*a luau birthday*

My honey is 26 years old today! Happy Birthday babe! To celebrate, we had some friends over last weekend for a Hawaiian luau birthday bash. We had a great time stuffing our faces silly, throwing the football around, doing the limbo, eating delicious cake (compliments of Rachael), playing mafia, and attempting do get the guys to learn the haka. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was too busy enjoying myself!

Our good friend, Preston, was turning 26 that very day so we made it a duo birthday party!

 

Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

 Today was a jam packed day for both of us, but we were able to enjoy one of Cody's favorite meals for dinner and had ice cream cake for dessert (his all time fave).

Love ya babe!  Happy 26!:)

:baby play date:

We had the cutest little baby date this week.  These sweeties are all within 3 months of each other.

Kenzie . Jaden . Audrey . Clark

bubbles, books, toys, and lots of snacks!

:little feet:

It's so fun to watch the little ones play and interact.  Looking forward to next time:)

as of late...

Here's a little update through the eyes of Cody's camera phone:

We went shopping for Jaden's birthday party and thought we'd try these babies on for size.  He seemed to not mind too much;)

I usually shop at Kroger, but those who know me well, know I LOVE the Marsh off 135 (for many reasons).  Here's one reason...

Coolest shopping carts ever!  Jaden goes nuts over these.  I guess it's nice to be the driver every once in a while!:)  Marsh also has "mommy" parking spots.  They're close to the front and right next to the shopping cart drop offs.  Genius!

Yay for Sam's Club runs!  About once or twice a month, Cody and I do a "Sam's Club run."  Everything in the store is over sized so it's nice to have the two of us to tackle the massiveness of it all:)  Did you know they sell oversize camping chairs, too???

You can tell from the pics that our little guy isn't used to watching T.V.  Every now and then, we'll pop in the Baby Einstein's "Baby Mozart" and Jaden gets so, so snuggly.  I think he's just a little nervous and needs the extra reassurances.  It's adorable!  The puppets used to be his least favorite part... he'd whimper every time!  He doesn't mind them so much anymore:)

:trying out some new stuff at the park:

Ever heard of King David Dogs?  It's an Indy original and is so, so good!  Who ever thought a hot dog could be so tasty!  Though the dogs were great, my favorite part was the chocolate chip cookie!  Thickest cookie I've ever eaten.  Loved every bite.

This is our first attempt at camping with the J-man.  Can't say it was entirely legit, considering we didn't spend the night!  We hung out for a couple hours past sunset though, and Jaden did great.  He was as happy as can be just chillin' in the tot spot camping chair.

Well there you have it.  A mobile upload version of our latest news!

state fair

Our state fair is a great state fair,
Don't miss it, don't even be late.
It's dollars to donuts
That our state fair
Is the best state fair in our state.

This song has been stuck in my head for the past month!  I've been singing it ever since we went to the Indiana State Fair, and I'm pretty sure it's driving Cody a bit crazy!  We had such a great time though, so sometimes you just can't help singing about it!:)  Ha.  So anyway, here's a glimpse at what fun we had:

one word. fried.

:pig races:

:John Deere expo:

:parade:

:very cool bridge:

:animals:

Can you just see how hot it was?  We kept fanning Jaden to keep him cool.  This is his attempt to do the same.

Count down to 1!

We are in the counting down phase of Jaden's first year!  Can't believe we are one month away from his 1st birthday!  It's surreal.  That's really just the only way of saying it... absolutely surreal.

I can barely call the boy a baby.  Seriously.... there's only a few "baby" things he's still holding onto.  Namely:

• jarred food
• crawling

Yep, that's it!  I thought I would have more of a list, but yeah... that really is it!  No bottles, no swaddles, no binkies.... nothing!  (Unless we can count the crib, high chair, and diapers?)  Oh, it's just so sad!  He is also completely weaned.  It's just crazy!  Can you tell I'm in denial???

Well anyway, enough about the mother in disbelief.  So, Jaden is 11 months old today!  Exciting, isn't it?  It is for me, at least.  So here is an update on all the new (and/or improved) happenings of J-man:

• Standing and pulling up on anything and everything

• Walking along furniture and with walker

• Still loves and adores books!  It's so cute to see him turning the pages, squealing and pointing at things that delight him.  (This is one reason why we are starting storytime at the library in a couple weeks.)

• Jaden is exploring (and occasionally damaging) pretty much non-stop... plants, books, mommy's decorations, stereo, laptop, cupboards, cords, you name it!  (This is why we have "boundaries" right?  Which he is really beginning to understand, but still tests us constantly.  He's so stinkin' cute though, it's hard to keep the game face!:) 

:this is how Jaden "explored" his crib once he discovered the fun of standing:

:and this is how he felt when the exploration opportunity was taken away:

• Jaden is a total fix-it man.  He takes things apart just to put back together again. (like lids, caps, wheels on truck, toy people in their cars, etc.)
• He likes to put things where they belong (books in their basket, toys in the toy box, stacking rings on stand, smaller cups in the bigger cups, etc.)
• He has been making the cutest talking noises ever!  It sounds like he's just joining the conversation, and rambling off about something!  I love it.  He also likes to be heard, and will squeal until he has your attention!
• Climbs onto whatever possible (mommy, daddy, toys)
• Crawls through, around, under, and even over just about anything (table, chairs, etc.) 

 He was so determined to get past this temporary barricade while I was making dinner.  He was balancing on his tummy with his feet in the air - poor guy!

• His favorite activity has to be playing tag.  He'll chase us around and around, and then speed-crawl away if we chase him!
• Climbs up stairs.
• Loves to go in whatever room and shut the door behind him (even when pitch black inside).
• Loves to greet us in the morning and after naps with lots of smiles and bouncing up and down on his mattress.  Melts my heart every time.

Jaden has always loved getting his teeth brushed and now tries to brush his own teeth (if I let him).

:his cute tippy toes:

 

:this boy would cart his sippy cup around all day if he could:

:when the toys are just too "same old, same old" we whip out the kitchen stuff and build pillow towers:

:he loves to pull everything out of his toy box and climb up to look out the window:

:some good old fashioned mommy time:

Jaden likes to stick toys in my mouth.  Maybe because he likes doing it himself so much?

:and some time with papa:

This is Jaden helping Cody lower his crib mattress to the lowest setting! tear:(

A few weeks ago, I packed up some clothes Jaden had grown out of and ended up organizing everything from birth - 12 months in size.  I came across his outfit he wore when he came home from the hospital and couldn't believe how little it was!  So I took a few pictures of some clothes he currently wheres in comparison to the newborn stuff as a keepsake.  Now I understand why that baby brand is called "just one year."  I can't believe the difference!:)

p.s.  Jaden doesn't where those big flip flops (those are Cody's).  I just thought it would be cute to get that picture since Cody has the same picture of his baby shoes next to his Dad's shoes.