And Then They Were One

It's amazing to me how you can go from this:

Emma

Logan

to this:

Emma

Logan

and from this:

The Big Day. Woo! Lookit that belly!

back to this:

Grammy & Grampy's Big Day. Woo! I have only one chin!

in the course of a single year.

It was a crazy year and it culminated in a very busy day.

First there was a soccer game, where the whole family came to cheer Caitlin and her team on.

So you think I'm supposed to kick the ball towards the other side's goal? Ohhhh!

There was even a new member of the family to meet. I'm happy to introduce a new Character to our Cast & Crew: Matt! My soon-to-be brother-in-law.

Matt, Emma. Emma, Matt. "How-dee-do?"

"Duuuude! Nice tats!"
"Thanks Little Dude!"

He seems to have a good grasp of the "hanging with the babies" that is required 'round these here parts.

Emma considered joining the Hell's Angels: Baby Division.

"I bet I look really tough now!"

However, she reconsidered when she discovered there would be no cake.

Back at home, there was a lot of cooking to be done. Jamaican patty making by mom.

Conversational assistance by Sara.

Patty eating. Note Logan is in the forefront of the patty eating arena.

"Mmmm! I feel myself becoming more in touch with my Jamaican side every moment! More patties!"

Spaghetti squash cooking by Eric.

Cake baking by moi.

I'm drizzling! I'm drizzling!

Of course there was cake. Two of them, to be exact. I had a bit of trouble with the icing. Well, to tell the truth I had an icing failure. I'm not sure what happened to it, but it didn't set up properly and wound up grainy. Sierra, leaping into the fray, scraped off the majority of it and suggested chocolate would help. She was right and the cakes were saved!

Chocolate, as you may already know, improves any food that garlic doesn't.

White cake with caramel icing and chocolate drizzle.

Music by Matt.

Mentos bombmaking courtesy of Pop-Pop.

Caitlin gives a manic grin in anticipation of blowing up a bottle of Diet Coke. Clearly this is the absolute best thing you can do with a bottle of Coke.

Note that the experiment did not take place in my backyard. My momma didn't raise no dummies! That sort of stuff is what open space is all about!

Click to enlarge.

What? You don't know about Mentos and Coke? The two combine for some bizarre chemistry. See this video.


Emma watches in horror.

"Oh my gosh! What are dey doin'?!"

There was a lot of hanging with grand-dad goin' on. Logan and Dad were bonding.

Visiting with family and friends.

Little Miss H.

Baby K-bug.

Scott and Sierra came to play.

Pop-Pop and Nana Sue look on as the twins demolish their birthday cake.

"That boy can eat!"

The best part for Caitlin, though, was that her cousins were there to play.

Babies, schmabies! Where's the cake?!

Oh, and she got to blow out the candles for the twins.

It was a whirlwind of family, food and fun. I don't think I sat down for more than a few minutes at a time with all of the running around I was doing between the kitchen and the twins.

The twins, however, had a fabulous time and were handed from person to person as the day went on. Turning one was good for them.

But I'm glad it's over! Whew!