jedi master

what could be more awesome than playing with a light saber?

...well, he is a boy after all.

mustache bash

our birthday boy!

preview of hank's 1yr photos taken by denise chambers

we had a mustache bash today in honor of our little man turning one. his stache lasted all of 5 seconds but his daddy's is the real deal.

 

we had dear friends join us in celebrating. 

henry's girlfriend, evelyn.

 

the kids got to make their own pizza, dressing it with sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. henry was hungry so he snacked on his toppings.

marianne chose the stache for me...i look borderline pervy dude.

we played "pin the stache on hank"

let them eat cake. and he did. henry had some good practice with this on wednesday and his chocolate cupcake made him one happy boy...he ate the entire thing.

 

my mustache brings all the girls to the yard

thanks to everyone who came, it was a special day for henry and for us.

baby-no-more

our hank turned one today.

we had such a fun day! started with Cheerios and pbs in bed. after a long morning nap we had lunch with daddy at one of our favorite burger joints. then, one-year photos with my dear and talented friend Denise Chambers. the kids had such a great time and we got so very many shots. i can't wait to see them. birthday dinner, cupcakes, and opening presents. oh, and pooping in the bathtub...because there's no better time than on your birthday!

our sweet baby is becoming a little boy.

boo

for the record, i'm not a fan of store-bought halloween costumes. growing up, my sisters and i always had costumes hand-crafted by our mom, with very few exceptions. our favorite for many years was to be punk-rockers. oh yeah!!! so i've made it my mission to do homemade costumes for my little babes. the last couple of years i just added hand-sewn details to a lion and bumblebee costumes but this year i got myself in deep. marianne wanted to be twilight sparkle from my little pony and wanted henry to be twilight's dragon, spike. so i brought my sewing machine out of it's 6-year hiatus and called upon my 4-H skills instilled by the incredible carol k. the twilight costume was complete with unicorn and cutie mark (star on her hip) and i made a dragon-tail for spike from this fantastic pattern from jessica at running with scissors. the best part of the tail was completely unplanned but with henry's lopsided crawl, the tail just flopped around behind him. stinkin' adorable.

it was a fun halloween between a donut eating contest at a local high school trick or treat event, the annual costume parade at marianne's school, trick-or-treating with dear friends, and our traditional last trick-or-treating stop at brian and brianna's doorstep. as we were trick-or-ttreating, marianne was always the last to leave each porch. i couldn't figure out why she was keeping to the back when at one house i heard her wishing the homeowner a good evening, which she continued to do at every home. such a proud moment. unfortunately for her, the poor little thing realized halfway through our route that she had to potty. with no facilities available, she had to hold it until we could get to brian and brianna's. henry had a great time riding along in the wagon. his little friend, evelyn (dressed as a pea), joined him for a bit. she's a doll...always a happy girl. marianne really liked the kit kat candy bars and when we were all out of them, she asked for more of the kitty cats. but i'm trying to convince her it's almost time to eat lots of turkey and be incredibly thankful. let us all give thanks. xo