Rayler is now one year old! Wow. And what a movin', groovin' one year old he is! He walks everywhere, I like to call it "weebling". Remember the Weebles commercial jingle, "Weebles wobble but don't fall down!" He's gotten so much better though. When he started out he would stick his arms straight out and stiff in front of him, like a zombie. He still keeps his arms up for balance, but he doesn't look quite so silly. And he can carry toys around and drink out of his sippy while walking. Multi-tasker!
Wednesday was his birthday. We didn't do anything super special that day. We did give him his big birthday present, a basket ball goal, when he got up that morning. And then we went swimming that night. Nothing super-spectacular. He was plenty happy with his new basket ball and as always, loved swimming.
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| Dada teaching Rayler how to shoot baskets |
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| DUNK! |
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| My camera insisted on shooting everything blurry that day, but I love this smile anyway |
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| Being silly |
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| Bed heads! |
We had Rayler's birthday party planned for Saturday. It was supposed to be at Grandma Bobbie's house, where we could all be comfortable inside in the air conditioning. I had a few outside games planned for the cousins, an awesome stacked sock monkey cake I was going to make myself, and cute matching family outfits so we could get some family pictures. However, that all changed when a dear family/church friend passed away. My Mom was very busy helping with dinner plans so we had to move the birthday party to Grandma Linda's house. And since the funeral was on Saturday, we had to bump the cake/presents time to 4:00 since Grandma Bobbie wouldn't be able to make it by 2:00.
This is how Saturday went. Rayler woke up at 7:15, which is late for him. He fell asleep at 8:45 and we had to wake him up at 9:15 so we could head out to the funeral. He had a few I-just-wanna-get-down-and-run moments, but over all he was very well behaved. Then we came back home and I packed up to head over to Grandma Linda's to decorate and Tyler tried to get Rayler to take a nap. He did not nap. It was horrendously hot out while I was decorating. A whopping 109 day. So much for my "cute" look, I looked like a drowned rat by the time I was done. So just as family began to arrive at 2:00, I headed back home to clean up and change into weather appropriate attire.
We did end up having fun. Grandma Linda has a nice pool, and we were all very appreciative of it's cool comforts on that ridiculously hot day. Instead of a stacked monkey cake we had carrot cake cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes. Instead of fun games for the kids we had a photo booth. That was a big hit! What was "Just let me get a picture of you before you leave!" turned into a full-on see-who-can-wear-the-silliest-getup war.
Without further ado...
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| Birthday boy has a boo-boo on his head. Just lovely for pictures. |
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| Cooling down inside and testing out the make-shift photo booth frame. The nice frame I planned on using broke, so Tyler cut this one out of a box. And it worked just fine! |
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| First taste of his carrot cake cupcake. He doesn't eat sweets so he wasn't sure what to think of it. |
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| He did like the cream cheese frosting |
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| He was hot, seriously in need of a nap, and did not want to eat his cake. |
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| It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to! |
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| Present time! |
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| Sock monkey hat from Grandma Bobbie and Grandpa Gary |
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| He loves this pull-along puppy. He thinks it's hilarious and tries to imitate it's bark. |
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| Cool! Buzz Lightyear lunch box from Uncle Ray and Aunt Nette! |
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| This dumptruck was a big hit too |
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| Another ball! |
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| Awesome Mega Blocks wagon from Uncle Sam. |
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| This water table from Grandma Linda and Pa was a HUGE hit |
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| ALL the kids loved his water table |
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| It's his own private pool! |
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| Dirty legs |
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| Pool party! |
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| Grandpa Gary |
And now the photo booth fun!
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| Aunt Lyle and Grandma Bobbie |
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| Auntie M and Uncle Subby |
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| Aunt Poey and cousin Kyra |
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| Uncle Thadley |
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| Grandpa Gary and Aunt Poey |
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| Auntie Beth |
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| Uncle Jeri and cousin Cole |
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| Aunt Poey, Auntie M and cousin Kyra |
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| Grandma Linda and Grandma Bobbie |
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| Uncle Sam and Aunt Lyle |
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| Uncle Sam and Aunt Beth |
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| Uncle Sam and Aunt Poey |
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| Cousin Kyra and Aunt Lyle |
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| Cousins Hannah and Madison, Dylan and Noah |
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| Cousins Hannah and Madison |
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| Cousins Dylan and Noah |
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| Aunt Nette |
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| Uncle Ray |
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| Aunt Nette and Uncle Ray |
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| Uncle Ray and Tyler |
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| Ha! |
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| So, this is the best "family picture" we got. Heehee! At least it's a great memory. |
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| Dada Bumblebee tickling the birthday boy |
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| Uncle Marc, cousin Noah and Aunt Bree |
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| We "framed" Pa! |
And that was Rayler's first birthday party. I told him that he has to move his birthday next year to October, so we don't melt at his party again. Kidding. I'm kidding. It's a good thing he likes to swim. I am seeing a LOT of pool parties in his future.
Random fun firehouse video this week. Listen closely and you can hear Rayler laughing and laughing.
