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

One



Today Miles turned one!!!! 

 

 

 

So, I'm a little late getting this post out, since his birthday was actually Tuesday.

 



The time has really gone by too fast.  I can still remember going to the hospital and checking in for a C-section.  I remember being really scared and completely at peace all at the same time.  There must have been lots of people praying for us.

Miles has definitely brought some changes to our lives.  There were many days when I had forgotten what it was like to take care of a newborn, and now he is all over the place walking, crawling, and looking for any open door or gate. 

For his birthday, I thought that we should do something a little out of the norm for the day.  I've learned from experience that life is so precious, and I want to make the most of the time that I'm given.  So we loaded ourselves up and headed down to Watson Park.  We are so lucky to live in a city that has so many fun things to do, and places to visit.  After living here for the last 13 years, I still think there are places that I haven't explored yet.  This park has a lot of kid-friendly activities, and we ventured to enjoy them.







This was the train that we rode.

 

 

 Jaycee & Miles on the train.

 

 

 Miles found a tic-tac-toe game that he could play with.

 

 

 

 Miles started walking a couple of weeks ago.  Of course we had to follow the yellow brick road.

 

 

 Jaycee wanted to show me her dance moves.

 

 

Then we checked out ponies. 

 

 

Later that day, we went to The Donut Whole.  This is a fun place where they make specialty donuts.  I discovered this place last year before Jaycee's birthday, and I think it might be an annual tradition I do with them.

 

 

Gotta run.  But we are having Miles' birthday party on Saturday.  I'm hoping to keep things simple.  Check back later for more pictures of our little man's first birthday.

 

 

 

the Ehrlich's 

Summer Fun



This summer has turned out to be quite busy.  I couldn't for sure tell you what all has been occupying our time, but we've had a lot of family time and fun hanging out in our simple home. 

 

Earlier this summer, we took to the tradition of making our summer list again.  Summer has always been a time when we work on those projects that we don't get to during the school year because of lack of time or just not a time of year to work outside.  This has become a fun family event, and now that Jaycee is old enough to be able to include some thoughts and ideas, she had joined right along with us.  It is fun to hear what she thinks we should get done over the summer.  We started this tradition so that we would be more intentional with our time and not waste it away.  I must say that with me being a list person and Tom being very task oriented, this plan has been awesome for us!!!  There is something so great about checking off those things you plan to get done, and seeing what still needs to be done and planning our time to include those things.  Ahhhh!!!

 

So, here are a few things that we really wanted to accomplish this summer:

 

- Join YMCA                                                                          

- Garage organization

- Frisbee golf                                                                           

- Deep clean the house

- Dropzone area                                                                       

- Eat more fruit

- Attend kid's summer movies                                                 

- Visit friends

- Visit area water parks                                                            

 - Miles' birthday party

- Exercise (hence joining the YMCA)                                     

- Thrift stores

- Swimming lessons                                                                 

- Women's Bible study

- Library story times                                                                  

- Photo projects

- Parks and playgrounds                                                           

- Sewing projects

- Bake new recipes                                                                    

- Walk with friends

- Date Nights                                                                             

- Nature center

- Grandma's house                                                                    

- Softball

 

These are just a few of the things we have wanted to do this summer.  I would have loved to have gotten pictures of them all, but sometimes you just get to live life and the camera stays in the car/ purse.  That's just how it goes sometimes.  But I hope that my kids will remember the great times we spent this summer chillin' together.  We've had a lot of family together time.

 



 

 My little boy is really fast!!!!  He has just been growing like a weed, and I knew that walking would be next on the baby agenda.  Jaycee absolutely loves Miles (a little too much for his liking sometimes), and she has been wanting to help him learn to walk.  Maybe she thinks that he will have more interest playing with her if he starts to walk.

 





 One of the things we wanted to do this summer was to visit our local nature center.  Luckily for us, Great Plains Nature is close by.  I had been saving the heels of our bread.  You know the end pieces that we don't ever eat for just a time to feed the fish and any other animal that should happen to come along.

We ended up seeing more turtles than anything else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also decided to take this time to let Miles get out of the stroller and practice his walking, with a little help.  He has been doing awesome at this whole walking thing.  I'm not in a big hurry for him to walk, b/c I will be chasing him that much more, but it is fun to see him learn and grow.  

 

 

This duck jumped right up on top of the railing and was not scared at all. 

 

It was so cute to see how this Mama duck took care of her babies.

 

Another huge turtle.

 

What a cheesy grin!!!

 

 

There is still more summer fun to be had, and this is just a little snippet of what we do all day. 

 

The internet and digital photos have not been friendly to me very much and as I become frustrated, I tend to give up for a while until I get the nerve to figure out the problems.  Mainly, I use nap times to do these things, and when that time is very precious, I usually find other things that are more pressing of my time.  Keep reading an following us and I will really try to be more consistent about the updates.

 

 

 

the Ehrlich's



Miles Brence Ehrlich

We have been waiting for him to arrive all summer long, and he is finally here!!!  Meet our newest family member.  He is a sweet baby, very calm and easy going.  We have had a lot of fun getting to know him each and every day.  We are so blessed to have him as a part of our family. 

Miles Brence Ehrlich

Born:  July 29th at 1:53 pm

Weight:  9 lbs. 3 oz.

Height:  19.5 inches

We chose the name Miles a while ago, but then went back and forth with it for quite a while.  I kept hearing other names that I liked, but kept coming back to Miles.  One of the reasons we liked it was because it was a little old-fashioned, but not too much.  Also, neither Tom nor I have had a student by that name.  That was definitely something we considered.  One thing that I have always liked is the uniqueness of names.  I wanted something that people could say correctly, but that wasn't a name you hear often.  So the name Miles stayed on our lists.

 

 

 

Now you may be wondering about his middle name.  I will definitely say that it is the most unique name we've come up with.  When we named Jaycee, her middle name is a combination of her grandmothers' names.  We tried and tried to figure out what would work with regards to this one that didn't sound to weird or girly.  It was hard because my dad's name is Brian and Tom's dad's name was Clarence.  Thus the name Brence came about.  See if you can figure it out.

Miles with Grandma Ehrlich

Tom went to get Jaycee for a visit with her new baby brother.
She really loves him a lot!!!
The first thing she said when she saw him was, "Oh, he's so cute mommy, can we take him home?"
Kids are so funny!!!

Loving her brother
 

She so badly wanted to hold him.  This was as close as she could get.
 

Our dear friends Travis and Meagan came up to visit us for an evening.
Thanks for bringing Emperor's for Tom.
 

The hospital room was cold, which gave me an excuse to put this cute sleeper on him.

So precious when he sleeps.  He is definitely a great sleeper.

Getting ready to go home.
 

 

 

It almost doesn't seem possible that he is 5 days old.  We spent so much time waiting for him, and now that he's here, it doesn't seem real.  I am excited to see what this year is going to look like for us now a family of four and how much he will learn and grow and how much I can shape and mold both him and Jaycee as I continue staying home to care for them.

 

 

 

the Ehrlich's