Joy in the Journey

I never thought I would have a one year old yet here we are. Life passes so quickly. We had his birthday party at my mom's house and I took on the feet of making my own ice cream cake or I should say ice cream cakes and even decorating them for the big event, so of course I had to take a picture.....

Then, of course, we have the "Dig Right In" cake for Axel..and that he did. I think he made more of a mess with his dinner though than his actual birthday cake. He kept clapping after every bite. I'll take that as a compliment that he likes my cooking :) Really, though I think it was because he knew he had an audience. When we sang "Happy Birthday" he kept dancing and waving his hands. He learned to dance from the song "Steppin' Time" from Dick Van Dike...in of course Mary Poppins.

He didn't give a crap about actually unwrapping his presents but he liked them afterwards.

Pacen kept making him laugh. I get a kick out of his stark white aborigini pop belly. That's my boy!

Poor Griffin got a battle wound from the party. We were all playing sand volleyball when Eli looks over because all the kids are suddenly quiet. He sees a crowd around a body laying on the grass with no one making a peep and he said to himself..."Something ain't right." We found that the body was Griff's and he had a huge black eye with a bump that was sticking out of cheek a good two inches. The culprit was Nessa, his little sister, who threw a big bocce ball at his face. He had a good ole shiner and didn't know whether to laugh or cry so he kinda did both.

It's been such a great year that has sped right by. I love his sticky fingerprints all over everything, and the thin film that is always on my coffee table no matter how often I wipe it off. I love the moments like when Eli told me I had a fork stuck onto the back of my shirt from my sticky son. I love that he is "all business" when he plays and one of his favorite toys is a can of pens and pencils. I love his little quirks and rocking him to sleep at night, yes even the nights that he flails and slaps me in the face and pulls my hair with a big ole grin on his face. Every day has been such a blessing that I get to spend all day with my son at home. We have some good times and many more to come.