Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Just a few more things.....

When we were in Atlanta the other weekend we were lucky enough to be in town for Maddie's pool party. Chad loves to take pictures like these.....


Maddie had the cutest cake...

When we were in Elberton I saw a swingset that I had to get a picture of...as in Chad had to stop, back up and pull over so I could get out and scope the place. Ohhh, I dream of a big wooden pirate ship for William. They had those. But even cooler than that.... a Monster Truck!!! What!!!!



Would that not be the best???? It cracked me up that they even had 4x4 in wooden letters on the front and actual tire tread on the huge tires.... I know we'll never be able to get this, so why don't you get one and invite us over for a playdate???? Here's the order info :-)

Have I mentioned WDP's love of boxes and slides? I think it's that he can get inside both of them... he can't get enough so we try to get him to the park as often as possible, or at least look for boxes for him :-)


I am gearing up for the Williamson County Fair. I want to be all 4H and stuff ...Chad won't let me raise a cow like some other cool blog people I know, but I do enter baked goods and sewing things. A few years back I won a blue ribbon for "my" pound cake ...well William Rutherford's grandmother's recipe :-) and a blue ribbon for a baby outfit. I'm hoping for at least one ribbon this year...and the $6 you win too!!!! I can't decide what outfits to enter. I'm making a bubble for Twelve's (remember him you YL folks???) daughter Tyler and will enter that and maybe the cupcake jonjon since Katie's tip on boiling H2O and stain stick worked! And maybe one other thing...what do you think? His ghost and pumpkin jonjon? The snowman jonjon? And then I'll enter my jam...but if you crush fruit is that jam or preserves? There are two different categories.... ahh, I love fair season, even if it means school is just around the corner, as in one week from tomorrow ! Booooooo
was he not the cutest??????

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The party

Party pictures per several requests...although these are in no particular order.... I did try to group them...sorry this is a poor post, it's overwhelming to have sooo much go on and to try and capture it in a few pictures- we can't do either party justice..... Here goes:

The set up for Party #2 in Franklin: our backyard, my motto became"if it's plastic stick it in the yard" The kids had a good time...I think :-) i had pictures up everywhere and the adults got to play a quiz game "How well do you know WDP?" The questions were multiple choice and the prize was a bottle of Merlot or Raspberry Tea vodka...Congrats to Melanie and Aya!!!!

The food: Our friends Shawn and Vanessa brought over lots of yummy BBQ and potato salad. I made pasta salad, nutella cookies, veggies from the garden, hummus and pita chips, watermelon, and of course cupcakes :-) The cupcakes were supposed to have green stars around the edges but I ran out of time, I don't think anyone cared. I made white chocolate "candles" for everyone too! :-)Check out the bar in the pictures right above- Chad made it right when i moved to nashville- perfect for parties. We served wine, beer, and margaritas :-)

We had one "kid" game"Pin the Paci"- I printed a 12x18 picture at Costco...only $2.49!!!! and then went to Kinkos and they blew it up for me on the blueprint machine for less than $5- what a deal. We took a picture of the last remaining paci and cut it out, put poster putty on the back, add a blindfold and viola! Pin the paci! I think the kids liked it! One little sweetie gabe kept peeking, but then would "pin" the paci on WDP's hand...not exactly what I had planned, but still the right idea :-) Go Gabe thinking outside of the box!

Backyard fun: jenna tried to teach WDP how to high five, We had a cool bubble machine which was ahit, and again just lots of plastic things to play with..... yeah for big yards!

Lots of sandbox fun..... the kids were calling it the sand pit. Oh, you can't see it, but Chad built a cool "deck" on the other two sides of the box so you can get out and wash your feet off :-) i'll get a better picture for another post.


Party #1 in Elberton: Everyone was there, I mean everyone! His great aunts, his cousins, my dad and bets, my sister and her entourage, Chad's sister and her new hubby- lots of fun! Oh and a jumpy thing. His cousin just got a little tikes one for his b-day (lucky!) and he was sweet enough to blow it up for us to use- William loved it...and the baby pool too :-)

Hmmm, baby's first watermelon. Noone told me watermelon stained, I'm still trying to get those stains out to enter his outfit in the fair (yep, I'm weird like that, I LOVE county fairs! )

Ahh, the cake.... he had his own #1 (thank you ebay) which he promptly tore apart and rubbed everywhere...we just hosed him down in the sink afterwards.... he didn't really like the cake (not a big sweets guy) but loved the mess!


we said "no gifts" but collected books for a local free clinic- Mercy Clinic. They serve tons of uninsured kids in TN that don't have anywhere else to go...and every kid leaves the doctor's office with a book- How cool is that? We collected 52 books- awesome!!!! I hope each year we can help teach William the joy of giving and sharing by doing something like this.....

Three friends did go in and get William this incredible sand/water transportation table...he can not get enough of it. You put sand on one side, water on the other and there's a train, boats, and lots of other thingys to play with. he wants to sit in it when it's dry and splash everything when it has water in it- very cool!!! A huge thanks to Mel, Michelle, and Rachael!!!!


Ahh, lastly here's my pre-party helpers- William dumped all the plastic forks out while i was trying to roll the silverware and tie a cute bow on it.... boys!

This picture sums up the parties to me...a happy, happy boy on his first birthday!

Thursday, July 23, 2009


How do you sum up one year????? Impossible I am finding!!!! William has been the most precious little boy I could ever imagine and it's hard to believe he is one today!!!! To hear him chattering downstairs right now just makes me want to cry it's so sweet!

Twelve things to love about baby William:

1) His giggle- it'll make you cry
2) The way he still says "uh-oh"...a lot!
3) The way he just chatters in that baby chatter way...he'll look at you like he's reciting a presidential speech and just chatter away :-)
4) The look he gets on his face when he's in my bedroom and finds chapstick which he knows he's not supposed to have and I walk in and "catch" him- priceless!
5) The way he slept in until 6:30am yesterday...ahhh!
6) How he chases Chad into the bathroom almost every time, or beats on the door when Chad's in the shower.
7) His love of Puppy Games- over, and over, and over- good thing I only have ten minutes tivo'd
8) His waddle/ walk
9) His love of "technology"- anything with lights- cellphones, toys, etc
8) How excited he gets when we see a dog when we're out walking
10) How he kept chasing a cat (Double Deuce) this past weekend even though the cat was hissing and hiding under chairs. WDP would walk up to a chair, pull up the cover, say "Uh-oh" if he wasn't there and then look for another chair. All along Dubs was hissing and swatting form another chair trying to avoid the baby. Did I mention he kept saying"dog"
11) How he likes to play in the tupperware drawer
12) Lastly...did I mention his laugh? He does it all the time and it is too precious for words!!!!

I'll post on party #1 in Elberton and the Cupcakes -n-Cocktails party we're having this weekend soon, I promise :-)

Happy Birthday to the number one sweetest baby in the world!!!!!!!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

51 weeks old today- let the celebrations begin...

51 weeks! What? Seriously, how is it possible? I am in full on 1st b-day party mode- don't get in my way!!!! Well, that is, unless you're trying to help me :-) I have made the outfit and tried to get a photo yesterday to put up at the party- it was a disaster! See below! Now on to the rest of the party planning...the favors, the food, the cupcakes, etc......



Poor little bunny! mean ol' mommy trying to get a sweetie picture of you! I even made you a fun banner to hang up at the party..... not quiet as cool as Katie's banners in her Etsy shop, but it was my first one and I'd say it was a respectable effort. I am excited to think of the possibilities of where to hang the banner next- the Oval office when he's president, his rehearsal dinner, or just in his room until party #2 next year :-)
William is still LOVING books- as many as he can get his hands on- he even "feels" some of the feely books now. He was sitting in the toybox today and I tried to snap a cute picture, but instead he struck a pose, quit smiling, and then proceeded to do what he normally does in the morning- 1) hang out in the kitchen for the slight chance the fridge will open and he can get in it (please excuse the messy-ness of the fridge) On this occasion score! he snuck out with the Strawberry Nesquick....don't worry I got it away from him before we had a pink, sticky, mess!

2) He LOVES to watch Puppy games, the Animal Planet show we were able to tivo about 10 minutes of one day. So a little Puppy Games each morning will pacify his need to say "dog" one thousand times before 8am :-)

We are gearing up to start the 51st week celebration leading up to the Cupcakes -n- Cocktails Party we're having next Saturday. It's not really called that, but a friend Melanie's little girl Jenna asked what my theme was...what? a theme? I didn't know we needed a theme- Melanie replied that it was a cupcake theme and she seemed Ok with that answer, so there you go- cupcakes it is! Do you think I can have all different decorated cupcakes in the same color scheme or should they be all decorated the same? This will give me something to think about as we head to Atlanta for Maddie's party and then to Elberton for Party #1 for WDP....hopefully he will cooperate in the pics.....