Theodore's 1st Birthday Party

I made a brief post last month when our nephew turned 1. I've now had time to sift through the photos and share. There are LOTS, so get cozy.


Check out the crowd!

After he woke up from his nap, it was time for presents.


Check out that grin!


"Auntie Karen, what the heck are you doing???"


Opening.


As with kids, though, the bag or box the gift comes in is almost always better than the gift itself.




He seemed pretty excited!


Leftie. For sure.



"Quit it already, Auntie Karen."


Next up: Cake!


Sans milk.


Getting strapped in & ready. No clue what's coming. Robin's been strict about no sweets until he was 1. So poor kid didn't know what he had to look forward to. ;)


Closer to showtime, but he's not sure what's going on.


Patiently waiting. If he knew how good his cake was, he wouldn't have been so patient.


(left) after; (right) before. :)


Dad is giving him an assist on the candle, but as you can see, Theodore already has his fingers in the frosting. Smart kid.


"Hmm, not sure what this is but I like it."


A little more ....


Aaaand, out comes the candle.


Chow time.


Leftie. All.The.Way.


Cute baby cupcakes.


Eating Auntie Karen's ice cream. This kid loved it. He's smart like that.


I love Theodore in this series. In the top, he's looking for more cake that was caught in his bib (which had a pouch to catch food), then he's looking up, and finally at me. Silly goose.


After, he was banging on the door b/c daddy was outside cooking dinner.

Swim time! :)

A few weeks ago, I took my No. 1 nephew swimming in the big pool for the first time! :) Theodore has fun with his wading pool at home, but this was his first foray into the big leagues. :)


I thought this Y was zero-depth entry, but I was wrong. Oh well, good times were still had.


The lifeguard turned on the big slide and told me I could take him down. Mommy Robin agreed, and we hit the action.

Here's a video from the event.


This was his FIRST time down, and I used the sides to slow us down. I didn't know if he'd freak out or anything. Also, at the top, we put our fingers in the moving water to let him experience it. The next few times, we went down more quickly. :)


And here is the water feature. Later on I stood up and we went under it. I think that was smarter. The water is really choppy at the bottom, and is more smooth and "together' up high.



All done! (his "deer in the headlights" look highly amuses me).

Christmas 2010 with Theo

Robin and Chris and Theodore were in town in December, and I'm pleased to announce Baby Theo got his first Christmas present from us. :)

His jam-jams even match the wrapping paper.

This is a funny aside: Evidently every baby photo of Daddy Chris involved Chris' tongue sticking out. Theodore certainly follows in his daddy's footsteps.


Mommy and daddy helping out.


Theodore is pretty good at grabbing. They pulled the package and so Theo "opened" the gift. :)


Just look at that tongue on Theodore!!!!

What did Theodore get???? The Elf on the Shelf book set. :)


Not to be left out, Mommy Robin got a little something, too. I found these vintage pilot goggles at Restoration Hardware. They were super cute! :)


Robin, of course, got it and was all about using the scarf. :)


The tongue is STILL out!


With Uncle E.

The Mikols Nose

Baby Theo has got IT. The Mikols nose, of course. Well, maybe Chris has people with short, round noses in his family, too?

At the very least, my dad, myself and Uncle Paul have this nose. Uncle Carl has a version of it. And now little Theo has it, too.


Until my friends started having kids, I honestly couldn't distinguish features. Like, noticing that a kid got their parents' eyes or nose or jaw or whatever. I just was dense. And sometimes I can't see it too strongly. But on some, I can. And on Theo, it's the nose. :) We'll have to see about the rest of him as he grows.

We had our first sleepover at Auntie Karen and Uncle Erik's this week. Robin and Theo came and crashed with us. And we all slept well. Except for Esse, who was demoted to sleeping in the laundry room because she started to scratch on people's doors, which is not welcome in the middle of the night.

For those interested, my cutie nephew is on the Heartland Blog HERE. :)

Little Laws is here! :)

Ok, so I know I need to post baby shower pix, but c'mon, the arrival of my nephew is the main event right now! :)


Yesterday morning, he was ready to make his debut.


At 6 lbs, 12 oz, he was a cute little tyke. And as a trivia note, Erik's thumb is bigger than Theo's footprint.


Grandpa Wayne.


Granma Carol (Chris' mom).


This is dark and moody, but I like it. Theo would sort of pull his hand over his face to block the light as he slept. Pretty stinkin' cute.


And Auntie Teresa was also on the scene. :)


Last photo.

Sneak Peek — Robin's Baby Shower

Yesterday was my sister, Robin's, baby shower. It was TONS of fun.

I promise to blog/share more photos and such later. But just a quick teaser here. I was REALLY excited because I envisioned this little flag/banner and mom helped me to do it ... and it looks JUST Like I wanted! And the same for the balloons.

Fun fact: 3 dozen fully inflated balloons will fit into my Nissan Alatima, but only barely. And driving is tricky. But balloons are my new favorite way to decorate. Seriously, excellent, fun, festive and really reasonably priced! :)

Baby belly

Cruise over to my sister's blog by CLICKING HERE to check out the growing progress of my new niece/nephew!

I'm excited to be taking belly pix Friday night with Robin and Chris! :)

Post-dinner

Remember when Erika and I had out house blessed? Scroll down to the last photo. Yes, that's my dad sleeping at a social event. It's sort of a standard for Mikols men.

Well, when we were at my sister's house for a graduation party last week, my brother didn't disappoint. But since they just moved into their house, Carl had no couch to stretch out on. No bother. A floor will do just fine, thankyouverymuch.

I concede (I'm going to be an *auntie*)

So, Erik and I formally concede the first Mikols grandchild to my sister, Robin, and her husband, Chris (you can read about it HERE on their blog).

And knowing my mother-in-law, baby Laws will actually be *her* first "grandchild" too. ;) When I talked with my mother-in-law yesterday, I said "if baby is due in August, that means there will be a little one with us for Thanksgiving" ... and there was a squeal of delight.

Life is crazy-busy right now, I'm sorry. I know I still need to blog Arizona pix, Grand Canyon pix (from like JUNE!), compost info. I'm also toying with the idea of fessing up about my trip to Topeka yesterday. You know, the one where I packed 2 pair of dress shoes, 0 pairs of dress pants and 0 pairs of socks. *rolleyes* my brain is just THAT fritzy. A quick Target run was in order to be sure I was appropriately clothed before I photographed at the Capitol yesterday.

Come to think of it, those 2 or so sentences summed up my yesterday, so I'll consider it covered. ;)

Happy anniversary, sis

Yikes, did my little sister really get married 2 years ago?!?!??!?

Well, I'm still thrilled, despite my expression in the photo.


;)~