Truett's Birthday Trip to the Zoo

We have a fabulous local zoo, and it's become a tradition now to celebrate our children's first birthdays with the animals. My parents were visiting from Michigan, and it was a special treat to share the day with them.

Maren was in giraffe heaven...willingly feeding them their lettuce snacks. Truett was not impressed. Sorry, buddy, for traumatizing you on your big day! Hopefully he'll learn to enjoy the experience someday.

Maren loved the giraffe's purple tongue. It is a delight to watch children enjoy the world around them.

After lunch Truett discovered his favorite part of the day...chewing on a giant straw. You can't win them all!

We spent lots of time at the feed-the-chickens-exhibit. Maren was so interested in the different birds, and was sure to share the food with as many different chickens as possible.

I could not think of 3 better people to have in my family...it is an absolute gift to walk through life with these guys!

Maren and Truett with Grams and Grandpa.

The peacock...such an exquisite bird! I am always amazed by the colors. Maren loved seeing Mr. Peacock up close. He was sitting in the playground area.

Stop growing up...seriously...STOP IT!

An added perk to visiting the zoo is having the chance to drive up the mountain to the Will Rogers Shrine. I'd never been, and it was quite the adventure. The drive is not for the faint of heart...or for people from Michigan. All those steep drop-offs and switch-backs. Whoa. The view, however, was worth the scary few minutes in the car.

I sure love you, Truett! Happy birthday buddy!

Truett's First Birthday Party

In early June our little man turned ONE! We had a splash party to celebrate. Maybe later I'll share more of the creative details. For now, here's the day in pictures! We were blessed with a hot Saturday afternoon...perfect weather for the kids to enjoy some water games.

I made Truett a banner using my handy-dandy Cricut. We've used the one I made for Maren for each of her parties, and I'm sure this one will make an appearance at future parties for Truett. I hung paper lanterns from the light using yarn. That was it for decorations...simple and fun. We ate outside under tents, which was perfect. The kids ate, got wet, ate some more, got their parents wet, ate some more. It was great fun.

When the kids arrived, they each received a little water gun and a water ball...the guns were a huge hit!

I love our happy boy...he's such a delight, and it was special to have a day to celebrate HIM!

My mom wasn't originally going to be in town for the party, but since she flew out early to help after my miscarriage, she was able to join us for the festivities. Truett is so lucky to have such great grandmas...Grams and Gigi!

We started the party with a round of Duck, Duck, Splash! The kids had a soaked sponge that they squeezed onto the 'gooses' head. This game was probably the favorite of the night!

Truett loved splashing in the buckets of water...this was during a relay race where the boys and girls took turns transferring water from one bucket to another using sponge balls. I'll definitely have to post about those some other time. The kids loved them! (And they were a perfect alternative to water balloons...I didn't want tiny balloon pieces all over the yard...especially not for the party of my one-year-old-who-puts-anything-and-everything-into-his-mouth!)

Since the party occurred one week post-miscarriage, I took a few short-cuts. Enter the grocery store cake. It was really tasty! And really cute. And the kids LOVED the surfing Micky and sun-bathing Minnie.

Maren was a great helper while Truett was opening his gifts. Actually, Maren and the other kids opened the gifts...

...this was how Truett felt by the time the 3rd or 4th gift was being opened. Notice the many little helpers surrounding, or suffocating, him.

To say Truett enjoyed his first taste of cake would be a major understatement. So many of my friends commented on how they'd never seen such exuberance from a one-year-old enjoying the first cake. He would've gladly eaten every last bite if I'd have let him.

We sure love you, happy boy!