The Red Balloon

On Tuesday, when I picked C up from school, the director stopped me in the hall and told me this sweet story.

One of the older classrooms has been "studying"/exploring light and projection, so they took a field trip to the Belcourt theatre. In return, the Belcourt offered a screening of The Red Balloon at school. On Monday, the big kids came and brought "movie tickets" to all the classrooms. On Tuesday at show time, they sent "ushers" to the infant and toddler rooms to escort the babies to the movie (great project, right?).

(I'm pretty sure everyone watched this in school at some point, but if 

you don't remember it, the whole thing is on YouTube)

Most of the babies got wiggly after a couple minutes, but the director told me that C and one other friend were mesmerized for the entire movie. It's like 30 minutes long. They were laughing and clapping. I guess I'm not totally shocked, as the kid is still obsessed with balloons, but it's still funny to me. And sweet that an old, simple film can still be so enthralling to young children. We don't really watch a lot of tv with him (other than sports) so it must have been a treat. It's really just the city, a little boy, the balloon, and music. He's so cultured.

Watch out--they spit!

Up and At 'Em

Way to jump up and greet the day, bud. These were taken over TWENTY minutes. Usually he pops right up, smiling, as if he had never been asleep at all...so this was hilarious to me. And also painful, because I also just wanted to go back to sleep myself. But we had to get up to "go to school and play with our teachers and friends!"

NOPE.

Wait, what?

Oh. You.

Fine.

Little Leprechaun

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you and yours!

(it's a little hard to tell, but his pants are green...)

First Zoo Trip!

His favorite things were the animal crackers, other children, flamingos, walking, and fish. 

Also, I'm pretty sure he thought the elephants were giant dogs. 

Tiny Bellhop

Goodnight Moon

We had a little bit of an ice event here on Sunday night, so C and I spent the night at Doc & Jules's house. They have a generator, so we thought that was the safest option as a night (or more) at home without power would be dicey. Adventures are fun until everyone is freezing and bored and cranky.

We packed up a bag with all the important bedtime items: sleep sack, Taggies, lotion, and even our own copy of Goodnight Moon (red balloon). I knew there were probably 4 copies over at the g-'rents' house, but couldn't risk it.

Turned out I needn't have worried, because he went straight to a stack of books in his room there, toppled it, and immediately pulled out the resident copy. And turned to his favorite page.

The boy knows what he likes.

For the record, everything was fine. The power did go out at the big house, but he was a trooper overnight and the generator powers a couple rooms--enough to make it workable without a problem. We did not lose power at home, so our gamble was a little off...but I guess better safe than sorry. Overall, I think it was good to do, because he was a little wide-eyed at the whole same-routine-different-room bedtime gig, and it's probably good to mix it up every now and again so he learns to flex. 

The ice is mostly gone now, but it's cold and I am o.ver.it. 

First Birthday: Let the Games Begin!

*I had a lot of help pulling together this party weekend, from friends and professionals

alike. All vendors, etc., are listed at the bottom of this post. 

They all do wonderful work; I did not receive any freebies in 

exchange for posting this info. I just wanted to share, because people

 often ask"Who is your go-to person for _____?". 

Email me if you have other questions.

The Opening Ceremony for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi was Friday, February 7, kicking off two weeks of Olympic (and TV) fabulousness. If you know me, you know that I'm an Olympics junkie--and we even have an Olympian in the family (hi Non!). I might slightly prefer the summer games, but I don't discriminate, and BA is definitely a winter sports guy. I also reeeeaaalllly love a theme party, so this was just too perfect. I figure I only get a couple years before he wants to dictate his own birthday party wishes (Elmo train ball pit bouncy house?) (How long can you go before they know about Chuck E. Cheese oh God I have anxiety just thinking about it), so I grabbed on to this one and went with it. 

(NO, he does not know the "words" to the Olympic song yet, and I'm holding off as long as I can. Just give me this one thing, people.)

We had a wonderful weekend of non-stop partying (on the party level of a one-year old), and it was really, really great. I know that he won't really remember it, and it's probably overkill, but I decided to embrace the fact that it's really just for the adults. I also strongly believe that it is worth celebrating the fact that everyone made it through that first year, so party we did. Cheers to all who celebrated with us, in person and in spirit. Your well wishes will be remembered warmly. 

Let the games begin!

*photos are by Sara (the good ones) and

me (the less-good ones)

Have thumb, will party.

BALLOONS ("bboooos!"). Honestly, probably his favorite thing about the whole weekend. 

Flags: second only to the balloons. Watch him watching the flags during the Parade of Nations here...

Cocktails + SATCo. Ain't much better. 

I was just in love with this cake. I told them I wanted something simple without a lot of color (I didn't want everything--including the baby--dyed blue or something) but otherwise left it up to them. I sent them a copy of the invitation and let them have at it. I was so pleased AND it tasted good, which isn't always necessarily the case.

Oh, did you want a classic First Birthday Smash Cake Face photo? Too bad.

Happy again after those terrible people tried to feed me cake. 

This push toy from Nana and Pops was definitely the top present. Wild man.

On to Sunday...we had some friends over to play and eat snacks.

(Allow me to just note that 6 toddlers feels like 46 people. I think my dad still has PTSD.)

Kid food. The adults had chili (not shown).

Again, cocktails necessary.

Favor bags had these gorgeous cookies, winter hats, and commemorative cups (C's fave).

The ones for kiddos also had Winter Olympic rubber duckies.

Yes. Those are a thing you can buy.

Yes, we took the push toy with us to the party.

Happy birthday, little Olympian. We just love you.

invitations + swag * nico and lala / custom bib + hat * Dainty Couture on Etsy / balloons * Shingdigs + Celebrations / flags, banners, winter sport duckies * Oriental Trading Co. / cake + smash cake * Dulce / some food * SATCo / photo marshmallows * boomf / decorated sugar cookies * Dozen Nashville