Tate's First Birthday

 I can't believe that Tate is 1!  That year went by so super fast!  For his birthday, we decided to keep it low key.  We invited my family and Greg's sister's family to come celebrate with us.  His sister's family couldn't make it, so it was just us and my family.  We decided on the Hungry Caterpillar theme because Tate loves food!  I debated whether to do the foods in the book or some of Tate's favorites, and ended up with Tate's favorites:  pasta with alfredo sauce and chicken, carrots, cucumbers, and apples.

Pre-dinner drink with Grandma

It was a beautiful day so we got to eat outside!

Playing with Cassie and Collin!

 After dinner, we opened presents.  It sure was tough to decide what to get for him.  He already had pretty much anything he'd need or want as hand-me-downs from Collin.  We decided on a couple of toys, and Grandma and Grandpa got him a hiking backpack that we're super excited to use!

Collin helped at first, but Tate picked it up quick!

And of course we had to play with each one as it got opened.

Collin was almost more excited for the new toys than Tate!

Then we had dessert and did the cake smash!  I thought for sure Tate would dive right in, but he was hesitant.

After getting sticky from the frosting, he wasn't sure about the cake.  I broke off a small piece and let him have that and then he chowed down!

It was a fun way to celebrate one year of Tate!  He is such a sweet boy; we love him tons!  He has 6 teeth (4 upper, 2 lower), will eat almost anything he can see, crawls super fast but not walking yet, talks a bunch, says: mama, dada, bru (brother), cook (cookie or chocolate), mi (milk), up, dun (done or down), among others, is pretty average for weight and height, but is at about 75th percentile for head size, wears size 4 diapers, blows kisses, waves bye, LOVES his mama, loves to be outside and play with his brother.  He is such a joy to have in our family!

A family silly string fight

At my 18 week doctors appointment, the doctor decided to take a look at the baby, and see if maybe we could tell if it was a boy or girl!

We set up with a friend to do a gender reveal photo shoot if we got to find out, and baby cooperated right at the very end of the appointment.  Doctor said he was 90%+ sure.  We said that's good enough for us!  So we decided to go through with it.  We wanted Collin to be the first to know (and Tate, but I don't think he really understands yet what's going on.) so we didn't even tell my mom who was watching the boys while I was at the doctors appointment.

On our way home from the appointment, we stopped by the party supply store to grab some colored silly string in the color that represented the gender of our baby.  And then headed to the park across the street to take some pictures!

Snapped this one first of the boys "announcing" that a little baby is on the way.

Then we busted out the silly string!

 Collin was so excited to have a silly string fight, he didn't connect that the pink string indicated that he was going to have a little sister until after his string was gone.

Family picture with the pink string!

We are all really so excited to have a little girl join our family near the beginning of February!  Excited and a little nervous; we know boys!  What do you do with a girl?!  I'm sure we'll figure it out.  And, honestly, I'm more nervous about how close Tate and baby girl will be in age, rather than the fact its a girl.  I'm pretty excited for all the cute frilly clothes, bows, and all things pink!

State Fair 2014

The State Fair is so fun!  We love going with Grandma and Grandpa.  Here's what we saw and did this year:

Collin's first pony ride.  I thought he'd be nervous or scared, but he was excited and loved it!

There were tons of these around, and it seemed Collin needed a picture at each one!

We got to see a bunch of animal babies, including chicks!

There was an adorable kids section where the kid could pretend to be a farmer.  This is where they got to ride tractors.

He also milked a cow, brushed a sheep, feed the pigs and horses, planted some crops, and gathered eggs.  He had SO much fun!

They got to ride the giant yellow slide!  This was always the highlight of my fair visits as a child.  The boys loved it and  got to go about 5 times!

So much fun!

Finally we let the boys ride some rides and each got a fair treat!