Memphis Celebrates LT

While we were in Memphis, we held a second birthday party for LT, so he could celebrate with his Memphis grandparents.  The party was a great success - LT was much more involved with the gift opening and he had his first ice cream from the hand of KK.  There was one gift, in particular, that was a big hit, as you will see below!

  

  

Opening gifts, reading the cards first (of course!)

  

A box of tissue paper; who could ask for more?  (There was another great OCD video opp here, but I opted to share the one below instead.  Let's just say, Lee is still his mother's son!)

  

LOVING my new ball popper!

Shower Swinging

I apparently just can't get enough pictures of my little guy on the swings.

This is how we killed the time with him before Jason and Chloe's shower started.

  

  

Water Day

Yesterday, we took Lee to the spray park in Collierville.  He loved it!  He just walked right into the water until it was going up his nose.  Nothing seemed to phase him.  I am going to have to research where we may have something similar in Atlanta.  (Or, bug Bryan to lobby for having one built at Stone Mountain.)  Later that afternoon, Bryan and Lee played in Lee's new pool in the backyard.

Second Cousin

Logan is the sweet little boy of my cousin, Monroe.  Lee loves Logan.  Luckily, Logan seems to love Lee, too.  I am so thankful that Monroe and I can both be in Memphis with our families two times a year.  These memories will be unmatched as we grow family bonds that will hopefully last after we are gone.

  

  

Hey Guys, Check THIS Out!

I guess Lee doesn't want to be the center of attention as much as his Mommy does. He waited until right after his birthday party to walk four steps.  By Monday night, he was wanting to practice all the time!  I apologize in advance for the annoying mommy voice.

Let Him Eat Cake!

All in all, Lee's first birthday party was a great success.  I was a little disappointed that he was not more into his gift-opening.  Our nephew did an excellent job at his first birthday party tearing off the paper and looking at each gift.  (Although no other one-year-old I have ever witnessed has done this.)  When I mentioned this to Bryan, he just said, "Yea, but he did much better with the cake."  I guess each child has his own gift.

The cake

  
  

The gifts

  
  

The guests

  

Yellow

Remember back in college when you stayed up all night, and how your thoughts would start to run off in different directions as you worked?  Sometimes they led me to a meaningful realizations, and sometimes they were just the thoughts a really tired person.  The classification of these thoughts will have to be left to the reader.

Being the person that I am, I really wanted to make the cake for Lee's birthday.  Being busy as we are, however, I waited until about 9:oo pm the night before the party to start it.  There were some learnings made as I baked and iced, and all I can promise my guests is that the cakes should get better and better as the years go by.

In the middle of the night, as I was decorating, I noticed that the number of yellow m&m's in a bag is much fewer than any of the other colors.  I also noticed how much easier it is to see the imperfections on a yellow m&m.  I thus decided the yellows must be deemed less valuable by Mars, Inc. than the other colors that hide their faults more easily.

I am thankful that in God's bag, the "yellows" are celebrated as much as (or more than) the others, because His glory is even greater when their imperfections are covered with His grace and love.

What would this cake be without the yellow stripe?

"Your skin, oh yeah, Your skin and bones

Turn into something beautiful

D'you know? You know I love so

You know I love you so"

-"Yellow" by Coldplay

t.p.

I get a few email newsletters that give me ideas of fun activities to do with Lee.  Often, I think that these activities are ahead of his time, but I read one that I thought might be a good idea.  He has recently begun to show an interest in the toilet paper rolls around the house, so I gave him his own mini-roll to play with.  I showed him how to unroll it, and then I rolled it back up and gave it to him.  This is what he did with it:

We'll come back to this idea later.

Birth-Day Memories

Lee has been with us a year.  On his birthday, I found myself stopping frequently throughout the day to remember what we were doing at this exact time last year.  I actually got excited remembering the anticipation of the final hours of labor and knowing we were about to meet our baby.  We didn't even know yet if he was a boy or a girl!

I can't believe how much he has grown in a year.  I can't believe how much he will learn in the coming year.  I am humbled to be his mommy and grateful to get to experience him with a wonderful husband like Bryan.

photo taken at exactly 7:08pm

Walkers

Lee has three things that he uses to help him walk:  a truck (made for this purpose), a dining chair, and a high chair.  I thought it was hilarious when I looked over and he had managed to get them all stuck in the same place!  His best runs are when we lead him with his truck, so he doesn't get stuck on things.  The smile on his face when he is "walking" makes my aching back worth it.  It is all he wants to do all day!

A short film of Lee in action...

...and improvising when the truck is not around!

Crawling Through

It may not last much longer, so I snapped a bunch of pictures... Lee show no hesitation in getting the item he wants.  He will crawl through anything!

  

  

  

  

First Swim

So chill

Poolside lunch