Celebrating the first year

It's hard to believe that in just a short year, this: Has become this:(Sorry for the nakey pic - but he's just got the cutest little tushie!!)

I could wax poetic about what a joy Justin is - but ya'll already know how I love my little man. So I'll just share some pics and a short narrative about his birthday parties.

On Sunday, April 13th we had a party here for him. Thankfully, the weather turned out pretty decent - so we could let the kidlets romp outside. See, I'm apparently a slow learner - I think I refuse to accept that I'm at the age where my friends have kids - and therefore I neglected to take into account their offspring in the head count. So it got a little nutty for a bit - but all in all, it was a wonderful party. And I didn't even cry!

Here's our friend Marc with his daughter Lena - figure we gotta get 'em started before the figure out the whole "cootie" deal.The cake - yellow cake with lemon filling - YUM!"What is this crap you put on me?!?""OK. I'll be cute for a bit.""What is this pile of sweetness?""OK...not so sure...""Maybe a little taste...""OH YEAH! BRING ON THE CAKE!!""All done!""Opening presents with Daddy and Jake is fun...""...but the paper is much more fun!"

The next day - Justin's actual birthday - we had a little gathering with Dana and Jen, and Mark, Hannah, and wee Steven. It was much quieter - but still filled with lots of smiles, laughs, and of course, cake!

I can't mention wee Steven without showing a pic - he's such a scootchy little peanut!Here's cake #2 - this one was the special "big brother" cake. Jake picked it out - marble cake with whipped cream frosting - helped me bake it, and helped decorate it (hence the "half a container of sprinkles" look to it)."I got this cake thing down PAT!""Finger lickin' good!""HUH? No seconds?"Playing with the train from Auntie Hannah and Uncle Mark.Here is the toy box we gave to Justin - I got it at the Mill Store - an unfinished furniture store. We got a similar toybox for Jake for his first birthday - and I was even luck enough to have some of the same stain left over!And here are the boys playing the the Castle Swing & Climb mom and dad got him - in the background you can see the playhouse they got Jake for his 2nd birthday.Although I'm so sad to see my baby grow up - I'm more excited to think of the boy he's turning into, and the man he'll become. We love you, Justin!