Happy Birthday Payton!!

I can't believe a year has passed since Payton was born. He has grown into a little toddler, and I keep thinking 'where did my baby go?' This year has flown by, yet I can't hardly remember my life without Payton. I feel so lucky to have him, and enjoy seeing him learn and grow.
Some of the things he has been doing lately:
- He claps all the time. He loves any show that has an audience that claps.
-He waves good bye and hello, and says "hi"
-when he eats something he likes he says "yummmmm"
- He puckers his lips for kisses...it is SO cute!
- He has started running.
- He loves to read books. He empties out his bookshelf daily, and reads every book (for about 10 seconds) then moves on to the next
- He is in 18 month clothes, and weighs 25 lbs. He looks way older then he is.
-He had his 4th haircut last week. and has gone completely blond.

On the 27th (his actual birthday), we celebrated by giving him his first ice cream cone. He absolutely loved it!! We decided to wait till that saturday (31st) to have his party, so that we could have a BBQ with family and friends. The weather was great, and we had a TON of fun.

First we had a bbq with burgers and hotdogs, salads, and lots of other yummy food. Then the kids played in the pool and had fun with water balloons, and bubbles.


Then payton got to have his birthday cake and ice cream.


I made him a train cake. I was at work the night before his party, still looking online for ideas. I found one like this and decided thats what I wanted to do. I stopped at the store on my way home from work at 7am to get the final things for the cake. Then I spent that morning baking and decorating it. I was so excited about it that I didn't even sleep before his party. I was definately worn out after it was over, but it was so much fun!

I think the next few pictures speak for themselves about how Payton liked the cake.





We all got to enjoy some cake and ice cream.

we had to go throw Payton in the tub after he was done with his cake. he was covered!!

Then Payton opened presents. He got some trucks, a book, a ball, a picnic table, a swing, a toy story chair, and a singing puppy. We are so grateful for our family and friends who came to celebrate with us!!




We had a blast on Saturday....and loved celebrating payton's first birthday. We love this little boy so much, and love having him as part of our family.