The party...

Gunnar's party yesterday was so fun. We decided to keep it kind of small so it wouldn't be too overwhelming for him (or Ashton), so we invited my Mom, Lars' parents, Gunnar's Godparents Tony and Angie (and their daughter Arianna) and Gunnar's little friend Amalia and her brothers Dante, and Julius and their parents Aurora and Gio. It was a perfect number of people and great to have a couple friends there for Ashton. Of course we had invited his Texas grandparents, my step-dad and Gunnar's aunts and uncles too, but they were all unable to come.

After everyone showed up we had fruit and fruit dip, veggie pizza, hotwings, chips & salsa and the kids played for awhile, then after much begging from Ashton we let him "help" Gunnar open his presents. Now what that turned into was him and the other little boys tearing into them like crazy one after the other giving Gunnar hardly a chance to even look at anything, and me not knowing who things were from. Kind of a circus!!! Not that Gunnar cared or understood and he eventually got around to playing with everything, so it was fun.

Ashton picked out and wrapped this green ball for him :)We got him this...and this... ...and he has loved both of them. That is when he gets a chance to play with them in between times of Ashton playing with them.

He also got this from Grandma and LOVES it! Look at that smile!(luckily the weight limit will still hold Ashton's skinny little body) and they both love this little phone and keys too from her. Amalia got him this cute little train set that he loves pushing around and his Godparents (and kids) got him these... ...and way too much money-I forgot to talk to you two about that! You are so sweet to him. Thanks for the balloons and food you guys brought too!

When he gets a few more teeth, he can dig in to the chocolate.

Ashton asked me if he'd already eaten it all! ha!

Lars' parents gave him a wall hanging with his name on it and some money and sent this little people school house from Aunt Shelley and the kids.

After all of that craziness it was on to the cake...

I had found these cute polkadot plates and napkins at Target a couple months ago and kind of wanted to do a polkadot theme. So I started to think of how I could do a cute cake to go with that. Then it came to me to do a caterpillar and I got online and found a bunch of cute ideas. Once I saw them the idea was planted in my head and I was so excited to try to make one (I am so not a cake decorator!) I ordered all of my supplies and luckily decided to make it Friday night. I had been planning on just making it on Saturday, but it ended up taking about 6 hours! So I was so glad that I just got it done early...it would have been crazy to be trying to do it yesterday.

Here it is...The cute head... (my favorite part was the fake eyelashes)

Had to have a one of Gunnar's new pictures displayed with it!It was sweet when Lars saw it (after it was finally done at 11:00!) he said, "Now how are you ever going to cut into it? It's not a cake, it's a masterpiece!" Ha! I wouldn't say that, but I think it turned out pretty cute! And it was kind of hard to cut into the poor little guy! I loved how it went along with the polkadots and I think Gunnar liked it too.After we all sang Happy Birthday to him

(twice because he liked it so much...he smiled and smiled)...we gave him the head to dig into. Now I thought he would be the kid that would dig right in and chow down, but it was about 6:00 and he was getting tired and kind of onry, so he didn't want much to do with it. He did eat some and got pretty messy, but then he just wanted to get down.

After everyone else ate some of the rest of the cake,

(poor cut up little caterpillar)... ...Lars took the boys out to fly kites. He had gotten them for party favors for the kids and it ended up to be a perfect kite flying day! They did that for about an hour and a half and had so much fun.

We took the babies out to watch, then it was time for everyone to go home and get the boys in to bed after a long day.

Gunnar slept so good last night...for the most part he's been doing pretty good-he still has his nights where he cries out a couple times, but so much better overall.

I'm finally getting some sleep!

I can't believe we have a 1 year old...Some of his favorite things:

• Mommy
• Daddy and Ashton
• EATING!
• Taking baths
• Dropping things and saying uh-oh repeatedly
• Smiling and saying hi to EVERYONE he sees
• Playing with anything that is Ashton's
• Being outside...it's a whole new world out there and he loves to get down and explore
• His fleece blankies he sleeps with
• Being held and carried around
• Having something in both hands at all times...whether he's eating or playing, his hands have to be full
• Walking around on his knees...it's so cute!
• Music and dancing to it!

His least favorite things:

• Getting his diaper changed
• Getting dressed
• Getting his face or nose wiped

Otherwise such a happy kid!