First Birthday Party!

On Saturday we had Tanner's first birthday party. We had a lot of family and friends over to celebrate including a bunch of little ones for Tanner to play with! We went with a baby animal theme and really focused on monkeys. Tanner had a great time ad got lots of great gifts. He got several really cute outfits, a bunch of trucks and other toys (which we didn't already have) and a bunch of new Disney movies! We got him a mega blocks table. Both Tanner and Izzy play with the blocks all the time. The table will go in Tanner's room and it has some extra building pieces other than the blocks. It is also portable so we can take it on vacation with us! He loved his cupcake and all the other food we let him have. After the party Tanner and Izzy played outside for a little while and then went to bed. We had some friends stay for the UFC fight. It was a really great day, thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

Monkey Cupcakes!

I was so proud of these :)

The spread, I had to refill everything after the party for the fight!
I guess that means it was good!

Tanner as a 1 day old and Tanner as a 1 year old!

1st Birthday Banner

And you can't forget the balloons!Tanner has started walking on his knees..it is SO funny!

Izzy had no problem helping Tanner open his presents :)So many presents...he just wanted to play after a while!

Mommy and my little monkey!Ready for my birthday cake!This is GOOD!

Can someone clean me up now please???

Birthday Trip to the Zoo

I took Izabel and Tanner and met Candace and Drew at the zoo for Tanner's birthday. We had a great time and we'll be going back a lot this summer! Enjoy the pics and then continue scrolling down to see all the updates...1st Birthday Pictures, Easter, and Family Vacation.

Family Vacation!

For spring break this year Noah and I took the kids to Massanutten. We own timeshare there and go pretty much every year. We love going and each year they add more and more things to do! This was the first trip all four of us have gone on together and Tanner's first vacation ever!

We left on Friday right after work. We hit quite a bit of traffic and stopped for dinner so we didn't get there until a little after 8. We checked in and started settling into our beautiful unit. We got into one of the new ones and it had two bedrooms with a big living room and full kitchen. There was lots of room to run and play which the kids loved! The part they liked the most was the fenced in porch. Izabel could go in and out whenever she liked and she loved having that kind of freedom! Aunt Amy came up for the weekend and arrived about an hour after we did. On Saturday Noah and I went to the grocery store to get food for the week. Afterwards we all walked to the park and had a picnic. Both of the kids had a great time playing and we were all exhausted when we got back just in time for naps. After a nice steak dinner we went down to the pool for a while. We thought Tanner would love it since he loves the bath so much but he started screaming as soon as his toes touched the water. I tried to get him to go in but he wasn't having it so I took him over to the lounge chair and we just snuggled. It was a great time for the two of us and I wouldn't have traded it for any amount of swimming in the world!

Playing on the little deck
Tanner loves the swingsIzzy climbed right up the rock wall with no problem!

Sunday Aunt Amy left first thing in the morning to get home and celebrate Easter with Ray. We had all of our Easter celebrations there - see the Easter post below! We finished up the evening with another swim. Daddy and Izabel played in the pool while Tanner I spent some more time snuggling!

Izzy started jumping in and going under all by herself!

Tanner was very unhappy!
Monday we got up bright and early to go do our owner update. It's the normal timeshare tour but they try to fill us in on what's going on with the resort and what new things will be coming soon. The fed us breakfast and showed us the new cottages they are building. They are really nice but kind of small. After the update we went back to have lunch and naps. We played some more and then went to the waterpark. Izabel had so much fun going on the slides and the lazy river with Daddy. I very slowly moved Tanner into the little kiddie pool. It took a long time but I eventually got him in the water. After a while he was playing and splashing and having a great time.

He finally likes it! Yay!
Going down the big slide with Daddy
He's such a big boy now!
Riding around with Mommy

Tuesday morning I left the kids with Daddy so I could go to the spa! I was super excited. One of the perks of sitting through the owner update is the $100 they give you that I always spend in the spa. I started with a spa pedicure. Afterwards I spend some time in the relaxation room with my book. It was so nice to just sit and read without any interruptions! Then I moved on to my hour long Swedish massage. It was fabulous and I can't wait until next year...or maybe Mother's Day :) We pretty much just laid low the rest of the afternoon. Then we took the kids down to feed the ducks at the lake and play at the park. It was really hot so we went in to the pool for a little while. Tanner actually played in the water for a little bit.

Wednesday it was time to go home so Noah could go to his first class of the new quarter! He made straight As last quarter and we want him to keep it up! We had a wonderful family vacation and we can't wait to do it again!

Easter

Even though this wasn't technically Tanner's first Easter, it was the first one he actually got to celebrate. Thursday night we went to the mall for our family Easter pics. Afterwards we went down to the food court for dinner and to see the Easter bunny. Izabel wasn't interested but we did get a few shots of Tanner.

For Easter Sunday we were in Massanutten so we didn't get to celebrate in our normal way. We woke up and took the kids out to see their Easter baskets. The Easter bunny was very generous! Izabel got tons of art supplies including paints, markers and crayons. We like the color wonder stuff from Crayola. It still makes some mess but is a lot cleaner than regular paints and markers! She also got The Princess and the Frog on DVD. Tanner got a bubble blower, a guitar toy and Cars on DVD. After going through the Easter baskets Izabel went on an egg hunt around the house. She found all of the eggs and was thrilled to discover they were filled with stickers and candy!

Easter baskets!
My two little monkeys...love them!

We had breakfast and then after Tanner's morning nap we headed down to the park. The resort had set up a giant Easter egg hunt for all of the kids and it was packed! Izabel played for a while and then we headed over to hunt for the eggs. They split the kids so Izabel was with the 5 and under group, but she still had a hard time keeping up. She only got two eggs because every time she would head towards one, another kid would beat her to it and pick it up. She had fun anyway and was thrilled with the candy she got. Tanner managed to get one egg too but he was not interested in touching the grass to get it! I'm sure that will be changing in the near future :)

Me and my little man!
Ready to get some eggs!Family pic
We dyed Easter eggs and did some painting, had a quick and easy dinner, and then settled in to watch Izzy's new movie. It's cute but a little dark and close to crossing the line as far as I'm concerned.

Our colorful Easter eggs
Izabel's Easter art!

We had a great Easter even though we were away. We hope everyone enjoyed their day!

THE BIG ONE!

I can't believe I am already writing this post but it's true...Tanner is one! He's so much fun and he's turned into such a little boy already. We're pretty much done with all of the baby stuff. He's using the sippy cup almost completely (one bottle before bed) and he'll be going to all milk as soon as our last jar of formula is gone. He's so happy! He smiles and his whole face lights up and it makes us so happy. We fall in love with him all over again every time we look at his beautiful face!

He has 6 teeth and he's eating all normal foods. He eats whatever we are eating and pretty much likes everything. He doesn't like green beans, mashed potatoes or hamburger. He loves fruits, waffles, puffs and cheerios. He's wearing 12 month clothes and we're searching for shoes that fit his wide little feet :) He loves to play, but he gets pretty upset when Izabel takes his toys away! I think he really enjoys the times when he gets to play by himself for a little bit. He also loves the bath! He gets in with Izabel and they play for as long as we will let them.

Today for his birthday we went to the zoo. Tanner and Izzy both loved looking at all of the animals. Tanner would point to them and smile. I think he liked the elephants the most. We went with my friend Candace and her son Drew. After the zoo we went to Friendly's for lunch. Tanner had his favorite - grilled cheese - and then we all had some ice cream. Needless to say, he loved it! After lunch we headed home and then I took Tanner to get his first birthday pictures taken. We used a real cake and he did great. He did not like having icing all over his face and every time he tried to wipe it off it only got worse. It was so funny! Below are a few of my favorites.

I have a bunch of posts to catch up on so stay tuned the next few days!

Happy Easter!

I know it is a couple days early, but we will be in Massanutten for Easter and I'm not sure if we will have internet so I thought I'd go ahead and post our family Easter pictures. We had them taken last night and I am so excited to finally have a great family portrait to go on the wall! The kids did great for the pictures so we went down to have dinner and see the Easter bunny. Izabel was so excited the whole time, but then when it was our turn she refused to even go near the Easter bunny (big surprise!) so we only got a picture of Tanner with him. That will have to go in a later post since I haven't downloaded the pictures yet! I hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing Easter weekend and spring break. Take some time to be with your family and don't forget what Easter is all about - God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for us so we can spend eternity in Heaven! It's a wonderful and amazing thing :)

My new wall portrait!
Our Easter gift! (Loving the new basket by the way :)
Izzy and Tanner
Sibling Love
I loved this one too!

Birthday Celebration

Last night we had a birthday celebration for all of the March and April birthdays in my immediate family. If you don't know my family, that is practically everyone! We exchanged gifts, had a yummy eclair cake and enjoyed each others company. I don't have any pictures but I do have some pictures for this post. A while back we had ODU pictures of the kids taken but I didn't post them because they were for my Dad for his birthday! Well he got his present last night so enjoy the pics!

Birthday Spread:

Matthew - March 9
Keith - March 20
Mom - March 25
Whitney - March 29
Dad - April 4
Tanner - April 8
Josh - April 19
Grandma - April 20

Go Monarchs!