Story time Skype style

GG called tonight and asked to Skype. It worked out great because i had to put Hayden to bed so GG "watched" Logan as I was upstairs. When I came downstairs Logan was sitting on the couch, with the laptop, reading a book to GG. So sweet! Could never have done this 20 years ago....how crazy things have changed!

Momma Celeste..or should i say model Celeste

Last week, Hayden turned ONE! As part of his birthday celebration, Momma Celeste came and stayed for a week. With countless (really, countless) meals and goodies, Nonna (as the boys call her) left us with full bellies and freezer with meals for a long time. To enjoy her last night and early 80th Birthday Celebration we did a little Photo Shoot.

Just a little self plug.... please follow my photography on my new site,... http://behindthecamera2012.shutterfly.com/
There you can become a member (just let's me know who's out there watching)...
Oh, and be sure to FOLLOW this site too!

Hayden's ONE YEAR OLD!

After all the birthday cake... Hayden finally made it to his ONE YEAR doctor's appointment.
29.5 inches long and 22 lbs! Oddly, he's only 35th percentile...hmmm. BUT still so PERFECT!

Happy Heart Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all,.. while many people went out for a fancy, expensive V-day dinner, we dined at Restaurant Momma Celeste...mmmm Yummy! A yummy, but messy dinner was followed by a fun "pink bath" and lots of giggles. Sure made for a fun Valentine's Day!

Wishing everyone a day filled with lots of love and fun!

Logan and Hayden's Valentine's for their friends

**Another idea shared by and borrowed from Rachel at Polkadots and Puppies. 

Who's out there :)

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THANK YOU!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Party

Over the past month I have been working on Hayden's First Birthday Party. Early on, I decided to bring Eric Caryle's Very Hungry Caterpillar to life. Through the details, big and small, I was so happy with how everything turned out. I'd love the opportunity to share the details. I want to thank my good friend Amanda for her creative and craft help (and supplies) that made many of my projects possible and my brother Dean for all his help from PA to put together my crazy idea. I also want to thank Rachel from Polkadots and Puppies for sharing her VHC ideas, many of which i borrowed.

I must note, however, that during the party I had to make a choice between stopping to take photographs of the details OR to spend the time celebrating with my boys, Hayden and Logan, and escape IN the party. For this, I do not have many pictures, and I am missing an overview picture of the main setup. As disappointed as I am though, I will never regret spending time with my boys and capturing memories even if they are not in print!

Caterpillar Invitation

The Welcome Board:
Logan and Hayden together from month 1 to now.

The welcome table

Please write a message to our birthday caterpillar in his special keepsake book...

Please help you child leave a finger print for fun,
so we can always remember when Hayden turned one!

With no picture of the main table, I cropped another picture to give you an idea

One Monday he ate One apple, Two Pears, Three Plums, Four Oranges, Five Strawberries,...

On Saturday he ate one cupcake (the cupcakes had pictures of all the fruits)

On Saturday he ate one Chocolate Cake (and so did Hayden)

On Saturday he ate....

On Sunday he ate one nice green leaf....

The CakePop Caterpillar

Caterpillar Toss

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYDEN!

The Very Happy Caterpillar Turns 1....and boy did we have lots of FUN!

As a family, we love to read. Our favorite book is The Very Hungry Caterpillar! In honor of our favorite book, and our Very Hungry Hayden, we celebrated with a VHC Party! We were so lucky to have our family in town and so many of our friends to celebrate.
The party was at our local Rec Center where the kids played for the first hour in a Soft Play Room. Hayden spent the hour crawling and climbing and giggling and enjoying his day. All the kids did the same. They even liked our singing circle time and parachute and bubble play.

20+ kids enjoying the Soft Play Room

Singing Itsy Bitsy Spider 

"yay" - he was so happy!

After all that play, we moved the party down the hall to the party room. We started celebration part 2 with a reading of Eric Caryle's, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We worked up an appetite, and good thing, because  I served all the food from his book~
On Monday he ate through ONE Apple, on Tuesday TWO Pears, on Wednesday THREE Plums, on Thursday FOUR Oranges and on Friday Five Strawberries. On Saturday he ate Chocolate cake, ice-cream, pickle, Swiss Cheese, Salami, Lollipop, Cherry Pie, Sausage, Cupcake, and watermelon. After all that, he had a stomach ache. On Sunday, he had one little green leaf.
And Hayden, well Hayden just ate an entire Chocolate Cake.

Thank you everyone for making this a Special Party!
Love,
The Very Happy Caterpillar!

Hayden's New 'Do

What does every Guest of Honor need before their big party??? A Hair cut of course.... and for Hayden, he got his FIRST HAIR CUT to celebrate his FIRST BIRTHDAY!

But boy, was he not happy at first. 

ONE YEAR!

Wow, ONE YEAR! It's been an incredibly fun year!
One year ago today, Steve and I packed up the car and headed to the hospital. It was an exciting day because we knew that it was the day we'd meet our new baby. The C-section was scheduled for 7:30, and started right on time. By 7:52 the doctor yells out, It's a Boy! At 7:52am on February 9, 2011 we met Hayden Vincent Nichols!

and to think that today Hayden is ONE YEAR OLD! 

We started Hayden's birthday celebration with his Birthday Breakfast.

We finished our day just as yummy and fun as breakfast.

A super first day of Hayden's Second Year!

and now to plan the big party on Saturday!