Knox Turns 1!

It's hard to believe that it has already been a year since we met Knox. This year has been filled with so many wonderful moments. It's hard to remember what life was like before Knox was here. I feel so blessed with our family. Enjoy some pictures from his special day (week).

Here is Knox on the morning of his birthday waking up. Knox LOVES scrambles eggs, so I made him eggs with cheese, and of course he had his morning banana. (both my boys have a banana every morning!) He was also trying milk for the first time, and he is not a fan. Neither was Drew and he still isn't.

I needed to move the straps up on Drew's car seat so they were playing with it. I don't know why it's so fun to be in your car seat when you don't have to be. We had a cushier car seat for Drew (Britax), but I passed it on to Knox and ended up buying Drew a less expensive car seat that converts to a booster (etc.) I have been very pleased with it.

Knox's party was a lot of fun. It was very casual (and so easy to plan for). I made the cakes and we ordered pizza. We had a few friends and family come celebrate. It was perfect for a 1 year old birthday party, and I had nothing to stress over.

Here's our family picture before the party got started.

Knox received a kitchen for his big present from us. My mom found a great one at a yard sale that was like new and the boys have LOVED it!

Here's Knox with his apron on.

Here is when the kitchen was brought out. All of the kids flocked to it.

These are some of my dearest friends Christi and Tara. I'm so blessed to have them in my life! Of course they were there to celebrate with us.

Here is Drew with a few of his friends, Rae-Rae and Landon (who are brother and sister)

Knox was checking out the kids eating and I was planning on not giving him pizza for his dinner. I thought "he's too little to have something so unhealthy", but when he saw it that was it. He made it very clear he wanted to try it and he scarfed it down. Now that he likes pizza it does make it easier when we have our weekend family pizza/movie night.

I found invitations on sale and they had a frog on, so that became our theme. And when I say theme, I mean what the cake was going to be. I found a simple frog cake design on line and I was able to replicate it. Then I just made a small cake for Knox to dig into (which he didn't). Oh, well.

Family picture with cake.

He only ate what we fed him with a fork. He liked the cake, just not the mess.

Knox openning up some presents.

Easter

Happy Easter! This year for Easter we went to church and after naps headed to Andy's parents house for a dinner and Easter egg hunt. It was a lot of fun!

Mommy and Drew coloring eggs on Saturday. Drew did have fun (even thought it doesn't look like it in this picture)

I saw a sign for an Easter Egg hunt at a church here in town, so we made a drop-in.

Here's Drew with his basket. I thought about getting a new one for this year (since this is last years basket) but then I thought where will I store another one? I also just got a basket for Drew. I know I should be fair, but really does Knox know at this age?? He won't know until someone points it out to him one day. So no one tell him please...

Drew with one of his match box cars. He LOVES vehicles of any kind.

Here he is with his bases I found at the dollar store.

Drew and Knox on Easter morning riding their 4 wheeler together. They LOVE this four wheeler. Knox won't use his walker to walk, he leans over the 4-wheeler and pushes this instead. Thanks Mimi!

Happy Birthday to Drew

We had a wonderful time celebrating Drew's 3rd birthday. It's hard for me to believe that my baby is already 3. (and according to Drew he's not my baby, but my big boy). My parents, brother and sister-in-law came into town to help us celebrate. Because Drew is so into cars and trucks we had a car themed party and invited several of our friends. Other than being a little hot, we had a great time.

I've always wanted to decorate a cake, so this year I decided to take a crack at it, and made Drew a racetrack cake. I was really happy with how it turned out. Here's Drew playing with the cardboard racetrack that Uncle Eddie and Papa (my dad) created for the party.

Drew and Knox enjoying one another as usual. They are so sweet.

Here is Drew decorating his car at the "detail shop".

Here is a picture of the "detail shop". We had stickers, foam sheets for license plates, headlights/taillights, etc.

Here's a picture of the cars before the kids decorated them. I spray painted 11 diaper boxes (that I had friends collecting), 11 steering wheels, 44 tires, cut out 44 circles for lights, and then gave my family the privilege of helping assemble them when they got into town. :)

Here is Drew blowing out his candle.

Our family! (and the back of our house)

Mommy and the boys before the party started.

Mommy and Knox

The kids lining up for the car race.

On your mark, get set.....GO

Drew after his race with his medal. (couldn't find trophies)

Drew with some of his friends. We went inside to open presents to try and cool off a little.

Drew with one of his presents, an apron with his name on it, which we've already gotten plenty of use out of since Drew likes to help me in the kitchen.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Of course the boys had matching green shirts for St. Patrick's Day. Why not??

Springtime Tallahassee 5K

This past weekend I ran my first ever 5K. I had a great time, and plan on trying to do some more. There were over 1,000 people who either participated in the 1 mile, 5K, or 10K. When the race began I had to walk a few feet before I could even find room to run. It was challenging to work your way around others, but that just added to the fun. The only "technical" difficulty I had was my shoelace coming untied, and having to stop to tie it. Other than that it was a very smooth run. Andy and I worked on a "race day mix" that we put on his iPod. I had it playing pretty loudly, and during the race I kept wondering if anyone else could hear my music. If so, they probably thought it was a teenage girl behind them, with my Fergie and Eminem and Sir-Mix-a-Lot. Whatever gets you going, right?!

This is a picture of the boys and I before leaving the house that morning.

This is just after crossing the finish line. I found out later that my official time was 25:31, and I came in 3rd out of 65 in my age division, and 33rd out of 405 who ran the 5K.

Here is Drew listening to my iPod right after the race

Mommy and her boys after the race.

Andy dropped me off and the race and then went to his office which was close by. He fed the boys breakfast and then hustled over to the finish line so that they would be there to cheer me on when I crossed the finish line. It was great to see them after I was done.

My friend Tara ran the race as well. It was a lot more fun to meet up with someone before and after, then being there alone. She's planning on doing some more as well.