My 1st grown-up THANKSGIVING-2008!

I still can't believe I pulled it off! I mean, don't get me wrong; I'm not the wife that can't cook or anything like that (not hating... just saying).  I LOVE to cook and experiment, or even make up stuff with the random food left over in the pantry when I've been pre-occupied to notice that we're running low on groceries. But, I did it! My very first grown-up thanksgiving dinner! Well, it was more of a lunch cause we ate it early, but for all intentions and purposes, it was a THANKSGIVING DINNER!

The Turkey was golden, moist and flavorful, the sweet potato casserole with marshmallows was browned perfectly and not burned, the pumpkin cheesecake was delicious... the whole thing worked out! Can you tell I'm proud of myself?! LOL! Here's the thing, any good cook or recipe will tell you never to try a new recipe when you're hosting a dinner. And I did exactly that. So, of course I was nervous! Plus, it's not just any dinner... it's THANKSGIVING!!!!

So, here's how it went down. The night before, I decided to get the cheesecake ready to get that out of the way. I also followed my good friend (and awesome cook) Youlie's advice to prep the turkey so that it could soak in the flavors of the rub overnight. The cheesecake was easy. I'd done cheesecakes before, so I wasn't too worried about that. Plus, I was using a Paula Deen recipe. Can't go wrong with Paula Ya'll!

The turkey, on the other hand... well, that's the story! You know when you are in grade-school and they teach you to read instructions all the way through before you start anything?  Well, I must have been out that day cause I didn't do that. I'm already intimidated by the giant 12lb chicken-looking-bird that's sitting in my sink. It's heavy and cold and well, DEAD! I mean the whole thing is just a little bit gross! Let's just say that wednesday night I had a revelation. I'm glad I decided to skip the med school idea!

So, back to the turkey. I cut the little net thing that it's wrapped in, and cut a slit in the plastic bag. Immediately I see "red juice" (i'm trying no to be too gross ;o) and freak. But I calm myself down and remind myself that I'm really not that squeamish, so I quickly get over that. Then as  I continue to unwrap it I notice that there's a wire deal holding it's legs together. So I call my M.I.L. to ask if I can leave that on there. She wasn't sure, but figured it'd be fine. So I did. Then I proceeded to check the next step in the instructions. It said: "rinse the turkey and cavity with cold water." . Easy enough, right? Well, I'm rinsing away. Scared to death to even look inside the cavity. I had decided not to stuff it, so why even take a peek inside the dead bird's cavity. That word, cavity!?! Blech! So, I get my sprayer to shoot water in the cavity and decide to turn the turkey up side down to drain the water out of the cavity. And then... there it came. GUSHING OUT OF THE CAVITY! I started screaming at Randy: "AAAAAAHHHHHHHH... BAAAABE, THE BIRD GAVE BIRTH! I was FREAKING OUT!!!! It was the turkey's NECK! They had stuffed it in the birds cavity! WHYYYYYYYYY?????? GROSSSSSSS!!!! I was shaking! LOL! Randy was laughing at me, poor Brandon didn't know if I was laughing or in distress. He kept walking back and forth in to the kitchen. He was soo cute! So interested but clueless of what the heck was going on!

I finally calm down and decide to go back to the directions. And, there it was. Step 2: "take the turkey's neck out of the cavity...". Great. NOW YOU TELL ME! After that, it was all smooth sailing. Well, kind of. At least until Thursday morning.

So, wednesday night we had a great night of sleep. Brandon had been sick lately so he'd been waking up a lot. And finally, that night, he slept thorough the night. Awesome right? Well, yes and no.  I was expecting him to wake up a couple of times and then at like 6-ish when he woke up for real, I'd stay up with him, have coffee and get the rest of the food ready. Well, he woke up at like 7:30.  So, I was confused and out of it since my body was actually well rested and didn't notice the time.  My in-laws were coming over at 10am to help with anything I might need and just to hang.  So out of nowhere, 9:30 comes around and I'm chillin' in my PJ's drinking my coffee until Randy looks at me and goes... "babe, what are you doing?" And I'm like, why? He's like: "well, it's 9:30, mom and dad get here in 30 minutes, the house is not ready and you're in your PJ's." I proceeded once again to FREAK!  I stared hollering at  him to help me.  We put Brandon for a nap that he didn't want that morning cause he slept so good the night before, so he's crying bloody murder through the monitors, I'm grabbing the vacuum to clean the floors from all the tree branch thingys and glitter from ornaments that fell off when we were setting it up the day before.  Then Randy runs up to take a shower while I'm setting the table, putting the turkey in the oven, vacuuming, Brandon's still crying... 

10:30am:

I step out of the shower, in-laws are already having a good time complimenting the table and the house looking good and I walk down fully dressed and ready to host! 

I DID IT, PRAISE GOD!

It all worked out.  So after the "storm" passed, I thought to my self, I am so thankful for family, provision and joy in this holiday season 2008!  I hope your thanksgiving was as funny and awesome as mine was! 

With much love and thanks in this, the most wonderful time of the year:

Happy thanksgiving day! 

Emille and the Crawford Boys!

Helloooooo Friends and Family,

As some of you might have heard, we just came back from an impromptu DISNEY TRIP!!! WOOHOOO!  Disney World is my FAVORITE PLACE ON EARTH!  I just love it! 

We went to Magic Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM). Brandon enjoyed Magic Kingdom more and I think I did too! That place is just incredible! I mean, the Castle, the parades, the different lands. It's magical! Walt Disney is a GENIUS!!!

We had a blast!  Brandon did really good.  He was in awe of  all the pretty colors, lights and sounds that surrounded him.  We were able to ride many of the rides with him and I didn't expect us to be able to do that.  So that was awesome! We rode on Peter Pan, It's a small world, a new Pooh ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, I mean, literally, everything that he could ride, we did!   He LOVED it's a small world! His head was tossing and turning trying to see everything! Mouth wide open, like ... wow! The entire time I wondered what he was thinking.  

He didn't freak our on any of the rides, but if they got too loud or something he would hold his little ears.  Too cute!   He did it in front of another family with a little one while we were watching the Beauty and the Beast show. That mom told me that her little guy was doing that at the parks too.  Poor guys! They totally don't get the whole park deal, so to them it's like STIMULATION OVERLOAD!  

But all in all it was awesome!  I can't wait to go back! It's such a different experience with a little one! You get to do things that you wouldn't have without him and it's like experiencing it for the 1st time all over again! 

Here's a slideshow of our picts.  Brandon was super distracted by everything, so we didn't really get great picts of him.  Still, they are cute, so enjoy!

You can also go to this link to see more! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=62091&l=62897&id=509781780 

Love you!

Emille and the Crawford Boys!

He's a walker!

News flash!!!

Little dude is a confident walker! After months of cruising- walking holding on to furniture- he let go and he's doing great! I can officially say that he walked at 12 months! Cause it was like a week before he turned 13 months ;o) !

I asked my momma when I walked and she remembers it was around the same time. Maybe a little later than Brandon cause I was such a FAT baby that she says it was hard for my chubby legs to stretch out and do their "thang" lol! And if I'm not mistaken Randy walked at around this time too!

It's so cute how he puts his hands out as if he were ready to do some ballroom dancing! I'm loving this! I'm so proud of my little toddler!

Check him out:

Fall in TN

Hey Friends and Family,

I hope you are all doing great! We are doing awesome.  Enjoying the beautiful Fall in TN! 

I LOVE living in the States! One on the reasons is the changing seasons. Growing up on an Island, where the weather is 85ºF and 100% humidity year round makes seeing the leaves change color and the temperatures drop super exciting and the views breathtaking!

Today, we went to a farm in Franklin, TN called Gentry's Farm. If you've ever watched the tv show "little people, big world", then you'll have a good idea of what we visited today. The Roloff's - the family in the show- have a farm that they open to the public during this season and they have hay rides and pumpkin patches and other fun activities for the family.


At Gentry's farm (www.gentryfarm.com), they had all of what I mentioned above, but also a corn maze. This is just what is sounds like. The farmers create a maze in one of their cornfields. The one they did this year was a four acre maze that they shaped like a cow! LOL! We went with some of the kids of our youth group from Strong tower, our church. They all had a pretty good time! Brandon was riding in the little car that his grandma and aunt gave him for his birthday and he was having a real good time!

The little man also hung out around some toy tractors for kiddoes about his age and he loved it. Check out the picts of him in his John Deer tractor!  We rode on a hay ride with no hay and took some cute pictures around the farm! Gosh... I'm raising me a country boy! Yee-haw!!! Hey, when in Rome... right?! 

I hope we can make this a family tradition just like the farm has been for this community for so many years and come back every fall! 

I hope your autumn 2008 is blessed! 

Love,

Emille

Weird and unexpected issues of parenting!

Today I came to a crappy realization. I can't clean my house unless I have a sitter to watch Brandon. Do you realize how much this stinks for a neat freak like myself?! By the way, thanks Jenny for helping me out today and Kristy for last week!

Brandon might not be a full fledged walker yet, but wether it's crawling or cruising, little dude gets around! I fear that if I try to clean with him just roaming around, he'll either drink a cleaner or he'll start chewing on the vacuum cord or something insane like that! The possibilities are endless.

So here were my previous options: There was containment. That worked for about 25 min as long as the baby einstein video was playing. And the more mobile he got, the less that worked! :oP Then there was the: "try and do it while he naps." Yeah... that one worked as long as I didn't need to vacuum. Little man is like his daddy: a LIGHT SLEEPER!!! And when do you clean without vacuuming???

So, the solution... BABY-SITTING! Today, my house was a mess and my usual "clean day" sitter, Randy, is in KY, so I called in for help. Praise the Lord, help was available! And now my house is once again clean! AAAaaahhhhh!

Thanks again Jenny! You know that tonight, I will sleep like a baby! Well, as long as baby brandon let's me!

old brandon blogs: #8- 11 months

Hello Friends and family,

I probably say this every time, but that doesn't mean it's any less true! TIME FLIES!!! He's a few days away from being one year old! It's truly unbelievable!!!

Milestone update: HE TOOK HIS FIRST STEPS!!! He took three or four steps and walked toward me in his bedroom and then he did it to his daddy while his Abuelita Lita and abuelo Millo (his PR grandparents ;o)) we're watching on skype! It was precious! He's not done it much since, but I heard this is normal until they get the full confidence to go solo. I believe it might be my fault because I got so exited and filled with motherly pride that I started screaming of joy and freaked him out! LOL! But he's getting there! :oD

He's finally saying "MA-MA" and it's music to my ears! We were out shopping today and the entire time he was just going on and on: "ma-ma-ma-ma...". I couldn't get enough! I'm sure it was probably bugging others at the store, but I surely did not care!!!

He's been eating a lot more off our plates lately and he's loving it! We sit at the table for dinner and prop him on his high chair and it's the sweetest family time! He's had chicken and biscuit casserole, rice and beans (of course ;o)), scrambled eggs, broccoli and chicken alfredo pasta... I mean the works! I don't think we have a picky eater! Praise the Lord!!!

I'm exited for his birthday party! My parents and grandma are coming along with my brother, hopefully my sister, her little guy (the neph neph! ) and my two aunts. All of which are coming in from out of town! Some of them have never met him! It's going to be a great party! I've been planning it for months now. I hope many of you reading this can come out!

Well, that's it for now! Next post will have the party picts and I'm sure a ton of new shenanigans curtesy of the little dude!

Love you all! Enjoy the picts attached as usual!

xoxoxox

Emille and the Crawford Boys!

old brandon blogs: #7- 10 months

Hello Friends and Family,

Brandon turned 10 months this 12th of July! He is as awesome as ever!!! I cannot praise God enough for our son!

I was recently talking to some friends about how while I was preggo I would pray for specifics about my boy to the Lord. Some of it was silly, like the eye color that I would like for him to have, or what features of myself or Randy I'd love to see in him. Other things were more crucial, like praying for him to be a man of God, or that he would have the joy of the Lord always! Well, let me just say that, aside from his eyes looking a little more of a brownish hue than I was hoping (they have some green in them ;o) , he pretty much has all that I asked!!!

He is a super joyful baby!!!! He squeals of joy all the time! He's got Randy's duck lips, my eye shape, he was born with hair, he's got beautiful eyelashes, he's pretty social and so many other things that I'll leave out or this e-mail will be a mile long! But what I'm looking fwd to the most is seeing how God is going to mold him to be that Godly man that Randy and I prayed for! Cause we know for sure that prayer IS ALREADY ANSWERED!

His development is on point according to the books! He's starting to babble da-da and is starting to use his "l's". No ma-ma yet, but I'm sure he'll say enough of that to drive me crazy at some point so I'm not trippin'! ;oD He's cruising big time! Randy got him a super cute truck thing that he can use as a walker or ride on it or just play with it and he LOVES IT! I sent some of you the video of him cruising on it, but in case I missed you on that list, I'll add the link to this e-mail as well.

He's got 4 teeth already and a few more rapidly cutting through! He looks so big now because of them! He's like a little rabbit- 2 on top and 2 on the bottom. He's chewing on EVERYTHING!!!! Any tips on how to get him to stop before he ruins our leather couches??!!!!

He's doing good with his eating. We started letting him try some table food, like stuff we might be eating that he could try and he's loved it so far! I gave him some green peas the other day and he was so funny trying to catch the little green balls or just plain squishing them. Too funny! I've also let him have some smashed sweet potatoes. He liked those too. He also had a french fry the other day... can of worms!!! He LOVED IT! Can't blame him! French Fries should be a major food group! He he he!

Well, I think that's all I got for now. I'll write again in a few weeks! Oh, and before I forget, especially for those of you out of state, we're celebrating his birthday Saturday the 13th of September. Details to follow. You are all invited so if you can make it, be sure to save the date!

Below are the links for the youtube videos of the little dude:


Love and blessings,

The Crawfords
Emille, Randy and Baby Brandon ;oD

Old brandon blogs: #6 - 9 months

Hey friends and family,

I guess it that time again! Time for a baby update.

Well, here's the scoop. He's CRAWLING! Holy crap- time to baby proof the house!!!! He is too cute doing it too. I'll have to video him and upload to you tube so you all can see him. He went from sitting to rocking back and forth on all fours to going for it! It's awesome!!! He also cut his 2nd tooth! Looking so cute! I can't get him to show me them long enough so I can take a picture ;o(. But if he does, I'll be sure to share.

Randy and I were reminiscing yesterday looking at some cute short videos of when we first brought him home. Hearing that new born cry again almost made us cry. It really does go by FAST!!!

I have to say, it's way more fun now! I do miss the sweetness of him being that tiny little nugget. So helpless and needy. Not that he's not anymore. But now he smiles at us and works at getting our attention so much more. Especially in the morning when he wakes up. We'll bring him in our room and feed him. Then he usually dozes off for a a little bit longer (thank goodness cause this usually happens 'round 5:00 am!). Then he'll start whacking us with his arm to get us up. It's hilarious! Either that or he'll start making these cute sounds: "GOO... ". Anything he can to get mom and dad's attention. It's PRICELESS!!!

He's got another tiny little cold right now, so be praying that it's just that and not another ear infection! But other that that, all's great! At the last dr's appt he weighed in at close to 20lbs, which put's him right at 50% in the charts for his age. He measured 29"(75%) and his little head's circimference is 44 1/2", (25%). So I guess he's going to be tall! Yay! Oh, and don't worry about his head. It's been that way since day one so it's perfectly normal! Me and my sister have a theory that those charts are ethnically challenged. We think that caucasian babies have larger heads than hispanics and they don't take that into consideration. Don't believe me, check out some of those Baby Gap commercials with all the different nationality babies. You'll see what I'm talking about. He he he!

Recently, our good friend Brandon Wood hooked it up and took some picts of the little dude. This guy is SUPER TALENTED!!! Baby brandon was on a more serious mood that morning, so we didn't get a lot of smiling picts. But we might give it another shot. It was his nap time, so he wasn't too exited that we decided to throw a photoshoot at that time in his schedule. But I must say the picts are great!!!

This is the link for the picts. I couldn't attach them cause the files are huge! (...don't worry mom, I'll send you a cd!). But please go take a look!

http://www.indiebling.com/bcrawford/

I also attached some cute father's day picts. Randy's 1st! It was an awesome day!

Hope you enjoyed reading of baby BEC'S shenanigans- i love that word; it makes me laugh!-. I'll be back soon!

Many love and blessings always,

Emille, Randy and Baby Brandon

Old brandon blogs: #5- 8 months

5/14/08

Hi friends and Family!

Brandon is already 8 MONTHS OLD!!! Can you believe it?!??? I sure can't!

I must say, even though I have enjoyed all the developmental milestones of his growing thus far; this is my favorite phase for him! He is too much! He's super interactive right now! All smiles! He's, I'd say, about 85% confident in sitting up without support. He loves to play on the floor with all his toys. He mainly wants to eat them, but, you know, that's how he plays with them! He's eating all kinds of baby food! He loves his veggies! Especially the orange stuff. Squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, etc! He also digs apples and bananas! He's not too crazy about sweet peas. But to be honest, I tried them and they're pretty nasty! LOL! They have this nasty aftertaste, so I don't blame the kid!

He's still got no teeth! He's been teething for months now! But no sure sign of the pearly whites just yet! Hey, and I'm not mad either cause I'm still partially nursing him!

We just recently graduated from bringing in the car seat to restaurants into having him sit in the high chairs that they have. It was pretty cool! He loved it! I can imagine he felt like was a part of our meal instead of an accessory! We had tried to sit him in them a couple of times before but he would slump to the side. He wasn't ready yet. But now he is solid! He was playing with the napkins and we gave him some cheerios. I didn't have my camera :o( but I will for the next outing! Promise!!! It was super cute! He's becoming a total big boy! ;o)

He also is getting real good at holding his bottle all by himself! I'm so proud!

He just got his 1st cold this week! :o( He had a fever of 102º F. He was miserable, poor guy! But is was just a good old fashioned cold! No infections, thank the Lord! He's feeling much better now!

Well, that's all I got. I'll try to take some good picture if him soon and I'll pass those on! I did add some but they're not super recent. Hope you like!

Love and blessings,

the Crawford 3!

Old brandon blogs: #4 - Brandon's 1st Easter and Randy's 1st b-day as a daddy

...Fam's update: On Sat night we went to a hibachi bar in Spring Hill to celebrate Randy's birthday and had some yummy food! Then Sunday, for Easter, we all got dressed up for church and after church we came back to our place and had an amazing brunch that consisted of Biscuits and sausage gravy, southern style, of course; hash-brown casserole (cracker barrel recipe-Mmmmm!), french toast casserole (courtesy of Paula Deen ya'll!) and some quiches that Kristy made. Everything was great!

Next: Brandon's update:
The little guy is not so little anymore! At his 6mo check up he weighed 17.6lbs and measured 26 1/2in. He's on the 50% mark on both measurements; which means he's perfectly average on his growth development ;o) . Good stuff!

He's a pro now on his raspberries and he loves to get our faces all wet as he goes at it when we're trying to kiss his cute face! Lol! He's eating like a truck, just downing all his baby food stuff. And like his daddy, apple sauce is his favorite! He likes green beans and squash a lot too!

Sleeping has been great lately. Like any baby, he has his nights sometimes that he wakes up and wants attention or food, but more often than not, we've been getting decent sleep! Praise the Lord!

He's doing better everyday with sitting up w/o support and playing with his lil' chubby feet ;o) ! He's rolling over both ways and just getting more and more active everyday. He loves balloons and cell phones and the tv remote.

No teeth yet but he's definitely teething! Drooling like a monster!

That's it for now. As always I'll keep you posted on any new and fun developments.

Much love from the Crawford 3!

Muah,

Emille, Randy and Baby Brandon ;oD

Old brandon blogs: #3 - 5 months and counting

Feb/2008

Hi Familia,

Hope you are all doing wonderful!!! We are blessed! Everyone is doing great!

As I'm sure most of you have heard, recently some really bad Tornado storms swept through TN this past week. Thank the Lord we were spared!

The storms were pretty severe and the people that got hit by them suffered greatly. Many lives were taken; though many were spared. Those who were blessed to survive the monster T4 strength twisters are now having to start from scratch having little more than the clothes on their backs. So, please be praying for all these families who just suffered this tragedy, and for the ones who lost loved ones.

The least we have to say is that we are BLESSED! Thanks for all you guys that heard about the storms and were praying for our safety. Those prayers were surely answered!

On a much brighter note, little Brandon is getting real BIG! He's going nuts practicing his raspberries and being all kinds of loud. Especially when we're at church or watching an intense movie or TV show at home (i.e. LOST) when he decides to be especially loud. But you can't get mad at him cause he's sooo darn cute!

He's doing really good on his solid food, although, them poopies are getting mighty smelly ;oP! I'm sure all you parents out there can relate!

Ok, so...FUNNY STORY!!! I guess you can call this payback for all the ornery things Randy must have done as a kid ;oD! But the other day while I was out running an errand, Randy stayed home with the baby having some guy time with his little buddy. Well, the little stinker decided to do Daddy a nice little treat! (Yuck warning... up-ahead!) Well, for those of you weak in the stomach, SKIP to the next paragraph. So as I was saying, Randy had just finished feeding the little munchkin a ton of cereal mixed with some yummy applesauce which he LOVES! Randy was just chilling at the house so he didn't have a shirt on. After the baby was done feeding and cleaned up and what not, Randy picked him up and sat down in the sofa with the baby in his lap and they watched some TV. A few moments later, Randy felt a not so little flutter on the lil' guys bottom. Then he got what I like to call a not so nice whoof of the not so pleasant aroma coming from said area. Well, let me just continue to elaborate and give you a mental picture. He then realized that a very nasty substance had exploded from the diaper through the pants up the back and unto Randy's bare chest!!! And I wasn't home to help!!! Poor boys had a fun time getting through it, but they both survived and now we are all having a good laugh about it! Or mayve were all dry heaving, lol!

Well, that's all I got for you this time. Until next, much love and tons of blessings!!!

Muah!

The Crawford 3

Old brandon blogs: #2 - 4 months and counting

Check out the latest video of our lil' man. 4 1/2 months and already being a big boy in his high chair. He LOVES to eat! The link is at the end.

Update... just took him in for a check up and he's doing WONDERFUL! He's weighing 16lbs and measuring 25 in! He's in the 50-65% for his weight, 50% in length and 25% for his head circumference. The Dr. was very happy with his development. His %'s have been consistent since he was born and that's what they like to see.

Just pray that he starts sleeping again! The only concern that I had is that this child had been super baby sleeping through the night since early on. I'm talking like at 5-6 weeks, sleeping 8-9 hrs straight! And now... he wakes up every two to three hrs!!! He's been doing this for close to a month now. If anyone has any suggestions... they are welcome! But let me just say that we have tried just about everything! Poor Randy is a walking zombie! I'm ok cause I get to chill at the house with him, but Randy works real hard so keep him in your prayers that God continues to give him tons of strength!

I asked the Dr and she said that he might have gone through a growth spurt and then it became a habit to get up in the middle of the night! AAAHHHHhh! Her only suggestion is to let him cry it out! For all you parents out there... you know how hard this can be! But we're trying!

On a sweeter side, he's getting tons of personality everyday! He's been smiling on command so pictures are getting cuter! I'll send some here too, so you can enjoy! He's grabbing everything and, of course, putting it in his mouth! LOL! It's so cute! If we are sitting with him in our lap, he'll grab our hand and start to nibble on it! It's sooo sweet!

Mom... he LOVES the octopus that you got him! It is his FAVORITE toy! I promise! He loves to explore each leg, and chew on it of course!

Well family, I'll try to make these a recurring thing so you can keep up with Brandon's development!

Love you all and hope to hear from you soon!

Muah!

Milli, Randy and Baby Brandon ;oD

____________________________________________________________________

Old brandon blogs: #1. the birth announcement

The Birth Announcement Blog:

"Hi friends and family,

It is with great pleasure that I announce the arrival of our 1st born son Brandon Elisha Crawford. Born Wednesday, Sept 12 @ 1:17pm. He weighed 7.4lbs and measured 20 in. He is absolutely perfect!!! I attached a picture so you can see the little guy and I cannot wait until you all can meet him face to face.

Thank you for all your prayers during our pregnancy and labor. We felt the power of each and everyone of them! God is GOOD!

Love,

Emille, Randy & Brandon.

Brandon's 1st birthday!!!

Hello everyone! 

This is the first of many blogs that I hope to share with you.  If you know me good enough, then you know I'm not much of a blogger. But I guess with living far from many loved ones and having created a weird relationship with my cellphone, this seemed like the logical solution.  So, I hope you enjoy your readings! 

This past Saturday, the 13 of September, we celebrated Brandon Elisha's 1st birthday! His actual b-day is the 12th, but the party was better set on a weekend. I had sooo many ideas for his party it was pitiful! My mom was making fun of me reading my long lists of stuff that I wanted to do and that I was actually doing.  I love party planning though!  I'm a very detailed person so party planning is the perfect outlet for people like myself with a mild case of OCD. LOL! 

I was able to do the majority of the ideas I had.  I think it all worked out great! Of course there are always things that you missed or that you wish you could have done differently.  But again, I think I can just blame that attitude to my OCD.  Enough of that for now. Let me tell you all about what I did! 

The theme of the party was Baby Einstein.  The baby is a HUGE fan of the dvd's so even though everyone expected me to throw a "Tory Spelling-ish Monkey extravaganza" I chose to please the guest of honor and do what he would enjoy.

For those of you with kids, I'm sure you're familiar with the Baby Einstein dvd's.  For those of you who aren't, here's the deal.  It's basically a digital board book with puppets and images and simple words that stimulate babies.  Brandon was hooked since he was like a month old! 

I went online and found all kinds of goody's of the theme! Including a personalized banner...

...and the actual puppets that they use on the show.  So of course... I HAD to orchestrate a puppet show! :oD 

One of the things that I wanted to do and was so exited about was to somehow create a picture wall with one picture of every moth of the little man's life.  So, I did!  

I chose my favorite pict of every month and strung it from yarn with clothes pins and attached the age on the bottom of the pict.  It was a hit! I got so many compliments on it.  I was really proud and so happy it worked out! 

I WAS going to attempt to make the cake.  But a good friend gave me a good reality check on all the stuff I had going on and I decided against it.  So, I also decided not to inconvenience anyone with the task and bought one of the same theme at the local Publix.  It was cute and yummy.  And they also throw in the smash cake for free :o).

So, all and all it was a great party! I hope everyone there had a good time as well!

Love you and I'll be back to blog some more soon!