First Birthday Weekend, Part 1

So I'm finally recovering from this past weekend.  It was wonderful!!  But it was also a little more exhausting then I anticipated, mostly due to the pressure I put on myself because I want everything to go smoothly.  Which it did, thanks to all the help from all my wonderful family!  So, to recap...

Aunt Karen was the first to arrive early on Friday afternoon.  Nathan and I had a blast hanging out with her, and she also helped us run some errands that I had been putting off, but needed to be taken care of.  Nathan was so happy to have Aunt Karen holding him rather that being stuck in his stroller while we cruised the mall!

David and Carroll arrived after Nathan was asleep on Friday night, and then my parents got into town even later, going straight to the hotel and to bed.

Saturday everyone convened at the house after breakfast, and we got right down to visiting.  Nathan did great adjusting to so many "new" people in such a short time, and he was willing and eager to be entertained by anyone for most of the weekend.  I was especially glad to see him warm up quickly to his Papaw, who he's been a little hesitant around during previous visits.

I will say that one small bummer for the weekend is that I have not yet replaced my broken camera lens.  The one I used all weekend is great for taking individual and small group shots, but it doesn't have a wide enough angle of view to get good group shots.  But here we are all eating lunch, the only group shot that I got of the family!

 

We interspersed the opening of presents throughout the afternoon and evening.   First up with Gran and Papaw's gift.  We were all amazed at how long Nathan played with his blue bowl helmet...

 ...then he and Princess both enjoyed inspecting the gift wrapping.

Later in the afternoon we did gifts from the rest of the family.  Nathan really enjoyed pushing around his music maker (although we could tell it was almost naptime when he started getting angry when people/objects impeded his progress rolling around the room !)

Nathan and Oreo then had fun playing peek-a-boo with the big box that Karen gave him for his birthday!

Nathan was a big help to Granddad and Gran as they put together his new dump truck!

"Umm, Granddad? I think the screw goes here!" (I had to take this one at an angle to get Gran in because I couldn't back up far enough otherwise!)

Nathan LOVES his dumptruck.  It drives like a dream!

More to come as I continue to sort through the remaining pictures!