Birthday party!

We celebrated Theodore's first birthday this weekend with a little party at home. It was a lot of fun! 

Every birthday boy needs a crazy big sister! :-)

Theodore was obsessed with his birthday balloons. :-)

The smash cake that Aunt Anna made for him!

Having a pre-party snack of watermelon

Time for cake!

Theodore loved his cake! :-)

Here's a video of Theodore enjoying his cake, with a little help from his big sister. (I'm sorry about the quality of the video -- I hadn't used the video setting on my camera yet and wasn't sure how it worked!)

One year old!

The baby boy is ONE today!!!!!  I can't believe it. This year has gone by sooooo quickly. I'm glad that he's at this fun stage where we can all play together, but I do miss those sweet, snuggly newborn baby days. :-(  

He's such a big boy! He loves to play with balls, especially the ball toys Grandma and Grandpa sent him for his birthday. He loves his elephant popper. (And so do I, since he'll play with it contentedly for 10 minutes while I get other stuff done!)   

He looks so much like Oliver in this picture!

He still loves being outside, too. We've been playing with water a lot lately since it's been so warm, and he loves to splash! 

Since today is his birthday, Theodore got to pick our outing this morning. He chose his favorite park, and had a great time! It wore him out so much that he even fell asleep on the way home. :-)

 Happy birthday, baby boy!!!!

Playing at Zilker Park

This morning we decided to go to Zilker Park! Mostly since we hadn't been in a few months, but also because a trip to Zilker is on Oliver's summer bucket list. :-)  There were 5 schoolbus-loads of field-trippers (in addition to the usual bunch of moms/dads with kids), and it was hot this morning (91 degrees when we left at 11:15) but we had a great time, as usual. There are so many different things to do, that we can't fit everything in on a morning visit. I guess we're going to have to go back again soon!  

Hanging out with the philosophers. Neither of the kids wanted to sit with the statue holding a cigarette. :-)

                      

                       

This morning we saw a turtle (a terrapin, to be more specific) near the playground!

Very beautiful!

He (she?) was also very interested in the kids, I guess from being used to being around people at the park.
(Don't worry, they kept their distance, although Oliver was longing to "science" it with a stick.)

After a minute or so, I corralled the kids and they watched the terrapin from
behind the fence before it was relocated to a safer area of the park.

Time to ride the train! (Photo courtesy of the nice lady seated behind us.)
We couldn't wait for the ride to start so we could get a breeze.

Buttercup's favorite -- the "guitar man"

The train ride cooled us off a little bit, but the kids couldn't wait to really cool off in the water. 
I wish we could have all gone swimming! 

Pretty Barton Springs

Trying to catch minnows

What a fun morning! 

Birthday preparations

Theodore turns one next week (!!) and Oliver and Buttercup are very excited about it. (Possibly because they know they'll get cake? But also probably because they're truly happy for their sweet baby brother.)  Today they each made birthday cards, crafts, and also wrapped some of their toys to give him (Oliver wrapped up a soldier, Buttercup wrapped a doll). 

Oliver also made a animal flip book for Theodore! (All of the spellings and ideas are his own. :-)) 

The cover reads, "Anml fip book from Oliver." [Animal flip book from Oliver]
Drawings are of a "sake" [snake] and elephant. :-)

Elephant

Cmol [Camel]

Lin [Lion]

Ratlsac [Rattlesnake]
(Also, he drew a black snake on a black sheet of paper so it would be camouflaged.)

Makey [Monkey]

I know Theodore will love his gifts!