Happy Birthday Baby Magnus!!!

Magnus & my mom (Nanna) then... Magnus & my dad (Pa Pa) now.
4 days old
1 year old!
Just a blink of a year ago today, Joe and I were heading to the hospital to receive the special gift of the birth of our little boy! He was 22" long, and can you believe he has grown over 10 inches in his first year of life? That's just insane! He's also gained about 25 lbs since then. Here are some fun "then and now" pictures. What's so awful though, is that he's grown SO fast that I can hardly remember him as a tiny baby... =( Somebody, please help me slow him down a little! Since today is his actual birthday, we saved a couple of his gifts aside from his party so he could open them today. He got a tricycle from us (he loves playing with it & scooting around on it, but hasn't figured out the pedals yet!) and a basketball hoop from my bro, sis-in-law & niece Erika. He figured it out immediately, and plans to go pro in a year or two!

1st Birthday Party Pig-out!

We threw Magnus a birthday party on Saturday (3 days early, but we have a little surprise for him on his "real" birthday too!). I was busy all day Friday making his cake, horsie cup cakes and other party foods like Oreo truffles. We ordered hot wings from Buffalo Wild Wings and had hot ham/cheese party sandwiches (thanks to my mom for help with those!), pizza roll-ups and a fruit tray. Magnus sure enjoyed his first cake, and he made sure he didn't disappoint us when we expected him to make a mess of himself! He managed to also get cake on the kitchen wall, as he squeezed a bunch of cake in his hand (frosting oozing out of his little fingers!) and then shook his hand out! Erika and Jordan helped him blow out his candle after everyone sang happy birthday to him. He thought that little fire on his cake was pretty neat. He didn't get much cake eaten though because he was too busy trying to lick it off his hands, rather than make time to pick up more pieces to eat! Mmmm! Tasty!

A great time with good friends!

Magnus had a blast at his birthday party Saturday! All his little friends were here, and they enjoyed helping him open and play with his fun gifts. It was a wild and crazy-fun time! It was so fun to see everyone again, and my parents, grandparents and niece Erika (all from NC) came up to help us celebrate with our little man. Erika and Jordan (Tim and Sherry's little 2 1/2 y.o. blonde-haired girl.) hit it off and played (hard!) non-stop, all evening! We had such a great time!

Re-creating our back yard

We've spent quite a few days trying to get the back yard how we want it. We had originally thought we may put in a retaining wall, but ended up moving dirt (and LOTS of it!) with our tractor to make a nifty little sloping hill that I personally think is rather pretty. Now if we can just get some grass to grow on it! We'd also like to cut some little steps into the hill - Jack has already beat a trail down the steeper part to his doggy door in the basement, so we figured we might as well give him some steps! We also added the gravel driveway which makes our little garage door down there much more useful. Magnus spent some "quality" time in his playpen so I could help rake, shovel and smooth the dirt. He was happy in there for quite a while before trying (unsuccessfully) to climb out of his little prison!

Home Improvements

The weather has been so beautiful lately that we've been motivated to get some long-overdue home improvements done. After spending an extremely stressful year building this house, we tried to forget all about it and haven't yet finished up all those little things we need to do. We also never "got around" to putting a sidewalk in, so that was our project last week. (And you wondered why I wasn't blogging!) The pavers actually turned out nice and I think I'm going to like them. Please excuse the little piles of sand, etc... it's not quite finished yet, and the rain we've had the past couple days has been hindering my progress! As you can see in the first picture, Jack was a very big help - I don't know how we would've managed without him!

Rub A Dub Dub

Magnus still loves his bath time! Although, he doesn't realize that it serves any purpose other than playtime, so he tends to get annoyed when I "interrupt" by washing his hair. How dare me!

A cowboy baby (& his dog)

Our little cowpoke just turned 11 months old! He's very close to walking, and always seems to be just an inch away from hurting himself. His favorite thing (besides being outside) is climbing... he climbs the guinea pig cage, the barstools, the stairs and whatever else he can find! We are busier than ever trying to keep up with him, but he's so much fun!

Ready for the Rodeo!

Magnus took his first horsie ride today in his little saddle. Joe was nearby to catch him if he started to slide off, but Magnus had no intention of leaving Jake's back before his ride was finished! He would bounce up and down after Jake would stop walking and try to get him to giddy-up again. What a fun time he had! It was too cute!!

My first painting

For Christmas, Joe surprised me and bought me a bunch of art supplies so I could learn to paint! I had told him a little while back that I'd always wanted to be an artist (ever since I was like 3... or as far back as I can remember!), and I guess he wanted to help me fulfill that lifelong dream. As a child, I used to picture myself in a little beret, sitting at my easel holding a pallet full of paints... and wearing a white smock. I thought every painter probably wore a white smock and a little black beret. I haven't taken any art lessons yet (or bought any "proper" artist clothing - don't you have to go to Paris for those?), but I want to maybe get some DVD's to give me some instruction so I can at least LOOK like I know what I'm doing. =) I just couldn't wait to get started though, so I copied a picture of my horse Jake and used acrylics to make my first little 5x7 painting. It's certainly not perfect, but I was actually very relieved to find that I could at least tell that it was Jake! I have always loved drawing animals, but never had any interest in people-subjects. If you're curious to see which photograph I copied, check out my August post entitled "Meet Jake...".

A happy new home

Our beloved dog has a new home and a new name! Gunther (now Henry) was a wonderful dog that we had 5 fun-filled years with, but he wasn't the kind of dog that we could trust around Magnus - especially now that Magnus is nearly walking. God answered our prayers and found the perfect family for him. Henry has been with them for over a week now and is settling in nicely. Philip & Katharine (pictured) don't have any children, so Henry & Winston (their other dog) are their "kids". The dogs sleep beside their bed and live with them in their home like doggy kings. We miss our Gunny terribly, but it's the perfect happy ending for everybody and we are so thankful that God sent them to us and to "Henry". His new family already loves him dearly, so that makes me feel better when I get to missing him a lot. We got Gunther in Cincinnati as a puppy and he rode all the way home in my lap (we were in the Miata!). He bonded very strongly to me, and was literally like my shadow. He'd be in a dead sleep (I thought!) until I'd leave the room and he'd jump up and run after me, just to flop down at my feet again. He was my constant companion, and even when he was outside he would always check in the window to see where I was at. When I worked full time, he knew exactly when I should be arriving home and would wait in the yard watching for my return, and then he and Jack would do the happy Mastiff dance. He was our farm comedian and would "wave" at you when you walked up. It was so sad to see him go, but we couldn't be happier when we think of how much he is loved and spoiled, and his new family sends us lots of updates and pictures. And you can see how happy he looks already!