Ty's Birthday Party

For Ty's 1-Year Birthday, we decided to do a low-country boil with the fam.

Here are the fixins for the boil, all ready to go. I love all this yummy food! I didn't get a picture of the burner in action, but it turned out great!

 Everyone raised their food in the air for a food toast, and Ty joined right in, raising his corn high. :)

As I expected, Ty loved all the food. Libby especially loved the shrimp! She kept finding them and asking us to peel them. I think she had 3 people peeling shrimp for her at once, then she just collected and ate. I'm glad she likes seafood.

Here's everyone but Andy and Meghan. The day was perfect for eating outside! We missed you, Ben and Bri! And, wait, where is Nicole? :) MIA as usual.

I forgot he doesn't have enough teeth to actually chew the corn off the cob, so I later cut it off for him.

So happy to be eating.

Ty's favorite part about his birhtday? The balloons! Ever since Kroger started handing out balloons, it seems we always have them in the house in various stages of drooping. Ty loves playing with them so I got him some for the party. He kept getting so excited to see them. :)

The cake. Butterfinger Cake. Yumm. Since I don't know Ty's favorite yet, I let Matt decide since his brithday is just a couple days after Ty's.

A bit skeptical at first. Not sure how dirty he wanted to get. He tasted the Cool Whip and didn't know what to think. Then he got some of the cake and discovered the joys of birthdays! He ate all the cake right out from under the Cool Whip.

The kids played on the hill. Peter got Libby, Hudson and Annie rolling down it. I didn't get any good shots of that unfortunately.

And this is how you dress for a good low country boil. Just strip down and dig in!

Birthday presents. Loved the maracas. I think he thought they were microphones, though.

He loves this little mower! And I love it because it's helping him learn to walk. It is by no means a stable walking toy, so he has to walk on his own and keep his balance. He can stand on his own for a few seconds now. Longer if he's distracted. And he cruises around everything. He's just starting to take his first steps, but I'll save that for the next post about him being 1 year old.

 Happy Birthday, Ty!

Strawberries and Breakfast!

Strawberry Preserves

Thanks to the kind call of a friend, we found out about a great deal on some fresh strawberries. Ashley, Bethany, Bri, Mom and I all pitched in and got a bunch. Then we decided to make some Strawberry Preserves with them. This was the first time I'd done it on our own, the last time Ashley's experienced mother-in-law, Deb, showed us how to do it. That was several years ago. The results from that were incredible so I was excited to have a go at it without supervision this time. :)

I was going to try to get pictures of every step so I don't forget how to do it, but I got as far as the chopping and then got much too busy. Here are the strawberries and the chopping process.

We got 2 flats:

Don't they look so fresh and yummy? They were!

I didn't even get a picture of the total results, only my take home portion.

Doesn't look like much, but it'll last quite a while. We decided to make various sizes as we all use various amounts of Strawberry jam at one time. I'm excited to use the large leftover jars as drink glasses. Something about drinking sweet tea from a mason jar just seems very appealing to me. I must be a country girl at heart.

Do pretty and vibrant!

I'm ashamed to say, I haven't actually broken into any of them yet. I'm trying to use up the leftover Kroger-brand strawberry jam I have in the fridge because I know it'll go bad once I break into these. They also make AWESOME cake filler for in between the layers. I usually use one for Libby's birthday cake. She's already told me she wants another strawberry one this year. :) I have to explain it's a good ways away, but she doesn't care.

Breakfast

Libby was so excited one morning that I let Ty sit at her table with her to eat breakfast. I had to pull out the camera for this little first.

They loved eating together! Especially Ty, who of course finished first and then tried to dig into Libby's as she wasn't eating fast enough. He normally crawls over and finishes off her breakfast at the little table anyways. Have to watch what I give her as he is sure to finish it off. Caught him eating her poptart this morning. I don't think those are approved for 1 year olds.



Easter

We had a great Easter at Mom's house this year. We were, again, in the hospital with Ty being born last year. Not the same dates, because Easter came much earlier this year. This time last year, we were actually celebrating Libby's 2 year birthday (very late), or in the hospital with Libby having Rotavirus.

Ty loves this car! I think I remember someone else loving this car, too.

And the kids all love this little boat as well. It only rocks, so I can't figure out the draw, but they love it!

Annie was so cute pushing Ty around in the little car! This is the best form of sharing!

 They were so cute!

Love this one of Libby and I! Thanks, Bri, for taking it!



 

Another Egg hunt. Ty was getting pretty good at it now.

Poppy handing out Easter goodies.

We dyed eggs for the first time this year! I didn't boil many, not knowing if they'd actually like it or not. Libby and Annie had fun. And so did the adults. We got a little creative. I never knew dying eggs could be so fun! I love the green one with the flower on it. I never would have guessed that coloring with crayons first leaves the imprint when they're dyed. Glad I got this little egg dying kit from Build-A-Bear, for free!

I also loved the two-toned one.

I never would have guessed that an egg that cracked slightly before dying it would turn our this cool on the inside! This was the rubber-band after being opened and just prior to being eaten by Libby. How fun!

CCK Easter Egg Hunt

We had a blast this year at the Egg Hunt that we missed last year becuase we were in the hospital, having a baby.

Thankfully, Libby was able to do the egg hunt without us. But I was so excited to go this year.

Libby didn't have any trouble figuring out what to do. It was just keeping her from opening them and eating on the spot that was a trick.

It didn't take Ty much time to figure out the game. He's been having fun lately taking things out and putting them back, so this was just a fun new toy to "clean up".

"These things were all over the grass."

 "And as soon as I got them all put up, more would appear. I think the Easter bunny's playing tricks on me."

A basketful.

Candy.

 

Turned out to be a beautiful day. And a lot of people showed up for the Egg Hunt!

Excited.

The only 2 pics I could get with both of them. Not great, but enough for memories I guess.

Ty's normal face when Sissy's holding him.

Buddies.

I don't get many pics with Matt in them anymore. Probably because that's about how often we actually get to see him, being in the MBA program and working full time.

So I had to snap at least a few.

Wish I'd gotten one with both the kids and him. Oh well.