Chillin' in the Pool

We loving hanging with the Fam in Glenn and Billie's pool.

Perrin had to have her picture taken with Jacob. Notice that she is holding his hand. So sweet!

Congrats Aunt Heather!

Congrats Heather!!! We are very proud of you. All the Oakes girls are done with school. YEAH!!

Jacob Smashing the Cake

The third time is a charm! After trying twice at his party, Jacob finally smashed the cake on his real birthday. Joanna, Josh and I got to witness the "Smash Fest." Clay had a track meet, but has 88 pictures and about 30 minutes of video to watch it.

It all started when he just happen to lick his lips, and there was a little bit of icing on them. It was over at that point.

Doesn't that smile just make your heart sing!

Check out the icing in his hair. Thank goodness Joanna is a hair stylist. She told me to mix baking powder in with his shampoo to get the residue from the icing out.


He is clean again ... on a major sugar high.

Jacob's First Birthday Party: Part 1

This was how I decorated the kitchen for his party. I also made homemade lemonade and five flavors of koolaid frozen for the ice cubes. The whole party had a color theme. Everything was red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Everything from the balloons to ice cubes and plates and napkins to the animal coloring books I made. We had tables set up on the deck for the kids with balloons and coloring books and kid-friendly finger foods.

I want to point out Jacob's smash cake that we made to match his big cake. This was a huge undertaking! I saw a picture in a magazine and was bound and determined that I was making Jacob a three-tier birthday cake. I could not have done it without Clay and Heather. I made the icing from scratch from a receipe that Melanie uses all the time to make cakes. That took forever! Clay had a blast coloring the icing, and Heather is amazing at icing layers. We did not go to bed until well after midnight that night.

Clay blew up balloons, and we covered the floor under the table with them. It was a hit with the kids.

How awesome is this shot! Jacob and Perrin were playing under the table.

Jacob's First Birthday Party: Part 2

Our first attempt of the day at eating cake. We were not very successful!

Thanks for all my presents. I really loved reading the cards.

This is a great toy! I just don't understand why Mommy kept giving them to me and then taking them away very quickly.

Nana and Pappy brought Jacob a maraca back from their cruise. He loves it! He really liked hitting Clay in the head with it. Notice how it appears in all the rest of the pictures. He would not let it go.

Beck and Cole bought Jacob a basketball goal. Doesn't it look like he is part of the packaging. This has been a hit with Jacob and especially Clay and Josh!

Jacob's First Birthday Party: Part 3

Clay moved out of the way of the maraca this time!

Thanks Aunt Heather. This backpack tastes good.

We bought Jacob a slide for his birthday. Notice the maraca is still in the pictures.

Jacob and Mollie Kate on the deck.

Modern Technology

Mary Ann and Mary Pinson seem to be texting together one evening at Mama and Daddy's. Gotta love how technology changes. Kids are learning younger and younger about cell phones.

Jacob's First Easter

Our Family.

Learning to crawl up Gabby and Big's steps.

Jacob's first Easter basket.

Laughter of a Child

I took this video after taking his 11th month pictures. We were just playing a game where he was mocking what I was doing. He is in the stage where he loves mocking what you do. He was cracking up laughing and so was I.