Michael's First Birthday

This is what happens when Michael is in charge of his own Easter egg. It didn't rattle like the plastic eggs with quarters in them, so he threw it on the ground and walked away. When he walked away, he stepped on it. Hmm.

After telling everyone she didn't want to have to be "in charge" of Michael while opening his gifts ... Great Aunt Lisa was "chosen" by Michael to be in the middle of it all.

And his first, first birthday cake. We had another cake at Grandma Maria's house, but we'll post those pictures later. I don't want to sound like a bad mommy, but we left the camera in the car at Grandma Maria's. So fortunately she got some pictures and is sending them to me.

He wasn't quite sure what to think of the cake until he got it in his mouth. Then he had fun. After only a few minutes though, he announced that he was "all done".

The new play table Lisa and Larry gave Michael ...

And last, but not least .... the gift that was in the box that drove me nuts for a week!!!! It's a Mickey Mouse airplane toy. He loves hiding things in the seat that flips up. I'm sure there will be a morning when I'll smell the sippy cup of milk he puts in there! Every once in a while, he hits a button that starts the propeller and he gets a little nervous about that. He tells it "all done!" and thinks it should turn off at his command.

Mac N Cheese Hair Gel

Yes, he used the macaroni and cheese as hairgel! I guess he was right when he announced that he was "all done!". This is the reason I don't bother to bathe him until the night before Easter!!!! (after he eats dinner) If I give him a bath today, he'll just do this to himself tomorrow ... and I don't have time to bathe him two days in a row!

What!!!????

The Mess

Am I doomed to be tortured, or what???? After dinner tonight, we were sitting at the table while Michael was wandering in the room. He finally noticed the large gift sitting on the couch. He started tugging at the paper and found that it came off! So we watched for a while as he tore off piece by piece ... slowly .... and in very small pieces! He was so excited every time he got a piece off, it was hilarious. At some point, he took a break and came over to us ... then we smelled the poopy diaper. Game over. And I STILL don't know what the gift is ... it's in a box that doesn't tell me! I guess I'll have to put a bug in his ear tomorrow night and get him to tear some more paper!

Like Father, Like Son .... need I say more?

this is Jim (Tony's Dad)...

Surprises ...

Lots of "exciting" things happening here ... it seems like it's been a while since I've posted pictures so I have several to post!

We've had some problems with the neighbors behind us watering ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT LONG!!! They have their "garden" in the back corner of their yard which is where Tony is in this picture (back along the fence). Tony has a plan for changes in the yard that will essentially push the water back into their yard rather than flooding our yard and having the water flow out through our front yard. And I mean FLOW out our front yard. It's like a river flowing out into the street! I think they got our message when I called them at 8am on Saturday morning to inform the homeowner that they are once again flooding our yard. It's her elderly father who is doing the watering, so she was surprised when I informed her that this was the 3rd time this week he has left the water on all night. I asked her not to let him water for a couple days last weekend because we were trying to do some work in our yard but couldn't because there is so much water. They haven't watered since Saturday. Okay, now that I've "vented", Michael couldn't stand being inside while his Daddy was playing outside so here he is walking toward his Daddy to "help" him.

Aunt Jenny came over the other night and brought her bag ... Michael promptly took off with carrying it around the house. It's his new "man purse"! Tony will kill me for saying that ... so nobody tell him! ha ha!

While we were printing something for Aunt Jenny, the printer started smelling like it was going to catch on fire. So Tony started taking it apart to fix it. He had a very interested helper. There were several times when Michael would "crouch" down and look at the printer just like his Daddy was doing ... my camera wouldn't take pictures quickly enough to really catch that.

I LOVE surprises! Only I don't like to wait. UPS showed up at our door today with a huge box. It said it was for Michael. I thought, "well his birthday is in a couple weeks so maybe that's what it's for". It's from the McGaughy's in Fresno (Brower family friends) so I thought I'd wait to open the box until Tony got home from work. My intention was to completely open the box ... whatever was inside would be opened too. Michael doesn't know that it's not his birthday yet. He probably won't know it's his birthday when it really is! So, Tony comes home and after dinner we decide to open the box. The above pictures show what was inside the box. Tony takes the shipping box and puts it in the garage and walks away. I said "aren't we going to open it?" He says "what is today's date?". Darn. It's not the 23rd yet and I can't open it. BUT IT'S KILLING ME! I NEED to know what's inside. Again, I LOVE surprises ... even when they aren't for me! So ... I'm going to be TORTURED and have to look at this wrapped gift until Easter morning when it's finally Michael's birthday and he gets to open it. Of course, he's very happy with the wrapping here .... he has no idea how much fun it is to unwrap gifts! So McGaughy's, if you read this ... thank you very much for sending Michael whatever it is you sent him and for wrapping it so nicely (I can't even peek to see what it is) and having the fun curly thingies on top (Michael loves that part). I will enjoy looking at this wrapped gift for a bit and will probably have dreams about what it might be ... I do know what it is NOT ... a real-life toddler sized quad outfitted with a really cool engine to race Dylan at the beach! I do know that I am looking forward to watching Michael open his gift on his birthday and that I will be a more patient woman in the end for waiting. Tony even told me I could peek if I needed to ... but then I felt really guilty and knew it would ruin the whole thing! So now I'm determined to be good and not peek.

The Bubba Dance

Here's a video of Michael dancing ... careful, I had to hold the camera and dance with him so you might experience a little motion sickness! He's much more hilarious to watch in person doing this ... when he doesn't know anyone is watching, he gets more into the dancing.

It's March! You know what that means? Grandma and Grandpa Brower come home this month! Yay! I decided to try to get some good video of Michael to post today so the Browers could see more recent video ... for some reason, he's decided not to be his normal silly self when he knows the camera is on him! I'm posting a few videos ... but it will be much more fun to see him in person!