Four Part Harmony

It’s hard to believe, but our little boy turned one year old this week!

We had a little get-together in the backyard with a bunch of his baby/kid friends on Sunday, a couple days before his actual birthday.

I think he enjoyed it thoroughly.

The birthday boy.

Nicki, my mom, Anna, and I all collaborated on making this awesome owl cake. It’s got dried pineapple slices for eyes, chopped chocolate for wings, two cashews for a beak, and a bunch of slivered almond “feathers” (that took a while). It turned out really well I think! Of course, Milo didn’t eat this cake. We made him his very own oat flour/applesauce/apple juice cake.

Here he is having his first bites.

I think he liked it!

The owl cake was a hit, especially with the kids.

My mom was in town for the week, and Anna was pretty happy about that. They went on a lot of walks together, and Anna made Grandma play “baby” a lot. Grandma did a good job of wearing her out most days.

Nicki took the day off for Milo’s birthday, so we spent the morning opening presents. Anna helped him of course. We didn’t get too many pictures of the process…this all happened before breakfast and you can see Anna rolling around on the ground in the background. Still, Milo and Anna had some fun opening presents. His grandpa Newman made him this great wooden dog with moving legs and feet and everything, wish I wish we had gotten a better picture of…

Nicki sewed him this cute little owl, and my mom helped Anna stuff it and sew it shut. Anna liked the stuffing part, but kind of lost steam with the sewing, so my mom finished it up.

In keeping with tradition, we also got him his first drum. We got Anna a drum as her first birthday gift, and she really liked it. Milo has been a drummer at heart since day 1, so it was a pretty easy choice to get him one. Anna and I went to the local music shop and picked him out a good one. He’s pretty excited about it as you can see.

For the rest of his birthday, we took Milo on a few short hikes out in the gorge. We saw the big log jam at Oneonta Gorge, hiked up to the top of Horsetail FAlls, and had a picnic by Wahkeena Falls.

I walked Anna across the stream at Oneonta Gorge. The water is still icy cold.

Nicki and Milo at the bottom of Horsetail Falls.

Nicki knew about this great picnic spot across the road from Wahkeena Falls. It’s tucked away from the road, and I think most people don’t really know it’s there. We had this great big shady park all to ourselves. We spread out our blanket and had a very nice picnic, and then spent another hour or so running around the park, climbing on trees, etc.

And that’s the story of Milo’s first birthday!

Here’s a little video of him playing with another of his presents…a riding toy, which I can’t figure out quite what to call. It looks like it wants to be called a tricycle, I want to call it a tricycle, but it’s got four wheels. He’s really liking it, whatever it is! You can also hear how much he’s talking these days, and how close he seems to be to walking. The little boy is growing up fast!