Birthday #1

I can't believe that our little man has been with us for a whole year. It is hard to imagine how he will change and grow in the coming months and years. Paul came downstairs to see a birthday surprise all set up and waiting for him:

Thanks to the Grandparents and Aunties/Uncles who sent Paul presents!

We tested his present opening skills. There is a lot of room for improvement for next year.

We eventually got his presents out for him and dressed him up in his new birthday clothes. He liked all his presents except the new sneakers. He does not like wearing shoes one bit.

Paul makes sound effects when he holds this plane because Dad showed him how.

New birthday clothes!

Later on in the evening we had a little party for Paul. We all ate nachos and cupcakes and of course we sang Happy Birthday.

Every baby does their cake a little differently. I confess that I was rather surprised by Paul's approach.

After a fun evening full of friends and frosting, Paul was full, exhausted, and ready to call it a night.

I call this one: "Frosting Hang-over."

I have learned that balloons are the best party accessory and that I can eat a lot of nachos. Good things to know as we prepare for many more birthdays to come!

Paul's First Halloween

I cannot get enough of how cute Paul was in his Halloween costume, so I am going to share a lot of pictures. Hope you appreciate them as much as I do!

 We went to a kind of country fair at Buckelew Farm where we visited a petting zoo, ate some kettle corn, and got some pumpkins. We went on a tractor ride out to their pumpkin patch and chose our own perfect pumpkins.

Paul didn't pet the animals, he just poked them.

I got a baby pig to eat out of my hand

Just picking our pumpkins!

Our family fall photo.

 I made some seriously amazing sugar cookies, they tasted even better than they looked, so special thanks to Kate Grant for giving me the recipe! We decided that the cat cookie cutter, when turned upside down, looked like Ichabod Crane.

Ghost, Moon, Broom, Ichabod Crane, Tombstone, Pumpkin, and Candy Corn.

 We went to the Sahuarita Spook-tacular where we did some trunk-or-treating. There was also a Haunted House, which was fun...except that Paul was very tired and after the first clown jumped out to scare us he started crying. He didn't stop crying till we got out. It was pretty hilarious...and sad.

The coolest trunk at the trunk-or-treat.

There was also a pirate ship trunk. We felt very at home there.

Paul has the best grin in the history of photography.

Be impressed by the plumage on that parrot! I made it myself.

We have the coolest decorations.

Paul loves his little pirate sword.

Our very cool carved pumpkin.

 We went to two trunk-or-treats, so we didn't take Paul trick-or-treating. He really liked wandering over to see who was at the door and at first he cried when the big kids left without him. When our doorbell stopped ringing, we did a movie with friends to finish off a fabulous Halloween.

Two good lookin' buccaneers.

We have a seriously photogenic little bird.

Paul wanted me to eat his spoon. Anything to get him to smile!

Paul does not want a cracker, he wants a tootsie roll.

Just to finish of the post, here are a couple cute videos of Paul playing ball with his daddy.