**EDIT** Hi ya'll - guess what, I haven't died. I also had some partial posts. So now Andrew is almost 3....I'm mostly just gonna slap some pictures on here and forget about writing more. We are sooo behind ;)
You know, Walmart has some decent party supplies. I got a cute rainbow garland there for Henlie's second birthday, and then we found some awesome decor to go with Andrew's vintage space themed party. It makes me happy. But first, the invitation!
Okay, so Andrew's party theme was inspired by Owl City's song Alligator Sky. The video is whimsical with very vintage space influences. When I was pregnant with Henlie, I wanted this to be the theme if I had a boy. Well, she wasn't, but my hopes didn't change when Andrew came around :)
Those rocket drinks? They're actually pretty gross.
Shoutout to my aunt Koreen for making Andrew's cake!
Andrew shared his cake.
I used a new-to-me photographer for Andrew's 1 year photos, and I'm in LOVE! Jennifer of J.Lyn Fotos is freaking amazing, reasonably priced, laid-back, and the FASTEST turnaround time in the history of ever. (Heads-up, her business Facebook doesn't have anything from this year posted. She basically just puts teasers up on her personal page. Both are linked.) She does all sorts of photos, but I'd seen thousands of cake smashes of hers and opted to message her. She's a freaking cake smash pro, guys! Seriously, I can't sing her praises highly enough. Anyway, here are some shots from Andrew's session.
Obviously I took this during the shoot, but her setup was so fantastic that even my phone camera got some great shots with no edits at all :)
Also, at the time, she had purple hair. Awesome!
Shout-out to my aunt, Koreen, who did Andrew's cake.
Left: Pinspiration, Right: Koreen's cake.
Fabulous.
Some pre-cake cuteness.
She also gave me this in a black and white, which I totally framed for his room. LOVE it :) And I'm picky when it comes to B&Ws :)
I love that she had a little bench. Henlie had some with her Piglet on a bench at her 1 year photos, and now Andrew has some on a little bench with his Osito. Not planned, but totally cool :)
And this is the one hanging in the living room :)
Cake, pre-smash :)
"What is this?"
Jen and I were talking while we were waiting for Koreen to bring the cake and I predicted Andrew would have no issues with cake smashing. My boy proved me right. He dug in :)
I absolutely LOVE that she captured this. I was just swinging the rocket back around for better pictures, and he nommed it. Jen was awesome and got the shot :)
mmm those baby blues :)
I think the cake was definitely a "smash." ;)
Koreen opted for a smoothing buttercream. It was her first time doing it. I think she nailed it. She wanted it to be yummy and to make a bigger mess haha. Andrew was definitely a fan. The cake was a little dense for him to actually dig into, but he enjoyed his frosting all the same.
Also, you can see the progression of his tie. That frosting had a lot of fats in it. I tried hand washing it with laundry detergent, but it was still very oily. Next, dish soap. Dish soap is the answer, my friends. The tie is like new again. :)
Shout-out to Littlest Prince Couture, where I found his tie. LOVE them. I've also since bought him a long-sleeve onesie there, and it's great. (No, I'm not compensated by them, I just really appreciated their selection, quality, and everything, so go check them out! Also, join their birthday club, and your little prince can get a free tie for his b-day!)
It was a truly great experience. Henlie played with Jen's daughters while we were taking Andrew's pictures. Jennifer was amazing to work with. And seriously, the FASTEST turn around time ever! Plus, I love her editing. I can't say that about a lot of photogs these days. (Sorry, I like bright and vibrant, not the faded vintage-y look that seems super popular. Though I'm sure she'd do that for you too if you wanted!) So, big thanks to Jennifer!
On December 20th, McKade had his 13th birthday. We celebrated with peanut butter bars and presents.
Lighting candles
Braden, Jennifer, Kayla, and Devan
Presents!
He really wanted a glockenspiel.
And then there was the standard Sunday night hanging out :)
Andrew and Aunt Jenn
Henlie wouldn't let me take her picture with the Santa hat on, but I caught her sneaking more carrots :)
Aunt Kayla and Henlie :)
Aunt Kayla was trying to help me get a Santa hat picture :)
Happy birthday, Uncle 'Kade!
12 02 15 - Henlie decided we all needed one of Dad's hats.
12 03 15 - Henlie now can eat real cereal, besides Chocapic (in fairness, she got over that ages before we moved from Peru). She loves Lucky Charms and calls it "Colors."
12 04 15 - Andrew got to start eating food for real. He's a huge fan, and likes to play with the spoon after :)
12 05 15 - Playing with Dad on his phone :)
12 06 15 - Henlie helping Daddy shine his shoes :)
12 06 15 - My birthday at Larry and Carrie's house :)
12 06 15 - Andrew nomming on some play bread at Grandma's.
12 08 15 - Grandpa and Grandma Erdmann stopped by for a visit :)
12 08 15 - Andrew and Henlie helped me walk Mocha. It was a nice day, and Henlie always wants to go to the park, so we hung out for a bit while Sis played.
12 11 15 - Andrew hanging out on the giant caterpillar in Henlie's room.
12 12 15 - I told Henlie to find some clothes......this is what she found.
12 13 15 - Laundry basket baby
12 14 15 - I gave Andrew another faux-hawk :)
12 14 15 - Andrew loves Munchkin. Also, he loves to see himself in the camera or a mirror :)
And he loves to stick out his tongue :)
12 14 15 - Henlie and Daddy dancing to Pandora.
12 03 15 - Henlie now can eat real cereal, besides Chocapic (in fairness, she got over that ages before we moved from Peru). She loves Lucky Charms and calls it "Colors."
12 04 15 - Andrew got to start eating food for real. He's a huge fan, and likes to play with the spoon after :)
12 05 15 - Playing with Dad on his phone :)
12 06 15 - Henlie helping Daddy shine his shoes :)
12 06 15 - My birthday at Larry and Carrie's house :)
12 06 15 - Andrew nomming on some play bread at Grandma's.
12 08 15 - Grandpa and Grandma Erdmann stopped by for a visit :)
12 08 15 - Andrew and Henlie helped me walk Mocha. It was a nice day, and Henlie always wants to go to the park, so we hung out for a bit while Sis played.
12 11 15 - Andrew hanging out on the giant caterpillar in Henlie's room.
12 12 15 - I told Henlie to find some clothes......this is what she found.
12 13 15 - Laundry basket baby
12 14 15 - I gave Andrew another faux-hawk :)
12 14 15 - Andrew loves Munchkin. Also, he loves to see himself in the camera or a mirror :)
And he loves to stick out his tongue :)
12 14 15 - Henlie and Daddy dancing to Pandora.
12 15 15 - 9 months old!
I'm officially old. I mean, even at 29, one can say they are in their 20s. Which is like the beginning of being an adult (read: young). But 30? Ugh. I'm like, middle-aged. (Okay, I know this is not true, but when I take a second to think about this new decade, these are the things I think.)
Truthfully, I think this was one of the most (if not the most) low-key birthday I've had. It fell on a Saturday, which was nice because Matt was home. Matt made pancakes for breakfast. Matt and Henlie sang Happy Birthday to me. Henlie's rendition went, "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you." Later in the day, we went grocery shopping. haha Then, I'd found a Christmas tree farm in West Mountain, so we headed out there to look at trees. We picked one, and they delivered it a few hours later. We let Henlie go play at Grandma's house. (Read: She was driving me crazy and Grandma had offered to watch her.) Matt took me to Sip-N and I tried out their hot cocoa (would purchase again...and I am a bit of a cocoa snob) and fries. Matt had a yummy tangerine smoothie and a peanut butter bar.
We got home as our tree was arriving, so we got that in the house, got out our brand new live tree stand we just bought at the store, and set our tree up. Turns out it has too skinny of a trunk and we needed to shim it haha. It is mostly straight now :) We hung out for a bit. Found a ladybug in the tree. Well, Munchkin found it when it was out of the tree. I checked on it on the floor and was pleased to discover it was only a ladybug.
I spy...tree!
Ladybug
We went back to Grandma's house to get Henlie and acquired the necessary tree shims and hung out for a bit. Henlie had dinner at Grandma's, but Matt and I hadn't had any (not that we were super hungry after our Sip-N snacks), so we stopped at Arby's for dinner. I got a Pumpkin Perfection shake. It was pretty tasty, and super thick. Came home, ate dinner, which Henlie of course had to share, and put lights on the tree. I was out-voted, so we got colored lights. They are LEDs, and they are super bright! Like, if one is pointing at you, it's blinding. At least blue and green are. I haven't noticed any issues with yellow or red. Go figure. Then we all spent the evening hanging out with our lighted tree and enjoying the discotech in our living room.
Grandma has this ornament on her tree. I asked Henlie who it was.
She responds, "That's my Daddy....when he was a baby."
hahaha
Discotech!
So, super low-key and relatively lame birthday in terms of celebrations, but it was a pretty good day anyway. Especially the yummy snacks! I love Sip-N, and to have Sip-N and get a super sugary shake a few hours later? Unheard of! But I allowed it since it was my birthday haha.
