Baby's First Haircut!

Yesterday I finally decided it was time to cut Tate's wispy bangs. They were so long they were almost in his eyes if I didn't push them off to the side. 

This is his 'before' picture. :)

I have given all 3 boys their first haircuts in this wooden high chair.  I got it from my sweet Grandma Wehr - all of her boys sat in it for meals, us grandkids sat it in when we went to her house and I believe my Grandpa sat in it when he was a baby, too. 

Anyway, all three boys have sat in this high chair for their first haircuts!  I gave Tate some Gerber Puffs to keep him busy while I was trimming his wispy hair.  I didn't do a full cut, just trimmed a little here and there - the bangs, behind the ears and the very bottom in the back.  For the most part his hair looked good before, it was just those darn bangs that were bothering me!

Aiden held a baggie for me to put his first haircut clippings in.

 

Tate sat really well for the whole haircut, which lasted less than 5 minutes.  Those Puffs were the key to that!

 

 

Like I did after the older boys' first haircuts, I had my picture taken with the handsome, freshly cut boy!

 

Luckily this mini-cut didn't change my sweet baby boy's looks at all!  That's what I always dread for their first cuts, it makes them look so different after! 

How did your littles do with their first haircuts?

Mt Dew Cupcakes

 

So it’s never been a secret, I love Mt Dew!  It’s a problem, I know.

Sometime over the past week or so Andy saw a link to a recipe for Mt Dew Cupcakes on Facebook.  He tucked the idea away and then googled ‘Mt Dew Cupcakes’ to find the recipe.  He went to the store, bought all of the ingredients, and came home to make them with the boys for my birthday.  So super sweet!

I was surprised how many of you asked for the recipe!  Here is a link to the recipe Andy used.  They are very flavorful! Enjoy!

~ Erin

They Say It’s Your Birthday!

 

February 25th, my favorite day of the whole year.  It’s my birthday!  And so far it has been one of my best!

My boys have been spoiling me rotten all week!  Every day since Sunday they have sang me Happy Birthday.  At least twice a day Brennan has wished me a happy birthday.  I have had lotion rubbed on my hands.  My hair brushed.  Mt Dews brought to me.  It’s been so wonderful!

Last night Andy and the big boys made me special cupcakes.  Get this, they made me MT DEW CUPCAKES!!!  No kidding!  Andy saw the idea on Facebook and looked up the recipe online to make for me!  The cupcakes had 16oz. of Dew in them! And the frosting had 2 T but Andy said he thought it needed one more tablespoon so added that for good measure. The funniest part, though, is that he basted the cupcakes with more Mt Dew!!! Ha ha,  hilarious!  And delicious!  So how did they taste? Amazing!  Seriously might be the best cupcakes I’ve ever had! They were so super moist and flavorful, yummy!  Oh, and he made them green because that’s my favorite color!  The sweetest thing ever!

 

This morning Tate gave me a great gift and let me lay in bed until 7!  I was awake before that but he wasn’t in his room hollering for me, what a gift!

And, as I was getting up the boys came down the hall with breakfast in bed for me!!!  Cinnamon Toast and chocolate milk!  And a sweet note Aiden wrote. These guys!

They of course wanted to give me my presents this morning but I insisted on dragging this out as long as possible so I’ll be opening those tonight – can’t wait!

My dad just called me and sang me Happy Birthday!  Made me laugh and put a big smile on my face.

This might be the best birthday ever!

Tate’s First Birthday Party!

 

We celebrated Tate’s first birthday on Valentine’s Day.  We decided to do something a little different than we normally do for the boys’ birthday’s and had everyone over in the afternoon for snacks and cake, instead of the usual meal we do which always adds extra stress on me that’s just not necessary. 

Everyone arrived at 3:00 and we dug right in with Tate’s smash cake.  He was totally NOT into it!  I was shocked!  He wasn’t feeling 100% himself that day so I thought maybe that was the problem, but when we tried again 2 more times over the next 2 days he was still not at all into it.  I helped him stick his finger in the yummy frosting and he was not at all impressed!  I cut a piece out of his smash cake for him thinking maybe he’d like that but still no!  Silly boy!

My sweet grandma made a really special place mat for Tate that has a birthday cake on it and says “It’s my day!”  So sweet!  I didn’t get a clear picture of that but we will be using that for everyone’s birthday from now on!

After we all watched Tate *not* eat his cake, everyone else filled their plates with the food I had prepared.  There was cheesy hamburger dip, bacon wrapped chicken bites (that Andy stood out in 5 degree weather to grill for us, so sweet!), jalapeno poppers, fresh fruit and a really fancy cake a friend of mine decorated for me so I wouldn’t have that stress on my shoulders that day.

Once the food had been devoured it was present time!  Andy does so great helping the little’s open their gifts.  He helps with the paper a little and then lets them hold their new gifts, push the buttons, listen to the music, drive the cars around, whatever – instead of just setting it aside and moving on to the next gift.  It draws things out a bit for our guests but I think it’s important for the kids to play with their new toys and show the giver how much they love their present.

We got Tate the rocking horse.  He loves it!  Well, until big brothers rock him a little too hard on it! 

Once the gifts were all opened Tate played with his gifts until our guests left. He didn’t get an afternoon nap and like I said, wasn’t feeling 100%, so about 6:00 I took him back to bed.  I rocked him in the chair and read him a book and he feel asleep on my lap, something he hasn’t done in months!  It was so sweet and special, the perfect Valentine’s gift to me from him!  He slept all night long and was back to himself the next day.  Darn teeth coming in!

Tate sat on my dad’s lap for quite awhile and I got this funny picture of them.

It was a really special afternoon, everyone made Tate’s first birthday magical and memorable!

 

Birthday Party Decorations

 

For Tate’s first birthday I went a little more ‘overboard’ on decorating then I normally do.  Usually we have family over for supper and cake and I don’t decorate any more than the cake.  But for Tatie Tot’s big birthday I wanted to make it special (not that he knew any different). 

Every month since he was born I took a posed picture of Tate on his special blankie with his little monkey sitting beside him so I could see how much he grew each month.  While perusing Pinterest I found a banner someone had made using those same types of pictures.  I immediately knew I was making that for Tate’s big day.

It was so easy to make the banner.  I had all the scrapbooking paper I needed, plus my Cricut cutting machine.  I was using a green and blue color scheme for his party so that was what I went with for the banner, too.

First up, I cut the scrapbook paper so it would be slightly bigger than my photos.  After that I used my Cricut to cut out the numbers representing each month/age. 

Once I had everything cut I started assembling the banner.  First I glued the pictures to the cardstock.  Then I used glue dots (Zots) to adhere the numbers to the cardstock.  I didn’t want to stick them to the photos so I could use the photos in a scrapbook later. 

Finally, I used little decorative clothes pins to attach the pictures to a long piece of jute/twine.  To hang it on the wall I used some clear 3M hooks, the kind you can stick to the wall and remove later with no damage left to your paint.

In addition to the pictures I used my Cricut to cut out Tate’s name and 2 number 1’s.  I used mini-clothespins to attach those to the jute/twine, also. 

Almost 2 weeks later since I hung these up and I still have them on the wall.  I love looking at the pictures, and so does Tate!  We blow kisses to the babies on the wall before naps. 

Everyone at Tate’s party really enjoyed looking at the pictures of Tate.  I had this hung up above the table of snacks and cake so they could see how much he’s grown while filling their plates!

Do you go all “Pinterest-y” for your kids’ birthday parties?