Portraits

My little Valentine's

Elizabeth didn't shed a tear, this may be a first for her.

There were so many cute pictures of Andrew, it was hard to choose.

Sesame Street Live! Concert

Happily the children are content with a bucket of salty, buttery popcorn and I don't have to fork out thirty bucks for a cheap light-up toy.

Elizabeth singing along

Michael hamming it up




January Randoms

Morning ritual: drinking coffee milk together on the futon.

For the crosstown shoot out (XU vs UC) we made Xavier breadsticks. James later turned the U's to make UC.


On a recent snow day I allowed Elizabeth to pick out her clothes - this is her ensemble.

Prince Andrew's Royal Party

We celebrated Andrew's first birthday with sixteen children.

The children loved the castle jump-olene / ball pit.

We did parachute activities with the little ones.

Playing a ball racing game.

Pin the candle on the cupcake.

The one year olds quietly playing while the bigger children ran around.

Elizabeth taking a quick rest from the festivities.

Andrew was not at all fazed by thirty something people singing to him.

Princely cupcakes
"Royal Blue" velvet cupcakes

The crown cake I created. I purposely wrote his name off-center so that it would look homemade. (wink, wink)

Amidst all the commotion Andrew sat quietly eating his birthday cake.

In lieu of gifts we asked our guests to bring diapers to donate. I'm proud to announce we collected over 700 diapers to give to The Gabriel Project.

Andrew is ONE!!

This morning the birthday boy woke up to find a new toy waiting.

At first Andrew was wary of this climber/slide. But by the afternoon he was climbing up the rock wall by himself and throwing balls in the hoop.

For breakfast I made one of his favorites: vanilla dutch baby with a triple berry compote.

The kids and I sang to him every chance we could get. By the evening he would do a little dance while we serenaded him.
We went to lunch at the mall and then to the play area. Andrew loves that place. He goes down the slides solo and doesn't seem bothered when he gets knocked over by a bigger child. No one can believe that this tough little boy who can hold his own is only one.

Elizabeth and I baked him a "Royal Blue" Velvet cake.
She even helped me with the cream cheese frosting.

Now this is what I'm talking about.

He's really getting into it. Guess this is why it's called a smash cake.

We ended a great birthday with a bubble bath.

As usual, Elizabeth is trying to help.

This year has gone by so quickly. I am constantly amazed by this child. He has brought so much love and joy to our family. Elizabeth and Michael dote on him and love that he is trying to keep up with them. He can run now and loves tackling someone to the ground. Michael told me, "Mommy, Andrew isn't a baby anymore. It's time to have another baby in your belly. A girl baby."
It is true that our little prince is growing up.