Playing in the backyard

The weather has been really nice so I thought I would get some photos of you playing in the backyard. You're much more mobile now though you refuse to crawl on the grass because it's a bit spiky. I got some photos of you with Grandpa as well, you were fascinated when he was talking to Grandpa on the mobile phone.

Planning your Up-inspired birthday party

I had a lot of fun planning your first birthday. The inspiration came from a photo I took of you when you were about 5 months old wearing an orange cap and khaki overalls. Your Aunty Katrina remarked how much you looked like Russell from the movie, Up. I loved that movie and the idea stuck. So a few months before your first birthday, I went online looking for inspiration and found lots of posts on how to make the Russell costume and ideas from other parties with the same theme.

So I pinned things on to my pinterest birthday board when I had some time and slowly bought small party items on ebay and craft items from spotlight leading up to your birthday. That made birthday planning less overwhelming.

I wanted to take a photo of you in a makeshift hot air balloon, so for weeks I kept my eye out for a basket that was big enough for you to fit in. I drove past our local Vinny's store and saw the big basket we ended up using for your photo shoot. It was only $3! Score! The following weekend, I told Daddy I wanted to get some helium balloons from the local party store to tie to the basket. I didn't realise how expensive big helium balloons were, it was $30 for 1 big balloon, so we decided to buy a colourful selection of normal-sized helium balloons instead for only $16.50. I made bunting from scrapbook paper and hung it around the basket for a more vintage look. Then we went out into our backyard and I snapped away. You were very obliging though it took some coaxing and lots of funny faces to get you to smile.

There ended up being so many good photos of you to choose from to make the birthday invite. I loved how the photos turned out!

For your costume, I stumbled on to this site that had pretty good instructions on using t-shirt transfer paper and furniture pads to make the badges on your boy scout sash. It worked so well that the badges have stayed on even after going through the washing machine! I bought some ribbing from spotlight to make your bandana, that worked well because I didn't need to hem the fabric.

It took me a while to decide on party favours. I wanted to get things that were somewhat useful so taking the character Carl as an inspiration, I got all the boys bow-ties and all the girls bow hairpins. I also spent time decorating the gift bags. I used a border punch cutter to get the decorative border. Then used twine to thread through the holes made by the border punch.

I found some cute paper clips with different characters on ebay which I used to pin the gift bags down. I designed the stickers on vistaprint to put a personalised message on each bag.

Chinese New Year 2014

I took these photos on Chinese New Year which was earlier this month. You wore a cute Chinese outfit that Uncle Vinny bought back for you. The hat even had a little plait in the back!

We went to your Grandparent's house to wish them a happy Chinese New Year :)

Yay, I'm having fish and chips!

We took you out for dinner on your birthday and you had fish and chips for the first time. You look so happy. I love these photos.

12 month sticker photos

It was so hard to take the sticker photos this month because you kept wanting to crawl away! You also kept eating the sticker on your onesie. Such a huge difference in how you active you are in just one month. I'm not sure how long we can keep up these sticker photos since you are so mobile now.

First birthday party!

Lucas, I can't believe you're nearly 1. We held your first birthday party today. I was hoping to have it out in the backyard and had planned it for ages thinking the weather would be warm. Unfortunately it was raining all day so we had to improvise and move everything into the garage. Still, it was a wonderful party and it was lovely having everyone come and celebrate with us.

Theme of your birthday - the disney Up movie

We put up lots of balloons

Sad face because you wanted Mummy to hold you

Love your little aviator hat

Loving the ball pit

Aunty Katrina traveled all the way from Hong Kong to be at your party!

With all your Aunties!

What a beautiful cake by Aunty Kathy

With your Godfather and Daddy