Beach Day, Our Labor Day

We left Indianapolis today and headed home. On the way home we stopped at the beach. Zander has never been to the beach before, and I was really excited to take him to the beach. It turned out to be a cloudy and semi chilly day. It was supposed to be 81 degrees outside, but it sure didn't feel like it. It was windy. Zander still enjoyed the beach. He loves water and he loves playing in sandboxes, so I knew he would love the beach.

Zander taking his first steps into Lake Michigan!

After the beach we met my parents, my Auntie Ree and Uncle Den, and my cousin Den and his wife Danielle at Aurelio's Pizza for dinner. Den and Danielle are in town from Virginia and we had a short but nice visit.

Indianapolis Children's Musuem

Zander and I tagged along to Indianapolis with my husband, Brian, this weekend. For his birthday he wanted to go to the drag races, so we made a weekend out of it. Brian attended drag racing all day today so Zander and I went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. Zander had a blast. It was fun watching him have such a great time.

Focused on riding the motorcycle. He has his racing shirt on in honor of where his dad was today.

And this will be the closest he gets to a motorcycle for many, many years.

Enjoying the water part.

They had a play house with dolls, furniture, a kitchen, and other stuff. Zander went in there for one second, grabbed a doll, and headed out of the house with the doll.

He even gave the doll kisses.

He carried that doll around for quite a while.

He even rode the Carousel for the first time ever.

Zander had cheetos for lunch, and would sign please when he wanted another one, so he had cheetos all over the top of his shirt. I am very happy he is signing again. So far it is just more and please, but I am going to work on other signs.

By the end of the day we were both exhausted. We picked up Brian at the races and then stopped at Fazoli's for dinner. I love Fazoli's and I wish they were in our area. They used to be, but closed down. Brian had a good time watching drag racing. He can't wait to go back tomorrow. Today he went by himself, but tomorrow he is going with one of his bosses from his work.

Zander's Birthday Party

My baby boy is almost one. We celebrated his birthday yesterday, March 20, 2010. We had so much fun! We had his birthday party at our church.

These are just some of the decorations. I took his month crib pictures and put them on card stock and displayed them on a wall. We haven't done his 12 month crib picture yet because he won't turn one until Wednesday, so I used his Easter bunny picture for that one. I forgot to do the crib picture when he turned one month old, so we just used a close up picture for that one.

I made Zander's cake. It didn't turn like I wanted it to. If you can't tell, it is a turtle.

The many faces of Zander Ryan

Zander with his daddy when he was just one week old.

Instead of bringing a gift for Zander, we had everyone bring something to donate to the Ronald McDonald house. Here is the table with the donated items for the RMH.

The food table

My family

Some people did get Zander presents.

Helping Zander open his presents. Where is Zander?

Zander loved opening presents

And he loved all the gifts. He even got his own lap top.

Zander's smash cake

Cake time

He did not taste or eat any of the cake, but he sure did make a mess!

He likes to share with his mommy!

And his cousin, Jaylyn

Some of the guests

My sister-in-law, Jill, and my niece Jaylyn

Auntie Abby wanted a picture with Zander, and this is how he posed

That's better. My sister, Abby with Zander

One of my best friends, Tracy, and her boyfriend Kevin

Harmony, my friend Racheal's daughter

My gorgeous niece, Jaylyn

The happy Birthday Boy. Happy 1st Birthday Zander. We love you.