First Birthday: The Look

Get ready for an explosion of birthday party post with lots and lots of pics....   :)

Well the original plan was to have Dax's party at the lake so I had decided a beach ball theme would be super cute. I had some beach ball things but most of the decor was going to be basic color polka dots (red, blue, yellow, green, orange).  I thought it would be super cute for a one year old and the bright colors would make it very fun :) A lot of the decorations were hand made or bought on sale or in the dollar section at target so while there was a lot that went into  the party  it really was very budget friendly.  So here's a peak at how it all turned out.
The invitations I showed  here.  They were all handmade and a little different. I loved how they turned out!
And here was my sneak peak at a few of the details.
And now picture explosion in 5...4...3...2...1....

We had 25 of these cuties laying around the floor of the gym! Some big and some itty bitty! They were super fun, especially inside the moon bounce!

Cute beach ball plates right?!  For drinks we had 3 sodas, water, and sugar free raspberry lemonade.

The snacks!! We had whole wheat goldfish, whole grain crackers, pita chips, cheese, and hummus. We were going to make the hummus home made but ended up running out of time. And didn't the labels turn out cute?  You'll see a close up of those cute beach ball pictures stickers in just a bit! They were quite the find!

I found those cute letters for .30 each at HobbyLobby!  As far as sweets we had the cupcakes I talked about here, some basic funfetti cupcakes with blue cream cheese icing, cookies, and a cake my dad insisted on buying which actually turned out super cute!    We also have Dax's cute little smash cake in the pic (sugar free banana apple cake with regular cream cheese icing).  And of course one of the biggest hits of the party a collage of pictures from Dax's first year!

And here is the entire spread.... with the birthday banner I made hanging behind it :)

Here are the tables! I thought they were really cute! We did four tables with sand buckets, tissue paper, and balloons and the rest just had our memory card activity on them. I also had a few extra pieces from the high chair decorations I made (you'll see that in a minute) so I just laid those around on the tables as well.

Here's the memory card activity I just mentioned. I got inspiration for this from my besties party for her little boy. I had these set up on the table and small squares of construction paper set out for people to write on. We'll save these in Dax's keepsake box and give them to him later in life.   You can also see the cute beach ball stickers really well here! I found these stickers online (I really wish I still had the website) but they were only $1.95 for 24 pictures!! WOW! Such a good idea and I LOVED them!

Here were all of the tables. Like I said I only put balloons on 4 but I thought it was just enough and looked pretty cute!

Here were the goody bags for all the kiddos!  I was pretty pumped because there was absolutely NO sugar in these bags and had awesome gifts that I got super super super cheap at HobbyLobby or Target.

Here was the gift table before it started overflowing with presents!  You can also see Dax's seat (a closer pic in just a minute)!

The birthday boys seat!!! The original plan was to make his hat but we found this one on sale for $2 at HobbyLobby and decided that I probably couldn't make one that cheap. Plus... it's super cute! I also made the banner with left over pieces from his shirt his aunt Lori made. I was super happy with how it turned out! 

That's it for now.... but get excited about future post on the cakes and presents!

Our 12 Month Old

So it's pretty depressing not having as much time to blog anymore as I did this summer.... but tis life I guess. Well since our last post I have started student teaching (which has gone great and I am gaining my confidence back day by day.. more on that on another post), Daniel is finishing up his weeks of Pediatric wards (which he has decided is way to depressing for him), Dax has is still a rock star at daycare (I'm pretty sure he's a fav among the teachers), I have started my class on Tuesdays (which is going to be the DEATH of me), and then there was this little known event called, Daxton's first birthday!!!

That's right folks... I have a toddler.  Here's a quick run down of where our boy is at 12 months (that feels much easier on my heart to say than one).

* Walking... all. over. the. place..... and with this walking brings even more disaster to the house. I thought he was into everything before.... yikes... that's nothing compared to now.
* We are down to our morning bottle (which is going to be hard to break.... we both love that time a lot) and the rest of the day is finger foods, the occasional puree, milk, and water.
* As of yesterday he has two teeth! I thought we were going to have to buy this boy some dentures but turns out he just likes doing things on his own time :)
* He has a girlfriend at daycare..... they're often seen playing together and I caught them holding hands at the snack table yesterday....
* He just talks and talks and talks. He mimics pretty much every sound now and is super good at mimicking the tonation of your voice. It's pretty fun.
* It sleeping so, so, so good at daycare!! He takes an hour nap in the morning and a two hour nap in the afternoon!! This is way better than he ever slept at home! And did I mention it's on a cot?? Such a big boy! Bedtime is still great. He goes to bed between 6 and 7:30 and is up at about 6:00 in the morning.
* His favorite toys right now are balls (especially his ball pit), dump trucks, books, blocks, musical instruments, walking toys, and anything with a door that opens and closes. Bubbles are still one of his absolute favorite things too.
* His little personality is so funny. He's getting where he laughs at himself and will do things just to get you to laugh at him. His favorite thing right now is to pretend like he's eating. He'll hold food up by his mouth and make a smacking noise and laugh. Pretty. Cute.
* He is quite the dancer now and has moved on from the raise the roof move to full on bouncing my body.
* When we go outside of look out the window he looks up at the trees and says, "bird". Melts my heart.
* He has a yucky virus starting the end of last week until yesterday. Started with tummy nastiness and moved on to a nose that dripped like a faucet, sore throat, congestion, and coughing. Thankfully that's over.
* He will randomly walk up to you and lay his head over on you and say "awwww". It's. adorable.
* He's a climber. He tries to climb on anything and everything he can.... so daddy and I got him a toy made just for that for his birthday (more on that later too).

Here are some recent pics of our 12 months old....

sweet boy...

Mommy & daddy's entertainment

Dax's favorite hang out

My newest nephew Kason Ryan!!

Big boy on his birthday!!

Foodie Friday!!

This week I tried to coordinate Dax's foods with what we would be eating, so here's a peak...

Daniel has been dying for me to make popsicles so I finally did and made some mini ones for Dax. I did a blend of banana, blueberry, and nectarine and for Dax I just used his ice cube trays that we freeze his food in and stuck a craft stick in the middle. These were the perfect size for him and the big craft stick made for easy holding for little hands. These were just ok. They were sort of icey.... but I'm not sure why? Maybe that's just how fresh fruit popsicles are since there's no added fruit juices or anything? If you have any tips let me know!  Dax wasn't the biggest fan of them. I think little piggy wants instant gratification when he's eating something and therefore the slow process of eating a popsicle wasn't up his alley.

One day for lunch this week I made this very yummy wrap for myself for lunch with whole grain tortilla, spinach leaves, balsamic vinaigrette, turkey, cheese, and capers. So for Dax I went with whole grain crackers, turkey, cheese, and threw in some peas for a veggie (plus they're dax's favorite finger food). Of course he loved it and cleared his plate!

So yesterday was my first full day at home without Dax and I was sort of in Susie Home-maker mode (I think it was my way of not being depressed about being away from Dax). Well on top of cleaning the house top to bottom, making birthday decoration, and doing 3 loads of laundry, I decided to get "adventurous"  and make something for dinner! Whoa... step back a minute!  Anyone that knows me knows I can not cook, at.all. I do the baking around the house, and Daniel does the cooking. But I found a very yummy recipes for a crock pot meal in one of my cookbooks and decided to tackle it.  Introducing Italian Chicken (check out the recipe here).

This was minus the chicken and dressing and soup. Looks soooo yummy! I used diced tomato's instead of whole.  And here is the finished product!

I thought it was delish!! I put it on top of some Basil Linguine and I'm not going to lie... was pretty impressed with myself. Plus, it was super, super easy. Basically everything was canned or prepackaged so all you had to do was wash the mushrooms, cut up the chicken, and poor everything in. So, so easy and yummy! For Dax I saved some of the artichokes and steamed them, so he had artichokes, basil linguine, strawberries, and tried a few mushrooms (which he loved!). This was a great, super easy meal that I'm sure we'll be having in the future!
And to end foodie Friday here's a pick of our boy double fisting it :)  I like to give him choices on what to drink... and apparently this day he wanted both milk and water. It was pretty cute.

and he's off....

Well I just got back from dropping Dax off at daycare for the first time in almost 4 months, and I"m not going to lie.... I cried all the way home, and probably will most of the time I type this.  Dax was in daycare for 6 months when he was little, but the majority of that time he was in a classroom right next door to mine and I could stop in and see him as many times as I wanted throughout the day.  At the beginning of May I quit teaching in order to make our move to Bixby and since then have been a full time stay at home mom.

It has been the absolute hardest job I have ever had, but by far the most fulfilling.

I have loved staying at home taking care of the baby and house more than anything. I love teaching, but have been my happiest and most fulfilled while staying at home. I know it's just not an option right now while Daniel's in med school but hopefully I'll get to do it again sometime in the future... and I can't wait for that day.

Monday I start student teaching. I'll do this for a semester and then will be certified to teach in Oklahoma (after I pass the OPTE & OSAT). To be completely honest I'm not really looking forward to this at all, which I know is an awful awful attitude to have (and I'm praying for that to change everyday). But like I said, I have felt more fulfilled staying with Dax than I ever have teaching, and I have never looked forward to teaching in public schools... it just doesn't go along with how I view education and learning.  I have also been doubting myself in my ability to teach more in the last few weeks than I ever have and that's not helping much with the attitude towards this student teaching experience. If I can make it through the first 8 weeks I think I'll be happier and look forward to it a little more.
My student teaching is broke into two separate experiences. The first 8 weeks I'll be working in a 2nd grade classroom at a HUGE (as in like 5 times as many students as I graduated with, and that's only through 4th grade) public school nearby.  The last 8 weeks I'm actually somewhat looking forward to. I'll be teaching a pre-k class in a private school that follows the Reggio Emelia approach to education (if you haven't heard of it, please, please check it out!). This is right up my alley and goes right along with everything I believe. We actually have Dax on the wait list for this school in hopes of starting him fall 2012.  I'm also looking forward to the fact that this is a Pre-K class because infants through Pre-K are my ideal ages to teach. If this was first I think the transition from being stay at home mom to teaching would be a lot easier.

Please continue to pray for Dax and I as we make this transition. I'm sure he'll love it and do just fine... so I guess most of the prayers should be sent my way. Pray for strength to do what's necessary for my family at this time, confidence in my ability to teach, and peace of mind and heart during all the changes this semester holds for us.
This was the verse in my devotional I got by email today from Parenting by Design.  So, so perfect.

Ps 27:13-14:  "I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!" (NKJV).

Happy Sunday!

Hope your Sunday was a wonderful as ours! Someone got his first swing today... I'd say it was a hit.

and then we ended the day with this....

I think I'll keep him around :)