At the end of March one of my good friends welcomed a new baby girl, to our group, so Blake will have a new little girlfriend to play with. We are so excited to have a girl to spoil in our group of friends.
Easter was family filled down in Blue Earth and Iowa. Blake got to meet some of his second cousins for the first time. Isaac and Elliott were up from Iowa--finally some boys to play with. Although he can't really follow them around, he definitely got everyone's attention. You know his love for remotes...well Great Grandpa & Grandma Christ have these fancy chairs that go up and down with the remote. So Blake got a hold of Grandpa's and started monkeying with the buttons. Next thing you know Grandpa is ready to eject right out of the chair, just then Blake hits the next button and back down it goes. Luckily they move about as fast as a 2 toed sloth, so no one was ever in danger! It was fun to see all the Christ girls too, they had fun playing with Blake.
[caption id="attachment_199" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Taking great grandpa for a ride-- a slow ride."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_192" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Second cousins...the little farmers!"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_193" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="One of our last football pictures!"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_206" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Our family picture at Amy's wedding"]
[/caption]After Easter activities we were onto a wedding of another great friend of ours-- Amy and Mike had a beautiful wedding out in Buffalo. This was Blake's first wedding and he looked so cute I thought I was going to cry! He's growing up so fast. He was very intrigued by all the people and the music, so funny to watch him people watch. You have to wonder what he is thinking! Brian and I used the wedding as our "date night" and stayed out till 11 pm....yeah sounds early but not for us. That was late for us, but we had a great time.
[caption id="attachment_194" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Once you have a child....no one takes a picture of us anymore!"]
[/caption]We rounded out April with Blake turning 1. The night of his actual birthday was just a quiet dinner at home, nothing crazy....that comes later...keep reading.
[caption id="attachment_195" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Our last football picture"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_196" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Opening a book from the Christ Family"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_197" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="He wanted to open gifts...who needs a family picture?!"]
[/caption]Well that brings us to May already! The first weekend in May we celebrated Great Grandma Vriesen's 80th birthday down in Blue Earth. All of the kids, grandkids and great grandkids were there. Of course there were a bunch of Kodak moments all weekend. We spent most of our time at Jeff and Sharon's where Macie got a little taste of what it would be like to have a sibling. Blake is pretty used to "older" girls taking his toys away, but she wasn't too keen on sharing. But she had lots of hugs and kisses for him, so I think it all worked out in the end. Blake was also teaching Gavin, his other cousin, how to sit up and take notice of all the things around him. Husker went out to Buffalo to start her 2 week vacation...she gets so much more attention out there I think she would rather stay there than come back.
[caption id="attachment_198" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The matching outfits were a total fluke....no one planned that!"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_200" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A few more year and this group is going to be trouble..."]
[/caption]The second weekend in May was fun filled, I co-hosted a baby shower for one of my college girlfriends. It was weird to see so many "baby" things that Blake has already grown out of. It just reminds me again how fast time flies! After the baby shower it was finally time for Blake's big birthday party. We were very fortunate to have close friends and family celebrate with us. He was pretty overwhelmed by all the people, but was in good spirits most of the day. Some of the highlights during the day is him dancing for everyone to his favorite song...Behind Blue Eyes from The Who. We have it recorded on our DVR and anytime he's in a bad mood, we cue it up and he calms down. It's pretty funny. [I'll try to post the video soon] He wasn't to interested in cake, he doesn't eat much sugar, so I don't think he liked it very much. He was a very spoiled little boy, getting toys and clothes etc. We are so blessed with such great friends and family, it made the day really special.
[caption id="attachment_209" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Didn't really go for the hat so much..."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_210" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Not a big sugar fan, so the cake was a little overwhelming."]
[/caption]Meanwhile, all of this going on during the weekends, I was SUPER busy at work getting ready for my trip to Hawaii....YES for work. I left on Mother's Day and just arrived home this Sunday. It was a long week of work, but I guess I couldn't complain too much about the view. The planning of this trip was a ton of work, I'm still stressed out about it and it's over?! But that's the worklife I live, so I'm used to it. We were in the beautiful St. Regis Hotel, on Kauai. The island is very different from the Big Island where we honeymoon-ed. It's so much more green and the water is much more calm. Of course it was beautiful everyday, and after being their 7 days, I only got to lay on the beach for 40 minutes. My legs are still as white as snow.
[caption id="attachment_211" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="This is the view from my "desk" all week, I couldn't really complain."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_212" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="The sunset from our office room, yep we were working from sun up to sundown."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_213" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Taken during my 40 minutes on the beach!"]
[/caption]All in all it was a great time, but I was very excited to come home and see my boys. While I was there Husker celebrated her 5th birthday. I can't believe we've had her that long. Yet again, another reminder that time goes by SO fast.
Thanks again for waiting for the updated blog, I promise to be a little more dilligent...but her are some pictures just for fun that we've taken in the last few months!
[caption id="attachment_201" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="First time down the slide"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_202" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A little sleepy after the park and the walk to Wal Mart~"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_203" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="First time without the baby bath"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_204" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Not a huge fan of grass...takes after Mom."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_205" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Still loves to eat"]
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