Lena February 2014 (Phone Pics)

Rosie and Alex and Jimmy got this vest for Lena for Christmas... she was SO excited to wear it and model it. :)

She always does the side pose for me... it is so cute!

Lena on her bike outside for the very first time.  It was on Walter's birthday and she did such a great job! :)

One big thing she needs to work on is looking where she is going. :)

Let The Party Begin!

To start things off for Walter's number ONE birthday party Rosie and Alex created this amazing birthday cake!!!  They wanted a theme and I told them that the one thing Walter has always REALLY liked (ever since he was born) has been music.  From that they created this amazing guitar cake!  :)  

Lena and Jimmy helped put the candles in. :)

Walter opening his first present...

And this is pretty much how things went after that... Lena and Jimmy did all of the work (opening the presents) while Walter played with the things that came out of them. :)

 Same was so kind as to take the rest of the present opening pictures!  I've said it before but I absolutely love how he catches those "no-one-knows-he's-taking-a-picture" moments. :)  It is just so much fun to see how everyone was doing behind the scenes. :)

So much going on in this picture!  I love it!

Walter was literally grandpa's boy this day... no joke, he made the choice to go from ME to HIM... that NEVER happens! :)  It was so cute to see Kelvin loving his little grandson up so much. :)

These were Walter's FAVORITE present of the day... I swear as soon as they were opened, all he wanted to do for the rest of the day was throw them and get them... repeat. :)

Lena and Jimmy doing more of the "opening". :)

Randy was just so excited... can you tell?

Walter and Lena playing with Walter's new toy from Grandma and Grandpa.

Who doesn't like seeing a naked baby. :)

and now for the moment we've all been waiting for...

the...

CAKE SMASH!!!!

let the smashing begin:

This boy EXCEEDED my expectations on how awesome this moment would be.  He really got into that cake face first and everything. :)  I couldn't really narrow down which pictures to include... that's why there are so many.

Post cake-smash bath with Eva. :)

And now time for everyone else to get some cake. :)

Walter wanted to try Sam's shoes on. :)

What blog post isn't simply awesome if it ends with a picture of Eva... umm... I think NONE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHAY to my sweet boy. :)

Official ONE-YEAR-OLD photo shoot

I really cannot believe that my baby is ONE!!!  This year has gone by like a flash!  It has been filled with tears (mostly Walters), laughter and lots of love.  I'm so grateful that I get to call myself his mom.  I look forward to watching him grow many more years. :)

Walter's Twelfth Month (Phone Pictures)

Just being cute playing in the hall with Lena. :)

Walter LOVES walking around holding sticks like a blind person. :)   He totally isn't brave enough to walk on his own yet... but if he's holding a stick he's doing just fine. :)

We start our kids early on the chores. ;)  Walter was determined to sweep like me the other day.

We went to the park on his birthday to get some swinging in! He loved it!

I let Walter sample his frosting on the morning of his birthday party... I was glad to find out he liked it. :)

Valentines Day

No matter how much I swear that I will go "all out" next year... each year the holidays come on my so fast that I never get around to doing all of those cute things that so many other mothers do... the only thing I chanced on getting around to this year for Lena was making her a valentine's "Hello Kitty" (her favorite) skirt.

She really wanted her little lizard friend (in her hand) to be included on this photo shoot.

Lena got a balloon from school for Valentines day and of course Walter desperately wanted... and thus starts the lying-on-the-floor-kicking-and-screaming tantrums.  YAY!!!

Side note:  I know that I rarely talk about myself or Randy in this blog because, frankly, we're just not as cute as these kids, but really I want to make sure it's known how absolutely in love I am with Randy.  We have been through so much and I know without a doubt that Randy was meant for me.  Randy is the hardest working most loyal man I've ever known and I know it has been hard for him to be with me sometimes but he has never once thought of giving up on me.  I'm humbled at how lucky I am to have him.