Tyler Turns One!!!

Today was a very big day for Tyler. He woke up to a houseful of cousins who were very anxious to wish him a Happy Birthday and show him the Monkey Bread (which was very good) that they made the day before. After a good breakfast, we headed off to Church, where his cousins and Uncle Steve entertained him the entire time. We then headed home to a big meal that Grandma and Grandpa Thimmesch prepared, and got a surprise visit from Grandpa and Grandma Vaughn who drove all morning to get here for his birthday. Talk about a shock!!

After a great lunch, Evan, Amelia, Clarissa, and Kyle were eager to show Tyler his birthday cake. Tyler had a rubber duckie cake this year, as he LOVES the rubber ducks that he has, and I thought that I could swing making it. :) We took a ton of pictures of the cake, and Tyler in his special birthday hat (thanks Balk family). After singing Happy Birthday, and Tyler's cousins showing him how to blow out a candle, we gave him his first birthday cupcake........and the pictures speak for themselves. :)

Then we followed up with some presents after a quick bath for Tyler. His cousins showed him how to open up his presents, and then it was sadly time to say goodbye to them as they headed back to Davenport. After getting to play with them for over a week, I think that Tyler is going to have a hard time adjusting.

The rest of the day we all spent relaxing. We tried putting Tyler down for a late nap, but surprise, surprise, he just played in a dark room for an hour (at which point I went and got him out so we could have a normal bedtime). He just played with all of his new toys, and was silly as can be waving his arms around and shaking his head (he has learned to shake his head in a "no" fashion, and thinks that he is really funny when doing it (I am blamming this on the sugar)). :) Then after some dinner, he put some pajamas on, and after playing peekaboo by himself with his shirt (again, I think that it was the sugar), we finally put him down an hour after his normal bedtime. And then an hour after that, he finally stopped playing in his crib and went to bed.

I think that he had a WONDERFUL first birthday. It was really a great day. It is hard to believe that a whole year has passed. Seems like yesterday that he was born. Yet, when I look at him and see how much he has grown and everything that he is doing, I realize how much time has passed. Adam and I are wonderfully blessed to have him as our son, and we both look forward to what this next year will bring for our family.

Thanks for reading this far, and please enjoy the pictures below. :)

One Year Already

Random Pictures From Our Week

Patiently waiting for his cupcake.
A proud mama at her son's first birthday.
Too cute of a mom and son moment.
Grandpa and Grandma watching all the chaos.


Grandpa bribing the grandkids to clean a little. We have never seen the kids move so fast to pick up toys!!



A six cousin bedtime hug.
A matching p.j. picture. I couldn't believe that I had bought Tyler p.j.'s that matched his cousins. And of course, Carlie and Ellie made the picture too (lower right). :)

The birthday boy who learned to clap today! What an accomplishment on his birthday!!

Showing off a homemade birthday card.



Reading up on the world of sports.

Just too cute!

Hanging out, reading a book.

Again.....just too cute of a picture.

And of course...we had to see which cousin was tallest!! :)




So, I thought that I would post some random pictures from our week. We have a TON of pictures and so many were so cute that it was hard to pick out only a few. We just couldn't seem to go wrong taking pictures of the kids. They are all so adorable.

Christmas Eve Part III

Christmas Eve Part II

Here are some pictures taken after we got home from Christmas Eve mass. Tyler was a trooper through it, and didn't fuss at all. He had a few loud "dadas" at times that had me jump into action, but more often than not entertained himself by listening to Grandpa's church band (daddy was playing in it too) and playing with those around us. He was in such a good mood in fact, that we took these pictures when we got home (1:30ish in the morning) and then stayed up for Christmas Eve story (even though it was technically Christmas day already).

Christmas Eve....

Here are some pictures from Christmas Eve. I will make a few posts of pictures, because of course we have tons! We love everyone very much, and hope that you have a very Merry Christmas!

More Jungle Jamboree

Jungle Jamboree Part II

Jungle Jamboree

Today was our second to last day at our play gym, so I thought that I would take a few pictures. From day one, Tyler has been obsessed with this toy baby that appears at the gym for song time. EVERYTIME they pull it out, he jumps out of my lap or crawls from across the mat to go play with this baby. He loves touching its face and today he wouldn't let go of it. So, since I was taking pictures, I decided to take a few of the baby so you could see what I am talking about. I also got a lot of the various tunnels that Tyler likes to play with, and his friend Ben who is about a month younger than Tyler (in the shot with them together, they both had crawled away from parachute time to go off by themselves). It was pretty cute....though Ben's mom and I cringed when Tyler stuck his finger out and Ben and Ben tried to eat it.