A Great Day

In the midst of the chaos we call LIFE these days, between work and farming, we were able to stop for a few hours and celebrated Charlie's first BIRTHDAY!!! He will turn one on August 19th, so we celebrate the big day with a cookout on Saturday night. Both our families and a few friends (mostly Charlie's little friends and our neighbors) were able to come, and we had a great time. We are so blessed to have so many friends that love our baby this much, from right here in town to all over!

Here Charlie started off the afternoon by 'walking' with Grandpoppy. This is the first time he walked only holding one hand, so he was pretty proud of himself!


Just look at that smile...and his birthday t-shirt!


We had the cake made by the lady who made our wedding cake -- buttercream icing and chocolate cake! YUM!


And of course, Charlie's own 'matching' smash cake was on hand for the big event.


This is Charlie with his buddy, Gracie...and of course, he is holding Monkey, his ever-present BFF these days.


Our neighbor Brad is playing patty-cake with his daughter Kamryn -- what a pretty girl she is!


I think we might have to watch our for these two in a few years...this is number 8 million of the times that Kamryn and Charlie have had their little 'make-out' sessions. Lots of love going on here!


Charlie finally got around to eating his own cake, but thanks to NO NAP on this day, he was pretty laid back and didn't really get into it too much. At least he wasn't fussy, just really sedate and overwhelmed by the people.


This picture was taken during present-opening time, which Charlie wanted nothing to do with! He was more content to read the books he already has, so the other kids at the party helped me open everything. He of course got way more toys than he would ever need, so now we will get to ration out the toys he got .... he'll think it is birthday every week!


Our day ended with a hyped-up-on-sugar-cake baby and an exhausted Mommy and Daddy sacked out on the couch after everyone left. We watched our 'almost' toddler coast all around the room, babbling and talking all the way! We are so blessed with this happy, talkative baby, and it is hard to believe that it has almost been a year since he has arrived! This year of firsts has gone by so fast! We only assume there is no slowing down from here!