First Birthday Party!

Mason's party was pretty close to perfect. The weather was perfect. Our family and many of our closest friends were there. The kids played in the park and the Bounce House, and we stuffed ourselves with hamburgers and hot dogs (courtesy of our resident grillmaster, Tom, and the GIANT Texas Roadhouse grill). And, of course, we all ate some cake. With so many people, it was crazy, but it was fun and carefree, and Mason had a great time. After about an hour and a half, we had to rush through opening presents, though, because we hadn't done cake yet, and Mason was fading fast. Luckily, cake perked him right up, and he managed to soldier through and shove down an admirable amount of cake.

Thankfully, we had a lot of help cleaning up and packing the cars, and then we all had a birthday afternoon nap!

The Cake Boss...Kind Of

Although Chris and I spent a loooong time planning for Mason's first birthday party, the biggest task was definitely making his cake. The cake was the most important part for me because I want him to always have awesome cakes, and I wanted to make it myself. The problem was that my plans often exceed my level of expertise, and this was no exception. When I showed Chris what I planned to do, he put his head in his hands and moaned, imagining the meltdown I would have when the results didn't match the vision in my head.

Luckily, my first foray into fondant was successful, and Mason's cake turned out just like I had envisioned. It had three tiers, each with three alternating layers of vanilla and strawberry cake with vanilla buttercream icing, and the top tier was shaped like a party hat. I rolled out stripes, dots, letters, and trees to match the pattern on the party invitation, and the end result was a fun, contemporary cake--and I have to say that it was delicious and well worth all the effort it took to make everything from scratch.

Luckily, I had a little help along the way from my men, who were more than happy to clean the extra icing off the beaters. Even Jase helped roll out fondant. What a crew!

Mary started calling me Cake Boss and immediately everyone put in orders for their own cakes, so this could backfire on me. Uh-oh.

By Twelve Months...

Mason was walking (he mastered that at 11 months) and climbing (he could climb the six-foot ladder in his closet in 30 seconds...scary!). His favorite foods were blackeye peas, strawberries, and cheese. He wasn't much of a meat-eater, but he definitely loved the occasional sweets that we gave him. His favorite animals were dogs, and he squealed in delight every time he saw one. He would have spent his entire day outside, and he loved riding in the Wee-ride bike seat with Mommy. He weighed 20 pounds 11 ounces and was 30.75 inches tall at his 12-month checkup with his new pediatrician. Mason said a handful of words, but never on command: mama, dada, dog, uh-uh, no, yeah. All in all, he was doing everything he should be for his age and charming everyone he met with his big blue eyes and quick smile.

Daddy's Biggest Fan

Mason's favorite word is "outside," so he loved going to Daddy's ballgames.

Summer Vacation...Day 1

A picnic at Uncle Tome and Aunt Pattie's pool with Tyra, Haylee, and Jase.

Last Night in Clarksville

The long-awaited last day in Clarksville finally arrived: May 26. I had spent the previous week packing up all my school stuff at work and all the necessary stuff at home. Miriam and Jen helped out with Mase so I could pack boxes without my little helper unpacking them again. Nick came over the night before we left and packed up the crib and all our boxes in the Suburban (thank you to my brother for the loan of his SUV!).

With only our overnight bags left in the house, Mason and I were definitely roughing it that last night in the house. I'm sure you're wondering how my hairy-scary sleeper did without his crib, and, no, it was not pleasant. I slept in the floor of his room with him on a pallet of quilts, and while he slept very little, I slept not at all. I don't even like to think about how awful it was, so we'll just move on.

I took him to work with me the next morning for the final inservice day, and as soon as the principal signed off, we were out the door and out of Clarksville...ready to be a family who all lived under the same roof (even if it wasn't ours...sigh) again.

Mason was the perfect traveler (slept nearly the whole time, thanks to his rough night and to running up and down the MCMS hallways with Gary all morning), and we rolled into the driveway of our temporary Maryville home by dinnertime.

Disclaimer

Actually, I have no idea if this counts as a disclaimer. It's probably more of an explanation (a sheepish one at that)...maybe even a feeble excuse.

I'm sure my few followers have noticed that I took a brief (ah-hmm) hiatus from blogging, and I can only say that moving across the state, living in my parents' house during major renovations, chasing after a wild thing, trying to preserve family time at night since Chris is commuting an hour each way, and starting a new job in a new school system all conspired to pre-empt blog updates. So...I will attempt to catch everyone up on the last five months of Baker family life before I have to pick Mason up from daycare in 2 hours. I'm home sick from work today, so cross your fingers that my stomach will cooperate!