He's a Climber

On Saturday before his party, Karsten learned to climb stairs. Up to this point he largely ignored the stairs. Grandma says he started climbing all on his own with no encouragement....sure. :)

Grandma spotting Karsten on his ascent up the stairs.

Karsten making it to the top of the staircase for the very first time.
Scott watching Karsten climb. No worries, I was behind Karsten spotting (and taking pictures). He would start off and make it up one stair then his little legs would seem to forget what they were doing and he wouldn't be able to make it up the next stair for a minute or two. Then he would figure it off again and off he went.

Madison kept running up and down the stairs past Karsten. I'm pretty sure she was taunting him.

A Walking Pro

The week of Karsten's birthday he really started to walk more and choose walking over crawling. Ever since the day after his birthday, he's left crawling in his dust - he's a walkin' guy now.

The balloons left over from his party were a great motivator to get him to practice walking - he loved walking around the house holding onto the balloon and shaking it.

I swear I saw him almost running the other night - haven't seen it since then; however, I'm sure it's in our near future!

That darn tongue is out again...


Not sure what we were saying to him here, but I just thought this was a cute pic. :)


Just walkin' along and shaking the balloon.


This pic cracks me up because the look on his face is the one he gets when he is intently saying something. We have no idea what he's saying, but he sure does.


And he's off again...time for another lap around the house!

Now and Then

So much changes in a year - in this picture we had just gotten home with our beautiful, newborn son - we had no clue what we were doing and what the first year would bring. We learned that teamwork was important, asking for help is key and that it really does take a village. We made it through the first year with flying colors and can't wait to see what future years hold. Thank you to all of our family and friends that helped us this year - your words of wisdom and advice were much appreciated!

My mom suggested we take a now and then picture - I love the idea, I think we'll try to remember to do it each year!

1st Birthday Party

We had Karsten's first birthday party on Saturday and were so happy to have many great family and friends join us to help celebrate.

Karsten waking up from his nap and surprised to see some of our family has arrived!

The birthday boy. His super cool birthday shirt was made by my mom - isn't it adorable! You know I had to find plaid shorts to coordinate with the shirt. :)

When Karsten saw Taylor, he very intently said something to Taylor. It was hilarious - Karsten took a deep breath and said something very important. Taylor looked at us and said "What did he say". LOL.

Karsten and Gaga talking. A big thank you to Shannon for driving out to pick up Gaga - we're so glad she was able to make it!

Grandpa and Karsten. I thought this seemed like a good time to get a picture of Karsten with Scott and I, but when I took Karsten from grandpa, he cried and cried. He was definetely grandpa's boy that afternoon!

There should be a cute baby in this picture, but we settled for one of just us.


This is what Karsten and Grandpa were doing while we were having the picture above taken. Just chillin'

I think he was just sitting here taking it all in for a minute...probably wondering if I would ever quit chasing him with this camera. :)

I always take a picture of the table when we entertain - some think I'm odd. O well - I like to make everything look pretty, so here is my attempt this time. :)

Karsten enjoying his birthday dinner - note that he's holding tight to that balloon. It was his constant companion while he was eating.


Gail and Steve

Jill and I

After everyone ate, it was time for birthday cake!

Karsten had his very own cupcake for him to mash into.


As if he didn't have enough blue frosting on his face, he ran his blue hand across his forehead. This was beyond cleanup with a washcloth - he was headed for a bath.

After a bath and an outfit change into the backup birthday shirt it was time to open presents

Beautiful rocking horse quilt made by Shannon to coordinate with the rocking horse that Chuck built.

Karsten, Kellen and Taylor playing with cars

Karsten had a great time pulling off all of the wrapping paper.

I blame this on our dog Madison - she carries toys around in her mouth so why shouldn't Karsten. :)

Us with Gaga

Karsten and I - we got one good pic, even if he is not smiling.

Shannon was tickling Karsten and he was cracking up.

After watching the other kids ride his rocking horse, he learned how to ride it on his own!


This was hilarious - Eden was showing off her dance moves and Taylor was circling her, trash talking and doing some wrestling type moves. They were so incredibly opposite it was funny to watch. They were both playing "at" each other but definetely not "with" each other!


Liz showing Karsten and Kellen how to play with the cool tractor that Gail and Steve got for Karsten. It was a big hit with all the kids!

We got the family picture I wanted - unfortunately it was at the end of the party and can you tell he's a 'little' sleepy and not into having his picture taken?

We tried to get a cute pic of Eden and Karsten. We had high hopes when we got both Eden and Karsten facing the same way...seems simple but it took a few tries. :) Eden started to put her arms around Karsten and Jenn and I were both ready with our cameras - this was shaping up to be a super cute pic. Then Karsten wouldn't put his tongue back in his mouth, Eden didn't look at the camera.....

and then Eden looked at the camera but Karsten's eyes were shut. They were starting to lean a little bit so we tried to save it...

and then they fell over. Too funny!


Overall it was a wonderful day. Thank you to everyone for making it such a special day!

Happy First Birthday!

I promise to post more birthday party pictures soon, I just wanted to get a few posted of how much fun Karsten had eating his birthday cupcake. He ended up looking like an adoable lil blue smurf.

Party Planning

I tried to do a little of the party preparations each night this week so I wouldn't be running around like a crazy woman on Saturday morning. I had a vision of what I wanted his party to look like and knew I wouldn't be happy unless it looked like I imagined. The planning started a couple of month ago when Jenn and I chose the fabric, then Shannon helped me make the flags.

I wish I could claim the creative flag decorations; however, I was inspired by this super cool birthday party I found on another blog. You'll notice later that the birthday cake is even inspired by the cake at this blog.

Luckily, Grandma was in town for the birthday party so she and Karsten played while Scott and I worked on finishing touches for the birthday party.

The balloons provided endless entertainment.

Karsten realized today that he could go up the stairs. Uh oh - until this point we hadn't worried about baby gates, he had listened to us and moved away from the stairs whenever he crawled near them.

More fun with the balloons. His walking has gotten SO much better. On Thursday night it was like the walking just clicked and he was more interested in walking than crawling. He might look like a drunken sailor occasionally; however, he always perservers and keeps trying to walk. He's really doing a great job and barely crawling at all.


I made a little photo book with pictures from his first year and asked all of the guests to write Karsten a note. It will be a nice keepsake for him in the future!

Turns out I bought too much of the flag fabric so Shannon was able to make a quilt out of the flags. I think it turned out amazing - I love the zig zag edges and how all of the triangles look together. It made a great tablecloth for the party and I can't wait to use it!