cupcakes, playdough and tears

our friends and family joined us for rowie's #1 birthday party. it was adorable to see him so small and cute with everyone running around him...and even though i know he won't ever remember his first birthday, there is something special about celebrating the first year of a child's life. you only get one first. and you only get one last. better make them both count, right? well, this was a wonderful start to a lifetime of firsts. there were kids squirming, meatballs flying, goft clubs swinging, soup slirping, and cupcakes being devoured. it was wonderful. it was everything i hoped it would be.

mr. super happy birthday boy quickly turned into mr. frantic panic when it came time to sing and blow out the birthday candle.


we quickly found a solution to mr. frantic panic which turned him into mr. very happy cupcake eating machine


someone else enjoyed the cupcakes...or at least as shown in this shot, he seems to enjoy contemplating which strategic bite to devour next.

there is something extra adorable about boys and babies. i can't help it. it's way too precious. miss kylie seemed to be quite the favorite of my dad...i think a grand-daughter would suit him well. lauren? stephen? it's your turn :)

the playdough station was also quite adorable...

and as always, our favorite aunt and uncle kept the kiddos in giggles as they played the role of themselves and delighted all with the joy that comes naturally to them.

the most special part for me was an idea that happend upon my brain about a week before the party. we had purchased a bunch of animal inspired party decor, but it felt so impersonal to me. it donned on me that i should use rowan's party as a perfect excuse to indulge one of my favorite obsessions...large photographs. i subsiquently took back all of the party decor and ordered way too many beautifully blown up pictures and bought way too many new frames. as fate would have it, 2 days before the party, the photos had still not arrived. in a moment of panic, i ordered MORE pictures using the 1 hour photo at walmart so as to insure that my brilliant photo-decoration theme would not be destroyed. i busily framed my one hour photos, though not as huge or perfect as the ones i originally ordered, i was pleased with the outcome. lo and behold, at my doorstep the day before the party were my large and beautiful pictures. oh my. does anyone need 16x20 photographs of my son? i now have 15. yeikes.

i also framed some of the letters that i have written to rowan over the past year and asked our party guests to write letters also, in leu of gifts. to my delight, our party guests came through, big time. i wanted to give him something that he can cherish always, and they each brought a gift more precious than anything that be purchased...words of love and encouragement and life and the Lord. their prayers for him and the joy he has brought already in his young one year of life.

i'll admit, i cheated and read them the morning after. i cried all the way through. such powerful prayers for a Godly man to arise from within this sweet little baby boy. he is blessed, i am blessed, we are blessed as a family by the people who surround us. i look forward to the day when i can give rowan a box of letters...written to him from years gone by...a box that is more precious than an inheritance check, or a new mercedez benz...part of his heritage of hope and love that has been poured out on him since his very begining. how precious.

p.s. thanks to stephen and lauren for the awesome party pics!

without you, my love

i cannot describe

what you have given me

my little asher

my little rowan asher

you were small

oh so small

when you were given to me

just a little peanut i used to say

a little wiggly peanut inside of me

but here you are

one year to the day

and joy surrounds all you meet

because you are who you are

you are wonderful and precious and amazing

you love to snuggle

with anyone who has arms

you love to give kisses

to anyone who has kissers to kiss

you love to eat cheerios

(especially under the table)

your favorite car is a canoe

your favorite entertainment is foster

you love the word uh-ohy

our favorite past-time is the stairs

you can't quite master sleeping all night

because you love smiling too much

you are a delight to my heart

and now i know why God made me a mom

because i needed you.

i needed you and you needed me

we needed what we are together

you are a little boy like no other

my sweet little lovie boy

my sweet little row-row

i love you buddy.

love, me

the factory returns

once again
i find myself in production mode
i have trouble making just one of anything
duplicates seems to be the norm
it is prolifically apparent if you peruse my pictures
my gift bag collection
or my kitchen (this evening)

as evidenced by my oh-so adorable favors for rowie's upcoming 1st bday bash...

the guests will be enthused not only by my home-made treats, they will be wooed to eat them by the adorableness that adorns each delicate twistie.

oh how i love the rows of a well executed production line.
the symmetry.
the simplicity.
the superb feeling of accomplishment.

tantalizing, i know.
the excitement is bursting from within.
or perhaps you are wondering why you are still reading my ridiculous blog about party favors?
hmm, i may have lost a few of the 6 people that actually read this.
sorry.
i'll be more exciting next time :)

henricks weldon

do you ever think about who you are?
what your name means?
what the last call on your cell phone means?
what your "side" of the closet means
and if it's tidy or in a state of deshevelment
mine happens to be both.
i tend to keep one part quite lovely and the other part in dire need of a super nanny.
but sometimes i think my closet likes it that way :)

i often look at life in passing by moments
breathing in each adventure as it walks by
but then, try as i may, some days pass faster than others
and i wonder what it all means.

who am i?
the age old ponderance.

my facebook says i am "angie henricks weldon"
my driver's licence apparently doesn't remember the "henricks" part
my friends call me "ang"
my husband has never called me "angie" or "angela"
my dad has never called me "ang"
my brother remembers us when hiltop academy was still in existance.

i have a million ideas
i have a million thoughts
i find myself looking for inexpensive ways to express them
but alas, most of ideas have expensive taste :)

i love dark wall colors.
especially in small rooms.
i love the taste of stale popcorn.
i have a rip in my favorite pair of jeans
i love being at home.
i have been out of highschool for more than 10 years.
i can't remember the last time i went swimming in the ocean
i love driving with no where to go
i love long jeans
and long windedness
i love trying something new on the menu
and trying something tried and true
i can't think about cooking dinner until it's dinner time
i can think about 56 things at the same time
but i always forget something

i have a past addiction to cheesecurls and really high heels
the heels are still in my closet. lonely and dusty.
the cheesecurls are still keeping me from wearing my skinniest jeans :)

if i could change one thing, i would bestow my vocal chords with brilliant singing abilities


if i could never ever change one thing, it would be my morning this morning.
it was perfect.
it was everything a morning should be.
kisses and chats with my hubby.
a clean kitchen
hot coffee, too much french vanilla creamer
2 kids, chocolate chip pancakes
sun shining
my basil plant lived one more day
i have nothing on my to-do list, but live.

so that's what i'm doing.

i'm looking into who i am
so that i know myself better
although that's silly, because i should know myself already, right?
no one has spent more time with me, than me!

and yet, there are still mysteries to unfold.
so here's to me.

i hope i'm a better person tomorrow that i am today
but i hope tomorrow morning is just like it was today

mall rats

recipe

for the perfect weekend


start with 2 cups of kiddie sitters.


add a generous helping of the wonderfulness that is chips, salsa and queso dip.



fold in a double feature



peacefully mix 11 hours of sleepy slumber



followed by a generous helping of late saturday afternoon lunch



add a smidge of shopping


saute dinner out of unusual ingredients


and garnish a little too generously with another 11 hours of slumber.



need to remember who you were before you became who you are today?
need to forever relish a weekend in the recipe book of life?
need to stay home, eat out and do nothing for a whole weekend?

then this is the recipe for you.
it was everything i hoped it would be...and more.

try it sometime.

it's delicious.

one.one.oh nine

it's the first day of the year
a fresh start to all things past
and a great time to take a peek into our past life

a few moments ago, i expirienced a strange moment.

my favorite brother leant me his oh-so-wonderful nikon last week and i have been picturing non-stop ever since.
while perusing the 400 pictures i took of my kids at lunch today (hooray for a gift card to panera bread), i remembered some similar poses stephen took of foster when he was a little guy...sitting at the same panera bread, strangely enough at the same exact table.

i was astonished to find that he was exactly rowan's age: 11 months.

they look so very different, but so terribly cute in their own ways, i can hardly stand it.
i just want to reach through my blog and kiss up all of their adorableness.

so, after much wordiness...
i give you
the past and the present

foster: 11 mo old - 5.13.07


rowan: 11 mo old - 1.1.09

foster: 11 mo old - 5.13.07

rowan: 11 mo old - 1.1.09

foster: 2.5 years 1.1.09

another strange rememberance...

at the time of our first panera photoshoot on 5.13.07, i was acctually very newly pregnant with rowan, but didn't know it yet (only 2 weeks or so).

that is a very strange thing to look back on...when i thought it was just the 3 of us, but really we were 4. funny that rowan was there too, just slightly camera shy :)