Party Time!

Friends and Family came from far and near to get wet at

Sawyer & Forrest's Pool Party!

(the above photo is Sawyer with Aunt Tia, who came from Boston! I know, I know - she could almost pass as me, huh? I forget I'm a twin until we are hanging out together and we still get people staring and asking "are you twins?" although we both laughed when we were at the park and someone asked that and they were directing the question at Sawyer and Aspen...I still can't figure out why people always ask us if they're twins!)

This year, we kept things simple and rented the Mounger Pool for party time! Sawyer and his Buddy, Forrest, shared their first birthday party, and since they are life long friends and it's nicer to split the cost of renting the pool since we share so many of the same friends, that's just what we did! Pretty much all we had to do was show up and have fun!

I must admit, the morning of the party when it started raining I was a little worried. It had been gorgeous the day before - and then rain? Well, the nice thing is that the pool is kept at a bath-water-warm 96 degrees, so even if it was pouring, it would've felt nice in the pool! And there was a fun, steamy effect when we first arrived!

I think everyone was pleasantly surprised at the warm pool water - my sister who brought her cute family up from Tacoma didn't even hesitate taking her baby in...everyone had a blast!

Sawyer was super excited that his cousin, Alyssa, could come to the party. They love to play together and it melts my heart! Here she is, going down the little slide (she went down the big slide later, and loved it!)

I almost didn't bring the camera, just because I wanted to simply enjoy the party - but as we were pulling out the driveway I knew I would regret if I didn't at least get a few pictures of the party, with all the lovely friends and family gathered around our boys, celebrating coming into their third year.

I didn't take that many pictures, though, because I wanted to hop in the pool myself! I only wish I had a picture of me and Aspen going down the BIG corkscrew slide! It's like a mini-waterslide and she looooves it as much as I do!

Trophy Cupcakes. Courtesy of Cassandra (Forrest's amazing Mommy!) Mmmmmm.

I just loved the look on Sawyer's face when he opened Aunt Tia's gift: a puppet/plush dragon with 3 heads and wings. Priceless!

and plenty of new wheels...

Forrest being sweet with his Mommy!

I can hardly believe our boys are THREE now! But they surely are! May all of your birthday wishes come true, Sawyer and Forrest! We love you!

Thanks to everyone who came to help them celebrate!

We hope you had as much fun as we did!

One Candle

The one thing I forgot at the actual "party" -

the candle.

yup.

of all the things I had to transport to the venue,

it was one candle I forgot. oops.

Actually, it was fine. That made her "real" birthday more exciting, when she got to blow out the candle. Sawyer was excited to help, too. There is something really fun and magical about turning out all of the lights and then singing to the dim light of birthday candles...of watching the birthday girl's eyes...of making wishes in your heart since they only come true if they're a secret...

Her eyes did light up, I tell ya.

And then it was dark.

and we ate that mini, pink, ruffly cake -

with ice cream, of course.

Sawyer then got to be the helper of the opening of gifts, another task he was happy to help with.

And this was the icing on the cake.

She already loooves her babies. And it was so fun to watch her be all proud and big girl like, pushing the stroller.

It was a good day. We finished celebrating our girl by watching home videos from the day she was born until present. Amazing how much they grow and change in one year. We also couldn't help but gasp at how little Sawyer was when she was born - only 6 months older than she is now. Yikes. He was a baby himself. The wonderful thing is, they are growing into such great buddies. They bust up laughing together quite frequently now. A few friends have told me that the closeness in age is hard at first, but later on it pays off when they become best friends.

It's been a wonderful year. We are excited to see all of the new and fun things Aspen will do in her second year! Happy Birthday, dear Aspen Jane - we are so lucky you chose us as your family!

The Party

Our cute one-year-old!

Go here to see a little bit of her party! (I am too tired to post all of the pics, those will have to just go in her book. So...I had this picture in my head and I became obsessed with making it real. The party planning was both fun and stressful and all of the details took me a lot of work. Thanks to Jacob who surely thinks I'm nuts - for being my helper into the wee hours before the party, just to make sure I had everything I needed and that it was all "just right". It was more that just right - it was beautiful. So, if you weren't there - well, take a look at the pics and you can imagine being there to celebrate with us!

*Ah Hem. As it turns out, both kids got an extra special gift after all the celebrating: sick. So we're laying low on this sunny day :) I'll post a few more pics from her "real" birthday when I get the chance ;)

Gifts for my Girl

Someone has a birthday coming soon.

And in honor of that little someone...

I have made a couple of heartfelt, handmade gifts.

(so glad I finished before the big day!)

The night before Aspen was born, I was up late.

I know, what's new? I'm always up late.

But, with good reason (usually).

That particular night, I was doing an experiment -

I wanted to find a way to make cute baby shoes, for her.

(and I did - remember?)

Well, to honor the year mark, I had to make her another pair.

They will go with her Birthday dress (it's super beautiful!)

Satin, pink, flowers...oh-so-girly.

Having a girl, in a way, brought out the girl in me.

(Can you believe I formerly hoped for only boys?)

When she was born, a new part of me was born.

(no...I still don't wear makeup more than 1/10 of the time...)

The sewing part of me was born. Who knew?

It's the part of me that wants to make beautiful things

especially for her.

Handmade dresses, shoes - and toys.

I actually got the pattern for this Happy Stacker a long time ago, even before I had a sewing machine. Now, I admit to being somewhat of a "rebel" when it comes to sewing (and a few other things) - for instance, I don't usually mark things, or pin things - I just kind of eye it and wing it - ie. the shoes. But for this project, I had to follow the pattern to the "T". It was tricky (think of making a donut and turning it inside out). But I did it. It was a labour of love, just for her. Thank you to Jacob for playing with the kids all of last Sunday afternoon so I could be sure and finish it in time for her birthday.

I've never considered myself super sentimental. As a minimalist, I don't usually hang on to a lot of sentimental "stuff" anyway. But I've found I want to hang on to more than I used to. I want to save just a little for her, of these special things I am making her - gifts from the heart.

There is no way she will appreciate these gifts now...but I hope that one day, she will look back and know that love comes in words, and deeds. And in her case, maybe, some loving stitches and sparkely new Birthday shoes.

I can't believe she's about to be one!

Let us eat cake {Martha Stewart's Ruffle Cake}

Hooray!

I did it!

(even if it was a day late)

I have been wanting to make this cute little cake forever. And I am not, let me say that again, N.O.T. a baker. Although, ever since I got this for Christmas, I have had the urge to spend more time in the kitchen :-)

So...I originally wanted to make this cake for Aspen's birthday, but since we are not doing her birthday party at home, the venue doesn't have a kitchen, and the cake obviously wouldn't travel well, I decided, instead, to make it for my own birthday.

(yesterday, it was)

We're eating it tonight! Why not just let the 6 days between me and Aspen's birthdays just be one looooooong celebration?! Hooray!

NOTES FROM MY EXPERIMENT (should you want to try):
I didn't have 3 6" baking dishes, so I just had to be creative. I baked two 8" rounds and then the day got away from me and by the time we picked Jacob up from work it was just too late to finish the cake. So, I baked 2 more 8" rounds this morning. (don't worry, we had a nice treat at dinner and I was the one who begged Jacob to let me make my own cake this year). Anyway, I ended up just cutting an inch from around the perimeter of 3 of the cakes, and I cut the last one into two mini circles - to save for a mini version on Aspen's "real" birthday. Am I boring you yet? I totally cheated. I used Trader Joe's cake mix (it tastes homemade). I did do Martha's buttercream frosting, but was interrupted by Sawyer and it turned out *ok* so I added a tiny bit of confectioner's sugar to thicken it up a bit. It is so-not-good-for-you (but it definitely tastes good!) Oh, also, it is okay to be generous with your "ruffles". I was worried I would run out of frosting, but I had some to spare. For a first try, I think it turned out, well, pretty darling. Almost too cute to eat!

Happy Birthday, Jacob!

*sorry for the horrible picture quality - it was super dark and I snapped before checking my settings!)

Yesterday was Jacob's 33rd Birthday!

It was a Preschool evening (Sawyer's co-op class goes until 7:30pm) so...we picked Jacob up from work (he usually bikes) and our whole family spent a nice evening at school with our big and little friends. During snack time, a chorus of cute little voices sang "Happy Birthday" to Jacob (aka Sawyer's Daddy :) Then, we scurried over to the Taco Truck which has a reputation for being the best Mexican food in Seattle. We brought our food home and it did not disappoint! We got tamales, fish tacos, gorditas, some rice & beans, and horchata. We couldn't eat it all!

Then, came time for the Birthday Cake. A carrot cake (my mom's recipe=THE BEST) with cream cheese frosting, by request. Sawyer, it seems, was slightly dismayed that we didn't make cupcakes. He kept talking about cupcakes for Daddy (maybe because most birthday parties he attends there are cupcakes involved). But he didn't mind that it was a slice of cake once he took a bite :) After we sang, Jacob blew out a candle to make a wish on, and Sawyer was sure excited about helping him blow it out. Aspen was just happily observing and enjoying the whole event. She was a little sad she didn't get cake...so we gave her some whole milk, natural maple flavored yogurt (pretty much tastes like melted ice cream) and she was a very happy girl :)

After helping me wrap presents, one night Sawyer told Jacob he was getting a coloring book for a present. Jacob laughed. I laughed "do you think I'd really give you a coloring book?" (I did, this one) I guess if I want to keep things under cover Sawyer can't help wrap things anymore. We also got him Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life. It's an amazing work of art. Our family are big fans of Charley Harper. The first real print we ever bought is a limited edition giclee, "New York Harbor, 1947". It hangs above our sofa. Anyway...the book was for fun and the coloring book was a cue for the "Big" gift, a gift from the heart.

I have to preface that our birthday present budget is small-ish. $50 to be exact. So even though the gift from the heart was a mix of lots of ideas and planning on my part, I had to secretly dip into our Little Red Wagon funds to make it (well, the going out part of it) happen.

Simply put: We never go on dates. Our entertainment budget for the month is about half of our birthday budget. Babysitters are $15-20/hr where we live and there are literally about 2 youth in our church congregation (and I can't just leave my kids with any ole' teenager). We could perhaps pay for a babysitter for an hour and take a walk if we wanted to stay in our budget. Also, having a nursing baby makes it just plain hard to leave. It takes me a long time to feel "ready" to leave my children with a sitter. Also, we've both been so busy with freelance and being parents lately we hardly have the energy to do anything once we have a minute to sit down (which is pretty much never - I kid you not we have not independently sat down to watch even a DVD since before Aspen was born -- wait, I lied. We have watched a couple episodes of The Cosby Show - they are only 20 minutes long and funny enough to keep us awake:). Anyway, there are lots of reasons and lots of excuses to just "give up" on date nights sometimes. Lately, though (or maybe for the past several months) Jacob has been saying "It would be nice if we could go on a date sometime"...and I did get the hint. I decided to just make it happen.

My gift:

A moleskin planner, full of DATES, 52 to be exact.

52 date nights.

12 are "going out" dates, all prepaid, over half of which already have babysitting arrangements (thanks SO MUCH to my friend who was willing to trade family photos for 6 months of babysitting!)

The rest will be "staying in" dates. Once a month we will have "late dinner" after the kids are in bed - and for the rest we have a date box full of ideas. Jacob can add a few he really wants to do as well. (That was where the coloring book came in...we are both of the "artsy" variety, so why not listen to some favorite playlist on iTunes while coloring Charley Harper's very-refrigerator-worthy birds?) I have gathered so many ideas - we are so excited to look forward to a date each week! If anyone is interested in some fun ideas, perhaps I will post some as we go.

Our first date is this coming Saturday night: A concert at the Triple Door. It will be so fun to get dressed up to go downtown with my man, and sit and eat scrumptious dessert while listening to live music. While this "Date" gift is for Jacob...I definitely get to reap the benefits!

Happy Happy Birthday, Jacob! I love you so!

If you didn't get a chance to wish him a happy birthday yesterday, feel free to do so today!

The Party

We decided to have a "shared" party with Sawyer's best buddy, Forrest (who is 6 days younger). Half the planning effort but double the fun! We rented (yes, in the city you have to rent space at the park!) a couple of picnic tables at Matthews Beach and got set up for an afternoon of wonder! The kids (and their parents) got wet in Lake Washington, played in the sand, played with beach balls and frisbees and sand toys, and generally relaxed, got wet, and enjoyed the afternoon.

Forrest's mom, Cassandra, made these lovely cupcakes for the Birthday Boys and their guests. Jacob fired up his new grill (Happy Father's Day, early!) and made us burgers and chicken sausages. Guests brought side dishes. (It was a wonderful feast!) Oh, and Henry Weinhard's Rootbeer was on tap :)

We sat the boys side by side and watched them go at their cupcakes.

Awwww...little buddies!

Sawyer knew what to do since he had practiced the night before! Dig right in - face first!

At first, Forrest didn't seem all that excited about his cupcake, but as you can see, he eventually decided it was pretty good stuff!

We had decided to just have our "Seattle Family" at the party to keep things low-key and simple. We did, however, send invitations to both sets of Grandparents out of courtesy, though we knew that because of distance they wouldn't be able to make it. However, 2 days before the party we got a phone call from Brandon (my little sister's super nice boyfriend) asking if he and Jamie could come to the party...all the way from Bend! And so they did! What a treat and surprise! (Thanks, you two, for coming all that way!)

Some of our "Seattle Family/Friends" who came included Sam...don't you think he looks handsome in his new glasses?

Jasper...who was simultaneously working on potty training (go Jasper, go!)

...and Kaitlyn. We had wonderful people around us and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

I can't forget to show off the invitation Jacob designed for the occasion. I told him he doesn't have to design an invite for every birthday party we have - but the 1st one is pretty special, so why not?

One thing this first year of parenthood has taught me is that I am lucky to have a parenting partner like Jacob. SUPER lucky. He is an AMAZING dad and Sawyer is one lucky boy to have him. It's pretty amazing to think how little and tiny Sawyer was when he was born and now what a "big" boy he has become. I got a little teary and said to Jacob - "maybe he'll keep on growing up, but he'll always be my baby." To which Jacob replied, "yes, he will --- just don't tell him that when he's 16." ;)

On that note:
Sawyer is now 20lbs.
28.5 inches tall.
both 10-25%

The Doc said he is going to be a talker, since he can already say these words (she said it is not uncommon for boys to only begin saying words at 18 months - does that means Sawyer is super smart? Pretty much!):

Happy
Cracker
Quack Quack
Ball
Bath
Book
Mama, Daddy, Baby

He can trump like an elephant, Ssshhhss like a snake, and pant like a dog. He does the signs that go along to "Popcorn Popping in the Apricot Tree" and "If You're Happy & You Know It". He signs the basics (we're not teaching him every sign there is - only the essentials) "more" "done" "again" "milk" "sleep" etc.
Our boy's got talent!

More than all the celebrating and parties and cool things he has learned to do...we just want Sawyer to know how much we love him. He brightens every day and makes us better people. We love you, Sawyer! May your next year be as wonderful and full of love, fun, and learning, as your first!

The Celebration

Here is our sweet son on the morning of his 1st Birthday. We started the day off with some homemade buttermilk pancakes...one of Sawyer's favorite breakfasts. We started a family tradition of blasting The Beatles Birthday song during breakfast and dancing around the living room. Sawyer probably thought we were a little crazy (you all knew that already, didn't you?), but we sure got some big smiles from our little dance party. It's hard to understand birthdays when you're this little, but we wanted to make the day feel extra special for Sawyer by doing a lot of his favorite things. I dropped any list of chores or "to dos" for the day and just enjoyed the day with our little guy! It was relaxed and fun, instead of stressful, and we had a blast!

First thing, Sawyer noticed the birthday banner and balloons in the living room. He kept sitting and pointing at it, and we kept saying "Happy Happy Birthday!" We decided to let him open his presents periodically throughout the day so that he could enjoy each one instead of feel overwhelmed. The first one he opened was his "dog". He pants when he sees dogs - he just adores them. So he had fun with that one!

After morning nap, we packed a picnic and headed to Gas Works Park, near our home. First, we stopped to fill up a couple of special birthday balloons with helium. I took a few pictures of him with his HUGE red #1 balloon, before tragedy struck and it went floating up to the heavens.

We spent the rest of our time at the park riding Sawyer's new "bike" (thanks Grammy & Grandpa Kemp!) Sawyer loves riding his little bike around. We ate our picnic, which included two of Sawyer's new favorite foods: blueberries and pbj sandwich. Rode some more. Enjoyed the weather and just hanging out on the grassy hill. Because of the birthday balloons, Sawyer got many Happy Birthday Wishes from people at the park. One woman even stood there and sang him the whole Birthday Song. What a treat!

After our outing, we both took an afternoon nap, but opened a present from Great-Grandma Iris beforehand. After nap, we blew some bubbles and then Daddy got home a little early from work, and we finished opening the gifts. I'd say the Duplo Legos were the biggest hit! (And the little guy and car that came with them - anything with wheels, I'm telling ya...)

I made Sawyer the best homemade mac n cheese I've ever tasted (besides at the Kingfish Cafe on Capitol Hill). He LOVED it! He is funny in that he likes "spicy" food - I made the mac n cheese with 1/2 lb cheddar and 1/2 lb pepper jack cheese. He happily eats Thai, Indian, and Chinese food off our plates as well. I'm not complaining - he is not a picky eater. He just wants to eat everything we eat! He even likes baby spinach salad!

Here is the "big" cake.

And Sawyer's "little" personal cake. He picked out all the strawberries first. Dug in a bit to the cake but didn't seem that impressed with the homemade chocolate cake and creamcheese frosting. But what he absolutely loved was the vanilla ice cream. I think next year maybe he'll get strawberry shortcake with ice cream ;)

It was such a great day, just celebrating our little son's life, just the three of us. We have said "Happy Happy Birthday" so many times to Sawyer that he now walks around the house saying "happy" with a smile. In fact, he said it as he was chowing down on his birthday cake - we even got it on video. What a cute little guy we have!

The next day, we had the P-A-R-T-Y!

Birthday Boy!

Jacob turns 31 today (the young buck)! It will be a fun day celebrating him. Sawyer and I got up while he was at the gym this morning and decorated the house with balloons etc., and then we had a special breakfast of Blueberry Crunch Coffee Cake before we gave him a ride to work. We are also going to pick him up and take him out to lunch...and then celebrate tonight with a nice home-cooked meal, cake, ice-cream, and of course a couple of presents.

Jacob means the world to me. If I could describe him in just one word it would be: Amazing. He lights my world, lifts me up, cheers me on. He gives me a shoulder to cry on and someone to laugh with. He has made my fondest dreams come true (being a wife and a mother). He is a wonderful husband, and the kind of friend everyone needs. Sawyer lights up when he sees him. So do I. He is such a great Dad to our little son. I love him madly!

Happy Birthday, Jacob! May all your Birthday wishes come true!!!