Emitt's First Birthday!

So, emitt's first birthday is come and gone. I can't believe it has already been a year! Those first 6 months about killed us, but he has more than made up for it in sweetness since. We had a Ball party, since he is about as obsessed with balls as his big brother. We thought it was appropriate because his only word ( I don't count Dad because it isn't fair) is "kick it". He walks around the house holding my fingers and kicks any ball, saying "kick it". I guess I should have known we were in for kids that like sports. I LOVE it!
Anyway, back to the party! We had a ball carnival kinda thing in our front yard with soccer goals, basketball hoops, and the highlight- the slip n slide! It was kinda overcast and smoky and only in the mid 80's to which we acknowledged, It is such a nice day! this reminds us of california! Bring on all that pollution!
We had a few friends over and the local Mortensen cousins, most of which are much older than Emitt, so it ended up being more a party for Tyse and his friends, but it was great and I wouldn't change it for anything!
Here is the cake eating. Emitt LOVED the first few bites- didn't even wait for the singing or anything- he just dove right in. Unfortunately, he decided nap time should be a little early on this particular day and got tired, and started rubbing his eyes. He then had brown frosting on his eyelashes, in his eyes, etc. It didn't go over very well, as shown by the upper right picture, so cake time was cut short. I don't think he ever even got a taste of the actual cake- just frosting. Oh- and his eyes were excreting brown tears and sleepies for a couple days after!

Some things about Emitt on his first birthday:

His favorite food: any fruit and pizza
His favorite toy: balls and his little stuffed animals (he doesn't see these much because Red likes to tear them apart)
How he goes to sleep: a sippy cup of milk, a short story and my best rendition of "I Am A Child Of God"
His favorite thing to do at the dinner table: feed the begging Red anything from his plate or throw it on the floor if Red is outside
He is starting to walk- has taken about a total of 3 consecutive steps a few times this week
His vocabulary includes Dad, Kick It, and I think he is trying for dog
He loves to help take things out of the dryer
He loves to play in "his" drawer in the kitchen- all the plastics. He is the organization king!
He really loves to pull all of Tyse's clothes out of his drawers, and if I am lucky he will put them back in!
He loves swimming- we are definitely wishing that the parasite hadn't closed all the pools in the state!
He is not at all interested in TV, but loves the computer- especially when he can grab the keys. He even pulled the space bar off of our laptop a couple days ago.
He has discovered the joy of unrolling the toilet paper from the roll. Joy.
He LOVES the bath- example...
He has learned to fold his arms for the prayer
He has learned a few signs to get what he wants- the only 2 he uses on a regular basis is "more" and "all done". Coupled with the finger point, he has all he needs!

We are so blessed to have such a sweet spirit in our home and pray that we can nurture and teach him the ways of the Lord and bring him up in the way which he should go. We love him so much and are so proud and happy to have him in our family!