Happy Birthday Tim and Brayden!
I love birthdays and am excited to have a little one's birthday to celebrate. It is made even more special to celebrate father and son birthdays together. Last week was filled with birthday fun!
Tuesday Brayden and I spent the morning at our mom's group kickoff at church. Brayden wore his "Birthday Boy" onesie and enjoyed walking back and forth over and over in the church's huge play area. Tim came home from work early to spend the afternoon with us. The weather was nice so we played outside on Brayden's new slide, an excellent garage sale find that he'll grow into better throughout the fall and spring. In fact, all of Brayden's presents from mom and dad came from garage and consignments sales. Shopping for kids' deals is one of my newest hobbies! Brayden also received a "Little People" Noah's Ark. He loves taking the animals out, carrying them around and then putting them back in the ark.
Tim chose Spin Pizza for his birthday dinner. The restaurant allows guests to bring in their own bottles of wine. I don't know if we brought wine on this particular visit more to celebrate Tim's birthday or to celebrate us surviving our first year of parenthood, but while we sipped our wine and Brayden very neatly fed himself his mac 'n cheese (his first time to order off the menu at a restaurant), we couldn't help but think how far we've come during the past year. In some ways our lives and home are completely different than a year ago, but in more ways than not, our lives are the same, just going through another chapter in our story and everything feels very right and natural. Brayden even got to taste a very small bite of gelato at Spin.
Once home it was cake time! I made a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting for Tim and Brayden's birthday cake. I figured if Brayden was going to toss cake everywhere, we might as well go all out with red cake! This was Brayden's first dessert and he definitely enjoyed it!
Friday evening brought Tim's selected birthday activity. He gathered some of his brightest friends to compete in an annual trivia bowl fundraiser to support Metropolitan Lutheran Ministries (MLM) of Kansas City. While there were no K-State sports questions, our team still did well, placing 5th out of 14 teams with only about five points separating 1st from 5th place. We are already studying up for next year's trivia bowl!
Brayden's first birthday party was a tailgate in Manhattan prior to the K-State vs. North Texas football game on Saturday. Our theme was "Wildcat Victory". Brayden spent time with our families at the tailgate and we enjoyed celebrating with our good friends the Ganskes and Schrams. Tim's Aunt Mindy and Grandpa also joined us for the party. I made Brayden a football cake. There were few things I had my mind set on doing as a mother; however, making Brayden's first birthday cake was one of them! Tim and I were also very happy that Brayden did great at his second K-State football game. After the excitement of his party, Brayden and I relaxed in the parking lot during the first quarter then spent much of the second quarter with my friend Laura Dalke Dickman. We love meeting up with friends in Manhattan - that is one of our favorite things about the Little Apple! Brayden enjoyed watching the bands at halftime and made it to the end of the third quarter before we headed home after his exciting day.
Thank you to our friends and family for your support and encouragement during Brayden's first year. We feel blessed that you take an interest in our lives and Brayden's developments. Your answers to this first-time mom's many texts have not gone unnoticed and your recommendations on products and gadgets fill our home! Thank you for sharing in this journey with us, so without further delay, enjoy the much-anticipated pictures of Brayden and his cake!
