The Freemans: Happy Birthday

Today was my friend Lauren's bday. Her husband was out of town (in Texas) for podiatry interviews, and not flying in until 11pm, so we decided to have a little bday celebration for her. We made most of dinner yesterday, so we just had to stick it in the oven after church. The boys helped me decorate the room with balloons hanging from the ceiling and streamer, and signs. We had such a fun time getting ready to have Lauren and her girls, Hailey and Ellie, over.

The centerpiece, drawn by Jacob (it's a picture of 4 bday cakes, with a butterfly in the middle).

A sign that Jacob insisted we put in the living room so that she could enjoy her bday in the kitchen and in the living room.

After dinner we had some cake.

The kids had fun helping poke the candles in.

Played for a little while afterwards. We were so happy Fialas could come over!! We love them and secretly hope that they get stuck in Cleveland for residency. (Tyson graduates in May, so they'll start residency in June or July. We will be so sad when they move).

Blake turned ONE today!! This boy has brought so much joy into our lives. He has, from the onset, been a little ball of sunshine to us. He is all boy, no doubt about it, but he is so loving and peaceful and content and is such a calming influence on his mother. Heavenly Father knew I needed him, and then instead of just giving me a baby that was much easier than the last, I feel like he just added in so many bonuses just to make absolutely sure that we could never deny that Heavenly Father had showered us with so many blessings:

From the beginning, Blake has been a good eater, has progressed at a normal rate, has been a good sleeper.
He is very sociable. Whenever he hears the other boys getting together to play, he goes right over to join the fun.
He started walking at 10 1/2 months. He's almost starting to run. A quiet little busybody. Loves to sneak back into our bedroom and pull everything off our nightstands, or better yet splashing in the bathroom toilet.
If we are sitting on the ground he gets a big smile on his face, then quickly walks over to us and just kind of melts into our arms or onto our lap or will lay his head on us, then runs back away.
He loves to be tackled and to rough house with the other 2 boys. He especially loves Jacob--the two of them have had the sweetest connection ever since Blake was born. They just bonded with each other and they LOVE to play together.

We LOVE our little Blakester and can not imagine life without him. He really has been our little angel baby--with blond hair and dimples and blue eyes, the sweetest smile, and the most darling little spirit and personality.

We made him a monkey cake--he is our banana lover. Something we never get tired of is watching him stuff as many banana chunks into his mouth as quickly as he can. We had cake first thing in the morning since Brian had to go into work at 10 am and didn't get home until 10 pm.