thanksgiving and more birthday fun

tim and i alternate the winter holidays each year with our families and this year was thanksgiving in michigan with my family (christmas will be with his family in chicago). we were happy to have clear driving weather both ways and a good little traveler in the backseat. i was so excited to see how declan liked facing forward in his carseat now that he's one! he definitely seems to like it and sings and talks a lot back there, i just giggle at his high-pitched singing of da da da da da da. who knows what the kid is thinking?


my mom put on a big traditional feast with my stepdad lynn, my uncle tom, aunt jill, grandma and grandpa and three cousins elise, hannah, delaney, elise's boyfriend justin, and my brother andy. not only were we thankful, but it was declan's 1st b-day, andy's 30th(!) b-day and mom & lynn's 11th anniversary. nothing else can occur this week in the future, there is just not any more room!

here's a great picture of my cute cousins, they are sisters. they taught me about limewire, i feel so plugged in now(and old that i'm still using itunes).

d, e and h

it was a long lazy day filled with lots of eating, family, relaxing and concluded with declan's birthday party, presents, birthday cake and leftovers. i think they all played a game too, elferaus, but i do not play games so i do not pay attention when the cards and board games come out.

sadly i dropped my camera, lens first, on the carpet and it busted so i think i lost many great birthday shots including the presents. :(

here is the cake demolition which was hilarious and messy. he started out slow and kept scanning the 13 of us watching him! then he really dug in and held his beloved balloons with one hand and stuffed his face with the other. i had never done this before so had to ask my mom when should we cut this off? he probably would have polished off every last crumb in true mitchell fashion but we did intervene and threw him in the tub.





this face is SO him!


tried to get a shot of his special birthday cupcake outfit. i had to splurge a little since he's 1 and all, got it from allysoriginals.com - she makes the most beautiful monogrammed longalls, shortalls and dresses for little ones at a reasonable price than other custom outfits out there. i plan to scrape together some funds for another outfit from her someday soon.

post-cake-bath

post-bath great grandma betty having some success reading to him! he is still obsessed with books but will not let anyone read to him.