Boden's First Birthday!!

I cannot believe it has been a year since Boden was born! It seems like it was just yesterday that this sweet little boy was born.

I was so excited to be home to help celebrate Boden's first Birthday. I was home for Michael's so it was really important for me to be home for Boden's.

We gave him this cute little car that Michael thinks is a Herbie. The kid is obsessed with Herbie!! It was a huge hit with both of them but I think Michael thought it was his.

Ash made Boden this cute cake and he was not too sure what he thought about it at first but it didn't take long for him to figure it out!

Mmmm.. tasty!!

Boden and his Mom and Dad

And the end result was one happy baby on a huge sugar high!!!

My Mom's Surprise Birthday Party

For my mom's 50th Birthday, we had a surprise Birthday party for her while I was home. I am so surprised that we were able to pull it off! My mom had no idea even though we had way too many close calls and my mom was not being the easiest person to get out of the house. It all worked out though and we had a great time!

We were all waiting outside when my mom and dad pulled up in the drive way. We had got her out of the house by taking the boys to the park and then my mom and dad stopped at Chevron to get a drink while Kimber, Ash, Lacy and I hurried home with the boys. Michael was so excited and as soon as the truck stopped he ran over to the car, swung open the door and yelled "Surprise Mamma!!!". It was so cute!

It took my mom a little while to figure out what was going on. She said that she was afraid that she had forgotten the reason why everyone was up at her house and kept trying to rack her brain to remember.

For her Birthday, we gave her and my dad tickets to come to Chicago to visit us!! A Special thank you to Mary for making this possible!!!! She was so excited!!

Jacoby all dressed up for the party!! He is such a big boy! I had saved this outfit for the party and I think it will be the only time he gets to wear it. It was almost too small. Oh well he sure looked cute!

Jacoby and Rylan. When I took Jacoby home for the first time we took pictures of these cute boys that are a week apart in age. Rylan is older than Jacoby. Jacoby looked huge compared to Rylan, well... Rylan has caught up and passed Jacoby and had about 5 lbs. on him!! My baby looked like the tiny one this time!

We had a great time seeing everyone and celebrating the most amazing woman that I know!! Happy Birthday Mom!! We love you!!

Horseshoe Bend Fun

All 3 boys in the pool! They had the best time playing together. Jacoby was in heaven watching Michael and Boden. They keep Kimber and me on our toes!

Oh sweet Boden!! I love this picture of him. He was a big fan of the pool as long as Michael wasn't splashing him.

Jacoby would not take his eyes off the water. He thought it was great!! He kept picking up his legs and splashing them down as hard as he could and would flinch his face just in case any water splashed up on him.

This picture was actually taken before I put Jacoby in the pool with his cousins. He was jealous and couldn't wait to get in. He didn't even have time to pose for a picture with his Mamma.

Michael, Michael, Michael

Oh how this little boy cracks me up!!! He is going to love me some day for this picture!! So there are cows behind my parents house and Michael likes to call them to the fence with his elk calls. Would you believe that they come running! I love the one butt cheek hanging out and that he is covered in dirt.

He is all boy! If he isn't calling the cows, he is busy digging in the dirt or causing some type of trouble.

I kept teasing him that he had dirt on his face and he was trying to show me where it was. He keeps me laughing all the time. He is so cute and so much fun!!

My Dad's New Do!!

While I was home, my mom took the clippers to my Dad's hair- it was hysterical!!

She put on the lowest setting and buzzed right up the back. You better be careful what you say to my mom when she has clippers in her hand (jk!!). From then on, it was damage control!

We thought he should have kept this look!! But in the end my mom buzzed it all off and it looked really good! We kept trying to convince Michael to let us buzz his hair but he wasn't having any of it. Maybe next time! We all had a good laugh at my Dad's expense!

Saturday Mornings

It has been a tradition since we moved to Chicago that every Saturday morning during the summer we get up, go on a run and end up at the Farmer's market in the park. We were so excited to take Jacoby for his first time in May!!

It was still a little cold so we had to bundle him all up.

We didn't get the run in this time though because Jarod had eye surgery the day before and was still not fully healed. Glad to report that he is doing awesome though!

There was so many people there and Jacoby was loving life watching everyone!

After we strolled through the park and picked up our veggies, we laid a blanket out on the grass and Jacoby had his first grass experience. He was very interested and wanted to eat it. It was really cute!

First Food

On May 8, we gave Jacoby rice cereal for the first time! He was a HUGE fan!! Here he is with his big eyes wondering what is going on and why his Mommy and Daddy are so excited!

The first bite... he was very interested in moving it around his mouth!

Once he decided he liked it there was no turning around. He acted like a little birdie and sat with his mouth opened and leaned in to me to eat. I could not feed him fast enough! He was lovin it!

I had struggled with when to start feeding him so I started reading a few books. One of them gave a list of ways to tell if your child was ready to eat solids. I didn't think Jacoby was ready but then I started reading the list and he did every single one of them, except for one I had never tried. It said to put the spoon in their mouth and see what they do with it. Sure enough I did it and he knew exactly what to do. I guess he was ready!! Me, not so much. I guess I just keep thinking of him as my little baby. There has to be a way to slow this down!!

Daddy and Jacoby after the rice cereal. He was a happy boy and was so proud of himself. It was too cute!

As much as he loves his rice cereal, nothing beats Mommy's hair especially for dessert!

The next day (and every day since then), he gets so excited as soon as he sees the box of cereal and when he gets in his chair. There is hardly ever a drop on his bib because he eats all of it as fast as you can shovel it in! And you better make enough the first time because he doesn't like to wait for you to make more and he will tell you about it.

Such a big boy with Rice cereal all over his face! Hmmm, I wonder what we will try next??