#59 - CHECK!

Number 59 on my list of 101 things to do in 1,001 days was to throw Carter a very memorable 1st birthday party.  Carter’s actual birthday isn’t until December 28th, but with that being so close to Christmas , we decided to move his party up a couple of weeks.  As I’ve mentioned before, Carter’s birthday party was a “Winter ONEderland” theme since he was born in the winter.  We decorated the place with all things penguins and polar bears and everything was red, blue, white and black.  Even Carter’s smash cake was a cake in the shape of an igloo.  One of my friends from high school took pictures at his party and it will be a couple of weeks before the pictures are ready so until then, you’ll have to make do with the pictures I took on instagram:

Cookies on the left and Carter’s igloo smash cake on the right.

The main guest cake on the left and Carter’s monthly photos on the right.  I made that frame display all on my own!!  I’m so proud :)  I’ve never done anything crafty before so this was my first time.  The blank wood frame came from Hobby Lobby as well as the close pins.  I spray painted all of that blue and used ribbon and red card stock for the actual pictures.  I think it turned out pretty good!  Both cakes were made by my friend Jackie Marchant.  She owns her own cake making business, Cakes by Jacqueline.  Check her out!

Banner and cupcake toppers as well as the invitations that are in two frames on this table are from a shop on Etsy (I just searched for Winter ONEderland parties).  Those white igloo blocks I also did on my own.  I bought glass “krafty blocs” from Hobby Lobby and spray painted them white and stacked them like an igloo.  I made the cupcakes on my own the morning of the party.  The cookies came from a bakery in Homewood called Icing on the Cookie.

Playing on the television in the living room for the duration of the party was the birth slideshow that my sister made of Carter the day he was born.  To see that slideshow, go here.

And here is my sweet boy playing with his cake.  It’s kind of funny, as you’ll see in the below video, he wouldn’t really play with the cake.  Justin and his mom were quick to tell me why he wasn’t banging into the cake.  It’s because I taught him not to bang his hands on the table while he was in his highchair.  I guess there’s pros and cons to everything ;)  Oh and one more thing, I also got Carter’s shirt (which was a white long sleeve onesie with a blue “1” and a penguin on it) from Etsy as well.

Naturally I took some videos.  The first one is just a quick sweep of the house to see all the decorations:

And then my sweet friend Ashley took a video of Carter digging into his cake (this video is 10 minutes long so I know most of you won’t watch all of it, but I’m glad she recorded as long as she did.  The more memories the better!).

I wasn’t originally planning to open the presents at the party, but we did the cake thing around 2 and everyone was just hanging around since the party didn’t technically end until 3 so we decided to open presents.  Carina took the video on this one and unfortunately the card ended up being full about halfway through opening presents so the camera turned off automatically.  Boo.  I really thought Carter would come play with the toys as I opened them, but he seemed extremely content with his shoe and remote ;)

I’ll post the photos that Volree took when I get them back from her.  I know they’re going to be incredible!

#78 - CHECK!

Number 78 on my list of 101 things to do in 1,001 days was to introduce Carter to Santa and have his picture made.  Our church, St. Mark United Methodist, welcomes Santa every year and always has some fun side activities for the kids.  They could make elf hats (obviously Carter was too young for this) and they served hot cocoa and candy canes!  The cool part was there there was a small train that had a conductor and everything that took kids for rides around the parking lot.  Carter was LOVING the train.  I wish I could have said the same thing about Santa. 

Unfortunately, Carter was much like most one year olds when he met Santa.  Justin recorded the encounter on video:

As you can see, Carter was NOT loving Santa.  Maybe next year :)

Here’s a couple of pictures I was able to take.  The video above was Carter’s first time to try to get a picture of Santa.  When that didn’t pan out like we wanted, we decided we needed a bribe to be able to get a somewhat decent picture.  Enter puffs and candy canes.

After a semi-successful experience with Santa during round 2, we took him to ride the train in the parking lot.  He was loving that!

We love daddy :)

Prayer Warriors

My dear sweet blog friends, someone needs your prayers right now.  Over the next five days to be exact.  See, there’s this girl, Jenny, and I’ve never met her, but I feel like I have known her for years because we’ve been following each other’s blogs and commenting on each other’s lives for a very long time now.  Jenny and her husband Adam started trying to get pregnant over a year ago.  August 2011 to be exact.  They got pregnant in May 2012 and found out about it in June, but all the excitement was short lived when she miscarried sometime between June and July.  She was devastated. 

They started trying again and low and behold she got pregnant again in November.  They’ve already been to a couple of doctor appointments, but it’s not looking good.  The sac isn’t growing at the rate is should be.  This is a common problem with endometriosis, which her doctor diagnosed her with and she has already had surgery to correct.  Jenny and Adam have to wait until December 18th for another ultrasound but her doctor already told her that it doesn’t look good.  I can’t imagine how she is feeling right now.  I feel awful for anyone who’s had to experience a miscarriage, let alone multiple miscarriages.  So anyway, Jenny is a faithful follower of our Lord.  She believes in miracles and she is asking for prayers.  I believe in the power of prayer and can’t think of anyone that needs them more than her and this sweet baby right now.  Please pray with me, with us, that this baby is ok.  We need prayer warriors!