Camping and Layla's First Birthday Party

We went camping over the weekend and had a great time! I was a little nervous how Layla would do, but she (and all the other kiddos) did great! They all napped well and slept through the night. Joe, Layla and I went Thursday night with Darrell, Lindsey, and Jonathan and then everyone else came Friday night. Thursday night was COLD so I didn't sleep well, but part of it I think was because I was worried that Layla was cold. I think she was fine--she had two sleepers on, leggings, a long sleeved onesie, her sleepsak and blankets on, and we have a heater, so I think she was okay:-). I just didn't have enough clothes on! I learned to dress warmer for the remainder of trip, plus it wasn't as cold, so I slept fine the next two nights.

Layla and Jonathan about to enjoy breakfast Friday morning...


Layla enjoying a snack in her "new" chair. It may not be the cutest chair, but I found it for $3 at a garage sale the week before we went camping, so it ended up working great!



Lindsey, Jonathan and Layla enjoying their Mickey grilled cheeses Friday for lunch (we used my Mickey waffle iron to make them--Darrell and Joe were gone fishing so it was just easier to make them using electricity:D)...



Friday afternoon we walked to the park. Both kids had fun although Jonathan was able to enjoy himself a bit more since he can walk! Layla just got picked on by older non-supervised children that were playing there:-(.


I think this was Layla's first time going down a slide...



We got this screened tent for the kids to play in and it ended up working out great. We'd just stick them in there and go off and do our own thing. Just kidding:-). We supervised them to make sure there weren't any fights or any escapees. The tent was nice because for the crawlers it helped keep them clean--sort of--they still ended up quite dirty as did the toys! Good thing they were pretty much all garage sale finds:-) (the toys not the kids!).

I think this one is funny of Layla and Jonathan about leaning on each other...

Wearing matching tops (Gap for their mommies and camo for their daddies:D)...

Working together in the kitchen...

Our mommies are funny!! (Elv was allowed in the kid tent too:D)

Such loving little buddies grabbing hands...

Daddy and Layla...

Saturday we went for a quick walk with Brad, Jill and Ella out to the beach. Ella enjoyed the walk so much she slept the whole time!

Saturday night we celebrated Layla's birthday with a Tropical Minnie Mouse theme. This isn't the best family pic since Layla isn't looking and it's missing Elv, but it's the only one we got.

Curt, Jamie and Alden...

Jill, Brad and Ella in their tropical apparel....

Lindsey, Darrell and Jonathan in their Hawaiian garb...

Drew, Jane, Kali and Mason...

Joe and Elv...

The cooks...Joe and Darrell...

Layla at the head of the table for her party:-)...

Joe and the 1st Birthday Girl...

Getting ready to sing to the birthday girl...

She wasn't so sure what to think of all the attention and a cupcake sitting infront of her, but eventually started eating it...just not the whole thing.

Not quite as messy as some kid's cake pics:-)...

We had a great time camping with kids and are even talking about doing it again towards the end of summer. I thought it'd be a lot more work taking kids with, and it was, but it was worth it! I'd recommend it to anyone considering it:-).

1 Year Stats

Layla had her one year appointment today and they said she's doing great. She could stand to gain some more weight, so we have to go back for a weight check in 2 months, but she's healthy and for once doing the things a 1 year old should be doing (unlike every other appointment where she's been behind since they base their questions on her real age, not her adjusted age).

Height: 29"; 50th %
Weight: 16 lbs 5 oz; not on the charts (and even further from being on the charts than last time:-( )
Head: 46 cm; 75th %

They said her head has been growing at a somewhat quick rate so they're going to check that again in 2 months as well. Hopefully it doesn't grow too much more.

At one year I was 17 lbs 1 oz and 29"--so pretty similar!

1 Year Old!!!

Our little girl turned 1 on Thursday! We celebrated her birthday by going camping with friends (ok, so it wasn't really for her birthday:D), but I'll post about that soon. I think that each stage that she grows into just keeps getting more and more fun! I just really can't believe she's an entire year already! We go in for her 1 year appointment tomorrow so I'll update with her stats tomorrow. She actually looks like she's been slimming out since she moves around so much so hopefully she gained a decent amount of weight since her 9 month appointment.


She can't stand on her own very long yet--only for about half a minute or so at a time max--but she's getting there! I think it'll be awhile though before she can walk! She got her third tooth (one of her top ones) on her birthday. I guess that would explain her crabby moods last week:-). She still loves eating and eats anything we give her which is great--I hope that continues! She's getting good at climbing up on things (that aren't too high--not the couch), she just needs to learn to get down! She faceplanted out of a little chair while camping and did NOT enjoy landing in a pile of dirt! She doesn't say many words yet. The only words that we're fairly confident that she knows what she's saying are 'mama' and 'dada'. She sometimes just blabs 'mamama' and 'dadada' but she also will sometimes point at us and say them so I think she knows what she's saying:-). She also still says 'uh-oh' a lot when she drops things (which she does all the time on purpose) but I'm not sure that's really a word:-). Overall she's just a happy little girl and we love her dearly! We are so excited to keep watching her grow!

The Birthday Girl on her birthday!

Enjoying her birthday gazing out the window...


1 Month


1 Year

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months


8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

12 Months

Happy 90th Birthday Grandma!

We celebrated Joe's grandma's 90th birthday on Saturday night at Beachwood. We all had lovely neon yellow shirts on, but grandma didn't know about the shirts ahead of time, so we had to come with them covered up...yeah, not real easy to cover up NEON YELLOW! The little kids lucked out that theirs didn't come in neon yellow, so they got white.


Here's Layla covering hers up (and Joe in the background). Grandma didn't notice the shirts while they were hidden (it was dim lighting), but she did notice that we all looked hot since many people were wearing sweatshirts or fleeces to cover them up:-).



After prayer we had the "big reveal" of shirts:-). Here's Grandpa and Layla...


We then enjoyed a very filling meal. Steve decided he didn't want to smile normal for any of the pics I took of him and Heidi...I warned him I would post his dumb pics on my blog:-).



Grandma was given a neon orange shirt to wear. Here she is with the youngest great-grandchild, Isabelle. Isabelle was born on Memorial Day. I give Paula a lot of credit for coming to her husband's family party only 5 days after giving birth!


I don't think the pics even truly show just how bright these shirts were--I'm thinking mine might come in handy in case I ever take up running and want to go running at night:-). Layla was having fun pulling my hair in the pic--she has quite the strong grip! Here is a group shot of everyone (for some reason my flash didn't go off)...


The grandkid pic...

Top row (L-R): Erik and Christi, Paula, Steve and Heidi,

Middle Row: Matt and Kate, Rachael, Grandma, Joe, Mark

Bottom Row: Phil (Paula's hubby), me, Cindi (Mark's wife)

Layla enjoyed time playing with her cousins (or 2nd or 3rd or whatever they are)...

And stealing their toys (of course)...

Layla share a birthday with Grandma. It's kind of random that on this side of the family 3 pairs of people share birthdays. Layla was born on Grandma's birthday, Spencer was born on Joe's dad's birthday, and on Memorial Day, Isabelle was born on Kate's birthday!

The June 4 Birthday Girls!

Layla discovered the balloons:-)

Grandma with the great-grandkids...

Top Row: Camryn, Cassidy, Isabelle (Oops-you can't see her head! Sorry Isabelle!) Grandma, Layla

Bottom Row: Lawrence, Spencer

Everyone (except Lawrence) apparently noticed something to their left...

And then to their right:-)...

Yea! You can see all their faces!

Paula, me and Heidi (again for some reason the flash didn't go off)...