Happy First Birthday!!!

Yes, it's true. Lucy and Reid turned ONE over 3 months ago. Apparently I took an untentional blogging hiatus, but I'm hoping to get caught up and back on track now. These first few pictures were taken on their actual birthday, January 21.

After Olivia's basketball game.

Two peas in a pod...

They are still absolutely CRAZY about their big brother!

It's strange how things are so much different the 2nd (and 3rd) time around. Hampton had a huge 1st birthday blow out, while Lucy and Reid had a very simple and small party. We invited the few friends we had (we have more now that the weather is pretty) and family. We were so thankful that Sweetie and Pops made the trek to join in the fun. We had pizza and a coconut cake from Sam's. I was just going to do cupcakes, but Ben insisted that Lucy and Reid have their own cakes to dig into. By the time we got to cake, Reid was far more interested in getting out of his seat to play than actually eating the cake. Lucy, a girl who takes after her Momma, throughly enjoyed her first sweet treat.

Sweetie and Lucy

At the "party"

Carolina and Lucy

First Pizza...YUM!

Pops and Reid

Pizza Face

C-A-K-E

Not quite sure

Lovin' It

Happy Happy Birthday, Sweet Babies

Thank you sweetie for my super cute "Birthday Girl" shirt.

I LOVE THIS BOY!

Sweetie and Reid

Thanks so everyone who celebrated our sweet Lucy and Reid with us.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!!!

We were so thankful go have Gran here for Ben's birthday. It was her first visit to our new home and we had a great time. We missed Poppy though. We invited Kelly and David and their girls over for a dinner celebration. It wasn't a surprise, but we avoided telling Ben. He was excited to spend his special day with a yummy home cooked meal (roast w/ potatoes and carrots, spinach salad, green bean casserole, Sister Shubert rolls and applesauce...the applesauce was for the kids, but I noticed Ben enjoying a serving as well :)) September is the end of peach season, but we managed to find some good ones to make Cookeville Peach Pie...another of Ben's favorites. Hampton really enjoyed helping Gran make the pie. He is really into baking and helping in the kitchen. Ben's birthday gifts from us were VERY practical, white undershirts (something I f-i-n-a-l-l-y remembered to purchase, so I wrapped them as a joke) and a lawnmower. He acted really excited about both. Since we moved to KS, we have been paying Tyler to mow our yard. It was nice not to mess w/ the yard, but not so great paying him. Our mower was broken and I found this one for less than half price at an estate sale...and its only 3 years old and very well cared for! We love to beat the system :) I love to celebrate birthdays and while this year we didn't go all out, Ben enjoyed his day.

Helping Gran make Daddy's birthday pie.

One of my favorite parts of baking...surprisingly, fun for H, but not his favorite part. He just loved all of Gran's attention :)

Smashing the Ritz for the crust...why not with your feet?

He had so much fun and was so proud of making this surprise for his daddy!

THE PARTY

Who has this reaction to such a practical gift? I love this man!

Hampton and Daddy giving the new "toy" a test run. H loves to help Ben mow...or do anything for that matter.

WE LOVE YOU, DADDY!!!

And are so thankful you were born.

Hampton's Third Birthday

We celebrated Hampton's 3rd birthday with an early friend party and a family party on his actual birthday. With most kiddos still taking afternoon naps/rests, we decided we either needed to do a breakfast party or lunch party. We figured feeding all of Hampton's friends and their parents for lunch would be a bit spendy, so we went for a 10am party. We met at our neighborhood pavillion and celebrated with a donut cake, fruit, breakfast caserole, juice, water and milk. Staying true to Elizabeth style I prepared WAY TOO MUCH food. I had counted all the dads, but none of them came. No big deal, I sent food home with Drew. The weather was great...a little overcast and not too hot. You never know in May and it seemed like every other Saturday in May it rained. Several of his friends had to move their parties indoors. At the pavillion we enjoyed breakfast, a good race, singing Happy Birthday and playing on the playground. We moved from the pavillion to Boomerang's, a great place full of really cool bounce houses. Hampton loved it!!! Lots of his "buddies" came and Jonathan's crew joined us after Campbell's blast ball game (pre-t ball). This was the first year he really understood what birthday's and parties are all about. So much fun!!!

On Hampton's actual birthday we were blessed to have Gran and Poppy AND Sweetie and Pops in town. Hampton was on cloud nine with another birthday cake and more gifts.

My mom's generous cousin sent Hampton some tiger ears after watching this video. He was so excited and proud to be a tiger. Thanks Polly!

We built up his 3rd birthday as his last day to have his "binky." After presents, cake and ice cream it was time to throw his binkies in the trash. I had "secretly" been cutting holes in them for a week or two, so that it would be easier for him to let them go. I probably didn't use my best judgement and made him throw them away before naptime. He threw them away without any complaint, but did not take a nap that day. Since then, he has asked for them once or twice, but for the most part hasn't looked back.

The Big Number 2

I'm pretty late with this post, but much better late than never. We spent the week of Hampton's birthday in at Gran and Poppy's house and then at Sweetie and Pops' house. Of course we had parties in both places.

Hampton thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend some time with his cousins. We got to meet sweet Amelia. She was almost 3 weeks old while we were there and was just as precious as can be. She pretty much ate and slept. I enjoyed holding a tiny baby! He also got to meet Easton...the biggest 2 month old I have ever seen. It was such a blessing to witness Matt and Tiffany as parents...finally. He shared his first ice cream cone with Carrigan, and would ask for her as soon as he woke up...quite an improvement from the last time they saw each other. AK and Isabelle were such great helpers and played so patiently with him. He is still talking about all of them.

They all played well together, but I was especially impressed with H and C. One afternoon, they played together in the basement for at least an hour. All you could hear were squeals and laughter...such a precious relationship. It made me excited for H to have siblings :).

Naturally, he enjoyed snuggles from Gran (and Poppy).

We told him early in our trip that we would go see the animals and feed the horses. With his excitement for animals, we couldn't get there soon enough. Every day he would ask, "horses, food, fruit?" He was dying to feed the horses apples. He also enjoyed throwing rocks at the chickens, gathering fresh eggs (and throwing them back in...oops),mimicking the peacocks and "whistling" for the goats to come closer.

Although he enjoyed everything about our trip, the highlight had to be the birthday party and the train.

He absolutely loved Gran and Poppy's Thomas train track...so much so that they decided he needed his own at home. He loves it and plays with it daily! He and Daddy made a special trip to the toy store to get a battery operated Thomas the Tank Engine. He was so excited to show me, he could hardly stand it. I couldn't open it fast enough. I think he played with it for close to 2 hours. I love to see him so excited, but I want to be cautious to avoid teaching him that things make you happy.

Big Hug

Gran had a very special cake made just for Hampton's party. He loved it and cried when we had to leave it on the table to go eat.

Poppy also had a backhoe delivered to the farm just for Hampton. He was excited to look at it from a distance, but wasn't too confident around it up close. He wasn't too sure about sitting in the cab with Daddy and certainly didn't like it when Ben started it. I don't think Hampton understood that all the people and festivities were to celebrate him, but he definitely enjoyed everyone being there. As soon as people, mainly the kids, started arriving Hampton invited them to come play in the basement with him..."Come on people, come on." All the kids played in the basement while the adults visited up stairs.

Hampton did not hesitate to leave the fun when we told him it was time for cake. He has learned to love cake...and ice cream! He was such a big boy eating his cake and ice cream all by himself and not in a highchair.

I was surprised to see how much he was into opening his gifts. He loved the presents, but was very grateful. He gave kisses and thank yous freely.

I made a pinata that didn't work as well as I had planned, but the kids loved the candy inside. Gran even found Tonka fruit snacks to put inside. She is so special!

Hampton was so excited about the candy, he tried to eat it without taking the paper off...we don't eat candy much around here.

We are so thankful for Gran and Poppy!!!

I will post about our party at Sweetie and Pops tomorrow...this post has taken me 2 days :(. I already have it typed...just need to load pics.