mae's rainbow party

it's still hard for me to believe that my munchkin is 1.  i was at her one year appointment today, and there was a little baby next to us there for his 2 week appointment.  it feels like that was me just yesterday!

i didn't want to do anything too crazy for her birthday, but i got carried away.  with so much family close by, we had a big crowd.  we're so lucky to have so many people who love mae so much!

i decided on a rainbow theme.

we had rainbow cupcakes (thanks to mattie and mom for helping me with these bad boys) they were super easy, and delicious.  we put a little too much batter in each cupcake, so they were gigantor.

 mae had her own big cupcake

 we decorated with paper chains (i roped mattie and mom into this too...)

and had all kinds of rainbow treats

 mae's stats

 30 inches, 24.5 pounds
she loves to: walk and run, dance, sit under the table, carry things
she likes to eat: melon, yogurt, graham crackers, beans

my wreath made an appearance

so many presents!  my family and friends are so awesome.  homegirl is gonna be lookin' good this fall and winter.  mae wasn't really into the present opening thing, she just wanted to run around.  luckily i had hayden and reagan to help me open all of her presents.

 we sang happy birthday

i was expecting her to go nuts with her cupcake.  i don't give her many sweets, but when i do she loves them.  so, i figured she would be in heaven.  think again. she was NOT having that cupcake.  she did not like it at all.  i tried putting some in her mouth...she spit it right back out. 

 she picked at it.  and eventually threw part of it on the floor. (don't worry, rufus came and cleaned up the floor after her)  but that was it.

 we even tried to break off pieces for her, nope.  so, while everyone else ate cupcakes and candy, she had fruit.  what a crazy girl.

after cake, we took the kids downstairs to go crazy.  and go crazy they did.  mae had so much fun running around after all the big kids.  she was an animal.  running, dancing, jumping, singing.  you name it, she did it!

looking back, i could have done way less.  i had fun doing it, but honestly, she isn't going to remember it.  next time, it's just cake and ice cream.  well, apparently not cake for her.

birthday week

this week is birthday week.  mae anne will be one year old tomorrow!  a year ago today, i was supposed to go with reid to an orchestra audition, and we were going to get cafe rio on the way home.  alas, contractions had started around 1pm, and my mom didn't really want me to go.  so, i had to stay behind.  i really wanted cafe rio...badly.  but, i suppose the labor and birth of your fist baby is more important than a delicious cafe rio salad.  (not that i'm upset that i didn't get my salad or anything).

anyways, i can't believe a year ago this sweet little girl was born.  i don't think i can ever forget the first time i held her.  the amount of love i felt for this little wrinkly, wiggly, thing was overwhelming.  holding her in my arms, i had a whole new understanding of eternal families.  i knew without a doubt that heavenly father sent that little girl to us, and that we were and are a family forever.

so, i have a few wreaths i've made for halloween, christmas, easter, and valentine's day, and i decided i needed a birthday wreath to put up on all of our birthdays.  this was a super easy wreath, but it took forever.  i kept running out of stinkin' balloons.  and i couldn't get just any balloons, they had to be the exact same that i had started with.  needless to say, many a trip to the five below were made. 

i think it turned out pretty cute.  and i know it's not her birthday, but seriously, with how long that thing took me, it's gonna be up a few days.

i didn't want to get her anything crazy for her birthday.  so, i made her a sensory board.  i loaded up at the dollar store with all kinds of stuff.  it was fun to make.  cody burst my bubble, he kept saying, "isn't she just going to rip everything off?" which, yeah she probably will.  but i can pretend for a moment that my daughter will be soft and gentle with it...moment is over.

 with the weather cooling down, girlfriend needed some real shoes.  one of my oldest friends and favorite people in the world jaclyn hooked mae up when she was born.  she got her some nice kicks, and they finally fit!

 oh, the fun you can have with a box.  why do we buy toys for this girl?  she had a blast.  and her daddy got a workout pulling her all around in it. 

 erich and mattie babysat for the munchkin this weekend so we could go to the temple.  mae had a great time.  she loves her aunt mattie and uncle erich, and of course rufus!  here's a shot that mattie took of mae walking rufus.

catch up

last week got away from me.  that three day weekend threw me off, and before i knew it, i had missed one week of blogging!  so, we'll play catch up.

i felt like i needed to mix it up with the dinners that i've been making.  it seemed like i was doing the same stuff over and over.  cody never once complained, but for me i needed something different.  so i decided to start meatless mondays.  dinners on mondays will no longer have meat!  so far we've had stuffed peppers, twice baked potatoes and broccoli, and this week was bean and cheese enchiladas.  i also want to start using my crock pot more.  so this week i made some homemade applesauce.  we'll see how long i last with these new ventures, but i'm proud of what i've made so far!

of course for labor day we headed over to gram and gramp's for one last summer swim.  mae had a blast with her uncle erich.

 every sunday cody and i each write to kasee on her mission.  mail is a little sketchy in mozambique, so we've been writing emails.  this week, cody let mae bang on the key board in his email, so she got to write her aunt kasee.  (he swears she is going to be this big shot computer programmer one day...i wont make any comments)

 just a lazy sunday morning with daddy...

i've been in desperate need of a haircut.  i hadn't gotten one since mae was born...which is about a year.  enter my friend jenn.  i've known her since we were in kindergarten.  she moved to richmond towards the end of elementary school, but we've managed to stay in touch all these years...sometimes with longer stretches in between, but i still think it's pretty awesome that after 20 (holy smoke 20?!) years we've stayed in touch!
my wonderful mom treated me to an amazing cut and color. and even made the trip down to richmond to watch mae while i got my hair done.  (how awesome is my mom?)  it was so much fun to have time to catch up with jenn.  and if i do say so myself, she did a fantastic job!

 mae is quite a girl.  she is learning so many new things.  clapping, waving, and most recently dancing.  it's so fun to watch her develop new skills, and just enjoy life.  it has really taught me to find little things throughout the day that bring me joy.


me and my homegirl...