Sunny Sunday

I was off this past weekend and after a rainy, cold, dreary Saturday (we had fun nonetheless at the Carolina game with friends - and a win!), it was lovely to have a totally GORGEOUS Sunday with absolutely NOTHING planned.  That never happens in our world.  So after a nice little trip to Home Depot that morning, we headed up to playground at the elementary school by our house. 

Arlo was obsessed with the state of Washington.

And the slide of course.

And yes, I know I have frizzy, flyaway hair bordering on an actual Afro, but this craziness was at least partly due to the static electricity from going down the slide with Arlo. I think. I hope. 

This playground doesn't have the infant bucket seats, so he had to sit on our laps (we did make a second trip to another nearby playground JUST for the bucket swings and it was totally worth it - he loves them). 

This will possibly be Arlo's elementary school in a few years.  It's crazy to think of him playing on this same equipment during recess someday!

-Katie

Music Man

I feel certain Arlo will follow in his Daddy's footsteps in many ways, but one will surely be a love of music.  We've always exposed him to music...he loves listening to Charlie play guitar and strumming the strings himself or banging on the drums.  Lately, we've noticed him paying even more attention to all of his musical toys.  Things he can shake or bang on - bells, maraccas, rattles, drums, etc. - are his favorite.  But he also loves just listening to music.  He sways back and forth or bounces up and down to the beat.  Here he's trying to figure out how the sound comes out of this giant speaker. 

"Mama, how do I make it louder?"

He has a few toys with buttons that will say something or play a song.  Lately, he'll keep pressing the buttons until a song comes on.  Then he looks at us and smiles and starts swaying to the music.  SO cute!  Here is a great video of this exact thing while he was playing in his bin full o' clothes. 

I hope he continues to love music as much as his daddy and I do.  And I hope he has good taste.  :)

Love, Katie

Dirty Laundry

It's not really dirty laundry, but a bin full of wonderful hand-me-downs from a great friend (with a VERY stylish little boy - such cute clothes!).  I've been stalling on putting them all away because Arlo LOVES to climb in and out of this thing. 

Love, Katie

Arlo's New Face

The silly scrunchy face still makes an appearance once in a while, but now we're seeing more of this pensive, furrowed brow, concerned-looking face. 

This is the face I imagine we'll see again during his teenage years when he thinks we're so weird and annoying.

Fortunately, the most common Arlo face is still the sweetest smile! 

Love, Katie

Wheely Bug

Arlo's grandparents got him a Wheely Bug for his first birthday.  What's a Wheely Bug, you ask?  Check out this video!

How cute is that?!

-Katie

Swings

On Tuesday last week, we met up with friends for yogurt at Tutti Frutti (Yum!  Seriously, this place blows TCBY out of the water in my opinion.  SO good and fun!).

After some delicious yogurt (Arlo ate most of mine, I swear!), we headed over to a great playground nearby.  The swings were a big hit! 

And so was the mulch. 

The rest of the playground equipment was not so interesting to these two (yet!).  But it was a gorgeous day and just nice to sit outside with friends, even if we were sitting in mulch. 

-Katie

Party Time

Since there was a home football game on Saturday (Arlo's actual birthday), we had his birthday party on Sunday.  And since it was already a football weekend, we figured why not throw a football/sports-theme party? 

We think Aunt Liz would have approved of the party theme...and the fact that at least 75% of our guests were in Carolina Blue!

If you know me, you know I LOVE having my house and my yard full of people and laughing and energy and excitement.  But between work and sleep and all that having a baby entails, I don't do it much anymore.  So, yes, it may have been more than necessary for a one-year-old's party and yes, it may have been partly about me, but what's wrong with that?  We're celebrating his first birthday which means I've made it through one year of motherhood and that is cause for celebration, right?  So I think it's okay if I wanted to make a pile of cupcakes from scratch and create a birthday banner for him and invite nearly everyone we know.  :)  Lucky for me, my husband was willing to indulge my every whim.  He gets me.  And I had lots of help from family and friends. 

All good parties center around the FOOD, right?!  Hoagies, chicken salad, wings, pizza bites (we made half with mushrooms and half with turkey pepperoni), fruit kabobs, cream cheese apple dip, veggies and dip, cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, and candy corn fudge.  That's right, I said candy corn fudge.  You gotta try it. And it's easy peasy. 

Two of my sous chefs at work:

The birthday boy!

The weather was gorgeous!  I mean, perfect.  So we were able to hang out outside a lot of the time.  We set up cornhole, a disc golf basket, the hammock, and a pool full o' balls, so there would be lots to do!

Here is Arlo hanging with Clippers fans, Caroline, Matt, and Gigi.

 

Grandaddy teaching Arlo the finer points of cornhole.  Look at his face!  Such concentration!

The beanbag goes in the hole, not the baby.

Walking with daddy.

Rolling frisbees.

And then it was CAKE TIME!  The highlight of any one-year-old's birthday party.  Arlo didn't disappoint.   We all sang "Happy Birthday" while I tried to make sure he didn't grab the lit candle.

See how that cake I picked out is almost entirely WHITE? 

Yeah, that was on purpose.  So how did THIS happen?

Yep, he zeroed in on the blue icing balloon on top and smeared it all over his face.

 But that's what first birthday cakes are for!

He even shared a little with GranDeda. 

 Sugar coma. 

Proud, gleeful parents.

(And we did manage to get the blue dye off the baby's face.)

Overall, it was such a great day with our almost all of our closest friends and family.  Here is me, Aunt Allie, and Grandma with the cleaned-up birthday boy.

My book club!  And a couple of the junior members. 

Kai and Luci, representing Carolina well.

Walking practice with Uncle Casey.

Sitting in the pool o' balls with pal, Sam.

Another baby on the way soon! 

The one bittersweet moment was saying "Bye for now" to our great friends, Ryann and Lance.  They are off to Portland for their next big adventure and we will miss them dearly!  We were so thankful to spend such a special day with them and look forward to visiting them in Portland!

Arlo was sad to say goodbye, too.  :)

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to my husband, our families, and our friends for your love, support, and encouragement this past year through the happy times and the tough times.  We are so lucky to have all of you in our lives.   

Love, Katie