It's My Party, I Can Cry if I Want to

Instead of going by people this week, we're going by celebrations since we've had so many haha :)



Caleb's 1st Birthday:  Tuesday was Caleb's 1st birthday!!! Alyssa and I spent the day baking cookies, and Aunt Liz came a few hours before the party to help out as well.  Byron took off work 2 hours early so he could help me set up, and overall I think the party was a success.  We had 8 different types of cookie people could chow down on, milk (with chocolate and strawberry syrup to use if they wanted) and hot chocolate they could use to wash the cookies down.  We got to sing Happy Birthday to Caleb and he even copied Byron and I and "blew" on his candle.  I eventually had to blow it out before he grabbed it though. haha Good times.  Near the end of the party we got him to open his presents, and he did not like that I was taking each one away after he worked so hard to get the paper off only to hand him yet another thing he had to unwrap,but he was a trooper, and even though he didn't get a nap all day and was quite cranky before the party, he managed not to cry during the party until he was fighting his friends away from his toys hahaha

The pretty streamers Byron helped me put up

They had a Christmas tree up in the clubhouse that we put Caleb's presents around

The shirt we got Caleb for his birthday - kinda made my day

Blowing out his candle :)

ALL THE COOKIES!!!
 We had Snickerdoodles, caramel stuffed apple cider, oatmeal raisin, rolo stuffed chocolate cookies, mint chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter blossoms, sugar cookies, and chocolate chip.  SSOOO yummy

Caleb with his Granny :)

Caleb unwrapping one of his many presents :)

Caleb fit inside the bag for the gift from his Great Aunt Elizabeth :)

Our 2 Year Anniversary:  This year our gift to ourselves was a 2 day trip to The Great Wolf Lodge, and it was fantastic.  Thursday morning I packed an overnight bag, picked Byron up from work (he just worked half a day so we could check in by 1 pm) got Alyssa and Gabrielle (our babysitters) and we headed out, the trip there seemed to take forever even though it's only about half an hour (ish) away because I was so excited, and I was skipping on our way into the building, which Alyssa and Gabrielle probably made fun of, but it was a blast.  Over the course of the 2 days we were there Byron and I rode all off the rides (even the ones he didn't think sounded fun, he's such a sport) and Alyssa and Gabrielle graciously watched Caleb so we could enjoy ourselves.  Of course they got to go on rides too when I was tired of climbing stairs, and you could hear them screaming from anywhere in the park.  My Aunt Elizabeth, Uncle Ben, their 2 sons and our cousin Samantha were there as well and it was fun to have them.  Thursday night the girls watched the kiddies so we could go out for dinner.  We went to this fun Mexican place called Viva Tequila and if you're ever at the Great Wolf Lodge, I highly recommend it.  We had a great time talking and laughing and got back just in time to witness the end of the 9 o'clock story time.  By the time we left Friday afternoon I was pooped and so glad to be going home, we slept extremely well that night :)

Chillin' in the wave pool 

Aunt Liz and I 

Everybody in the lobby before we left <3

My 22nd Birthday!!!:  So apparently Golden Birthdays are not common knowledge so I'll explain quickly. Your golden birthday is when you turn the same age as the date you were born on, for example, Byron's will be his 27th birthday because his birthday is August 27th, Caleb's will be his 18th Birthday, because he was born December 18th, and mine was THIS birthday because my birthday is the 22nd of December. :) :) :)  Leading up to this birthday I was getting extremely excited and kept telling Byron it better be awesome, it's not every year you turn 22, and it's not every year you have you're Golden Birthday, and he definitely lived up to every bit of what I was expecting.  He made me breakfast in bed complete with orange slices arranged perfectly on a plate, waffles and Orange Juice (my favorite!) and let me open my present (a really cute jacket/coat I had been wanting) He spent the morning taking care of Caleb while letting me get ready, which included curling my hair, which takes just about forever.  When I got all done he gave me another birthday present.  He cleaned my kitchen...spotless.  I was ecstatic.  Neither of us like to clean the kitchen, but it gets done because it's necessary, however, this time, he did everything.  He washed dishes, cleaned off the counters and stove top, swept and mopped the floor, and even cleaned out the microwave.  Have I ever mentioned how incredible he is? He took me to Outback steakhouse for lunch (which is absolutely delicious, in case you were wondering), and I got a free sundae since it was my birthday.  We then went and replaced my gloves, since it's finally getting cold (I lost one a couple months back and have no idea where...we never found it) before going to Dick's (I stayed in the car since Caleb was asleep and parking wasn't worth waking  him up for) so we could use an awesome coupon they sent us for a mask that will make Byron's winter bike rides much nicer.  Afterwards Byron let me come home and take a nap before we went over to my parents house for my birthday dinner.  Mommy made Fettuccine Alfredo (ssoooo yummy) and asparagus for dinner and got me an ice cream cake! We had fun eating and spending time together before going to the Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo.  They have thousands of lights strung up all over the zoo (they start putting them up in the fall) and Christmas Music playing through out the Zoo.  We had a really good time walking around and seeing all the lights, something I had wanted to do last year but never got around to.  The perfect end to the perfect Birthday.

I guess that's all for this week.  I didn't get any pictures after Caleb's birthday because I never got around to charging my camera's battery, but I've pulled some together from other sources.  Enjoy and Cheerio!

Caleb before church last Sunday

He and Daddy matched