McCabe's birthday rundown

On Saturday, our sweet little McCabey Baby turned ONE! How in the world is my youngest out of his infancy? We love our little Mr. and are so glad that he has made our Christmas seasons even brighter! With every child, I long to pull off a 1st birthday celebration that even Martha Stewart would be wowed by, but every year things get busy and we basically end up doing nothing much at all. This year was no different and I was so let down. But thanks to our little man's cheery little personality, the day was a success in the end. Since it was his big day, we tried our best to do things that he likes to do, like...

Play with pom poms:

We spent the day moseying around the house:

Check out that fancy footwork! For the most part McCabe sticks to his speedy crawl, but more and more often he thrilles us with as many as six steps in a row now. 

We showered him with love and affection:

...which wasn't always as appreciated...

When the evening came we got the real party started! 

After our ho-hum dinner (I can't remember what we ate for the life of me so I know it wasn't anything fancy) we opened presents. McCabe is proud to report that he opened each gift by himself and didn't need any help from his very willing brothers. :) Not only was he interested enough to unwrap his presents, he seemed to be truly excited for every one! 

His Grandma Sieg wowed him with a little blanket of his dreams that had FIVE pompoms attached! Sticking with that theme, he also got a new Christmas hat with a pompom on top as well. What can I say, this boy likes a good pom pom. :) And while we're on the topic of gifts, I must say that I LOVE having a son born in December so that I can not feel as dumpy wrapping them in Christmas wrapping paper! Let's be honest, every birthday in the Sieg home is celebrated with some form of Christmas wrapping paper. D'oh!

As annoying as this little dog friend is, our boy's think that he's grand! All day long we hear it say things like, "hug me!" in a really creepy voice. I don't mind it so much in the day, but when I hear it go off at night when I am the only one around it really reminds me of Talking Tina (from the Twilight Zone). Yikes!

Pops wowed us by a fancy looking cake....

...and McCabe was pleased as punch!

Ziggy-piggy!

I know this is a little fuzzy, but it is one of my favorites just the same.

Last but not least, we had pinata time! Since it was icy and cold outside, we opted to beat our little Christmas elf pinata indoors. McCabe gave the elf a mighty-good wallop, and with the help of two burly brothers (and Poppy who had to eventually help out a little) we hit the jack-pot.

Mason and Char coached him from the sidelines

Here's to another happy year, McCabe! Thanks for joining our family.

Charlie's birthday rundown

Charlie

Charlie has now been one for several weeks, but since I haven't posted anything about it yet (or anything else for that matter) here is his birthday rundown. The day was supposed to end in a pony ride at a nearby pumpkin patch/petting zoo, but that flopped horribly. Apparently, just because they advertised it, doesn't mean that they felt they needed to provide the activity. Boo on them! Everything we did that day was cowboy themed for nothing! Thankfully, Char had no expectations for his big day of all days.

Anyway, to prepare for the big pony ride, I made him a fancy pair of cowboy boots so that he would fit in with his brother and any other cow-folk around.

Mason took advantage of the cowboy theme and proudly wore his (and Char's hat) for the majority of the day.

Unfortunately, the closest Charlie came to riding a bucking bronco was the horse pinata I made for him. Fortunately, it was just his size. Yeehaw!

Pops showed Charlie how to hit the pinata, and then for the next ten minutes or so, Charlie went to town. Speed and power might not have been his strategy for breaking the candy free, but precision and patience were! He would have tapped that mighty pinata till the cows came home! Seeing him get such a kick out of the pinata made me (almost) okay about the pony ride flop.

Last but not least, we celebrated with a cake. As sure as I was that I could create an amazing replica of a cowboy on his steed (my last cake attempt was a major boost to my cake-decorating ego) I decided to go store bought this time. Humbug to me. :) Charlie and the rest of us were very very appreciative.

If you were to ask Char what his favorite and worst memories of the day were, he would say:

Best: The cake or the pinata. He porked down on both.

Worst: When he slowly got run over by our own stroller. Boo to whoever released the breaks and let him play by it on a hill. However, Charlie would also want you to know that he is such a manly cowboy that he only cried a little and it was mostly so that mommy could snuggle him and not miss having a baby around. His heart is as big as he is.

Happy Birthday... and a little background

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Malinda. She had lots and lots of friends...but somehow that special someone was missing from her life....

And although she never let it get her down, she did catch herself dreaming of life with "him" now and again.Meanwhile, her future man was busy being manly, sailing to far-off islands and living off the land.

"Will I ever get married," she queried to her friend, Amy, one night while casually relaxing on the couch. "Of course," she replied. "One day your ship will come in and a big, strong man will sail you off into the sunset."

Happy with that thought, Malinda threw her head back and gave a slight chuckle. Meanwhile...


... her ship did come in, with a double-chinned manly man and all. "Yargghh!" he said. "I've been looking for some fine booty and couldn't help but notice the way your fanny is accentuated by that pack. I'll make ye a proposition. If ye marry me, I will...

...sail you away to exotic adventures.......cook the finest meals for you....

....sire you at least three strong chaps...

...craft with you (pretty nice sock snowman, huh?)...

and give you all of the finest comforts possible. You will live in the lap of luxury. However, Malinda, not entirely convinced, said "but what about you?" He added...

" I am strong...

have a nice butt....

and an uncanny sense of fashion. This and more can be yours if you say yes."

Well, as they say, the rest is history. Malinda did say yes, they did sail away to adventure, and are living happily ever after. So, even after all of these years of marriage (i.e. 4.5), and all of the adventure things are still as grand as ever.



And even at 30, she has still got it. Happy Birthday, Babe.

It's my party, I can cry if I want to

Happy 30th to me.

Let's hope this new decade is more of a hit than the smashing childhood birthday party pictured above. I'm the one partying-hard on the far left. Wow. Good times.

Mason's 3rd Birthday!

All Summer long, Mason has been telling all who will listen that he had a birthday in August and that he would be turning "frwee." As this was his first birthday that he could grasp and anticipate, I wanted to make sure that it was extra special for my extra special little chap.

So we decorated:

The night before, James and I decorated the house with balloons and streamers. I had plans of making a cuter banner and all sorts of Martha Stewart inspired paper fans. Alas, it was late, and so the above fan was the only one we busted out. Thankfully, Mason was pleased as punch. All day long he said sweet things like, Thank you for my happy birfday, Mommy!"

We had a birthday pinata:

Mason requested a Thomas the Choo pinata and helped me make it come into fruition. He didn't mind that Thomas looked a semi creepy. James pointed out that Thomas always looks creepy and won many brownie points with the pinata maker.
We opened presents and had cake:
Mason has been dreaming of a train cake for the longest time with a side of blue ice cream. This seemed easy enough. James thought we should order a cake for our little man, but I was fairly confident that I could pull it off. Did I ever mention that I worked at Baskin Robins in my youth and decorated a cake or two in my (one to two month) time there? Well, I did. And proud of it! So, while the boys played on the swings outside with Poppy, I whipped out this bad boy.... without a pattern, thank you very much! Let's just say that I MIGHT be able to post a tutorial if anyone is interested.

Bless Mason's little heart, he saw past the train wreck and was overjoyed to have a choo cake.

All in all, the birthday was a raging success. Now Mason can't stop talking about how he is going to have another birthday soon, in August.

James' birthday bike

Mason could hardly be separated from his new bike during the drive home

Yesterday was James' birthday. Twenty-eight years old! Since his birthday landed on a Sunday, we celebrated all weekend long. We hiked, we lounged, we potty trained, we went on a hot date, and we found a hot deal on a bike! No, not one for the birthday boy himself. For Mason. When we spotted one for a steal of a deal, James decided that getting it for Mason, and seeing Mason in hog heaven, was exactly what he wanted for his big day. Mason was thrilled! He was so excited that he insisted on riding it to the check-out stand and then out to the truck.

Poppy and Mason

They rode it around the street until nearly 10pm. When we finally put Mason down, I told him that when the sun came up, he could ride it again. Unfortunately for me, the sun is coming up earlier and earlier these days. Mason couldn't sleep past six to save his life. Boo.

We had to get Mason an extra large sized helmet because his head is so big. Poor Charlie. By the time he is ready to fit his hand-me-down helmet, he will be twelve. Good things Tonka tractors and trucks are really hip for teenagers, right?

Our big boy Mason!
We sure love James! How lucky we are to have such a great husband, poppy and friend in our lives! And not just because he gives us bikes.

****I meant to go private this weekend but blogger is giving me sass. It won't let me invite every one that I want. Humph! I'm in the process of trying to figure that little dilemma out.