The Big One.

Yesterday was Little One's big birthday number 1! We are so blessed to have a community of friends and family who love us and love Little One. We celebrated big - Mr. Favorite got to use his oh-so-cool grill and had his friend, we'll call him Mr. Earthy-Biz until I can think of something better (He's very in-the-know on organic foods, etc. and has an incredibly sharp mind for business.), was able to bring his matching grill over to help with the food. We had steaks and chicken, grilled corn-on-the-cob, squash, and potatoes. So, so good! For the sweet I had cupcakes.

Here's a note-to-self regarding the danger of cupcakes vs. cake: If you have a cake, you're not as tempted to partake of the sweet before the party. With cupcakes, who will know if you eat one? There's little to no evidence! I wouldn't even let myself un-tape the box the cupcakes came in until just before the party. They smelled SO good even through the cardboard of the box!
On with the story... We gave everyone a chance to eat and then let Little One have his first real taste of sugar. He was too funny - he kind of acted like he wasn't sure it was ok and was very hesitant at first. Didn't take him long, though, before the whole thing disappeared.
Mom & Joy Lin (I told them it looked like Mom was resisting!)
Joe's neice, CurlyQ. So cute!
What joy to have my home filled with people I love.
Layla (Spanish for Granny) was loving the cupcake time just as much as Little One!
By this time, Little One was through! He was so stinkin' tired!
And, he rarely just sits in a lap. This was a super tired Little One.
But, he must have gotten a second wind! He LOVED the balloons! (and, yes, this is the third wardrobe change! - a fourth to come)
This was too fun...
His face was too cute watching the balloons go. So sweet.
So, I think it may be appropriate now for Little One to be Big. He'll always be my sweet little boy, but as a mom, I know that he will only continue to grow and change. So, from here forward... (this is a little bit sad) Little One will be Big.

Mother's Day Weekend

So (do I start every one of my blog posts with, "So,"?) This was a fun weekend for me. In spite of my social issues, I made myself go to a long-time friend's graduation party. I'm such a weenie about going places where I don't know anyone, but this friend has repeatedly invited me over the years to different things and so I made myself go. I really am impressed with her for completing this goal. Yea, Mel! Ok... so for the part that feeds my social anxieties: I was the very first to show up at this stranger's (even if she did turn out to be very sweet) home. I stood on the porch for what seemed to be a very long time. I kept saying, "Hello?" in my most non-threatening voice I could manage, but still... nothing. After a while I could see someone in the backyard, but since I didn't know for sure I was at the right place or whose home this was, I couldn't just go in. I just stood there waiting until finally Mel's sister drove up. Yea for blog pics so that I would be sure to recognize Mel's sister. Anyway, it turned out to be a great time. I'm genuinely jealous of Mel and the friends with whom she's surrounded herself. They were all so warm and welcoming. How does one re-create that? Here's a pic of me and Mel - carefully cropped. :)

Now, after just a while at Mel's party, I left to go see my mom and some other friends complete the Full Moon Run. I told my mom that it always makes me feel emotional - like I'm fighting tears - because I'm so proud of her and frankly all these people who go out and run like this. Standing there, I kept thinking that I want to CHANGE so that Little One and Little Too grow up with a different attitude about being active and food. Yesterday's message at church was not about this at all, but you know sometimes God speaks into our hearts what we need to hear. I heard that what I model and display for my kids is what they're going to mimic. If I want children who are healthy, I'm going to have to display something entirely different. I feel like God says it isn't too late.
Here I am with Mom and Dad.
And, here I am with A. A is a dear friend who I count as sister.
And, here's the whole group. The lady in purple, standing next to my mom on the far left, just started running last week - actually only ran two times - and then ran this race. SO impressive to me. The hot blonde chick in white (center right) beat my pastor's race time, so it is ON. There was some talk about that info sneaking into the announcements yesterday at church. :)
And all that was just Saturday night!
Here begins my first Mothers Day morning (I love it that he has his little knees drawn up under him so that his bottom sticks up):
And the first thing that happens every morning - the sweetest moments of my day:
Then, Mr. Favorite came in the room and asked if I wanted my Mothers Day gift right then. Of course! It was so sweet. Mr. Favorite started a video of Little One in just his diaper sitting in our whirlpool tub. While I was gone to all my Saturday night activities, they had a big time creating something special for me. The video shows a blank canvas and then for the next 10 minutes, there's the sweetest little boy and four tubs of finger paint creating a Mothers Day gift. He ate only a little bit of the paint. :) Here's Little One with his creation:And a closer photo:
And lastly, crack me up if my mom didn't have a card for me that totally proved my last little post I Watch Entirely Too Much TV! The card has a little girl on the front who is wearing underwear on her head. The first line of my mom's note to me references the movie Raising Arizona when Nick Cage's character goes in a store to steal diapers and is using pantyhose on his head for a disguise. The man behind the counter says, "Son, you got a panty on your head." We thought this line was so stinkin' funny and it - believe it or not - actually does come up occasionally in conversation! I'm cracking up because I know my mom hasn't seen my post and here she's proven my point!

I Watch Entirely Too Much TV.

In the 5th grade, I was happily singing theme songs from TV, when my teacher said to me, "You watch entirely too much TV." I thought it was funny and that line has stuck with me ever since. Even last Wednesday night at church, there was a point in which I found myself thinking "I watch entirely too much TV". From where I was standing, I could see a gentleman who was wearing shorts and flip-flops (I go to a great, very casual church) and all I could think about was the recent episode of The Office in which Angela was grossed out by Oscar wearing sandals to work on casual Friday. I'm pretty sure I should have put forth more effort to concentrate on something else, but it was amusing to me, so I didn't really try.

Turns out my mom also watches entirely too much TV. We have over the years accumulated one-liners from movies, shows, etc. that lend much humor to our daily journey. For instance, at a place and time when I should have been much more reverent, I noticed that someone who was standing suddenly wasn't. And, instead of immediate concern, all I could think of was how funny it would be to text my mom "We have a piper down" from the movie So I Married An Axe Murderer. (I went to YouTube to put the clip here, but there's all sorts of stuff in the clip that I forgot and well, isn't suitable for my audience - just saying.) There's also the line, "A date?! Is she pretty? Is she prettier than me?!" from a program we saw when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old. That show also had a line "Is that a big enough piece of cake or what?!" which we use frequently and interchange "cake" with whatever we find to be much too large for the current situation (hair - especially bangs, etc.) Just one more - In a stand-up comedienne's monologue she talks about staying at a hotel where after requesting shampoo from the front desk, the staff member showed up at her door with handfuls of lotion and explained, "We're out of shampoo." The comedienne says, "Can't you see that no matter how many lotions you bring to me, they're still not shampoo" and later when she's out with friends, and they're commenting on how yucky her hair is, she responds, "But, feel my hands!" So, we use this one a lot too when we've asked for one specific thing and whoever was supposed to get it ended up with something else. . . .

What I'm saying is that this trouble-ticket my 5th grade teacher tried to file turns out to be one of my favorite aspects - and frankly a very entertaining part - of my relationship with my mom.

So, Happy Mother's Day. I hope you have something funny to share with your mom, too.