Wednesday, November 10, 2010

A penny saved...

Hank's "official" birthday party was this past weekend in the park on a beautiful fall day. He had a blast riding around in his new wagon with his buddy Logan, and of course had all of his grandparents standing by to spoil him with love. Our amazing photographer friend, Chris, came with his wife and took some 1 year shots of Hank and some family shots-see a few posted below.

Now that Halloween has come and gone, and we've turned our calendars over to November it appears that the Christmas crap cheer has already popped up on the shelves in the store. With that comes excessive items on my to-do list: shopping, decorating, baking, parties, cards-all items and activities that make Johnny cringe as the credit card statements tick up, up, up as Christmas Day draws near. Luckilly, he has a budget-minded wife who knows how to find a deal! This year Shutterfly is running a fantastic deal on all of your holiday card needs whether you send Christmas cards, Hanukkah cards, or New Years Cards-Shutterfly has you covered! For fellow bloggers all you have to do is do a blog post about Shutterfly and their products and presto, viola! 50 free cards from their 2010 Holiday collection-thats more than enough for my Christmas card list. Holy bargain batman! Even Johnny approves of this deal :)

So this or this could be your family holiday card for FREE! Way to make our holiday season a little brighter and cheaper Shutterfly! If you're interested … sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010







Hopefully my plug is good enough to ensure acquisition of my 50 free holiday cards-I'll let you know. Either way, enjoy the pictures of my big boy!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Hank's First Birthday

Hank's actual first birthday fell on a Tuesday this year (election day to be exact). Since I didn't want Hank to have a typical day at home with his nanny, and since I'm always looking for an excuse to take a day off of work; I took the day off to spend with Hank. Even better since I never work on Monday I got a 4 day weekend out of the deal! Halloween combined with birthday festivities made for quite an exciting weekend! Hank and I went to the zoo to ride the zoo train and check in on all the animals. Hank currently loves all things trains or Thomas the Train, so as expected he loved the ride on the train. Our resident panda bear was expecting her baby at any moment, and since it looked like Hank and the baby panda might share a birthday the nice lady at the zoo gift shop gave Hank a stuffed panda bear that has quickly become a favorite. Unfortunately, the baby panda didn't make an appearance until early the next morning so they miss sharing a birthday by about 5 hours.

After the zoo, Grandpa came and visited on his way home from work and dropped off a few presents for opening. Soon after Grandpa's visit, Hank's favorite time of day-Dada got home for a family party of opening presents and birthday cake. Hank's official party is this weekend over in the park with a few close friends and family. It looks like the weather will be beautiful!

He wasn't quite sure about the whole present opening thing yet...
Gift from Aunt Susie and Uncle Kevin
Hank's first Thomas the Train-a favorite gift for sure!
What a mess!
"I don't wear hats, mama!"

The kangaroos are favorites at the zoo
On the zoo train


Monday, November 1, 2010

365 days later....

It blows my mind how we got from here... To here...in just 12 short months.
Happy 1st birthday to my sweet, funny, loving little man. You certainly make your mama and dada very happy. And where in the world did you learn to make that cheesy smile whenever the camera pops in your face??

Don't worry loyal blog followers, there will be plenty of pictures and updates to follow with all the birthday festivities.....but for now it's time to celebrate the Hankster!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Trip to Burt's Pumpkin Farm

We had a beautiful day on Sunday for a trip up to the mountains to the infamous Bert's Pumpkin Patch. Hank loved crawling and cruising around all the huge pumpkins. Another one of Hank's "firsts" checked off the list!


11 months old

Knocking back a cold one at the park with Dad
Mom, I don't sit in that chair anymore for pictures

Riding Bucky-mom's old rocking horse

I write this post just as I finished addressing the invites for Hank's first birthday party! Oh my!...mama is not ready for my baby to become a toddler. As much as I'm enjoying planning Hank's birthday party, I can't help the bittersweet feelings I have as I say goodbye to my baby's first precious year. Although, I can only imagine things continue to get better and better. Hank has become so interactive with us now. He "dances" to his favorite songs, "woofs" when he sees dogs, points at absolutely everything, waves byebye and hi, claps his hands, points to objects and things when asked, he has a few words-mama, dada, and ball, and it is so easy to get his signature chuckle! He's not walking yet, but is almost always standing and cruising along something. He likes to rearrange my furniture daily. The coffee table and kitchen chairs are frequently in new locations when I come home from work. He will walk when he's ready-I'm sure long before I'm ready for it! He's quite the chow hound, and basically eats whatever we're eating for meals. He rejects plates and will eat anything with his fingers-needless to say, mealtimes are a huge mess. Spaghettios with the fingers is just disgusting!

So until next month, when we'll have a full run-down of the party of the year!!!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Family Vacation

First trip to Hartsfield International Airport-just checking it out
The Canada Hat! On the ferry to Vancouver Island Bike Ride around Stanley Park in Vancouver-a must see if you ever visit! Waiting to cross the border
Feet in the Pacific Ocean! Been in the Atlantic and the Pacific all in his first year!
Helping Dad set up the tent at the campsite



Wielding firewood...
Next time we summit!
Warming his hands by the fire
The fish market in Seattle
The original Starbucks!
Wine tasting in the Columbia River valley
Our biggest vacation yet with Hank, and what an adventure it was. So many firsts, I will just have to hit the highlights. We ventured out to Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest to visit Aunt Susie and Uncle Kevin at their new house and see an area of the world that Johnny and I have been eager to see for a long time.-new territory for all! We left dreadful heat in Atlanta-95 degree indian summer temperatures that just wouldn't end, and stepped off the plane into cool, crisp, sunny, fall air. I had many anxieties as we prepared for this trip-first air travel, 3 hour time change, first camping trip, how will we pack all of our stuff for an airplane? I could go on...

First of all, Hank did very well on the plane. We did not buy him a seat and he was technically a "lap passenger"; however we asked at the gate for each of our 4 flights if there was an extra seat and the attendant eagerly encouraged us to take the carseat onboard and take the 3rd seat in the row. This made all the difference! Hank would sleep, play, and snack in his carseat just like he does on car rides and if he got fidgety we would take him out and he would crawl around on our laps for a while. Hardly a peep out of him on the flights. Thank goodness for cheerios and graham crackers-those two snack foods will keep Hank occupied for hours!

Our first stop was Vancouver-Hank's first international travel! and yes, he got a passport for the occasion. We reminded him at all boarder crossings not to "act suspicious" when they asked what the purpose of our trip was :) Vancouver is a beautiful city full of culture natural beauty all in the same place. After a few days in Vancouver we headed towards Susie's house with a stop in Seattle. We spent lots of time at Pikes Place Market watching them "throw the fish" and drinking coffee from the original Starbucks. Then off to Richland, where Susie and Kevin call home. We spent a few days relaxing at their house, and enjoying all that the wine country of the Columbia River Valley has to offer-another first for Hank, wine tasting! Then we were all off to Mt. Rainier National Park, and no we did not climb the mountain (although, I think Johnny would have in a heartbeat if he knew the first thing about scaling a 14,000 foot glacier). This was Hank's first camping trip-quite an undertaking and a little chilly at night but we survived-heck isn't that what camping is all about anyways, survival? We did lots of hiking and saw some amazing scenery and wildlife. The weather was absolutely beautiful the whole trip-which is odd for that part of the country. We were anticipating cold and drizzling the whole time, but instead got blue skies and sunny all week with temperatures in the 70s.

It felt good to be traveling like Johnny and I have always traveled, only this time we had our little man in the back seat chattering away at us the whole time. I'd say a good time was had by all, but it sure felt amazing to be back at home and in the eastern time zone again!



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