Oaklyn's First Year (Part 1)

Oaklyn Anne McGarry

7 pounds 11 ounces and 21 inches of pure cuteness!

Oh how we love her!

One morning before Oaklyn was born, I found the boys "building the baby a swing". I guess this is how boys get ready for their sister. 

This one is a little blurry, but I came in one day to find Oaklyn being watched over by Batman and Superman. I am sure she felt safe.

Again, if you are looking for a newborn photographer, Rachael Cook is the best.  She loves what she does and it shows.  These are my favorite pictures of Oaklyn taken by her.  Here is her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rachaelcookphotos?ref=br_tf

Oaklyn's hair. I am not used to babies having any hair. I pet hers so much it will probably fall out!:-)

A cute pink towel for her first bath made by a family friend.

Oaklyn in her blessing dress.  In my church, we bless babies shortly after they are born.  A baby blessing is a special prayer that dedicates their life to the Lord.

I picked a dress out that had the most ruffles I could find.  I can't say this too many times, I love having a girl.:-)

My Mom and Dad were able to be there for the baby blessing which was really neat!

While I was in the hospital, my parents watched the kids and they had so many fun adventures and activities...

Snowman hugger.:)

They made these transformer hats and wrestled with my Dad.  One of their favorite pass times.

Easton's was a LITTLE tight a first so we loosened it up.

Conference fun! We pitched our tents for conference and had scones for breakfast(Which the boys pretended to cook over their fake camp fires), and fruits and veggies for snacks. We told the boys the story of king Benjamin, and how his people pitched their tents to hear his words. They have been asking to go camping, but the weather has been so cold, so this was perfect.

Their rocket ship and space suits! Landon has lots of dress up clothes, but keeps trying to wear one that is meant for a 2 year old. He loves that thing!

After two boys, I had to go all out on ALL things girly and it just so happened that we were in Utah visiting family when my sister was living there, so we went on a cousin field trip together and got their ears pierced.  I love that we did it early enough that the crying was short, nothing a soother couldn't fix.  And they didn't notice that they even had them, and were too young to touch them, so they never got infected. 

Cousin kick session.  These two girlies are going to be great friends.

 This week we made car stair cities! The boys spent all afternoon playing on, doing construction on and visiting each other's cities.  Kept two boys busy for hours.

Easton had A LOT of accidents! This one is about a 10 car pile up.

We put Landon in Soccer for the first time, and he loved it.  It is fun to watch your kids play sports.

Thank you pinterest! We made a city with tape that kept them occupied all afternoon. There is a football stadium, a hospital with a helicopter pad, a lake with boats, a bat cave(because all cities need one of those according to Landon), a park, and a store.

Water balloon target practice.

And THIS is how you study for boards. Came upstairs to find both boys "helping" their Dad.

Oaklyn's first doll.  It was love at first sight!

Chalk roads.

Dress up.

A SUPER Father's Day!

Easton's card. Inside they wrote reasons their Dad was super. I was surprised by what they remembered. They both mentioned how he came up to sleep in their rooms when there was a big thunderstorm and they were scared, and how he could get things from tall cupboards(apparently, they think that is a super power). Loved hearing what they wanted me to write inside. They have such a great Dad!

Landon's card.

Super breakfast, and the boys super hero cards that they colored. Easton made one too that said, "I would be your sidekick any day Dad!"

It is tradition in our house for the boys to make their Dad a really CLASSY Father's Day tie to wear to church.  He is a good sport.

The boys were happy to dress up for the theme.  My Mom made these capes for the boys.  Super Landon and super Easton.

One of Dave's Father's Day gifts was getting to sleep in.  We put up a sign to remind the boys to LET him sleep in.

We also had Craigo's homemade breadsticks, salad, and homemade eclairs.

Oaklie's first swing experience....She wasn't a fan yet!

Pompom shooters. Or Bum bum shooters which is what it sounds like when Easton tries to say pompom.

He loved shooting the pompoms and then running to find them.

Popsicle stick super hero band.  We soaked the sticks in water till we could bend them enough to make these.

Oaklyn hanging out.

I found kids yoga videos at the library. We had a family yoga night. We are rocking the downward dog. Mom, you'd be proud!

I found a collection of books at the library book sale that Landon could read. I bought them for 50 cents. Landon loves reading them to Oaklie. It pretty much melts my heart every time! 

It has been kinda cold the past few days so we read the Dr. Suess book about oobleck and made oobleck. The boys played with it all morning long. We talked about how it is a solid and a liquid. It is made out of cornstarch, water, and food coloring. You can pick it up, and it is solid when you play with it. But when it is still, it turns into a liquid in your hand. the boys loved watching it drip through their fingers. This definately made sure my kitchen floors got mopped twice this week. So fun though!

Easton giggled all morning long.

He giggled so much, he made me laugh, and I couldn't stop taking pictures. I love this boy!

Made tin can stilts with the boys.

"Slap it" game. Put several letters on the floor, call out a letter sound and Easton gets to swat the correct letter. This is such a boy's game, he loves it. I should use a fly swatter, but I'd need to buy a clean one, and I'm too cheap.

Cardboard box slide!

Easton squealed with excitement!

Landon was a little reluctant at first.

But warmed up to it quickly.

Totally different personalities these two boys, but they both had a great time.

Easton has mastered all his shapes and colors. We had a shape/color bath for fun and to practice. Can you tell Landon helped me cut some of the shapes? They had fun making tangram boats and other pictures out of the foam shapes.

Outside scavenger hunt. The boys were pretty excited to start!

6 week smiles.

We put googly eyes in the middle of a paper, and he drew a person around it.

I don't know if you can see a bird, a rainbow, a dog being held on a leash, and a very hairy Daddy, but that is what Landon told me when I asked him to tell me about his picture.

When you ask Easton to smile now, this is what you get.

Landon is obsessed with the weather, so I went to the dollar store and bought this little calendar/weather station.  We do this each morning after the boys are done their morning chores and routine.

This is how we mop the floors at our house.  My little pirates helped me swab the deck.

The boys fall asleep together quite a bit.  They are the best of friends!

Pirate juice box boats.  The boys decorated the flags and loved their little boats.

Landon's pirate party invites. The out side of the bottle says,"Arrrgh you ready to party?"

The inside of the invite was a map.

The cake.

The pirate ship.

Painting treasure boxes.

Captain Hook's hat toss.

They all got pirate eye patches, head ties, and swords, and they knew how to use them. Poor Dave 

Getting ready for the peg leg race.

Peg leg races. Made out or cereal boxes

We did a treasure hunt, and poor Eastie barley made it up the stairs before it was time to come down for the next clue.

We carried him the next time we went up.

Headed to the treasure!

"X" marks the spot!

And then we ate cake!

This last bit are some totally random pictures that I haven't included in any blogs, and are out of order, but I wanted to remember these when I print out a book of our blog:

My Christmas present that year was a ticket to the play, "Wicked".  I went with these 4 ladies, and it was an amazing Mom's day out!

My date for the movie, "How to Train Your Dragon".

Our yearly anniversary tradition of me greeting Dave at the door in my wedding dress probably makes the neighbors think we are crazy.  And after 3 kids, we might be a little. :)

We also celebrated the anniversary of our family with the kids at the frozen yogurt place.  We brought candles and sang happy birthday to our family.  

4th of July fun with friends:

Totally random, but I didn't want to forget a memory.:)