My Party!

Hi everyone! This is Luke. I am pretty good at writing, but I don't do it very often since electronics don't mix very well with drool. Anyways, I just wanted to show you all my bestest friends who came to my party to help me celebrate turning one.

This is my friend Canon Moss. He is really fun. His birthday is in March, so he is the closest to my age. He doesn't get in trouble as much as I do, but I will teach him once he learns to walk. Sometimes he likes to steal my toys. That's ok, though, because he lets me take naps in his crib. He thinks this party is a little out of control. Thanks for letting me use your house, Canon!



Here's my friend Ava Grace Yates. Her birthday is in April. I think she could be my girlfriend because she goes to my school, but on different days. That is good because I have a girlfriend in my class named Millie. She would get the boot, though, if Ava Grace was there!



Adeline Nichols' birthday is in April, too. This could get tricky with two girlfriends having birthday's so close together. I better start saving my allowance.



This is Colt Parrish. His birthday is in May.



He is a very sweet friend. Look how horrified he is that my girlfriend is making a move on him:





Hey! Stop that Adeline!!




My friend Collins Carter plays with me at church. He is so nice and smiles all the time!



Julia Blank was there, too! She is just a baby so she can't play with us yet. But I was glad she came. Her big brother Alex was sick and had to stay home. :(



Mary Selwyn Nichols is even older than me! She can do lots of stuff and was so sweet to help me open my presents and to show me how to use my new toys. Thank you MSN!







Anna Clare and Owen Thompson and Ava and Rafe Jones couldn't come, but they gave me cool presents! I missed you guys.

Everyone brought lots of mommies and daddies and there were even regular people who aren't mommies and daddies!










It was so much fun! Thank you all for my presents and for coming to my party.

The first, First Birthday Party

The only thing I hate more than shopping, is last minute shopping. Well, I guess I can't say all shopping, because I do enjoy browsing for items for the house, or kitchen, in particular. Anyway, most of my Christmas shopping was done by the second week in December, but those few little things left to do were killing me. Thankfully, my parents were able to come help me out. Luke was battling the 17th cold of the year and had to miss Mother's Day Out, so I never would have made it if they hadn't. Thank you!! And since they did come babysit and help clean my house I had nothing left to do six days before Luke's Dothan birthday party than to begin creating an elaborate birthday party set-up.

First of all, let me say that Barry and Deborah Moss are the best friends ever! They let me throw the party at their house. Our house is beautiful and I love it. It just doesn't give you a very good birthday party atmosphere. Plus, they live right next to a park. I was hoping it would be warm enough to be outside during the party, (I was trimming shrubs and gardening on the day Luke was born, afterall.) but that was not the case. Even though those two love being around lots of people and are some of the most laid-back folks I know, it is stressful to have a large group of people at your house. At any rate, THANK YOU BARRY AND D! I promise I will repay you by helping to create an even more elaborate first birthday party for Canon!**

After searching every party store in town, I came up empty-handed. There was only one place to turn: the Google Webs. I found a blog called Kara's Party Ideas. She had tons of pictures of parties with various themes and somewhere in all the madness I came across the cutest little birthday banners. By little, I mean quite large and elaborate. They were obviously made with a Cricut machine, which I became an expert at during our Halloween crafting session. So, you guessed it. I went out and got myself a Cricut Expression. On Tuesday. Six days before the party. The hardest part for me, was choosing the paper for the banner. That and figuring out the sizes of all the letters and designs I was making with the Cricut. My OCD and perfectionism did not help to make that process any easier. I think I was very close to having a stroke on Saturday. Kyle was helpful and understanding, though certain that I had completely lost my mind.



This was the invitation, that Denise (also one of the best friends ever) helped to pick out and was the inspiration for the theme of the party:




Here's Barry and D's house, fabulously swiffered by Sam Dean. If he and his fiance, Alisha, had not been there that day, the party would have never happened. She kept Luke and Canon totally occupied while we set everything up.



The food was wonderfully displayed by Deborah.









I was so excited about how everything turned out.





Luke was very confused about what was going on that day. He desperately needed a nap. We tried to get him to sleep for 3 hours before the party started, but too much was happening and he wasn't in his own bed. He finally gave in, fifteen minutes before everyone was supposed to arrive! We let him sleep for the first hour of the party. It was better for everyone that way.









He was still sleepy at cake time, so I didn't quite get the response I had hoped for. I think he got a pretty good taste, though!

In the end, it was as close to perfect as it could be in my mind. Totally worth the near-stroke and ten years it took off my life.

This post is getting a little long, so I'll do another one to show you Luke's friends who came to help him celebrate.

**Barry, I know this repayment is mostly geared toward Deborah, however, please note that a first birthday party should be considered an "experience." I know the babies will not remember it, but it will at least be a couple of hours of entertainment for them. The experience is for the parents, mostly Mommy, who enjoys crafting, photos, blogging, eating, and lots of babies. There will be plenty of your friends there to hang out with. Elaborate does not necessarily mean expensive and I have promised D that she can use our house for staging so you will not even have to know what is going on, ok?

SEC Champions

What fun to watch the Tide roll over Florida to win the SEC championship!




Doesn't this just look natural? Could this be in his future?? Kyle says remember your demographic and stick to baseball, little man.

Dancin' Machine

Isn't it amazing how much babies can learn so quickly? Every time we visit with someone who hasn't seen Luke in a while they ask about any new things he may be doing like "peek-a-boo," clapping, or giving "high-fives." I forgot to mention in the Thanksgiving post about Luke's newest achievement. The car he borrowed from Kate has a little 'radio' in it that plays a few tunes. When he kept playing the music over and over, my mom asked if he knew how to dance yet. I realized that I had never thought to teach him. (Not surprising.) She gave a quick demo (that I am dying to post for you, but no, I'm not going to, Mom.) and he caught on right away. He hasn't slowed down since. He loves to dance. To anything. If you tap your foot more than twice that can be considered a beat worth some moves. And he has got some sweet moves. It usually starts with the head (picture Night at the Roxbury), then some shoulder action (like Chris Rock in Rush Hour) and finishes with some good old-fashioned booty dancin'. It is so cute! Granmama taught him everything he knows.



When we got back to Dothan, it didn't take long for me to get out the Christmas decorations. Kyle wanted to wait until the first weekend in December, but I didn't quite make it. At least I waited until December 1st!

It seems like a bad idea to put the Christmas tree in the only room in which I can safely corral Busy Baby, but right next to the fireplace, in front of that middle window, is just the perfect place. So I did it anyway. So far, so good. He's not sure what to think of it just yet. Fortunately, I think he is still a little frightened by it.



This is his new Little People Nativity. I never knew "Away in a Manger" had such a good beat.



It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas 'round here...and somebody's birthday, too!

Shout for Joy!

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

Know that the Lord is God.

It is He who made us, and we are His;

we are his people, the sheep of His pasture.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving

and His courts with praise;

give thanks to Him and praise His name.

For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;

His faithfulness continues through all generations."

--Psalm 100

This was the thanksgiving message Bro. Johnny delivered this year. How wonderful! SHOUT for JOY! Why shouldn't we? I must admit, though, that joy is something I have had to pray for specifically this year. It's not that something happened this year to make me lose my joy. Quite the opposite, really. Sure, there are plenty of reasons to be stressed with a new baby around, but how awesome is it to be a mom? (Most of the time...)

For Thanksgiving this year, Kyle took a couple of extra days off and we decided to drive up to my parents' house on Tuesday night. Luke was still sometimes going to bed between 6:30 and 7, so I thought he would sleep like an angel all the way. He did sleep until just north of Birmingham, which was a really good nap to get him energized.

After the excitement of driving the rest of the way home and of seeing Granmama and Grandaddy when we got there, he didn't cry himself to sleep until about 1:30! Driving at night was a bad idea.




On Thanksgiving, his cousin Kate let him borrow her pink car. Kids love these things. His other cousin, Dirk, wouldn't let him drive, but he was nice enough to let him ride along...



More cousins, Dylan, Charlie and Reid, playing a game of 'shirts and skins' in the front yard:



It was cold, but a nice day to play outside.






And for learning new tricks:



And for feeding Sophie pickles:



Later on Thursday we made it to Albertville for more Thanksgiving fun with grandparents and great-grandparents.





Luke and Madelyn say: "These people are crazy!!"




I love this picture. Love the hair, love the outfit, love the belly. Madelyn's, not mine, of course.



On Friday, Luke spent the whole day and night with Grammy, Paw Paw and Aunt Kim while we watched the Iron Bowl and had another Thanksgiving feast with the Rodens.



This is their living room. How cool is that?


We made it back to Dothan on Saturday, exhausted. So much to be thankful for this year. And that night, we kicked off the Christmas season with big boy flannel PJs. So cute!