EZRA IS #1- football party

*UPDATE:Hello Pinterest friends and Dietpepsi.com ! I didn't know anyone but my family looked at this little, neglected blog. I've been blown away by the daily number of readers checking out this post. I've added a few more pictures of the little projects we did for fun (warning not the best photo quality!)

So long sweet baby, hello big boy!  One. Year. Old. I can't believe it. "Ezra is #1" (as we like to chant)!

Ezra's actual birthday was kind of a boring day. But he did get his first ice cream!  And really he had no idea what was up. ( I wonder if he'll be like his big sister and give me a detailed list of what he wants for his second birthday.) But his party was awesome (if I say so myself ;-).

I had so much fun finding ideas on Pinterest!  Jose  helped me make a lot of our decorations, and since we are kind of football fanatics we already had a lot of the supplies!

A few of our projects:
$3 thrift store ugly picture turned chalkboard menu, Concession Stand sign (AKA the picture pinned 1000 times on Pinterest, and featured on dietpepsi.com)

Jose made the field goal with a couple of dollars of PVC, and spray paint we had on hand. The banners were all from Ezra's room!

Football field table cloth was out of an astroturf carpet and white duct tape

I bought the carpet at Home Depot, and used poster board letters for the end zone. 

The food table didn't get much photo love. It was pretty basic, but we did have football themed plates, napkins and cups. The silverware was in vases I wrapped in scrapbook paper and white tape. 

 Inside the house, I replaced all our regular art and pictures with pictures of Ezra (mostly football related).

A view of the mess the night before! The signs were on our walkway and door. The bags were for the piñata candy.

Jose really wanted to get Ezra an official Nike jersey. It was almost like a gift for Jose more than Ezra! Fortunately it has fit him all year so he's got plenty of use from it. We are hoping future babies will use it too. 

 I worried all month about the weather. We never know what we will get in March! The month started as one of the warmest we've had in awhile (and driest!) which convinced me it wouldn't last until his party on the 21st! Fortunately all projected rain didn't come, and the day was beautiful (but windy, which meant I couldn't put all the centerpieces outside).





I ordered football popcorn boxes and the suckers from Oriental Trading. Easter was around the corner so I filled football eggs with candy, and used pictures of him from throughout the year that were football related.

My sister in law provided the super cute football cake pops, and we made the field stand out of styrofoam.  The cupcakes were made by our niece and tasted and looked great! My mom made football rice krispie treats, and the football strawberries were made by an aunt. I was so grateful for all the creative baking help!

The desserts were probably my favorite part! 

We asked guest to wear their team colors, and I loved how everyone got into the football theme! 

Poor Ezra did not sleep well the night before his party and had a fever. The day of his party he was not himself, and preferred to be carried. I was bummed that he wasn't running around playing, but I think he still enjoyed himself. He ended up getting sicker the next few days. Poor guy was miserable, and couldn't sleep for a week.

The next couple of pictures may be hard to believe....Raider and Charger fans getting along??

 He LOVES to wear the mini foam fingers!

 He of course loved his cake, but hated having his hands dirty!

I made his high chair banner out of fabric remnants from his nursery. I just printed the letters out from my computer and traced them onto the fabric.

Glimpse of the football bounce house.

 Love the team spirit!

My boy and I!

Can't have a party without a piñata! 

It was such a fun day! Everything came out great, and it was fun celebrating with 75 of our closest family and friends (CRAZY!).  

11 months

My little man is 11 months old today. This past month he has "grown up" so much! At exactly 10 1/2 months to the day, he took his first steps! Aubri and I kept looking over at him and he was standing unassisted playing by himself. He had done this for a couple of months, but this was for extended periods of time. I asked held out my hands for him to walk to me and he did! When Jose got home from work he showed off a bit, but then later that night he took 8 steps! Every day he has become a stronger walker, though his preferred mode of transportation is still speed crawling.

He has also expanded his vocabulary this month. The little stinker still won't say Mama, but he loves calling for his Dada! He also says Papa (puhpuh), book (without the k), ball (ALL the time!), Hi (ha), up (uh), dog, woof (every animal woofs now), baby, and bye.  He can point to his hair, nose, tongue , hands, feet and when he wants to, his eyes.

 Ezra LOVES to sing and dance, and does the cutest little wiggle dance when he wants to make us laugh. One day our family was out to eat and he was doing his little wiggle dance, which Aubri copied, then Jose and I copied. We were all taking turns doing the wiggle moves when it hit me how ridiculous we had to look! His favorite toys, besides balls, are microphones- or anything that can be made into a microphone. He hums and sings away! And with about a 90% success rate, the surest way to stop his tears is to start singing "If your happy and you know it!" He knows how to clap, stomp and shout along (doesn't say amen, but at least tries).

We still can't get over how much he eats! He will eat anything and everything. But he is over the purees. He wants finger foods only! Which is actually nice in a way because I can actually eat my own food instead of feeding him. He literally eats more food in a day than Aubri. I should be used to it by now, but everyday I still comment to Jose that I can't believe he sits so content in his high chair! When he wants more he signs for it, and he makes the funniest smacking noises to say he is hungry or thirsty. Sometimes I think he doesn't realize he is full because he can finish a good meal, yet act like he is starving when he sees something he likes. Grocery stores are crazy with him because he is reaching for everything, signing more, and smacking his lips jumping up and down in the cart. Costco and Trader Joes are the best because I can get him a sample and he is good to go. Poor little man still has a strong gag reflex. Aubri was the same way, so we are used to the choking incidents. It can still be a little scary! He actually has learned to fish hook himself to get the food out when he gags. It is funny and sad at the same time! His desire to self feed and his gag reflex have been a hard combo, but he is doing much better lately.

Now that he is toddling everywhere, he is also getting into everything. This isn't too new, but coupled with his love for food, our pantry was getting attacked too much. I caved and baby proofed the cabinets. It's one of my pet peeves (the inconvenience of the locks), and I avoided it with Aubri. However having two kids to look after makes things a bit harder, and for everyones sanity and safety the locks went on.

 He is hilarious! He is such a ham and so goofy! He has always been great at posing for the camera, but he learned a couple of weeks ago to say "cheese". At first I didn't realize he was doing it when I was taking a picture of Jose and both kids. All the pictures looked like he was in pain! Now he "asks" for pictures, positioning his head in front of our phones or camera and grunting and making his cheese face until we take it!

 I love that he knows when he is being funny! He cracks himself up when he burps or farts, and will fake either noise to make us laugh. He also makes a farting noise when you ask him what Papa does.

We won't mention how well he sleeps, but I will say at least he falls asleep easy! This handsome boy lights up our days. He's cuddly and sweet, curious and adventurous, tough and all boy! Ezra Joseph we love you!