Ain't no party like a Bunting party!

It's official, Reid is now a 1 year old. He's got the shirt to prove it!

So cute right? And not that hard to make.

When Ava saw Reid's shirt she requested a shirt with a number 3 on it. I just might have to do it!

Here's Josh with the birthday boy.

Present time! Ava had been looking forward to this moment for days. Well, ever since she helped me wrap the presents during one of Reidy's naps. She kindly made sure that every single toy was in working order before we wrapped it.

This kid did not mess around when opening presents. He knew exactly what to do. Let's just say he gets a lot of practice around the house. Sadly, anything that isn't a board book has now had to find higher ground.

Ava knew exactly what present she wanted Reid to open. So when she got the chance she brought the present over to him, proceeded to pull out the tissue paper, pulled out the toy, and then played with it for the rest of the night. Luckily Reid didn't seem to mind as long as she let him suck on one of the farm animals.

Reid looks a little uncertain about the gift he got from Ava.

This pic was taken moments after the sock monkey appeared. He tried to make a break for it! Reid would not crawl near this thing the rest of the night. I think we'll be putting this away for a few months. In my defense, I thought he'd like this toy since he loves playing peek a boo and being scared. I was wrong!

One toy he did enjoy was the xylophone. Not only are the sticks good for playing, they're also good for sucking. Just ask Reid.

For most of the night he dragged this cute little alligator all around the house. It was love at first sight!

He may only be one, but it was still very important that Reid had a special birthday dinner. One of the few meals that Reid gets excited about are waffles. So we had waffles, bananas and eggs.

Since Reid loves anything dealing with balls, I thought it only fitting that his cake actually be in the shape of a ball. So here is my first attempt at real cake decorating. Mmmm. It was good. Inside was "The Best Chocolate Cake" (recipe found here) and it was super moist and chocolatey good.

Well it looks like I'm the only one in the family that enjoys a good normal birthday cake. Josh prefers cheescake. Ava licks off the frosting, but leaves the cake. And Reid took a few handfuls of frosting and then proceeded to squish the actual cake and rub it into his shirt.

There was one shinning moment of the cake fiasco. My cake decorating did not go in vain! After we lit the candle and started singing "Happy Birthday" Reid had the sweetest smile on his face and even let out a few giggles. My favorite moment of the night.

Here's the man of the hour and his number one fan!

Whew. One party down and one more to go!

Happy Birthday Reid

Is seems like just yesterday we were getting ready to bring him home from the hospital. I can't believe it's already been a whole year since he was born.

Of course I couldn't let this special day pass without creating a birthday collage. After a few hours of going down memory lane (came close to shedding a few tears, but held it together!), I was finally able to narrow it down to one pic for each month of his life. Which was not an easy task. At lot has changed this past year, but one thing has stayed the same. Any guesses?

The one thing that didn't change this year is his hair! Seriously dude. Where's your hair at? At least he's a boy so he can totally pull it off!

Happy Birthday Reid! We love you more than we can even express.

One more day and one more week

One more day till this little guy is a year older.

Seven more days till this cutie is a year older too.

Having kids six days apart, what was I thinking! Double the party planning, double the amount of cakes to make, double the presents to wrap, double birthday shirts to make, double the special birthday dinner to cook, and double the cards to get. Lets just say I have party planning spewing out of my ears! But I love making each kid feel special. They're totally worth it! I can't wait to celebrate each kid's big day with them.

A lot has changed in a year

These were taken almost a year ago. Craziness! These kids have grown so much this past year.

I don't usually get to many pics of the kids together. It's near impossible trying to get a decent shot. Here are a few recent tries.

I love how genuinely happy Ava is in this pic. She loves helping her baby brother, or her "bud" as she calls him.

Being a princess is a lot harder than it looks!

Proof that we were there

Hold on a second, I'm just trying to imagine myself back down in Mexico. Okay I think I'm ready now.

We were so excited to get to spend spring break down in Cancun :) Luckily we were around 40 minutes south so we missed the bar hoping scene.

Here's the whole gang. The real troopers of the bunch were Jeremy and Saskia who flew 10 hours to Mexico. It was awesome that we all were able to get together. It doesn't happen that often.

Quite a few mornings we decided to eat breakfast outside on the balcony. This little girl LOVED that. And I love this little girls hair when she crawls out of bed in the morning.

Too bad the balcony didn't have a hose. It would of made cleaning up a lot easier.


Each day we either went to the beach, pool, or both. It was rough trying to decide which to do first. Ha.

When asked if she liked the ocean or the pool better, she couldn't make up her mind.

Reid cried anytime we would take him away from the ocean. He was so fascinated with the water.


He would let out a little giggle every time the waves would roll over his legs.

There was lot of sand castle building that week. Not only did the cousins participate but the uncles were just as into it.

Hopefully Shelby was able to get her grandchildren fix. Which I bet is impossible. Here is Anna and Shelby enjoying time together.

Ava loved getting to spend time with Nana and Grandpa.

Reid is going through the "I don't want anyone to hold me but my parents or I'll scream so loud that you won't be able to hear out of your right ear for 3 days." As you can see he made an exception for Nana.

I saw these glasses for Ava and liked them for some reason. I don't know why, maybe because they are total miniatures of mine :) So cute!

Ava was pretty hesitant to get into the pool at first. But by the end of the week she not afraid to float in the deep end...with her floaties on of course. Major leap from last year.


There was ample cousin time while we were down in Cancun. Which was the whole point of the trip.

For those times when we weren't outside, the kids enjoyed watching movies together.

It was so much fun getting to watch Ava develop relationships with her cousins. Everytime we would ask her which cousin was her favorite she would name a different one. Eventually she said "I like all my cousins."

It was hard to get a good pic of the littlest cousins together. I eventually gave up and pulled out the video camera. But just so you know the binky stealing went both ways! These little boys are going to have so much fun when they get a little older. They are just 3 months apart.


Isn't this an adorable cousin shot? Wait a second, a certain little cousin is missing in action. Click here to see why.

So that brings us to the end of this post, but do not fret, there are still more pictures. You can still ignore all the chores around your house for a few more minutes :) Click here to see more pictures.

Home again

More pictures to come.