You say it's your birthday

Well, it's been an active weekend around here. One that was quite full of family get-togethers, food and lots of fun. I've actually been looking forward to posting about something that wasn't so serious as my end-of-the year posts about the girls. I just get too emotional about that stuff, but one day I will be glad I took the time to document all of their stages and accomplishments.

In honor of Nathan's 1st birthday, I will be doing a post of all of his 1 year happenings along with a link for a super cute video I made for him, but for today, it's all about the party, baby!


My parents and sister arrived in town on Friday evening when we all went to Joe's for dinner. Yummy and fun! Nathan got his own piece of stawberry cheesecake and all the wait staff sang happy b-day to him. He loved it and we let him eat half of the cheesecake on his own. He was a yucky strawberry mess, but it was fun to watch him squish it and explore. Of course, no camera with me at the time, so no fun pics of this experience.

Saturday was a busy day cooking food in prep for Sunday's party, time spent at the mall , a Wal-mart reunion picnic, time spent at the pool with the girls and my sister, a cookout and a fun game night. Sheesh, no wonder I started to get a little worn out. Sunday was church and a quick dash home to throw everything together for the party. It was just family, but sometimes those are the best kind of parties. Everyone knows each other and can be pretty laid back. My sister-in-law did an awesome job on his cake, as usual. Everyone loves her cake and I'm blessed that she is so generous with her talent to always do a cake for us.

She made Nathan his own little cake which went from cute to demolished in about 1 1/2 minutes.


His favorite part as expected was climbing on the boxes. As long as he was sitting on a box, he was all smiles!


Game time!


My sister and her boyfriend. They are perfect for each other. (Fingers crossed! )


My brother and his wife. They are perfect for each other also.


My mom, who can get pretty animated when it comes to games and the rules. She's loud and crazy and fun, just like a good mom should be.


I am going to focus on my mom's smile in this picture instead of Mackenzie who is looking way older than 8 here and definitely not 3, like she is in my imagination.



Nathan Martin III and Nathan Martin IV.

My dad who was so excited here because he just won $5.50. Seriously, $5 can summon this type of joy.


Robert who also was ecstatic over winning $5. He was our surprise guest, brought down from a neighboring town, just to surprise Marty. The bromance continues....


Little cousin Hudson, who is a mixture of Denace the Menace, Bam-Bam, and a mini-Hulk Hogan and as cute as he can be.


A great picture of Marty's mom.


Not a guest, but a symbol of how crazy talented my mom is. She made this Razorback quilt for Nathan and I love it! It's perfect and something we will pass on for years and years.


A great party for a sweet little boy. Would you still be smiling after all this madness?

He's a tough cookie and we love him to pieces. Seriously, how could you not love this face?

Can't wait to see what fun year two has in store for him! Happy Birthday to my baby boy!