Lou's 1st Birthday Party!!! (3 months late!)

Every girl needs her name in 40" balloon's for her first birthday! 

 Side walk art (don't mind the dead plants, it was still cold.) 

 You have no idea how much glue and glitter it took to do this. 

 You can't really tell in this picture but in the middle are gold pipe cleaner crowns I made for the kids.

The wands have Fimo stars tied to them that I stamped all of the kids names in. 

 Hand painted gold-dotted goody bags. 

 These gummy bags were mostly stuffed by my Dad (THANKS DAD!) and they have a little sticker on them that says "Thanks for helping me celebrate! Love, Lou" 

Oh yes, I did decorate that cake!

We did have more for brunch than just sweets, it just looked best before the rest of the food was on the table.

Loudoo-Donuts (Voodoo donuts)  

 I wish I had gotten a close up of the sprinkles. They were the tiniest gold stars you have ever seen. 

 Again...that glitter at the bottom of the jars and the utensils...soooo much glitter and about a year of my life (not really).

Strawberry milk. 

 Lou's crown is lace that I painted with fabric stiffener, shaped, and then painted gold and attached a elastic band. 

That tassel garland...I slowly worked on it for 4 (yes, 4) months.

The gold letters "LOU" were painted gold (by my Dad) and then I pinned each disc into the letters. It was surprisingly quick and easy.

My mom cut all of these letters out. She deserves a gold medal. 

A year of Lou. 

 It was hard to get a good picture of this, but I printed a TON of photos of Lou's first year and we used them to spell her name. 

FAMILY

 Get it, Lou. 

 Ha. 

 Ha. 

Ha. 

Frosting thief. 

 Lou's favorite cousin, Nelson came out to celebrate!

 We tried so hard to get a picture of all of the kids and this was the best we got. 

Lou and her beautiful Aunt Kristen. (Brian, Kristen and Nelson gave Lou this car and it is her favorite possession.) 

"See ya!"

THE BEST. 

 My little love. 

Lou's smile!!!!

Happy Grandpa.

Nanny's "Little Sweetie"

 "Oh, wow! I love my dress! Thank you Grandpa Mike and Nanny Toni!" 

 Miss America with Nanny Toni and Grandpa Mike.

Great picture! 

A brief moment of cousin love...they mostly made each other cry. 

Nanny Toni and little Lou. 

Tabitha and Zoey 

Sweet Willa sharing birthday cake with Lou. 

T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

Zoey giving Emerson a push. 

Brooke , me and Toniann. 

Brooke, me, Sarah, Sara, Toniann

Jon and Emerson

Charley is rocking that crown.  

Tabitha. 

King Hudson. 

Brian, Kristen and Nelson

Birthday love for Lou. 

Probably my favorite picture from the party. The look on Lou's face is priceless. 

 

Well, I am a little late in posting these pictures from Lou's first birthday party. I kept thinking that I was going to edit all of the pictures and I finally just let it go and posted mostly unedited photos. 

Lou's party was perfect. It was a perfect day to celebrate Lou's first year of life. 

I decided for Lou's party that I wanted the theme to be "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," because before Lou was born, I sang that song to Gray almost every night for over a year (he would ask for it). Then when Lou was born, Gray would sing it to her when we would put her in her crib at night. It is one of the sweetest memories I have of the two of them when Lou was itty bitty. 

I knew that with 2 kids now, I was going to have to start working on the decorations much earlier than when I just had Gray. So, in January, I started making the garland and I would say 4-5 nights/week I was working on decorations. My parents helped a lot. When they were over "babysitting" they would work on projects as the kids napped. It was incredibly helpful! 

I LOVE to plan/craft/decorate our kids parties. I know you all probably think I am crazy for spending 4 months preparing for a first birthday. Truth is,  I would spend a year working on decorations if I had a place to store it all! I know Gray and Lou won't remember these parties or the decorations or care about how long it took me to paint wooden utensils, but I will remember every second...and when I'm old and gray, I will look back at these pictures and smile and I hope they do the same. 

It was a perfect day. All of our best friends celebrating one super special little girl. 

We love you Louise! 

15 months!

That's right Lou, 15.

 

Wild Child.

 

 

 

 

 

Lou loves every doll we have. She loves to hug and kiss them. She carries them around just like she is holding it in the picture. It's pretty adorable.

This romper. That belly. He little hands hold her doll. Sigh.

CLASSIC. Bribing these kids with yogurt raisins.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOU!

 

-Lou is fearless. She climbs on top of everything and just stands there bouncing and smiling.

-Lou has so many words. She tries to say almost anything you tell her to say. Some of her words are:

Mommy. Daddy. Where's Gray? Bear. Doggy. Ducky. This. That. Yum.

-99% of the time, the first thing Lou says when she wakes up is "Where's Gray?"

-Lou says "Yum. Yum. Yum. Yummy. Yum." When she wants to eat.

-Lou loves her baths and loves water over her head.

-Lou loves to play with Gray, he really is her favorite.

 

Sweetest little love.

 

We love you lou.

 

 

 

 

14 Months.

Well, I'm a little late taking and posting Lou's 14 month picture. You see, I have a daughter who needs to be watched every single second and one day I left my good camera on my nightstand for a second and that adorable daughter snapped the lens right off the base. I kept thinking I would have it fixed so I could take Lou's 14 month pictures, but I still haven't. So, I used my iPhone. Better late than never, I guess. 

In Lou's 13th month: 

Was walking everywhere until Grandpa Jim noticed her limping and we discovered she had a fracture in her left leg. She is doing great now and doesn't sit still for a second. 

Talking, talking, talking. 

When Lou is finished eating at her high chair she will start picking pieces up and dropping them over to Ellie.

Lou loves books. If you are sitting down, Lou will find any book to bring over for you to read to her. 

Lou's favorite foods are strawberries and yogurt. 

Lou makes a monkey sound (ooh-ooh ahh-ahh) when she wants something that is enough to make a person go crazy. 

Such a sweet girl. We love you Lou Bear. 

Happy Father's Day!

I thought it would be fun to ask Gray the same questions this Father's Day as I did last year. Keep in mind this was 10 minutes before nap time, both kids were exhausted and Gray was acting silly. I did think it was funny that he answered a few of the questions the same and one in the exact same tone as last year..."He works on his computer." I can't wait until next year when Lou will be talking, I can only imagine the things she will say! :)

These kids love their Dad so much (as do I.) We are so lucky to have him!

Happy Father's Day Drew! We love you! 

Happy 13 Louise!

Happy Birthday Lou Bear!

In the last month Lou has...

-Started walking. She really took her first steps around 11 1/2 months, but is now really walking.

-Started calling every animal "bear", unless it's a duck, in which case she calls it "duck." 

 -Become an even sweeter, prettier more lovable little girl! 

-Gotten a new nickname "Louzilla!" She is a destroyer. Gray will call her "Louzilla" when he is mad at her for messing up whatever he is working on.

We love you Lou Bear! 

ONE!

 

 

Happy 1st Birthday to the sweetest, silliest, cutest, hungriest little girl I know.

It has been so much fun to watch Lou turn into such a wonderful little girl.

We love her so much and can't wait to see what the next year brings.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOU!!!!

Smiles.

 

I love this little cutie.

11 months!

Taking a picture of an 11 month old with the numbers and letters above her head is impossible. I actually had to hold Lou down with one hand and quickly take it away when I was ready to snap.

 

Mission Impossible.



Eating letters.

Her hair kills me. Her pony tail has to been up so high because her hair isn't long enough yet.

 

I wish I could remember what she was laughing about!

 

hahah.

 

Little Lou.

  

 HAPPY 11 MONTHS LOUISE!

 

 I am a little behind on getting Lou's 11 month post up. I took these pictures days ago yet couldn't find the time to get them on the blog. Life is busy with two kids!

 

Lou is changing so fast.

 

She is now...

 

Standing up while holding on to things.

Walking around furniture.

Walking using Gray's old Radio Flyer wagon.

Afraid of baths. Not sure what happened here, she's always loved them until a few days ago.

Playing peek-a-boo by hiding her face with her clothes.

Pulling all of her pants out of one of her drawers and all of the books off of her shelves, over & over.

Getting into all of the cabinets and drawers.

 

She is still such a happy girl. She still smiles when she sees Gray and loves him so much. She says "err's ay?" Which we think means "Where's Gray." It's adorable. Such a love. Hard to believe she is going to be 1 in less than a month.

 

Love you Lou Bear.