Jacob's First Birthday!!

It seems so unreal that an entire year has gone by! A year ago we were welcoming a new little baby into our family, and now we can't even imagine life without him! He's just bursting with personality these days and keeps us all laughing. He messes up all his sibling's games, knocks over their towers, empties every cupboard and drawer in the house, and loves to cause trouble; yet words can't even describe how much we all love him! We had a great time celebrating his birthday.

Grandma and Grandpa Hatfield were able to make a quick trip up to spend a few days and join in the birthday festivities. Ashley and family were also at the party. Having family around makes everything so much more fun!!

I love 1st birthdays and watching them get to dig into their cake, so I let my kids play in their cake a little longer than is probably necessary. They're so cute, covered in cake and frosting! So, here's a lot of pictures of our little Jacob and his cake.

Jacob loved his presents even before he opened them.

Playing with cousin Lexie

Opening his gift from Mackayla and Bradley. They made him a bucket of bean bags. To their delight, he LOVES playing with them.

Enjoying his birthday dinner.

As we were getting seated for dinner, Bradley stripped down to his underwear (and actually the underwear was going to come off too if he had been allowed) because he said he didn't want to get his clothes messy. It turns out it was a good idea.

Bradley didn't want to be in this picture, but he and Mackayla were pretending to be birthday decorations and then jumping out and scaring people. It was very tricky!

Jacob, the one year old, going for a walk.

Grandpa and Grandma Hatfield. They were so much fun to have here, and we miss them already!

Bradley always has his sword on him.

Jacob was trying so hard the other day to pick up this watermelon.

This was at the Dinosaur Muesum at Thanksgiving point. Don't worry, we did get away before the shark got us.

Summer Days

Jared celebrated his 31st Birthday at the end of July. I am once again enjoying being married to a much older man. Jacob felt terrible all weekend so we weren't able to do much but we did have a fun party that evening. The Nelsons joined us for dinner and presents and then a couple of his friends from work and their families also came for cake.

After singing, Jared hit the golf ball from his cake into the hole in one shot! He is amazing in every way!

The kids enjoying the cake and ice cream. Mackayla wanted to wear a "party dress" for this special occasion.

Lots of helpers for opening presents.

Umbrellas in the sprinklers!

Bradley is very into swords these days. He was using all kinds of dangerous objects as swords so one afternoon I cut him out a cardboard sword and shield. I figured he couldn't hurt anyone too badly with it.

Jared had the Webelos in our yard for an activity and I tried to get a picture through the window of Bradley. He was right with them the entire time and had no idea he wasn't actually one of the scouts.

Painting pictures to hang in their rooms.

This is so often the view I see of Jacob. Standing at my legs, wanting me to pick him up.

Daddy and his peeps.

Mackayla is such a GREAT big sister.

Painting a fruit pizza

We went camping once in July and are planning on going again this month. We all had a good time.

Beating the heat.

Jacob has gone with the no-hands approach to eating corn on the cob.

I think that catches me up with our summer pictures. A post of Jacob's 1st birthday will be coming soon!

A Game For You

The kids thought it would be fun to make a little game for their cousins and anyone else that would like to play. Look at the first picture and then the second and find 10 things that are different. The position of the kids does not count as one of the items. Good Luck! Let us know if you find them all.

Round 2 - 8 items and again positioning of the child doesn't count.

Thanks for playing!