Justin's Birthday Party - family edition

We topped off the birthday celebrations with a family lunch at our house. Fish tacos might sound like strange food for a first birthday - but not for our adventurous eater Justin! We were so thrilled to have such a wonderful crowd of family come over to celebrate Justin!

The cake was amazing to look at and to eat! We convinced Seth that he was driving the truck - because for a while we were joking that Justin's cake should be of Seth since that was his favorite thing.

Uncle Josh and Seth playing around...

Justin with Nana, Grandma & Pa...

Aunt Sara, Mommy and Aunt Na....

Uncle Jono, Uncle Jason, and Cousin Becca!

Blowing out the candle...

Not surprisingly - Justin loved the cake!!!

Presents and cards from family and friends... Happy Birthday Justin - we love you!!! Thanks to all our family and friends who called, visited, and sent birthday wishes our way. You helped make Justin's first birthday very special.

Justin's First Year in Review

From Lauren:
I really can't express in words how fast and wonderful this past year was. We were all excited to welcome the newest member to our family last November. I couldn't imagine how fast I would fall in love with our little Justin. Right from the very beginning he was so snuggly and I can never get enough of his chubby cheeks! It has been a thrill getting to know him and watching him grow over the past year. Every time I think he is the same as his older brother - he proves me wrong! Justin is truly his own little man. Justin lets his needs, wants, likes and dislikes known. He loves to move and to be where the action is. I could not imagine our family or my life without him. His big smile with his two giant dimples lights up a room and warms my heart! I love you Justin - Happy First Birthday!!!


From Jerald:
Although it's hard to believe that Justin is already a year old, it has been amazing watching him transform from a chubby chill baby into the inquisitive and adventurous little boy he is now. Sometimes it can be easy to assume he'll react to things the same way that Seth did as a baby, but his personality shines through and watching him learn and grow is a wonderful adventure itself. It is also a pure joy watching him interact with Seth - the two of them clearly love each other, play off each other, and will work together to keep us on our toes for many years to come. Happy Birthday Justin!

12 Months Old!!!

We are definitely in shock that our baby is now 12 months old! This brings the end of our monthly blue sign pictures. It is a good thing - because it is quite a challenge to get Justin to stay still long enough and to get the sign in the picture! Focusing just on the last month - Justin has continued to leave his baby self behind. He started cruising along the furniture. He walks the length of the couch holding on many times a day. Justin has become a very fast crawler as we all chase him through the house. Justin has had his first pancake, waffle, challah and cupcake - and loved them all! His one year old doctor's appointment is next week - we will be sure to update with his stats. We spent the morning of his birthday just the four of us - opening a couple of presents and playing with them right away. Happy Birthday Justin - we love you!!!

Sunny Day...

It was a beautiful day for Justin's birthday - as soon as Grandma and Pa got to our house we ate lunch and headed to a park. We had a lot of fun running, playing ball, soccer and being silly. We were all so excited to have Grandma and Pa in town!

Justin's favorite game with Pa is pulling off his hat and putting it on his own head.

Seth and Pa were both tired after running around the whole track.

Playgroup Birthday Party

You might be saying to yourself - no way is Justin 1 year old! Well it is true - on saturday our baby is having his first birthday! We started out the celebration with a party for our playgroup.

We played . . . ate pizza . . . and had . . .

CUPCAKES!!!!

As you can imagine - Justin LOVED the cupcakes.

We ended the evening cleaning up and opening some presents.

A great start to the birthday festivities!!!

Singing in Class

Cooking on a Saturday

Both boys have coughs and runny noses so we decided to skip swimming class today. We made waffles for breakfast and the boys played all over the kitchen.

Library

As soon as I figure out how to work Justin's schedule smashed together with Seth's it changes! These days Justin takes some sort of nap in the morning while Seth is in school. We pick Seth up, eat lunch, and still have a couple of hours until a late afternoon nap. On some days we come home from school at 12:15 and never leave the house again (it gets dark now at 4:30!). So I am trying to come up with some pre-nap activities. Today we stopped at the library. A good distraction and change of scenery.

Day off?

Seth had off from school today - but I didn't. A big thank you to Nana for taking both boys for the morning so I could teach. THANK YOU!!! After teaching I took Justin to his class and Seth and Nana went to a special kids concert. Seth must have had a great time - because he hasn't stopped talking about it or singing "Going on a bear hunt..."

"Where is Justin?" "Peekaboo!"

Gymnastics

Seth started a new gymnastics class last week with his friend Evan. Seth already loves the teacher and seems to be doing a lot of fun stuff - walking alone on the balance beam, climbing a rock wall, swinging from the bar... Here are the boys waiting for class. Justin really wants to go in - but I have been managing to keep him busy during the 45 min class.

Autumn Video

Perfect Autumn Day

Kofim

Seth is loving school. He is in Kofim (the monkey class). It is really amazing to see how happy and excited he is to go to school every day! He loves his teachers - Marcia, Ellysa, and Deirdre and all 17 of his friends new and old. Today "Barnyard Babies" came to Seth's school. They got to pet baby dogs, cats, a pig, bunnies and even a goat wearing a diaper! Seth has been talking about this non-stop. This guy sure does love his animals (or aminals as he would say).

Justin thinks he is ready for Kofim - sorry - not for two more years!

More class fun

Justin was all over the place in class today. He sat still for the songs, book and parachute - otherwise he was everywhere!

He actually went up to every adult in the class (kimball - the teacher pictured below, all the mom's/nannies/grandma's) climbed on them and then moved on. Not a shy kid!

Pancakes!

Justin enjoying his first pancake (no chocolate chips yet!).

Happy Birthday Nana!!!

Well, here's one of the things Nana wanted for her birthday - a picture with all of her grandkids. I think pretty soon we're going to need a wide-angle lens to make this happen...

We had everyone over for a birthday brunch and, after some bagels and frittatas, gave Nana her cards and gifts. It was fun seeing all of the boys' aunts and uncles and Nana had a great time surrounded by her family.

Happy Birthday, Nana! We appreciate everything you do for us and it's so wonderful watching the special relationships you have with Seth and Justin just grow and grow. We love you.