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.

Nephew Theodore turns 1!!! :)

WOW. Has it REALLY been a year since Theodore was born?

Today Erik and I are taking some quality time with his parents, who are our houseguests, so there won't be a big post here. Please, however, feel free to skip over to the Heartland Blog to see some takes from our nephew's first birthday party. :)

I will have more here later though. PROMISE!

My 30th Birthday party! :)

Ok, only 2 photos to share. I got hollared at by friends for "working" (taking pix) at my own party.


Since I only have 1 married friend with no kids and who isn't preggo, we decided to have a family friendly event. Bring your kids. And boy, were there kids! We had no cake, but an ice cream sundae bar. It was fabulous :)

It was amusing to watch Theodore interact.


Pretty cute! :)

Almost famous

We had a little gathering last night at my 'rents in Wichita to celebrate my belated birthday. It was a great time. I held 3 babies and was totally slimed by 1 of them. No tattling on the guilty party, though. ;)

My biz partner, Mike, keeps a blog of his kids' first year. It's a BIG undertaking, and he strolled into the party, baby on one shoulder, camera on the other. I snagged the camera immediately.


Of course, parents of young children have so much in common, so my sis, Robin, was chatting Mike up. They're also sort-of neighbors.

You can SEE THE POST HERE on Tommy's blog.

Mike's kids' blogs have quite a following, so I'm waiting for Theodore to be discovered by a talent agency, because he's so cute and all (his daycare peeps call him "Theodorable" — pretty cute!)).

More to come from the fun + frivolity. Also to come: my taking Theodore to the BIG pool for the first time. It involved at least 4 trips down the water slide. AND no screaming! :)

Oh, and for anyone out there wondering if I'll be doing something similar to a photo a day blog when kids become a part of our life ... the answer is a big fat NO. With kiddos, they'll get their own special tag here on our blog and I think a weekly photo to track growth the first year is probably in order for me, but I'm not sure I could handle the time/commitment to a photo a day for the first year.

Milestone birthday(s)

In a few months, I'll hit the big 3-0 mark on my birthday-ometer.

Some people approach "milestone" birthdays with a sense of trepidation or angst, but honestly, it's not freaking me out (maybe it should?). A good handful of my friends turned 30 in the last calendar year and there were lots of surprise parties. I told Erik under no circumstance should something as such go on for me. It'll be close to the end of a marathon of weddings, and there's no telling how presentable for general consumption I might be. ;)

Rewind 10 years and if I wrote any prediction down, I am decidedly NOT where I thought I'd be professionally, I thought I'd have been married longer and I didn't think my little sis would pop out a kid before me. In the big picture, however, I know I am EXACTLY where I'm meant to be. So it'd be silly to lament where I "could have been" or that I have "fallen short" of any expectation. My path is so different than I expected, there is really no comparison!

Honestly, since November, when people ask, I'm more prone to say 30 than 29. Not that I'm chomping on the bit. Mostly because when I'm at the gym, looking at the exercise exertion chart, there's not an option for 25 or even 29. It's 30. Which is how I gauge my heart rate. No big deal, really.

But fear not, we will celebrate! Later in the month of my birth. We'll have a social with family, friends and you friends can bring the kids along. It'll be good times, I promise. :)

Sort of a rambly post, but in conclusion, if you're not precisely where you thought you'd be, SO WHAT? Life is rich. Reach out and enjoy it!

Happy Friday.

It's in the genes!

Over the summer, we celebrated Grandpa's 90th birthday! Crazy talk!!!!


The whole gang. Gramps, Erik and I, my parents and some close friends of the family. :)


Me and my old man. :)

Things I love about my husband

In honor of Erik's 40th birthday, I've been compiling a list of my favorite things about Erik. Let's see where this takes us!

Things I love about my husband (these are in no particular order)

1. That he's my husband. That automatically makes him the smartest man on the planet.

2. His ability to raise one and only one eyebrow. It's a great parlor trick. One I can't replicate. And he can only raise his right eyebrow in a comic way. The left eyebrow wants no part in his silliness.

3. That he always refills the soap dispensers. I know it's silly and small, but it's one of the things I love about being married to him. It's as if the soap dispenser in the bathrooms and kitchen are endless supplies of soap.

4. His mad researching abilities. Seriously! When we were deciding where to honeymoon, Erik spent what I'm sure is the equivalent of days going over tropical locations. Same when it came time to buy a car. He researched the heck out of it. (which basically means he tells me a few options and I pick the one I like best, and don't have to go crosseyed over the whole thing).

5. That he loves him some big salad. Erik's affection for having a big salad at dinner is contagious. While a salad never quite fills me up, eating a salad most evenings before dinner is a new and good habit. If it weren't for you, honey, I wouldn't be so healthy! ;)

6. That in the beginning, Erik was not really a gardener. I simply love to go outside and see him checking out the tomato plants every morning. Usually, it's the first thing he does after he wakes up!

7. That he trusts me enough to saw holes into walls in our house. You're the bestest, honey! :)

8. Oreo ice cream. I'm not sure if it's his favorite, but I certainly associate it with Erik.

9. That since Esse moved into Erik's house, I haven't had to scoop kitty litter. Once. Nope, not once. Erik rocks out that household chore and I'm SO thankful he does it. Not that I mind doing it, but I have to admit, it's one of the more tedious tasks of being owned by a cat.

10. Chapstick. Seriously! If a girl ever needs chapstick, Erik has a tube on him. It's the middle of the summer? Not to worry, he has one! December? He probably has 2! Erik is the chapstick king!

11. That he makes a mean pot of chili. :)

12. On weeks when I am too buried in life to tackle the laundry, that he just does it without being asked or hinted at. Gotta love a fella who takes initiative, ESPECIALLY with the laundry!

13. He knows what shows I watch as a guilty pleasure. And he records them on TiVo for me ... really, could a girl ask for more????

14. That he'll eat anything I put in front of him. Even brussel sprouts. And he doesn't like brussel sprouts. Bonus points for that one, honey!

15. Flowers. Erik likes to surprise me with flowers, which is a wonderful treat. AAAAnd, the best part is that they are from a FLORIST. I can't explain why I feel so strongly about this, but I love it when a guy goes specifically to a FLORIST to get flowers. It sort of says to me "I made this special, out of the way trip to somewhere I don't normally go just for you." Yeah, that versus just grabbing some while in the checkout at the grocery store. It makes me feel more special.

16. That he's the grill master. Erik makes the most amazing pork chops and grills a MEAN steak. Yumminess!

17. His online bargain-hunting skills. I've never met someone who purchases their "forever" stamps online, but Erik always gets them at a STEAL on ebay.

18. That when I'm supposed to take a supplement or something as such (over the counter-ish), he often is able to find it at a better price online. THEN HE ORDERS IT FOR ME!!!!! I'm totally absentminded and often forget to purchase more supplements, but Erik is always on top of this. And I appreciate it immensely.

19. His attempts at eye rolling. Seriously. Funny.

20. Lastly, Erik is the world's best snuggler. But I better not catch any of you ladies trying to take a test drive!

Happy birthday, E! :)

xoxoxo, ~K

I just love birthday cards!

I don't shop for birthday cards year-round. I just happen to find good ones, then get them and hold on to them.

I'm pretty sure I found this in the summer, and Dad's birthday was just a month or so ago ....


Yeah, all of you who know my family totally knew that was coming! ;)

Happy birthday, ERB!!!!!!

Last month, I had Erik's birthday gift shipped to my parents' house so he wouldn't snoop around. ;) Mom even wrapped it for me!


Erik was certainly EXCITED about finally getting an iPod of his very own! I was excited I kept the secret of what he was getting for about a month. Sheesh, keeping secrets from a new husband is NOT easy!


And since they were willing to engrave it .... but let me tell you. It was no easy feat. I tried to do it online, but evidently they didn't like "Esse" ... so I had to call ... and they still had trouble getting the computer to accept Esse on the back. SO we had to put in "Booger." Who'd have thought Booger wasn't offensive or questionable and Booger was? So strange.


Test drive.

Now he spends tons of time transferring his infinite music collection into 120GB worth of electronic space.