweet sister not only was making the most awesome robot cake for the party, she was also working full time, and moving that week. When she finally found time to make the cake pops the cake wouldn’t stay together so she had to scrap them. No big deal though. We had left over sucker sticks and some marshmallows, dipping chocolate, and sprinkles…so we improvised.

I kept going back and forth on the whole party hat thing. I just couldn’t find anything out there that I loved, and ended putting the decision off so long that I ran out of time to order anything. So, about 2 days before the party I decided to make him one from paper I had around the house. It came out pretty cute if I do say so myself.

Derek wanted to contribute to the robot party fun and built a robot from boxes and various things we had laying around the house.

Isn’t that precious? He gave the robot a heart.

When I saw Sarah do this for Manny’s 1st birthday I knew I had to do it for Gray’s. I took different faces of Grayson’s and put party hats on them and used them as added decoration and entertainment for the guests.

During Grayson’s 1st year, I took weekly and monthly photos of him. I decided to display the monthly portraits at the party, but was having trouble deciding how. Derek came up with the idea of displaying them on the piano by the gifts. Perfect.

I don’t really have any up close pics of the drink station, but here are a few I cropped in on to show you what we had.

I made Paula Deen’s Homemade Lemonade and it was delish!  I just loooooove homemade lemonade. Unfortunatly, it was the first time I used that drink dispenser and the lemonade poured sooooooo sloooooooowww. Sorry drinkers of lemonade at the party. My bad.

Here’s what the water bottles looked like…

I made some goodie pails for the kiddos to take home. I found the pails in the dollar section at Target, imagine that. I also made a photo book of random happenings from Gray’s 1st year. We asked the guests to write him a little message on a page in the book. I love that everyone signed it. Some of the messages made get a little teary eyed.

It was an amazing day. Our little boy is so loved. Thank you to everyone that came, and thank you for loving our little man. I’ll be back soon with more pics from the party. So stay tuned.

P.S. – Here’s a little video of the party just getting started…

I thought I might bless you all with a little video. This is Gray and my mom giving each other interesting kisses.

We finally got Gray out to the lake this year. We had intended to take him over a month ago, but a dog that will remain nameless (Wrigley) decided that she wanted to swallow a squeaker from one of her toys and be rushed to the emergency vet. Fun. Fun.

So, we finally made it on Memorial Day weekend. To make certain Gray didn’t absolutely spaz when we put him in the lake we decided to take a dip in the pool first. My parent’s marina (they don’t own it they just dock there) has a pool which is so nice after a long day out on the lake. I mean barges use that lake. I don’t want barge pee all over me. Eww grose!

The pool was a success. Although he doesn’t look like he was thrilled about the pool. I promise you he LOVES them. These photos are of his very 1st dip in anything larger than his ducky tub he bathes in at home. It makes sense that he looks a little reserved. The next day however, we took him to a friend’s house to swim and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen my child happier. That boy was born to swim.

After swimming we headed back to the boat because the lake was calling our names. How precious does he look in that tiny life jacket? I can answer that. VERY.

I mean just look at him. The kid is a natural.

Unfortunately, the lake was a tad too cold for a 9 month old. Heck, that lake was too cold for me. He did hang out on the swim deck with Aunt Toof for a few. So, at least he saw the lake.

I did hop on the jet ski for awhile, but made Derek swear not to throw me off. Nobody knows what’s lurking under the surface of that muddy lake. I mean Nessie, could have made her way in there all the way from Scotland, and could easily be hungry for something that taste just like me. Legit fear, for sure.

Since the lake was a bit too cold for my liking I stayed on board with my teeny tiny while he napped, ate, and pooped in way too many diapers. Occasionally, I would pop up to the top of the boat to take random photos like this one.

After we showered we decided to take a walk down the pier. We even managed to sneak in a half way decent family photo. Yay us!

I tried to let Gray dangle his feet off the pier and let his toes dip in the water, but his legs are still a good 12 inches too short.

That night we slept on the boat. Derek and I crashed in the bedroom and Gray was laid out in his pack-n-play in the main cabin. The next morning we went to breakfast with the folks at the marina’s restaurant. And of course, every single person knew my parents. I think they might eat there a tad too much. Nah, I’m the same way. Stick with what ya’ like.

After we stuffed our faceholes we packed up and headed home. It was a short trip, but it was nice to get away even if it was just for the night.

Don’t quite understand the last picture with the duck? You’re welcome.

Okay, so it’s my only Mother’s Day, but my favorite still. Yes, Derek gave me a present last year when my belly was looking like it was about to burst, but the day feels totally different when that tiny little bun is out of your oven.

My 1st Mother’s Day started off with my boys waking up extra early and making me breakfast in bed. Cinnamon rolls to be exact. They were perfectly gooey and delightful, and polished off by a super cold glass of milk. Then came the present.

Derek says that Gray designed it himself, but I have a feeling he had a hand in making it. They used iPhoto to layout and order this sweet book FILLED with photos of the reason I get to celebrate Mother’s Day….Grayson.

(The caption reads: Our First Mother’s Day)

On the first page of the book I found this sweet message from my little dude….

My book was filled with photos of Squishy during his 1st 7 months of life, and I couldn’t have asked for a better present.

Since it was Sunday we headed off to church, and of course I brought my book. I may have even passed it around during service. Sorry about that God.

After church my boys took me to lunch, we visited with our mothers, and went to dinner with my parents. Then we came home and crashed on the couch and vegged.

Derek was originally scheduled to leave for North Carolina for work on Mother’s Day, but his trip was rescheduled. That would have been a bummer of a Mother’s Day. I am thrilled that things worked out and I was able to spend a beautiful and fun filled day with my two boys.

Life is good.

You know, like in The Godfather. Doesn’t Don Corleone make his goons kiss his ring because he’s the leader of the mob (a.k.a. – The Godfather) I think I will now request that my engagement ring be kissed by all that approach me in conversation. I’m thinking it will catch on. Don’t you? Wait, we are here to talk about a baby. Sorry.

Talk about cuddliness wrapped up in a blanket of cheeks surrounded by a fluffy cloud of melt-my-heart perfectness. Meet my precious, most perfect, adorably sweet, and tiny Godson, John. And yes, I mean the Catholic kind. As I’m sure most of you don’t know, I grew up Catholic. Yep, I even went to Catholic school with the mean nuns with rulers, uniforms…the whole bit.

When I found out that my brother and his wife were expecting I knew I wanted to take some newborn pictures for them. So, at 13 days young John and his mommy granted my wish.

This kid rivals Grayson in the size of his cheeks.

Just look at those tiny toes peeking through. I just wanna nibble them off. But, I won’t. I think my brother might get mad if I did.

At the end of the shoot my sister brought Gray in so I could get a few shots of the boys together. However, by this point John was just about fed up with being the center of attention, and certainly let us know.

Have I ever mentioned that Grayson LOVES other kids? He does. He is totally amazed by other tiny humans of the kiddy persuasion. Often times you find him just staring at random kids with wonder in his eyes. And know that waving is his new favorite thing to do he waves at every kid he sees. Even the ones in photos and on tv.

Here is my sweet little sister, Toof, (or Stephanie as her birth certificate states) with her two youngest nephews.

Thanks Mike and Katie for letting me annoy your child with the sound of my shutter. That’s not true, I turned that annoying beep off the day I got my camera. Who wants to hear “beep beep…beep beep” every time they focus on a subject? Not this chick, that’s who.