It's My Party!!

Alright, the grand event finally came and went. Kellen turned one last Sunday, and as a first time mommy I think we did a pretty good job. I REFUSED to go overboard and waste money on things he would not remember (tons of decorations, matching plates, napkins etc) it was simple and fun. We ate burgers, had some chips, cake and other yummy desserts and celebrated the baby boys first birthday. Below are some pictures from the event. If you missed it, you missed some pretty great times. Thanks to everyone that came to make his day special.

Home made cake made by mommy. Aunt Cassie let me borrow these little pans that made the three pieces to the cake.
Kellen woke up from his nap just as the festivities were about to begin, perfect timing since he would only get one nap for the day.
Daddy BBQ'd all the burgers, they were yummy.
Jeff and Nolan hung out with Colin outside while he cooked.
John, Tymon and Brittani were in attendance at the festivities.
OK, so he opened one gift a little early. It wasn't wrapped so he was a little ahead of us. Grandpa got him a bike and a helmet. He LOVES it even though he can't reach the pedals yet. We put on the helmet and ride him to the mail box every day. Thanks to Grandpa's handy dandy handle that he attached to the back of it!
Here is the helmet.

Aunt Renee and her friend Mike got Kellen a remote control car!! It is SO cool!

Jeff and Ashley bought him this really cool Caterpillar that talks and sings. He likes to push the buttons and watch the ears light up.
Bill and Jeannine (though unable to attend, we hope Grandpa Knight is doing better) gave him a walker to help him practice walking (still a crawler) and when he has mastered walking he can ride on it instead!

Uncle Tymon and Aunt Brittani (and Baby Olivia) got him a sweat outfit from Old Navy, our favorite store!

Our super cool, (and super normal, YAY) neighbor, Mike, gave Kellen this cool puppy dog toy! It sings and talks and teaches him all about body parts!

Great Grandma and Grandpa McDonough bought him this SUPER CUTE Adidas sweat outfit! And they gave him a savings bond! Kellen loves to save!

Uncle John, Aunt Cassie and Cousin Nolan bought him some golf clubs (plastic :=) and a really soft Mickey Mouse! He likes the clubs, and even likes to share!

Uncle Chad and his friend Julia arrived a little later and brought a new Harley with them!! Kellen tries to scoot around in it and LOVES to be pushed around the living room really fast on it!

OK, so the cake mess begins. He was slightly hesitant at first to touch it, but then once he tasted it, it didn't take long!

MESSY FACE!!

Drinking some milk to wash it down.
Time to get cleaned up! Yikes! He is covered from head to toe!
One last shot before Grandpa put him in the sink.

Here is a short video, the messiest part was not taped... it came later.
Thanks to Aunt Cassie he was sparkly clean in a flash! The poor sink on the other hand needed some additional TLC. There was a ring in the tub once we got him out! All in all a successful first birthday! We had so much fun! Thanks to everyone that came! Those that couldn't attend, you missed out. BUT you have the blog to reminisce!

I'm Turing ONE!!

Friday, we took pictures for our Christmas card and for Kellen's 1st birthday. Elle Bee Photography came to our home to capture the Christmas moments. Our Christmas tree has been up since the day after Thanksgiving, and our home is filled with so many Christmas decorations (see earlier blog for pictures). I don't even have to turn the heater on, the tree keeps our house warm when it's all lit! As usual, we were so pleased with how the pictures turned out, and so thankful that Lauren was able to take them. Here they are!

Getting ready for our family photos, we weren't all ready to look at the camera! Ha ha!

OK, now we are...

Daddy and Kellen hanging out

This is one of my favorites... such a great shot.

Showing his boyish charm... what a sweety!

Lauren did something cool with this picture, I love how the background of the tree stands out.

Something about his look in this picture made it another one of my favorites. I bought a 5 x 7 of it.

This is the first professional picture Colin and I have taken together since we were dating (that I can remember). We are so blessed by Lauren and her talents... if you don't have a family photographer, I HIGHLY recommend her. Merry CHRISTmas Everyone!!

Women's Christmas Brunch

Every year Grandma Bardsley invites me to her church for their annual Christmas brunch, I call it the "Christmas Kick Off." Grandma Sue attends Mariner's Church in Irvine, it is similar to my church, Sandals, in that it started very humbly and had grown to be known as a pretty amazing church.
The brunch consists of all the ladies in their church getting together with friends and family, eating brunch, singing worship songs and listening to a key-note speaker. This year it was really amazing. The speakers name was Sheila Walsh. An author, speaker, singer and former 700 club co-host. She shared with us her testimony and how God has changed her life and brought her to where she is right. Not only was she funny, and well spoken, she had an amazing singing voice! She has a book called, "Let Go: Live Free of the Burdens All Women Know." I bought one for my mom for Christmas. We had a great morning of catching up with the ladies and worshiping God. Here are some photos of the festivities. Our tradition is to take photos in front of the Christmas tree after the Brunch is over.

This is a photo of Grandma Sue, Shelley and I by the tree.

This is a photo of the room as you walk in. My camera does not take panoramic photos, there are still more ladies to the left and right of the room. It is quite the event.

The lady to the right is Norma Hanson, Grandma Sue's neighbor. Grandma and Norma have been neighbors for fourty years! They walk together in the mornings to keep fit, they are both in great shape. Jill is Norma's daughter. Jill and Shelley grew up together and Jill attended Westmont College, the school that Colin attended. Jill and her husband Ken met at Westmont and Colin heard so many stories over the years and had visited several times and knew that is where he was supposed to go to college. Jill and Norma are amazing Christian women.
What a day! What an event! What a year!

My New Hat

We went to Target yesterday afternoon, after a cold morning run. I decided that maybe if I bought Kellen a warm hat and gloves that he wouldn't be as cold while out and about during the winter time. He usually hates hats, or just likes throwing things and ripping them off his head, so I knew I would need to outsmart him. Make it soft, and have some sort of tie so that he can't take it off!! Here are some cute photos of him wearing his new hat.

Power out... but we can still have fun!

Power outage... from Mindie Gilliland on Vimeo.

So the Power went out last night for about 30 minutes, in the middle of dinner! Thankfully I had a candle lit on the bar so that it wasn't pitch black in our house when it went out. I lit a few other candles so we could see our food and then Colin gave Kellen a flash light to play with.
He was trying to figure out where the light was coming from.
He liked playing with the flash light and it looked pretty funny when he put the light end in his mouth. My kid is so much fun!