Tues, Mar 17th

This is from St Patrick's day. 

I didn't get to post them until now because poor Ray had a fever and was teething. YEP :) *he got his first molar on Sunday (the bottom right one)* Only now is he feeling truly better (and sleeping in his crib again). He went to the Doctor, with a fever of 100 or so, on Tuesday (St. Patty's day) but the doctor and I agreed that it was because he has been teething...so he got his MMR shot (plus another 2 that were scheduled) which only made his fever worse. I thought it was going to get better when he was smiling and playing on Wednesday, but the hardest was on Wednesday night when I called the emergency line because his fever was at 104.3. EEEK!!

Luckily, his fever finally broke yesterday and today he has been sleeping and cuddling most of the day, but it is a huge relief to see him playing and smiling again. This really has been one of the longest weeks of my life. 

Birthday Cake

Ray's First Birthday

All in all, Ray's First Birthday is one that I will never forget. It is hard to believe that my baby is a whole year old and as I look back on this first year, I am glad that we were able to celebrate with the people that matter most to us. No matter how far they are from us. 

Our nephews: (Tiffanie's boys sent the cutest video ever)

Friends from our Church: 

And with family: (Thanks for the package Mom and Dad)

Satuday

So with the sugar in our bloodstream.....(yes that is BJ squeezing out frosting into Sam's mouth) We all headed to the Park!

We fed the Ducks. I don't know how many times the boys scared us by getting to close to the edge of the pond. The good news is that no one fell in.

Ray with some of his favorite people:)

David and BJ showing the boys how it is done. 

We also blew bubbles with the awesome bubble kit Ray's Aunt Tiffanie and his cousins in Idaho sent. 

Sat, Mar 14th Party

So the Party moved inside and Ray became the King! 

Here he is eating his cake and ice cream!

Next we opened his presents!

Jack helped Ray open his presents. 

More Birthday Party

Saturday was such a nice day we stayed outside to change around Ray's Car seat, he no longer has to face the back seat:)

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

He was just looking around with a HUGE smile on his face. 

Sat, Mar 14th

Ray's Birthday was this past week, well actually Monday the 16th, but the fun began on Friday when his cousins came to spend the night. Here is a picture of their afternoon nap on Friday. Poor Gamma, this is how we found her after we got back. 

Saturday morning I decorated Ray's cake, What do you think? 

(We put a number one candle in the top right corner)

Before the party...and before the boys got their cloths dirty from having fun, we took a fun St. Patty's day photo with all the boys and their Gamma. 

(from left to right: Josh, Frank, Gamma, Ray, Jack and Sam)

Just Frank and Ray

Some Cute pictures of Ray

Fri, Mar 6th

We have wonderful weather here! 

That's right we went to Power Valley on Friday! It was a great time. Best thing ever is that it was FREE! I love Missouri and the fun stuff to do. The car ride put Ray out for his after-lunch nap. So we will have to go again sometime:)

I think the park and see all the art before may have done something to help his nap along. 

In this picture Sam is running....he ran the WHOLE time and Emily is posing in fount of Josh and Jackson. The one below was snapped just before as Emily ran up to get into the picture:)

This was the giant eyeball that we found! too cool! 

Fri and Sat. Feb 27th and 28th

This Week has really been a fun one. Here are some of the things that happened:

BJ got to play his new XBox quite a lot. I don't think I have posted a picture of how spoiled he is with his parents huge TV they got from Grace. It is a pretty sweet setup.

Clara and Ray are the best of Friends, they are doing more and more together these days. It is cute to see Ray get so excited to see his Dog (which he calls her) and want to play with her. Some of the time he will "tell" her to move out of his way, try to share a kiss, or give her some of his less favorite foods. Clara is glad to help out and seems to really enjoy the play time. We are really super blessed to have such a sweet, loving dog for Ray to grow up with. We have had Clara now for two years and are pleased with how much she is learning and growing. She really has a heart of gold and has a passion for being close to everyone.  
This is Ray's newest trick in the bathtub! He will put the yellow cup in the green, pretend he is going to drink out of them and then hold the yellow one in his teeth and laugh at me as a fuss over him having such a big and strange nose. He will do it at least 20 times even if my reaction isn't as excited as it was the first time he came up with it. If you look close at the picture you can even see the red on his face from holding the cup up to it for so long:)
We also had a great time being with a number of our friends in our Ward as we went to the temple and where able to give service. We are so happy to live near so many good, and absolutly fun people:) 

Thurs. Feb 19th

Before Christmas, we got this cute Snoopy Gingerbread house kit and last Thursday was cold enough that I decided to build it with Ray. He loved helping!

What do you think? Pretty good for a pretty old and broken kit. I think next time (hopefully at Christmas time) we will be pros:)

Here Ray is trying to eat the Gingerbread it was just a bit too hard. I wish I had got the very first time he tried to bite it because it was so cute how he made really tight fists, scrunched up his face and grunted. Too cute!