Cael's First Birthday Party!

Cael finally got to celebrate his first birthday and I think I can safely say that everyone had a great time (or at least I hope they did)! Pizza, a pinata, presents, and some birthday cupcakes all made for a good time. Here are some pics from our celebration.

Cael's picture face

Grandpa Rex and Cael-Bear

Eating some pizza with Grandma Sue

You can't tell by the look on his face, but he loved this cake!

See!

Using your hands just slows you down.

How sweet is this face?!?

Delicious! We finally had to take it away--but Cael could have kept eating all afternoon. Definitely his daddy's boy!

May I just say how much we love this little boy! I love getting him out of bed in the morning because he's so happy to see me. Or coming home from work, he runs to the door to see me (and if I can hold his attention long enough, to give me a hug)! He's so happy and is interested in everything around him. We gave him cow's milk for the first time the other day and he chugged it down. Even after the bottle was empty he didn't want to give it up and kept trying to get some more out.

He's also turning into a climber. Some favorite climbing locales . . . the kitchen drawer where we keep his bowls, spoons and bottles, the dishwasher, his toy baskets, his Lightning McQueen car, and the gate at the top of our stairs. I can tell we're going to have a serious adventurer on our hands.

Cael also knows how and where to find trouble--we have an artificial plant in our living room that he loves to play with. On most days it's surrounded by our kitchen chairs, but he still manages to work his little arm in there. He gets the biggest smile and just giggles when he gets caught. In retrospect, it's actually pretty funny! He's actually developing quite the stubborn little personality as well and is working really hard at teaching me patience.

Finally, Cael has found his voice. He used to come up to you and say "ma" when he wanted something. Now he's decided that he gets better results if he just yells. I'm thinking that I might start teaching him sign language after all. Clearly, he has lots he wants to communicate. :)

Shhh, Don't Tell . . . .

Don't tell Cael, but it was his birthday today! He turned one year old. Due to the lovely virus/cold/whatever that has been plaguing us this last week or two, we decided to postpone his birthday party. Consequently, he had a rather uneventful day.

I made the mistake of making his one-year well child appointment for today. He got four vaccinations--two in each leg. Not exactly the best birthday present ever. I'll have to remember in the future not to do that again.

Later, we ran some errands and purchased a couple of toys for his birthday (which we have not yet given him).

As we had him in the bath I realized that he hadn't had any birthday present, birthday cake or even a picture to memorialize his first birthday. So, Shaun ran to the grocery store and picked up a few cupcakes so that we could have a mini-party. We got Cael out of the tub and put him in his high chair for his par-tay! I've included some pictures so all y'all can see how much he enjoyed his birthday cake.

Our Little Monkey

Our Halloween celebrations this year were pretty non-existent (thanks to the nasty flu bug that has attacked me this week). But we did at least dress Cael up in his costume and Shaun took him to see the grandparents. He sure looked cute and didn't mind his costume one bit--he left it on all night.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed some Happy Haunting and that I'll be able to rejoin the living sometime soon!

The Great Pumpkin Patch

On Friday evening we decided to pay a visit to the pumpkin patch near our house. We probably should have fed Cael his dinner before we left because he was not the most cooperative little buddy. He only wanted to walk one direction through the pumpkin patch and was rather enjoying eating the hay and rocks off the ground. In spite of all that, we were still able to snap a couple of cute pictures. Next FHE's activity--carving the pumpkins we purchased.

Some Recent Pics

We just love this baby!

Our smiley, happy boy!

Cael keeps bringing me this headband and wants me to put it on his head. It's hilarious! Shaun, however, is not such a fan!

I think we're going to be getting a haircut pretty soon here!

With a piece of rice stuck to his nose. Cutie!

Autumn Leaves

This last weekend we decided to take a trip up Little Cottonwood Canyon to enjoy the fall leaves before the snow came. We had lots of fun and even took a quick hike to take it all in. I love autumn!

So. Cal. = So Fun!

For our first summer vacation as a family ever, we decided to head to Southern California and enjoy a little bit of sand, sun and some Disney. We flew down with my sister, her husband and their little munchkin, Ayden. We survived the flight (barely) by feeding Cael little bits of Cinnabon almost the whole time. Fortunately for Shaun and I, we ran Cael ragged all week, so he decided to take advantage of the downtime and napped on the flight home (Hallelujah!).

The first couple days we decided to do the Disneyland thing. I felt like a ten year old kid again! What is it about that place that makes me feel so excited? Perhaps it's the memories, but as we walked to the park the first night, I was absolutely giddy with excitement.

What made Disneyland especially fun is that we were able to meet up with my brother and his cute family and enjoy some Disney magic all together. Avery was super excited to meet the princesses and Ayden thought he'd died and gone to heaven when he met Lightning McQueen and Mater! Mason was just rarin' to go each morning and Taylor was her gorgeous little self. We had so much fun, but all Cael wanted to do was crawl around on the ground. He was almost walking, but not quite, and wanted to be able to move around independently--which meant crawling. Clean as Disneyland is, it still isn't a place you'd want your child crawling around on the ground.

After Disneyland (and California Adventure), we visited Universal Studios. I think we could sum Universal Studios up by simply saying that it's not nearly as fun as I remembered.

The next day we drove down to San Diego and spent the last few days of our vacation at the San Diego Zoo, Seal Beach and Sea World.

By the end of the week, we were all so exhausted, we could hardly put one foot in front of another. However, we had so much fun and are looking forward to many more family vacations to come.

Here are some pics of our trip.