Basketball!

In order to properly prepare MVP for March Madness, we snagged a couple free basketball hoops from neighbors whose kids have outgrown them and we are now teaching MVP how to "SLAM DUNK"! It's to the point now that when I ask him where the ball is and ask if he wants to slam dunk, he will immediately head toward the basketball hoop. If course he gets a big kick out of it and it's as much fun for us to watch as it is for him to play. Here's some video of his mad skills and here's a photo of the cutest Laker ever!

What's really funny is that he is getting REALLY close to walking, but is just scared enough of taking more than a few timid steps that he has to hold onto something at all times. There was one day when Andy and I caught him sidestepping toward something and neither one of us said anything because we knew that if we pointed it out he would immediately drop to his knees. All of this is perfectly fine with me because I know that as soon as he starts to walk, it's all over for me. He will be unstoppable.

Bubble Baths

MVP took his first bubble bath this week. Of course he loved it. He tried to eat the bubbles, but, thankfully, he didn't like the way they taste. Here are a couple cute pictures I took and there's a video too.
Mirror, mirror, in the tub...

Chocolate-Covered Popcorn

Just to prove that I can blog about things other than MVP, I'm sharing a recipe for Chocolate-Covered Popcorn. I'll warn you that this is highly addictive but it also makes a great neighbor gift for the holidays. Try it and let me know what you think!

1 bag microwave popcorn
1/2 cup white chocolate candy wafers
M&M's or other candies, nuts or Fritos (Fritos are my favorite mix-in!)

Pop Popcorn, put it into a large bowl and remove any unpopped kernels. Melt the candy wafers in the microwave. In a microwave-safe dish, heat wafers for one minute. Stir. Chocolate will probably not be melted yet. Place back in the microwave for 30 seconds and stir again. Repeat until wafers are melted, but be careful to not burn the chocolate. Pour the white chocolate over the popcorn and stir until well coated. It won't stir well at first, but it will become evenly coated as you continue to stir. Add mix-ins before chocolate hardens. Let the mixture dry (either in the bowl or on wax paper). Once it's dry, you can spoon it into cello bags for gifts or, if you're like me, it won't quite make it to the bags. :-)

The NC Aquarium

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, admission to the NC Aquarium is free, so we took the opportunity to introduce MVP to the aquarium in spite of all the rain! He had a lot of fun, but it was difficult to work around his nap schedule since the aquarium is about 45 minutes away from our house. He had a good time looking at all the fish--especially the giant lobsters, sting rays and all the huge fish tanks.

The Birthday Boy

It's a tradition in Hawaii to have a big luau when a baby turns one because a long time ago so few babies would make it to their first birthday. This has become a tradition in my family so we had a luau for MVP. We had Kalua Pig, Chicken Long Rice, Sticky Rice, Shoyu Chicken, Hawaiian Meatballs, Pani Popo, macaroni salad, tossed salad, juice and Passion Fruit/Guava cake (note to self: Wilmington is seriously deprived in the tropical fruit juice department!!) I had to improvise due to the lack of guava juice--so sad. Andy will be the first one to point out that we had WAAAY too much food. I will openly admit that I don't know the first thing about cooking for 30+ people--except that it's better to have more than enough than not enough food.

Last summer, I taught some of the neighborhood girls how to dance to the Hukilau for their mom's birthday luau. They were kind enough to dance with me at MVP's luau. I also danced another dance and a friend from church who is Hawaiian brought his ukulele and sang some songs too. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work.

MVP really attacked his birthday cake. It was quite entertaining. He just wanted to smack it around until he finally discovered that he could eat it...and that it was delicious!
Here's a family photo after the birthday cake carnage.

Here's a quick video of MVP opening a birthday present on his birthday. I like how he rocks out to the music. Andy's parents were able to come out for a week to help us celebrate, so it was fun to have them here. Earlier that day we had a family birthday party at Jungle Rapids. Here he is posing with one of his birthday gifts. I think his expression is hilarious.

We are so grateful to have MVP in our lives. When people comment to me that the year has flown by or that they can't believe he's already one, I think they're crazy! This last year has been really stressful for me because of the challenges I had with nursing, working part time (without day care) and all the normal adjustments that come to first-time parents. I'm sooo grateful that Andy has been able to come home for lunch almost every day so I could have the time to really focus on work. As MVP gets older it is becoming more and more challenging to figure out ways to entertain him while I finish things that need to get done. Even with all the challenges, MVP has us wrapped around his busy little fingers. He has a wonderful personality and is a happy, adorable little boy. We love him very much!!

NYE in Tennessee

We spent the New Year's weekend in Tennessee with family and it was a lot of fun. We went to the Loveless Cafe where we ate some of the most delicious good ole American food ever. I was so shocked at how much MVP ate! I guess when the cooking's good, he will eat a lot! Suffice it to say, this was news to me. Here's Auntie M with all the nieces and nephews at Loveless Cafe.
Andy took the nieces and nephews on some adventures in the woods. They love it when he comes to visit. Auntie Amy took a break from playing as many board games as humanly possible to take some wonderful pictures of MVP. I couldn't resist getting some shots of him in a cowboy hat and overalls. Too cute!
We also had frozen yogurt for FHE. Here, Ty looks like...a kid in a candy store.
We had a blast and MVP LOVED spending time with his cousins. He really is a people person and gets so excited whenever he has the chance to be around other kids. This is a picture of him CRACKING UP at Brianna while in the car.

The 12 Days of Christmas

One thing I did not include in my previous post was that as part of the church Christmas party, Andy participated in a 12 Days of Christmas skit that was the highlight of the party. I have video of the final countdown, but you can imagine that the entire skit was pretty hilarious. Andy and Brian really hammed it up. Here are a few pictures and you can watch the video here.

So Many Pictures, So Little Time!!

I am so far behind on updating my blog that I've decided to just post some pictures with a few captions so I can just move on!

In December, there was a local model train show and we met up with some friends who also have a boy about MVP's age. Here's MVP with the legit choo-choo train hand stamp.

Here he is enjoying the trains go around and around. He sooo wanted to grab them, but we're grateful he didn't.


A rare family portrait.

This is why spaghetti was invented. I'm sure of it! (This was taken on MVP's 11-month birthday.)

Here's a quick glimpse into MVP's first Christmas. At our church party, he got to sit on Santa's lap.

I call this one "The Stare Down". I think they were able to come to a mutual agreement about being on the Nice List.

While opening presents, we found it to be somewhat frustrating because it was clear that MVP would have been perfectly happy playing with the ribbons and paper or with just pushing the wrapped gifts around on the floor. Ultimately, when we got him to open his first gift and discover that there was a toy inside, he wanted to play with said toy and didn't seem to care that there were other gifts to be opened.



This is what MVP has been up to lately. For some reason, he has been getting into the cupboards without much of a problem, but until this week, he hadn't realized that the kitchen drawers A) could open and B) contained all kinds of fun toys--waaaay better than the ones in his toy box!! While this is annoying, I know my mom is relishing in how much like his mom MVP is.

It snowed on Monday and whenever there is a threat of snow around here, schools shut down faster than MVP can empty the kitchen drawer! I always tend to roll my eyes when they close everything down because we usually end up with a mild dusting and everyone goes out shopping anyway. It's pointless. But this time, there were actually a few inches of snow!! It snowed so much that we couldn't tell where our driveway ended and the street began. We don't own a snow shovel and wouldn't know where to buy one. (That's how life should be!) The snow gave us an opportunity to let MVP play in it for a little while, but he much prefers the sand (just like his mamma). The sand doesn't make you painfully cold and you don't have to bundle up in every sweater you own just to play in it. Snow is so fussy!

This Kid is Going Places

This Thanksgiving, I am extra thankful that I have a door blocking the access to our FROG (Finished Room Over Garage). MVP has learned how to crawl up our stairs and he's not only pleased with his accomplishment, he really enjoys doing it. I'm so glad I have the option to close the door when I'm not able to keep a close eye on his adventures.

Happy Halloween!

This was MVP's first Halloween and we had a lot of fun at a party on Friday night where we dressed up as a family. MVP was a bowler, I was a bowling pin and Andy was a bowling ball.

Then on Saturday, we went to our church's Trunk-or-Treat activity. Andy and I didn't dress up, but MVP was Trogdor (a dragon)!! Trogdor....Burnanating the people!!

On Sunday, MVP's babysitter stopped by to see if she could take him for a walk. When they came back, he was wearing a Halloween headband. Too cute!! Later on, she came back with some of her friends and wanted to see MVP in his costume.