Brady's 1st Birthday Party

We will have quite a story to tell Brady about the day of his first birthday party!  The good news is, his party was wonderful!  We were so happy to have so many family members and friends there to help us celebrate our (almost!) one year old boy!  

Months ago, I was trying to think of where we could have Brady's party.  I knew most of the children attending would be older than Brady, so I wanted to make sure everyone would have a place to play.  :-)  When Tyler, Brady, and I were at one of Tyler's favorite indoor playgrounds this summer, I noticed a baby celebrating their birthday with all of their baby friends.  I realized that it would be the perfect place!

Unfortunately, Brady woke up at 3:30 the day of his party and wasn't feeling 100%.  He went back to sleep but when we all got up the next morning, we noticed ice on the roads.  Tyler needed to be at his friend's birthday party at 10:00 and our only option was to have Dan walk him there.  We packed everything for Brady's party and let him take a nap.  Once Tyler was back home, the roads were much better!  We were so thankful that everyone was able to get there safely!  Brady loves the baby area at the indoor playground and had lots of fun playing with his brother, his cousins, and his friends!  He was so happy to have his Gaga, Papaw, and Mummi there, and his aunts and uncle too!  He didn't know what to think about the cake and only had one taste, then he fell asleep.  I ordered cookies to pass out as favors and was so happy with how they turned out!  Brady loves Sophie the giraffe and we loved all of the heart details!  

We got back home and our Christmas tree had fallen over.  :-(  Brady played with Dan for an hour while I tried to fix everything, but then it fell again.  We realized we couldn't fix the tree, so Dan went off to Home Depot for a new one!  While he was gone, Brady took a nap and woke up with a fever.  :-(  I had already called his doctor twice that morning, but because of the ice storm I wasn't able to get in touch with anyone.  Once I talked to the on call doctor, they told me we may have to take Brady to the ER.  After watching him and noticing that he was getting worse, we decided to take him.  Thankfully, Tyler was a very good boy during our three hour trip!  We can't believe Brady had to go to the ER on the day of his first birthday party.  :-(  By the time we left, he was doing much better, but unfortunately they said his virus is going to last a few more days.  We hope he'll feel better by his birthday on Thursday!

Christmas Baby & Decorations

I can't believe that the next week will be spent celebrating our almost ONE year old baby!!  We love that he is our Christmas baby.  :-)  

Tyler set this up so beautifully...

My parents have had this set in their home for as long as I can remember!  :-)

Star of the Week

Tyler got to be Star of the Week at school this month and it was so cute to see how excited his classmates were for him!  He got to be in the front of the line, right behind his teacher. (Usually he is the last one in line!)  He did such a great job on his poster and had so much fun making a gingerbread train with my dad one day, and a snowman winter scene with my mom.  He and I got to do a Santa craft together, and I love having his work on the front of our refrigerator!  He had fun at an indoor playground with his Mummi one day and has spent lots of time with my parents (his favorite activity lately has been playing hide in seek with them!) while I've been trying to get everything ready for Christmas and Brady's first birthday!!  :-)  

Tyler gave his teachers gift cards and a snowflake with his photo, and decided to write a sweet note to the crossing guard at his school!

Christmas Cards

Last year we emailed our Christmas card on Christmas Eve (in order to include a photo of Brady!) and that was soo much easier than mailing cards!!  :-)  This year, however, we decided to send out a few different cards.  I loved two different versions from Simply to Impress but couldn't resist Shutterfly's free card offers!  I used to mail the cards the day before Thanksgiving, so they would arrive the day after Thanksgiving.  So I got a few emails this year asking, "Um...where is your card?!"  I told everyone, "My days of sending them early - and straightening my hair every day - are over!!"  ;-)

Meeting Santa

I wasn't sure how we were going to take both boys to see Santa this year.  Very randomly, Dan and Tyler were picking up McDonalds one night (they are never in the car together during the week!) and Santa was in the drive thru window.  :-)  He said, "Come on in!"  Tyler loved chatting with him, and listed multiple gifts he would like for Christmas.  :-)  Since Tyler got to see Santa with Dan, I decided to take Brady to visit Santa in our neighborhood when Tyler was at school (hoping the lines wouldn't be so long).  I planned to have Brady take a nap, then go, but since he decided not to sleep, we ended up being third in line, which worked out very well!  Brady sat on Santa's lap for a minute or two, looking rather confused, then started to cry.  Poor baby.  He was much happier once we were home and he could play with the tv remote.  :-)