Happy Birthday, Tennyson!!

That’s right… Tennyson is a year old today!

I can’t believe we were here only a year ago:

 

It really feels like it has been a lifetime since then. This past year has been a joy as we’ve spent it Tennyson sprout from a little baby into a little boy.

A stubborn little boy who hates going down for naps.

A fearless little boy who knocked a tooth loose after taking a tumble the other day.

A silly little boy who decided his monkey, his fish, and the toilet paper roll all wanted to swim in the toilet.

An independent little boy who would rather feed himself grown up food than have us spoon-feed him purees.

A mischievous little boy who loves the library because he can spend our time there trying to pull every book off its shelf.

A rambunctious little boy who tries to crawl away as soon as we get his diaper off.

A friendly little boy who would pop his head up over the back of the seat and wave to everyone behind us on the plane.

A photogenic little boy who thinks that the best part of the day is when the camera comes out.

A curious little boy who is always trying to get into cabinets, drawers, closets, and closed rooms.

Our little boy, who can always put a smile on our face. We love him oh so much!

For his birthday, today, he got the present of getting his own meal at Chipotle (his favorite restaurant).

He was thrilled.

We were expecting to be able to finish his meal for him, but alas, he left nothing but crumbs.

And of course, he got more cake. This time the cupcake had a Red Sox topper chosen specially by Mike. This picture was taken seconds before Tennyson put out the candle with his hand.

He enjoyed this cupcake much more than the cakes he had during his parties. It might have to do with the fact that we didn’t scare him away by singing “Happy Birthday” first.

Nothing better than a face covered in Chipotle and funfetti cupcake.

 

And for the more sentimental types, here is a look back at Tennyson’s first year. It has been a great year and we are so eager to see what future years have in store for us. We know that with Tennyson they’ll be nothing less than exciting.

A Whirlwind Weekend

We went out to Utah over Easter Weekend. Mike’s brother, Paul was getting married and we were hosting Tennyson’s first birthday party. It was a packed weekend. I look back at the pictures and am shocked at how much we fit into three short days. We were running from place to place the entire time we were there. But it was a lot of fun and we got to see a lot of friends and family.

The wedding on Friday morning was beautiful. The ceremony was wonderful. We were so glad that my sister was in town so that we could go in the temple and be a part of it. Afterwards, the sun was out and the temple grounds were absolutely gorgeous.

Tennyson was dapper as ever.

Being at the temple made me realize how much I really love my little family and how glad I am that I’ll have them forever and ever.

Tennyson just adored my sister and they had so much fun together. It was great having that extra pair of hands!

Tennyson loved spending time with Grammy. And didn’t I tell you the grounds were gorgeous? The tulips smelled just as fabulous as they look.

 

Just so you fully understand what a whirlwind weekend this really was, let me tell you that from Wednesday night to Sunday night, we never stayed two nights in a row at the same place. We were everywhere.

Saturday morning we were at my aunt’s house down in Utah Valley because that was were we were having Tennyson’s birthday party. While we worked on decorating, my cousin played with Tennyson. They watched Wonder Pets together and played with all the baby toys. It was so cute watching them play. They both love each other so much. They gave each other hugs and kisses before each nap and I don’t know who was more sad to see the other one go.

The highlight of the morning was definitely when the bubbles came out.  Seriously, how adorable is this?

Even my aunt got in on the fun.

Before we knew it, it was party time!

Tennyson’s cake turned out so great. We love Costco.

We had so much family that was able to come. It was wonderful seeing everyone. Tennyson was absolutely spoiled.

Just like every first birthday party, the cake smash was everyone’s favorite part. Everyone gathered around the high chair and sang happy birthday. This made Tennyson turn around and bury his face in the chair while sobbing. But we persisted and finished the entire song.

He wasn’t too fond of the cake at first. He put two fingers in the frosting and was disgusted.

I flipped the cake in half so that he could see that it was food. It still took him a minute to be brave enough to stick his hands back in. When he did, he grabbed a handful of chocolate mousse and squeezed it hard as he could in both hands.

This made everyone laugh and Tennyson spent the next couple of minutes playing the crowd and figuring out what would get the biggest reaction. The bigger the reaction he got, the more he laughed and smiled and smeared his cake. Eventually, we ended up with this:

Note the absence of cake on his face.

He wouldn’t eat until we gave him a utensil.

Like I said earlier, I love our little family. I can’t believe it has almost been a year since we welcomed this little guy into our world!

Tennyson got a bath...

…and then opened presents. Okay, so we opened presents and then handed him the toys.

And if you thought we were done then, you would have been very wrong.

We had an Easter egg hunt!! It is a tradition on my mom’s side of the family to do a candy hunt every Easter. This was their 49th year doing it. The kids all run around finding bags of candy and then, after their buckets are filled to the brim, my grandpa throws out another entire bag of candy and it is a free for all.

Tennyson got right into the thick of things. This kid has no fear.

We spent Saturday night at my Grandma’s house up in Bountiful and on Sunday morning, found that the Easter bunny had come and brought Tennyson a giant chocolate bunny.

Then we spent Easter like every other typical family. At the airport.

Okay, so not like every other typical family. But we still made it feel like Easter by giving Tennyson his chocolate bunny to eat.

It took him about ten seconds of gnawing away to get the ears completely off.

Once he had the ears in his mouth we decided that was more than enough chocolate, so Mike took away the bunny. Tennyson wouldn’t have it. He wanted that bunny back.

We caved. He got the bunny back. But how can you say no when you see the look of joy on his face?

Luckily he stayed pretty clean.

We landed in Chicago that night and went to have Easter dinner with my family. Tennyson learned that you can use the rolls to push the egg pieces on to the floor. It’s a good thing my family has dogs.

We had a mini birthday celebration with my family before we left.

He sobbed during the birthday song again.

He still hated the feeling of frosting.

And he still refused to eat unless we gave him utensils.

Looks delicious, doesn’t it? Do you want some??

Easter Egg Hunt

This morning was our ward Easter egg hunt and breakfast. It was a lot of fun. We ate pancakes and eggs and sausage and Tennyson even got to drink Orange Juice out of a big person cup (with some help from mom). He didn’t even make a mess. And he got to play around a little bit before the hunt started.



We got family pictures done, too. We are excited to get them.

The highlight was definitely the egg hunt. Tennyson did such a good job. He would find an egg or a pack of candy and then hold it up to show us.



He only picked up two eggs before he moved on to finding the candy. This kid. He’s pretty smart. He knew what the good stuff was.



Then he got even smarter because he realized that if he opened an egg, candy would come out.



Then he got mad when I started taking away his eggs and candy. So he tried to steal them back from me.



Overall, it was a great morning. But Tennyson did get a bit messy, so we went to Lowes and threw him in a washing machine to clean off. That’s how it works, right?

A Beautiful Sunday

It got up into the 80s today and it was marvelous.

We went to church this morning. It was not so marvelous. We had to move to the back of the chapel about halfway through Sacrament Meeting because we could no longer contain Tennyson on our laps. But even after moving to the back, we couldn’t contain him (or keep him quiet). He ripped a page out of the hymnal. We only got through the opening prayer of Sunday School before we had to step out into the hall. If I held him, he screamed. If I put him down, he crawled as fast as he could to the nearest electrical outlet to stick his fingers in it. By the time it was time for Relief society, we were in total meltdown mode, so we spent the last hour of church in the car where he napped, and I rejoiced. Sundays like this make me wonder why I even bother.

After we recouped at home a bit, I decided I really still wanted to enjoy the day and get some time outside. So I decided we should go to the Fenner Nature Center since it has been a while since we’ve been there and since Tennyson just got a brand new wagon for his birthday that we’ve been trying to use a lot. He loves his wagon.

We visited some favorite picture spots. My how time has flown. Our little boy has gotten so big.

Almost eight months ago:

Today:

Almost eight months ago:

Today:

Tennyson just loved being pulled around in his wagon. We just loved being outside and being warm.

And I just love him.