Ashton's First Bday Party

We had a wonderful time at Ashton’s first birthday.  Grammy, Aunt Erin and Uncle Josh traveled to Cleveland to help celebrate his big day.  It was a dog theme in honor of Ashton’s love of his furry friends, complete with chili cheese dogs, pupcorn and a dog cake.  Since Jeff had to work all weekend, we had the party on a Friday night, which I recognize isn’t probably standard for a 1st birthday party.  Ashton is a night owl though (don’t know where he got that?!? ;D), so it worked out just fine and everyone had a dog gone good time.  (You know I love my cheesy puns!)

Ashton loved all of the attention and devoured his first hot dog.  He literally ate the WHOLE dog!  He also liked his cake but actually didn’t go as crazy as I was expecting.  He did manage to coat Jeff and I with some icing when he decided to ‘share’, which was quite entertaining to the party goers.

We have such amazing family and friends and we thank them all for helping us to celebrate our little man’s first year.  Oh and I’m pretty sure his toy collection has tripled! 

 

Hot dog coma



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love,

K & J

 

Ashton Turns One

We celebrated Ashton’s official first bday surrounded by family including Grandma Nat, Grandaddy, Grammy, Aunt Erin and Uncle Josh.  After all of the holiday home cooking, we decided to get takeout for dinner– because afterall, nothing says happy first birthday like takeout Indian food!   

Ashton loved the chicken tikka masala and garlic naan and was even a good sport when I gave him a bit of the eggplant, which turned out to be a tad hotter than I thought.  Ooops!  For dessert,  we sang happy bday and oohed and ahhhed over him while he batted around his bday cupcake. 

We love you, Ashton Trex! 

 

 

 

 

 

Love,
K & J

Christmas

We had a perfect first Christmas with the little man.  We woke up on Christmas morning, or rather, Ashton woke us up and we all went downstairs to see what Santa had brought.  Underneath the tree, Santa left lots of presents including two of Ashton’s favorites - a shiny new red firetruck (that he can ride!) and a drum (wonder who picked that out!).  Truth be told however, he was pretty enamored with several boxes and a few wads of tissue paper also. :)

We spent the morning playing and then had a truly decadent breakfast of french toast (seriously, it had 2 sticks of butter in it!!).  Ashton took a snooze and Jeff and I relaxed a bit before making dinner.  Grandma Nat and Granddaddy finished their drive up to Clelveand and joined us just in time for dinner.  Our friends, Marco & Marianella, also came for dinner, which was so nice.  It was a relaxing (so relaxing that I forgot to take pictures – oops!) and a fun evening.  To top it off, it even snowed! 

 

Thanks, Uncle Chris!  Notice how he's trying to sneak a cookie.  :)

 

Toys, toys and more toys!  Ashton is a very lucky boy!



 

 

 

Love,

K & J

 

 

Twas the Night Before Christmas

We spent a cozy Christmas Eve at home in Cleveland.  Jeff’s parents were supposed to join us but his poor mom got sick on the trip up and they got stuck in West Virginia for the night (fortunately, they did make it for Christmas the next day!). 

We began the evening by attending the children’s Christmas mass, which Ashton seemed to really enjoy.  He was a little ham, flashing his toothy grin to everyone around us.  A woman after the service actually stopped to tell us that watching him had been the best Christmas gift.  So sweet of her!

Next, we went home, lit a fire, cranked up the Christmas music and had a yummy dinner of lobster pot pies (thank you Barefoot Contessa!).  Ashton had lots of fun putting out cookies and egg nog for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.  He decided he should taste test the cookies and egg nog first though, just to make sure Santa would like them.  He also opened up one present from Jeff and I, which was a pop-up version of Twas the Night Before Christmas.  

Alas, it was time for bed.  Ashton got into his Christmas pjs, read his new book and went to sleep to wait for Santa.  For Jeff and I however, the evening had just begun!  We poured ourselves some drinks, put on It’s a Wonderful Life (an annual tradition on Xmas Eve) and starting wrapping presents.  Yes, I did say ‘start’ wrapping presents – it was a LONG but fun night!

Getting ready for Santa!  Cookies, carrots, eggnog and a note

Hmmm...how can I get the second cookie in my mouth also!



Christmas PJs!



 

Can you make out his name on the back?  ;)

Love,

K & J

Picture with Santa

Jeff and I took Ashton for his first annual Santa picture.  I didn't have high hopes and actually wouldn't even commit to a photo package before seeing the end result.  Shockingly, Ashton LOVED Santa!  He was so comfortable and happy on Santa's lap and I was so giddy that I got sucked into buying the the largest package available! ;)