Woodland Antics

Today we celebrated Clay's first year. It's truly unbelievable how quickly it flew by and how much he's changed. Just today his 6th tooth came through. Every day makes such a difference at his age. It's truly been a joy watching him grow these past 12 months. He's such a beautiful little soul, cheeky, but beautiful. Here's a picture of him at just over a week and then today... He's wearing the same outfit.  I remember it being a bit baggy on him as if it were yesterday.  - yes, I know I missed the 9th,10th and 11th month- what can I say? He's the third child and probably pretty lucky I made it as far as I did. Happy Birthday little Clayton. We sure do love you a bushel and a peck. xo

I had the best birthday! The night prior to the big day I slept in Reed's bed which meant I didn't get up once with Clay. (as it turns out Reed was sick that night so I got up with him a couple of times) This was one of the best gifts Ryan has ever thought of.  My birthday morning I slept in while Ry got the kids off to school.  Even better he took the day off from work to pamper me.  It was the best birthday ever! The kids showered me with some beautiful gifts and we went for a hike upon my request. We went to Pound Bend... Pound Bend Tunnel has an interesting history from Victoria's gold rush days HERE   is some information about it.  Seeing a platypus in the wild is a big deal even to especially to Australians. So you can imagine our excitement when we had a sighting... The kids got tired on the return hike... note my sweet new necklace from Fiona ...

Just like every other year Reed woke up on his birthday morning to a fully decorated house... gifts from Clayton  We like to shake our gifts and take a guess at what's inside... Reed guessed Lego's. He was wrong... remember these things? Reed-Moe chose Avocado toast for his birthday breakfast... Next he opened Fiona's gift to him... Homemade wrapping paper & cards are the best! look how excited she is  a loom band bracelet too  He really wanted those soldiers but Fiona and I convinced him to wait so she could secretly buy them for him. Reed had so much fun going to the mall and spending his birthday money from all our family. He was so serious deciding what he should buy.   Doing the math in his head to make sure he had enough for what he wanted and plenty for his savings. We walked from the mall home with all of these boxes and let me tell you he was so darn giddy about i...