First Birthday

Tate's first birthday was on Friday, and we had a fun Halloween-theme party for him on Saturday...

The cake matched the "calling all little monsters" invitation

The food was all spook-tacular thanks to my Mom, sister Nancy, and friend Lisa (who is in the process of starting her own business planning kids' birthday parties...let me know if you're interested and I'll put you in touch!). Note the tags that my Mom made for each dish...we had "witch's potion," "mummy dogs," etc.

The guests started arriving in their costumes which included Star Wars stars (Luke and Isaac) and a supercute little ladybug (Mary).

There was a chillin chicken (Landon)....

...and a darling duck (Allie)...

...and a precious princess (Graelyn)...

...and, of course, The King himself.

Even Mama June got into the spirit and dressed like an angel. This picture just begs for a caption...Nancy suggested "Turn away from the light, Mama June!"...I was thinking that it appears she is saying "Why Me God?" as she enters a one-year-old's birthday party...

We started with some crafts, making picture frames.

Then Lisa and Mama Mia both read Halloween stories.

Tate was a little overwhelmed at cake time.

But he hung in there and gave it a try.

Princess Gwen took a ride on Tate's rocking horse (his gift from Mama Mia and Big Guy)

And then we got a group shot. Out of 21 different pictures we took of the group on my camera alone, this one had the largest number of kids actually looking up. It was quite a feat getting 9 children to pose for a picture, despite the parents' best efforts. And by "parents' best efforts," I mean "parents' craziness." This is what was going on behind the cameras:

There were also a few special guests who were out trying to drum up the youth vote for the upcoming election...you can see them (and more pictures) on my Dad's blog.

It was a great day, but I'm a little sad that he's already one year old! It has gone by so fast. Happy Birthday sweet baby Tate!

Pumpkin Patch Pics

We made the obligatory trip to the pumpkin patch on Sunday. Tate blended right in. 

And just for Margaret, we had to stop and do this. It doesn't look like Tate enjoys it quite as much as Margs...

Separated at Birth?

Tate for President

Tate has been making the rounds typical of a politician. Observe...

Shaking hands

Greeting his supporters at a recent family rally

Kissing Babies

This is Britton Giffen who was in town with his parents from Birmingham

Supporting the Working Man

Tate took time on the campaign trail to stop at Henry Dean's second birthday party and listen intently to the plight of Hank and the growing size of hammers. 

Hank then complained that times are so tough, his birthday cake was made of dirt. Tate thought the dirt tasted suspiciously like yummy brownies, but he sympathized with Hank anyway. (Sidebar: LOVE this idea for a birthday cake!)

And then there are the gaffes...

The $15 haircut 

(didn't he learn anything from John Edwards?)

Getting caught on camera with another woman 

(other than his mom)

Fighting off the cameras who snapped him with Emily Giffen, Britton's Mom. 

Yes, Tate is learning all about the ups and downs of the campaign trail as he gears up for 2048. Tate is great in '48! 

Now I understand the stock market issues...

The front page of the USA Today business section shows what appears to be Rob on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

 Check out his profile pic on his blog to see the similarities. 

October is here and that means MORE HALLOWEEN OUTFITS!!!

For those who knew Tate when he was just a baby, you know that he was exactly one week old on Halloween last year and yet he still had four different Halloween outfits that we had to rotate through in one day. Well, I won't let that happen again. No kid should have to wear four different Halloween outfits in one day. That's right. So this year, I have SIX Halloween outfits for him and this year he will wear them ALL MONTH instead of just on Halloween. I swore I would only do the ridiculous outfits until he was 1 year old, so I only have three weeks left to cram them all in, people! 

And so we begin...

Here is the little pumpkin visiting Aunt Nancy and her second grade class. They are listening to Mama Mia read a Halloween story. Aunt Nancy may seem nice, but I'm warning you, she's a tyrant in the classroom! She had us sitting up straight in our chairs for sure. She's probably going to give a pink slip to the sweet little girl smiling in this picture because she's not paying attention to the story being read. Mean Ms. Bingham. 

She even put Tate at a desk and told him he couldn't leave the class until he read the book. Silly Ms. Bingham. This is Tate we're talking about. He's almost a year old. Of course he can read already. Sheesh. 

Then we went to my high school friend Sarah's house for dinner. Tate has on Halloween spider "baby legs" which are NOT "tights" or "leggings" as was debated Saturday night. They are "knit coverings to protect the legs." Sidebar: I sewed the "eek" into his onesie about 15 minutes before we left the house. Props to Mama Mia for the suggestion. (don't worry, Tate was not wearing the onesie when I sewed it in. I'm just saying that preemptively since I know someone would make a comment about that if I didn't.) 

These are the kids of my high school friends...aren't they all so cute? We realized Saturday night that all of our kids are blonde and none of the Moms is blonde (naturally). Just an interesting little factoid. 

Happy October!