Mason's 1st Steps for the Record (no video)

Mason took 3 steps towards me tonight before bath - in nothing but a diaper! He was holding onto the side of the couch and then let go and thought he would just stroll on over to me. It won't be long now!

Haircuts & Climber

Check out the new haircuts Tati gave us!





And did we mention that we love our climber?

Mega block building

Ethan is quite the little builder - no idea how he figured this out, but he actually stacks the Mega blocks and builds towers!








Mason prefers to still eat the blocks, knock over Ethan's towers, and listen to his "boom box" (i.e. the Baby Einstein classical music box that they have loved since they were little babies)

New Wheels!

First, just a funny video of Mason pushing Ethan on one of the Winnie the Pooh trains (while Ethan lays on the horn):



Grandma and Grandpa got us each a new set of wheels for our birthday! Kind of a windy day for taking our bikes out though!



And our great friends who live down the street from us have given us a long-term loan of their great wagon. Grandma and Grandpa took us for our first ride!






This is a video from next week of the boys riding in their wagon, but it goes best in this post!

Romanian Tradition

We also included a Romanian tradition in the day's festivities. In Romania, on the 1st birthday, babies are presented with a tray of items which represent various professions. The first 3 items that they choose is a prediction of what they will do later in life!


Here is the tray of goods as Tati explains the story (note that the deck is stacked with 2 combs from our Little Muzz who wanted to see someone become a barber - it definitely worked in her favor!)



Mason chooses...

1. A basketball*


2. A stethoscope


3. and a comb!



*Note: according to Mason's doctor he's going to play football, but since a football was not a choice, we are going with the assumption that he thought the orange ball most resembled a football

Ethan chooses...

1. A basketball!**


2. A comb!


3. and a packet of fake money!



**Note: We would like to point out that Ethan first grabbed a baseball, with his left hand - though he didn't actually take it off the tray. We mention this because Brett is hoping for a left-handed pitcher in the family who might play for the Red Sox one day...so, you know, just for the record... ;)

Party Time! (videos included)

What a party! We had about 30 people in attendance and visitors from 4 states! Rudy's BBQ for lunch (yum!) and just a good time all around with our friends and family!

Making our way to our cake - Mason pushing Ethan on the train - Ethan honking his horn... Out of our way people! We heard there is cake! Move it or lose it!!



Our decorated high chairs and kitchen:




The cakes!




Our 1st cake and birthday song (the video):



Mason eating it up (the video):



Ethan feeding it to Daddy instead of himself (the video):



The cleanup (Dadadada and Josh had to tackle this major cake cleanup!):





Opening some gifts from our friends that evening:






And then off to bed because we were EXHAUSTED! But we had so much FUN!!
Thank you everyone who came out to celebrate with us!!

Party Day Morning

We opened our gifts from Mom (a.k.a. "ma ma ma ma") and Dad (a.k.a. "da da da da") this morning!

We got Mega blocks and a Learning Farm and some Backyardigans (our favorite) straw cups!

SCORE!

Happy 1st Birthday Mason & Ethan!

We can hardly believe it was 1 year ago today that these little guys arrived after MUCH anticipation! What a wonderful year it has been!


Our day started off with opening our very first gift from our Auntie Meg who lives in NYC (Auntie Meg, we love music and we love to dance - we are already preparing to see our first Broadway show with you!) Auntie Meg got the boys some very cute plates and bowls for doing what they like to do best - eat!






Then we opened cards from grandma and grandpa (but they had already gotten the boys a gift that you'll see later on that the boys didn't know about) - they will have a lot of fun in Target picking something out with their gift cards too!

Opening their cards:



Ethan showing off his gift card:



Mason looking like he's really thinking already about what he's going to get at the store:



Then on to some birthday waffles:




A long ride in the swings (boy was it a hot one today!)






And the introduction to our new climber! (well, new to us, though we actually were in the car when mom picked it up from some people's house - we heard something about a "craiglist" mentioned, maybe that's a store we haven't been to yet.) Ethan's favorite part is the door (especially opening and closing it) - Mason likes that too, but he likes the whole thing and can't wait to figure out how to get down that slide on his own!








We ended the day by going out to dinner with Grandma, Grandpa, Mom and Dad. We got pizza - we are definitely daddy's boys because we LOVE pizza! But we were all too tired by then to remember to get pictures of that!

Then it was time to hit the bath and off to bed!

Now doesn't that look like such a fun day? But wait! There's more to come! Tomorrow is the big party!!