More Baby Birthday Party

This is my favorite picture from the party. We wanted a group picture with party hats and we should have known the babies were not going to cooperate. Nora hadn't arrived in the row yet, and Seth and Josiah were bawling. Jacob and Drew kept trying to take each others' hats off. L-r: Seth, Jacob, Drew, Grant, Joseph, Josiah.

All the 1-year-olds enjoying their birthday cupcakes. Jacob got the award for most messy (he was hamming it up for the whole crowd of onlookers) and Seth got the award for most clean (he wouldn't touch his cupcake, even with the frosting removed, and commenced with sobbing). L-r: Seth, Drew, Josiah, Nora, Jacob, Joseph, Grant

Waiting for cupcakes took too much willpower for Drew, who was snitching animal crackers from Seth.

Nora, Jacob, Joseph, Grant

Seth and Drew look happy to be here! Happy Birthday!

Baby Birthday Party!

Trudy the retriever was a big hit at the baby birthday party. A bunch of Megan's friends in Book Club had babies turning one all around the same time. We had one big birthday bash for them all this afternoon. All seven babies (one-year-olds now!) brought their families and other book club friends came to help celebrate. Here Trudy is surrounded by (l-r) Jacob (and dad Mike), Drew, Joseph (and dad Travis) and Seth.

Seth and Josiah, two of the younger ones played so nicely together at the activity table. Signs of future friendship, we think!

Roxy had the brilliant idea to rent a bouncer for the older kids. It was wonderful. I didn't hear one "I'm bored" from anyone the entire time. L-r: Katy, Kate, JJ, Elise, Ethan

Thomas' dump truck was also a big hit. JJ kept hogging it, and had to be banned from it for a while so the girls could have a chance. Here Kate with big sister Hannah stop to pick up hitchhiker Allyson.

Seth and Jacob got right to playin' ball at the beginning of the party. They kept each other pretty busy for a while.

Seth's Family Birthday Party

Seth had his Pyatskowit family birthday party Sunday, April 26.
Seth with his Care Bear cake. This one is Make A Wish Bear, and Mom and Dad got him the stuffed animal for his birthday. It is a 1st birthday tradition in our family to get the bear and matching cake. Elise got Funshine Bear and JJ got Goodnight Bear. Seth did not eat any of his cake, which was no surprise after how he reacted to his earlier "birthday" cupcake.

Seth "opening" his presents. Tucker, JJ and Elise pretty much took care of it for him.

The Pyatskowit grandchildren. Hailey, Seth, Tucker, Kara, Madeline, Anna, Isaac, Elise, JJ, Griffin.

Seth really loves these blocks with their own bucket. Every day he dumps them out, then puts them (most of them anyway) back in.

Finally, a good picture of Mom and Seth!

Seth's First Haircut

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER


Jen, he loves the puzzle maze, as you can see!

April Ohio Weekend

Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Mercer with Seth

Grandpa and Grammie Mercer with JJ, Elise and Seth

Seth and his Grandpa enjoying the nice day!

All Spiffed Up

Here is a photo of Jonathan and his dad and brothers. They were all dressed up to go out to celebrate Josh's graduation.
From left to right: Joel, Al (Dad), Josh, Bruce, Jeremy, Jonathan

Seth Turns 1!

Here are pictures of Seth all throughout the day of his first birthday.
First, here is a picture of Seth when he woke up in the morning. Elise, JJ and I sang Happy Birthday to him, which made him smile and jump. We sang to him often throughout the day and he just loved being the center of attention and hearing his name in the song.

Here is Seth eating his breakfast of a doughnut. I really only let him have a few bites, then a bunch of grapes, his favorite fruit. Notice how much
JJ and Seth look alike! Especially those eyebrows.

In the morning Seth and I went to his friend Drew's house for a playgroup. Seth and Thomas (turning 3) had a birthday, so we had cupcakes and sang to them. Thanks to Kelli's mom Joan for making the cute mini cupcakes and making the day special!

Here's some of the group at the table enjoying the cupcakes. Starting from the left are Grant, Grace, Seth, Drew, Connor, Will, and Anden (OK, the last three are my best guesses..I can't really tell them apart in this picture!).

Here are Elise and Seth at lunchtime. Seth was enjoying peas, his current favorite veggie, and Cheerios with peanut butter. I've been waiting for him to turn 1 so he can have peanut butter with lunch. So much easier for Mom! And he loved it. I made little sandwiches with two Cheerios and peanut butter in the middle. Seth was intrigued by how two Cheerios stuck together. It is so easy to be an amazing Mom to a baby!

Ok, on to supper time. While we were eating hot dogs, Elise pulled out a tooth! This is her second one to come out, and she made sure I got a picture for the blog. She especially wants Grammie to notice! This makes Elise feel very grown up because JJ has only lost two teeth also. For some reason JJ was excited about this. Elise woke up to $1 under her pillow, which she is saving for something, but I forget what. JJ and Elise are both little savers.

After supper Seth opened his presents from Elise and JJ. Elise got him a Jack-In-The-Box. Seth loved it! He can't figure out yet how to turn the handle by himself, but Eesie helps him. I think part of why he loves this toy is that it plays Pop Goes The Weasel when you turn the handle. That is his favorite song that I always had to sing to him to get him in his car seat without throwing a fit, and changing his diaper. Then I have to "pop" him on the belly at the right point in the song. It makes him laugh and stop throwing a fit about whatever it is he doesn't like at the moment. Thank goodness he is growing out of that stage already, but he still loves the song.

JJ got Seth the little wooden hammer and nails set. JJ had to demonstrate, of course. Seth caught on right away, although his aim needs work!

Admittedly not a wonderful picture of me, but I'm using it anyway because there are always so few pictures of me with Seth because I'm usually behind the camera. Seth was enjoying watching Elise and JJ "test drive" his new toys.

It is a tradition in our family to do a "ride on" toy at Wal-Mart on the 1st birthday. JJ and Elise both rode the pony for the first time at the Wal-Mart in Ashland on their first birthdays. Shawano's Wal-Mart doesn't have a pony, but they do have a JayJay the JetPlane, which is just as good! Seth wasn't so sure about it at first, but then got right into it and was pushing the buttons and grinning. We gave him a second ride because he was loving it so much!

I didn't catch his big smile, but you can see he was liking it.

Wednesday, JJ took Seth in for show and tell since it was close to his birthday. JJ had been planning this for a long time. The kids were all excited to see him, since I had been bringing him with me once a week to help out in the classroom when he was very small. I had to stop when Seth stopped sleeping in his car seat when I was there. Seth was happy to see the kids, too! They asked JJ questions about Seth, and then took turns rolling him a globe bouncy ball. Seth showed off his butt-scooting and crawling for them. Thanks to Miss Stuber for allowing JJ to show off his little brother!

From left to right top row: Haven, Santy, Mikayla, Caitlin, Riley, Dawson, Thor
bottom row: Maya, Cameron, Seth, JJ, Karissa (in the corner)