Play Day

Phillip and his friends had a "Golden Tee and Tiger Woods Golf Day" so Landon and I were inspired to have a play day of our own! Landon was recovering from a runny nose so we stayed around the house; chasing each other around (a usual activity), kicking balls into the playroom (until I realized that I should probably not do that if I ever expected him to not kick inside the house at some point), and playing outside with his new bike.

He is pretty funny right now because he is testing his limits on everything. Our laundry room door jam is not lined up correctly, so with a firm push he can open it even when it's "closed". He and I have stand-offs there where he opens the door, I say "not for Landon", he puts one foot over the threshold, I say "not for Landon", he steps all the way into the room...repeat.

Yesterday, I walked over to him, picked him, looked straight into his eyes then said slowly "I said no". He looked at me and said "Ohhhhhhhh!" in a drawn out voice, like he just got it and had been confused the whole time! He's not fooling me though. Phillip and I figured out that he understands most of what we say - he gives himself away by chuckling under his breath when we say or recount something funny to each other, not realizing that he is paying attention.

He was so tired from our play day that he had an early dinner so that he could go to bed. He and Phillip were playing while I put the finishing touches on our dinner. I opened the door to the freezer for something, saw that Landon stopped by to check out the action, then closed the door and went back to cooking.

Suddenly I noticed that Landon had grabbed the lid off our ice cream and was running around the house licking the lid! I couldn't bear to take it away from him because he was so cute, so I tried to snap a picture of the scene - they are all blurry because he stayed in constant motion, protecting his after-dinner treat I guess :)

Quote of The Day

When Landon gets tired in the evenings, his walking skills go downhill...no longer a graceful one-year old, he is incapable of running a straight line and bounces off anything near him! Which leads to the quote of the day (Phillip talking to Landon): "Buddy, you are flopping around all over the place; we'll have to start calling you Greg Paulus".

August is Over

Since today is the last day of August, I'm going to wrap up my posts on Landon's birthday month. I know, I know...you were probably ready for me to do that a long time ago, but Landon's first birthday was a pretty big event...a chance to openly celebrate how much joy he has brought into our lives!

To make his celebration unique and special, I spent a lot of "momma love" crafting, organizing, and standing on wobbly chairs!

First the theme - vintage toys, accented by classic men's fabrics (madras, seersucker and argyle). Then comes the "Martha" and "Bob Vila" part.

Phillip helped me expand my tech skills by working side by side with me to find some vintage toy clip art that I liked. We saved, edited, blew up, and flipped images that I wanted to use throughout the party; settling on four classic toys (wagon, tricycle, jacks, and paddle ball). I used the icons on cupcake toppers, treat bags on the dessert table, glassine bags full of different-flavored potato chips, and the "thank you" sign. Using the same blue madras print throughout the party, and using the same blue font in all of the printed items reinforced the theme.

Phillip and I also spruced up our new back deck with some plants and trellises to ensure that people enjoyed the backyard as much as the house (the beer and cornhole didn't hurt either)!

I purchased blank invitations in the same madras print as Landon's actual invitation, then printed some of our favorite photos from Landon's first year and mounted them on the madras paper to string into banners. I also used the madras invites to craft menus for the party.

Then I added a few finds from Etsy like vintage blue-striped paper straws, miniature red wagons, and colorful polka dot poms...voila...instant party. And when I say "instant", what I really mean is that I worked on the decorations every night for about a month!

And don't worry, his very first cake was homemade and a classic - an eight layer yellow cake (eight for his birthday month of August) with chocolate frosting!

Just To Prove My Point...

In case you want proof that Landon is a boy and no longer a baby...when we had dinner with our friends the other night...Landon ate an entire piece of (a large!) pizza. Pretty good for only six teeth.

Where Does the Time Go?

Whew - what a busy week! And how quickly it flew by!

Landon and I spent most of this week shopping for outfits to wear for his FIRST BIRTHDAY PHOTO shoot. I can't believe it...his first year is behind him. Looking at him, talking to him, and interacting with him though, it's entirely believable. He's such a boy now - he even enjoys boy things now - like Golden Tee! That one must be hereditary.

Even though he is a boy and no longer a baby, I envisioned beautiful pictures of him on UNC's campus...wearing a traditional sailor outfit and navy leather sandals. So I bought that vision/outfit.

Then I popped into Strasburg, saw an outfit that reminded me of the beach (because Landon met another baby boy in Kiawah named Allister, became instant friends with him one night at dinner, and Allister was wearing this particular jon jon). So I bought that vision/outfit.

Then, I realized that I had two traditional, bordering on prissy outfits, and that I better buy an outfit that Phillip would like...polo and navy shorts perhaps? So I bought that vision/outfit as well!

Since Landon is a one year old boy, and doesn't enjoy costume changes as much I do, he only ended up wearing two of the three outfits for his photos. Maybe next time I will buy myself three outfits instead? That's probably best; I would hate for any items of clothing to go to waste. Yep, that's what I'll do.

Can't wait to share some pictures with you, very soon I hope...

"We'll Have to Find Another Baby, This One's Too Happy"

Phillip, Landon and I headed to the Apple Store to have the genius bar guys fix the space bar on our laptop. The space bar and Landon had a showdown, and Landon won. That kid wins every time against technology!

Of course, after we finished at the Apple Store, the Lewises headed to some other shops...all three of us enjoy clothes shopping, although I am the only one who will admit it.

Anyway, we were in Banana Republic when a group of young college girls approached us and told us that they were on a scavenger hunt and needed to find and photograph certain things within the mall. They asked us if we would let them take a picture of Landon, although according to their list, they needed him to look upset or unhappy. We told them that we weren't sure if we could help them, as we have a very happy baby, but that we would try to help if we could by taking out his pacifier, and seeing if he made a reaction to that. So we did, and wouldn't you know that Landon broke into a huge grin, looked around at all of the pretty girls surrounding his stroller, and then gave a big wink!

One of the girls said "Look how happy that baby is!". Another one said "he just gave me a giant wink!" and a third said "We'll have to find another baby, this one is just too happy". Yes people, that's right, this baby is just too happy, and that's the way we like it in this household!

Home Sweet Home

The Lewises are back...and feeling refreshed! No internet and no phone for me for almost a week, and it was quite nice indeed! Kiawah was AMAZING. No other words to describe it. Part resort, part nature preserve, my kind of place.

We continued Landon's birthday celebration on the island. We stayed in Charleston Sunday night, drove over to the island on Monday, and headed to the beach straight-away. First we made a little stop at Newton Farms though to stock up on gourmet snacks, drinks, and of course, a second birthday cake (cupcake this time) for little Landon. We had his birthday dinner at The Sanctuary's Jasmine Porch; quite different than either of our first birthday dinners, so we will have to keep it real this week with some Hamburger Helper!

Landon loved the beach and loved playing with his "sister" Steele. She is the daughter of some of our dear friends whom we vacationed with, and the two of them have a good time together. I think they especially liked floating around in the resort's pool drinking their very own raspberry slushies with straws! We quickly realized that the kids needed their own drink, as I always share whatever I order with Landon, but was not going to share my strawberry dacquiri!

While on the island we saw an alligator, a fox, several deer, hundreds of silk spiders (including one that jumped down on me Ms. Muffet style) and thousands of butterflies. We are planting a butterfly garden very soon - it was so lovely dining out on the verandah as the butterflies flitted around.

On another note, I have decided that I am single-handedly going to bring back some of the Southern traditions that mine and Phillip's family have enjoyed for years. Since I began staying at home, I have jotted down recipes, household tips, etc that I think every Southern woman should know. One day I would like to pass it on to any daughters we may have (don't worry, I will share my thoughts with Landon about how a Southern gentlemen should conduct himself as well). I have made some headway this summer, by making a very nice pimento cheese, and a lovely homemade peach ice cream. This trip to the lowcountry renewed my passion for all things Southern ...including the 800 landscape oil paintings in the Sanctuary that I drooled over, not to mention the antique furniture! I believe that Phillip was very scared that I wanted to visit some art galleries upon our return trip to Charleston, lucky for him (and our bank account) it began to downpour after our carriage tour, so we hit the road instead!