Favorite Firsts

How does one decide on a favorite first? For Toddle Along Tuesday, I'm anxious to hear which "firsts" top the cake for fellow bloggers. For me, I couldn't choose just one.

First breath. First cry. First time seeing my precious baby boy.

First smile. First coo. First laugh. First tooth. First word.

First roll. First crawl. First step.

First vacation. First haircut. First birthday.

All the firsts are truly the best as they make a new milestone for baby and new memory for parent. I look forward to many more firsts for Easton including recognizing his first color and his first letter, his first day of school, his first lost tooth, first sporting event and yes, even his first date!!!

Toddle Along Tuesday: Free Fun!

Kids aren't cheap. As a matter of fact, they're quite expensive! According to BabyCenter, the average cost of a child is over $10,000 per year. Between clothes, diapers, food, toys, daycare and healthcare, the dollars really add up quickly.

That being said, it's important to have cheap ways to entertain kids. And thanks to my mom, I'm pretty frugal  when it comes to shopping, rarely paying full price for anything. She taught me many important things about being a mom, and when it comes to spoiling your children, I've learned you can spoil them for less -- garage sales, mom2mom sales, and garbage picking - yes, that's what folks, I said garbage picking! My mom is always thinking of others -- especially when she nabs a good find on the side of the road.

Bring in: Little Tikes playhouse and climbing structure (both FREE!!!) A little dish soap and water and they are as good as new. And we share the wealth - the neighborhood kids are loving them too!

And what better way to burn a little energy than running around outside (as free as it gets!)

Don't forget to vote!!

Night, Night!

I'm linking up with fellow bloggers for Toddle Along Tuesday!

On a typical night, the bedtime routine begins around 7:30pm. This is a recent change, as Easton used to be passed out by 7:30, but lately, he's been more of a night owl.  We spend the first several minutes on the stairs as Easton climbs up to the landing, giggles and laughs, and then wants to go back down rather than proceed up. He eventually makes his way all the way up and plays in his room, while we get the bath started, assuming it's bath night. Easton gets undressed and in the tub he goes.

7:45pm: Splish, splash - we spend the next 10-15 minutes in the bath! Most of this time consists of drinking the bath water, throwing the toys out of the tub, and repeatedly telling Easton to sit down, in which he mimics me by saying 'sit', then proceeds to sit down, only to stand right back up and throw more toys out of the tub. He thinks it's hilarious. We do a quick scrub down, wash his hair and then he plays while the water drains out.

8:00pm: The next several minutes are spent fighting Easton to get dressed. He is going through a phase where he hates having his diaper changed and hates laying on the changing table. Every toy in sight is used to distract him, singing 'wheels on the bus' and 'old mcdonald' and finally, after about ten minutes, we have successful applied lotion, a night diaper and jamies (speaking of, he is desperately in need of some 18 month footies). Easton spends the next couple minutes playing while I clean up from bathtime and put laundry away.

8:15pm: We pick out a couple books and read to Easton while he drinks his milk. "Reading" consists mostly of Easton turning the pages before we can finish reading that page. When the books are done, the lights go out, the music goes on and we rock Easton until his bottle is gone.

Good night pumpkin!

8:30pm: In his crib he goes with his paci, lovey and mr. monkey, or 'kiki' as he calls him. On most nights (like tonight), Easton rolls over, curls up on his knees and closes his sweet little eyes. Other nights, he does the same and just when we think he's out, we turn on the video monitor to find him jumping up and down in his bed. When this happens, he usually entertains himself in his crib until he passes out and we seldomly have to go in and lay him back down.

Sweet dreams sugar!

Wordless Wednesday

A Year of Easton via monthly progression photos:

Celebrating ONE!

Well here we have it. First birthday come and gone. And the celebration was one to remember! Way back before I can even remember, I secured the date and theme: The Cat in the Hat. From there, I went on a pinterest rampage, pinning every Cat in the Hat party idea possible. The possibilities were endless, it was up to me to decide how crazy I wanted to get.

On his actual birthday, we started the morning out with balloons, followed by pancakes, some shopping and finished it off with grilled cheese and a cupcake! Easton couldn't have been more thrilled!

Invitations for the big day were created by none other than ME! I fiddled around with the wording, and landed on the following. I was quite pleased with the DIY-ness.

Next up, the decorations. I decided I didn't want to go Cat in the Hat overboard, so my focus was the color scheme; red, white and turquoise. Being April, we weren't sure what to expect as far as weather, so we hoped for the best and planned for the worst. That being said, we kept decorations simple, with the chance that there'd be 50+ people inside (15 being 5 and under) and decorations would go overlooked anyway. My mother-in-law snatched up an awesome Cat in the Hat cutout on display at Kroger which was a great addition to the decor!

A Year of Easton progression display:

One of my favorite pinterest replica's was Dr. Seuss's Happy Birthday To You guest book. I displayed the book on the entry table as guests arrived with a cute sign asking them to write a birthday note to Easton. This will be fun to read to him each year on his birthday!

And Easton's party attire (sorry for the lack of good photos):

Next was the food. I spent lots of time pondering over the menu and landed on festive, yet simple. That being said, we had a schmorisborg of appetizers (which I failed to get a picture of), that entailed green (deviled) eggs and ham (rolls), truffula fruits, oodles of noodles, wings and things (chicken wings), pink yink ink drink and more! The main course: pizza! Because who doesn't like pizza, well, besides Carter ;)! And since I"m lacking pictures of the food display, I'll showcase some of the party guests.

And last but certainly not least, the goods: dessert!! Cookies came highly recommended by a neighbor, and the smash cake was courtesy of Aunt Coll. Thanks to pinterest for the adorable marshmallow pops idea!

Easton was not shy when it came time for cake. I'm not sure how he felt about all the singing (perhaps we were all a little off key), but come cake, he was both hands in!

 All done!

We lucked out with the weather. It was a perfect 60 and sunny and that was a huge relief. We pulled out all sorts of things with wheels, blew up the bounce house and wore all the kiddos out.

Each little one left the party with none other than a Dr. Seuss coloring book.

And talk about presents! Can I please show you how spoiled this kid is?

The gift bag below won for 'most creative' and Easton got his very own table set from mommy and daddy!

And what's a party without the traditional fab 4 shot:

Well, that's a wrap! And as bittersweet as it is to say that I have a ONE year old, I'm looking forward to year two!