Construction Birthday

Miles turned one a couple weeks ago, but we've had some other things happen that left this post being a little late getting out. 

We decided that since Miles is always knocking things over in a destructive way we would have a construction birthday theme for his first birthday.  I found some awesome decorations from Hobby Lobby, and along with the help of Pinterest, we had a theme on our hands.  Tom also helped too.  Most of the time he just lets me plan it out, since it's kind of my thing, but this time since it was more of boy thing, he felt like he had some great ideas to contribute.  I was glad for the help.

I got a lot of ideas from the internet, and chose to do a simplified form of them.  I wanted to do more, but this was his first birthday and I really didn't have the time to go all out this year.  His first birthday kind of snuck up on me without me realizing it.


This was the dresser and decorations that I bought at Hobby Lobby.  I chose to do cupcakes this time and made a small cake for him to dig into.  I found some black buckets at the Dollar Tree and kept the drinks with ice in them.  I used a solid color plastic tablecloth and stapled it to the top of the wall as a background.  Most of the decorations I found at Hobby Lobby and used solid color plates, napkins, and spoons.  It was a lot of fun.

 

 

Tom had a sawhorse in the garage, so we used black posterboard and put a caution sign from the construction pack I got and the added some old tools from Tom's dad.  It was kind of bittersweet that we had Miles' birthday party on what would have been his dad's birthday.  So Tom wanted to incorporate some of his things into the party.  They made a nice addition.

We had another sawhorse on the driveway so that people would know to go in through the front door, along with a balloon bouquet.

My favorite thing to do for birthdays it to make my kids' cakes.  My dad did it for us, and I guess I want to continue the tradition.  I chose to make cupcakes for everyone else and a baby truck cake for Miles to save myself some time.  I cut a regular sheet cake into the shape of a truck and used cupcakes for the tires. 

We decided to strip Miles' down and take off his shirt for the big event.  He has never had cake before, so it was quite the treat for him.

He's got a look as if he's wondering what we are going to do with that thing.

YUMMMMMM!!!

Jaycee had to join in the fun too.  She loves cupcakes.
 

Sticky fingers

This was what was left of the cake after Miles was done with it.
 

Tom threw him in the tub, high chair and all.
 

Opening gifts.  Not sure he was really into this part of the party, I think he was still in a cake coma.
 

Our family
 

Playing with his new toy.
 

There's a smile.

We went outside for a bit to let the kids run off the sugar from the cupcakes.  Miles decided that sitting in our crunchy grass was good enough.  So we started singing and clapping with him.  Gotta love this guy.

After his birthday, we decided to take a quick trip to see some of Tom's family and friends near Joplin.  We ended up having to cut our trip short b/c Miles has some problems with high fevers.  But I'm so thankful for this little guy and the added blessings he has brought to our family. It has been fun to watch him grow, learn, share, and play with his sister.  I love watching his face when he is trying to figure out how things work and roaming around the room looking for the next tower, building, or blocks that he can knock down.  We call him Destructor around here, but we love him.  It was a lot of fun celebrating his first birthday.


the Ehrlich's

April 2014

Easter

This year for Easter, we didn't do too much.  It was rather nice to have an afternoon together as a family.  I did find a cute dress for Jaycee and little one piece outfit for Miles.  The bargain hunter that I am, I bought Jaycee's dress and cardigan for $15 together.  Miles' outfit was a hand me down from a friend.  Gotta love those hand me downs. 

This month Miles started to do lots of things.  A while ago, I had a hard time getting him to sit up.  I think he was a little too round in the middle to bend that way.  But he quickly learned that sitting up gave him a new vantage point to look at and play with his toys.  He also discovered Legos this month and loves them.

We have been trying some new discipline ideas lately.  I remember that when I was little my parents put me to work.  Forget sending me to my room, my parents would send me to my dad's shop to work by stripping a chair or couch.  My dad reupholsters furniture, so he got a little of his work done and we got time to adjust our attitudes.  We decided to try this with Jaycee.  Here she is picking up sticks and other trash that tends to end up in our yard on trash day.  It seems that when the trash truck comes, what doesn't get in the truck gets in our yard.

 

Several months ago, I think I made a post about Jaycee's pictures.  Here are a few of her favorite things to take pictures of with my camera. 

Kitchen

My mom, aka Grandma Walker

My dad, aka Grandpa Walker

Tom's mom, aka Grandma Ehrlich

Grandma Walker again
 

 

 

We also dedicated Miles this month.  Our church does things kind of differently.  Twice a year, they have a special night in which anyone who wants to dedicate their babies can.  This night is a lot of fun and special for the families.  They have a time where they share a verse for their child, and the meaning of their names.  They also have a time where they talk about prayer partners.  These are people who are special to the family and will commit to pray for the family and children.  Our wonderful friends Travis and Meagan Wells are those people for us.  We met them right before losing Caden, and didn't know how amazing their friendship would be to us.  We feel like we can just be ourselves with them, and our kids' act like brothers and sisters together.  They are a great family.

 Now that Miles is moving around a lot, I think Jaycee is really liking it.  He is more interactive with her and she can do things with him besides just look at him.  She loves it when she makes him laugh, and get in his face.  Sometimes she gets a little too close.  One thing that I love watching her do is trying to read him a book.  Miles loves books, but won't leave it alone to actually read it. 

Jaycee and I got our toes painted together.  I found this place close to our house that would do mine for a pretty reasonable price and did her for $10.  Jaycee got a hold of my camera again and decided that my toes were the subject for those pictures that day.

I love this.

I also wanted to capture how silly and fun my kids really are.  Jaycee is hilarious sometimes.  Now I know why Miles is laughing at her a lot.

  

Another one of Jaycee's pictures.
 

 The rest of the pictures are just some fun pictures of my kids.  They sure do love each other.

Pulling himself up.  Growing up so fast!!!

April was a lot of fun!!!