Happy Birthday Sawyer!

That's a lot of pictures for a year huh?!

Sawyer's ONE! Yikes. Let me say that again... Sawyer's ONE! It just doesn't seem real. At 9:57am this time last year I was in the hospital giving birth to him. No way. A whole year?!? It has been a great year, but a super fast year. It goes SO fast. My baby boy is not a baby anymore. Sad, I know. The cool thing about Sawyer is sometimes he made you forgot how hard having a baby actually was. He made it so easy for us. Always happy. Totally laid back. Breastfed, slept and remained happy in between. Everything you could ask for... and then some. In one short years time he has gone from being totally dependent on us and sleeping all the time, to scooting all around the house and "talking" up a storm! He has gone from 9 pounds 11 ounces, to around 20 pounds(exact weight to come next week after his appointment!) and from 0 teeth to 6 teeth(two more are about to break through!). He grew out of newborn clothes rather quickly(surprise, surprise!) and is now in 6-12 month clothes. And, his tiny little foot is all the way up to a size 3! Crazy huh?!? A lot has changed about him in a year, but one thing I'm pretty certain will never change is the fact that he is the happiest little guy you could wish for. So happy it's contagious. You can't help but catch the happy bug if you are around him! I'm pretty sure you would want to have a dozen children if you had just one Sawyer. Yep, he's pretty special! As you can imagine his likes far outweigh his dislikes...

What Sawyer Likes:
- Dancing - This is most certainly at the very top of his list. The child loves to dance. Anytime he hears music playing his body is moving. Super cute to watch! It makes him so happy!!
- Scooting - That's right. Sawyer took after his big brother and decided crawling wasn't for him either. What is it with these Ronn boys?!? I guess they just want to be different! Different sure is cute! To watch Sawyer scoot across the room on his bottom is about the funniest thing I have ever seen. I thought Hayden rolling was hilarious, but this scooting is even funnier. He is so fast and it is so cute! Keep scooting Sawyer, you crack me up!
- Attention - Just like the rest of us Ronn's, Sawyer loves to have undivided attention. And, don't let his sweet little personality fool you, when he wants something like attention he will do what it takes to get it! Yes, he has a voice as well as a scream, and he does use it. You wouldn't believe how loud someone so little and sweet can get when he needs to!
- Story time - He enjoys both "reading" and being read to which is so much fun. Most of his "reading" consists of actually teething on the books, but that's okay! He really loves when Hayden reads to him because he gets passed the book to munch on every couple of pages! Sweet of big brother right?!?
- Splashing - So fun! The bathroom would literally be covered from top to bottom in water if it was up to Sawyer. We have to do some serious splash monitoring during bath time! It gets crazy in there! Crazy fun, but crazy none the less!
- Pointing - At any and everything. And all.the.time. It is really cute because it is like he is showing you what he wants when he isn't quite sure how to say it yet. There is just something about that teeny little pointer finger going up in the air that is so cute! Love it!
- Hayden - Now this is the sweetest thing you have ever seen. They are best friends, and I hope it can always be that way for them. It is just so neat to watch them with each other. It is amazing how you can actually see love between them. No words have to be said and neither of them have to tell you. It is so obvious. I love how much fun they have with each other. Now with all that love and sweetness also comes the fighting, but you almost just forget about that completely because the good just far outweighs the bad. Like I said, sweetest.thing.ever.
- Loud toys - The louder the better. Why not?!? Everything around here is loud, might as well have loud toys too!:)
- Assisted walking - Not with a walker, with a human! He loves for you to hold his hands and let him walk around. He will scoot over to you and grab your fingers to pull up on and then take off. I'm sure it won't be long before he will be walking right by himself, but for now he's enjoying a little help!
- Sydney - Playing with her, hugging her, kissing her, and mostly... pulling her hair! We have to really watch when Sawyer decides he is ready for his Sydney time! She is really good about letting him do whatever, but when the hair pulling starts we quickly intervene. Can't let him hurt our little girl... or let her hurt him in defense!:) They have so much fun playing toys and chase together, I would hate for a little hair pulling to ruin their relationship!
- Music/Singing - We listen to music around here all day long and boy does Sawyer love it. It won't be long before he will be singing the words with us! He actually tries to now, but you most certainly can't make out what he is saying! He does however clap and dance along just fine! So cute!
- Animals - Everything about them. Petting them, admiring them, feeding them, listening to the noises they make, and even trying to imitate them. Hints why he had a barnyard bash for his first birthday!
- Opening and closing doors - I had to list this because he can spend 15 minutes at a time occupied by one silly door. He will just sit in front of it and open and close it over and over. So silly, but apparently so fun! Oh, and I can't forget the doorstops... he loves the doorstops. Loud yes, but entertaining and fun so definitely worth it!
- Talking - If there was a love category this would be there. I'm pretty sure he thinks we understand all of his gibberish! He does have quite a few words that we can understand with Da-da still being his favorite! He has finally decided he would let us hear him say Momma, but it is very rare that he busts it out. I guess I'm ok with that for the moment because I know it will get totally worn out here shortly!:) He attempts to copy almost anything we say(especially Hayden) and he and Hayden have their own little conversations all.day.long. So cute I might add!
- Giving out high fives - This is still pretty high on his like list, and I don't see it being moved anytime in the near future. It is just one of his favorite things to do. It is like an actual activity for him!
- Play time with Mommy and Daddy - Especially when we lift him up above our head! There is just something about being up high that gets him laughing and it is the cutest thing ever. He truly loves any type of playing we do with him, but this one just seems to be his favorite.
- Kisses - Open mouth ones that is. When you ask him to give you a kiss he just opens up his mouth, sticks out his tongue and dives for your mouth. So sweet, but so slobbery and messy! He is also a big fan of the eskimo kisses which are tons of fun! I love seeing that head going from side to side when he's ready for his eskimo kiss!

What Sawyer Dislikes:
- Leaving Mommy or Daddy - Very tip top of his list. Separation anxiety has kicked into gear and it is in full force. Just like his brother, he has the hardest time having to leave us. We really only leave him during church which should be tons of fun for him, but he spends the hour crying for the most part. The second he sees his classroom and knows we are going to leave him he starts crying. So sad. I know it will get better, but right now he is just having the hardest time with it. It is so bad sometimes he even cries when we try to let other people hold him. And I'm not talking strangers here... I'm talking people we see all the time. It is crazy and sweet all at the same time. He just needs his Mommy and Daddy right now!:)
- Teething - This is never going to leave his dislike list. He just has a hard time getting those teeth to break through and the poor child gets so many at once. Poor baby... it really bothers him. We keep lots of Motrin and Tylenol on hand in this household!
- Table Food - Well anything other than baby food actually. Crazy right?!? The child will not even eat a puff. I'm pretty sure we were buying puffs in bulk at this time with Hayden, and Sawyer will not even think about eating one. He actually gags himself if you even try to get him to try one. I'm gonna have to see what tips Dr. Papciak has for us at his one year check up next week. Surely he's got some kind of table food trick up his sleeve! At least I know he's getting nutrition through his baby food!

What Sawyer is not sure of:
- Being backwards in his car seat - I think he just doesn't understand why everyone else gets to face forward.:( It really isn't fair. It's just safe. I feel bad for him at times, but it is just the way it has to be for a little while longer. It isn't like he complains all the time or anything, but he does nearly break his neck trying to talk to one of us or Hayden. And to make it worse Hayden calls for him and talks to him nearly the entire time we are in the car to go somewhere. I can't wait until he is big enough to join the rest of us in the forward facing position. I'm sure he will be so much happier!
- Being told "No" - Sometimes when we tell him no he just stops whatever it is he is doing and moves on to something else, but there are other times that he just acts like he doesn't know what no means. Selective hearing already?!? Surely not. He definitely thinks when he shakes his head no to us when he is finished eating or doesn't want to do something we should stop immediately, so I'm pretty sure he knows exactly what it means. I'm thinking he just isn't sure if he always has to stop when he is told no. He'll be figuring that out soon enough I'm sure!:)

And now for some 1 year pictures.... YAY!!!

Farmer Sawyer!

Having such a good time!

Love it!

He had fun playing on this old tractor during our little photo shoot!

Can't you tell?!?

We kept hearing "Whoa!" Either he felt like he was
about to fall off, or he was thinking something
up there was pretty cool!:) Maybe a
little bit of both huh?!?

Like here... he might have been about to tumble!
Don't worry Gigi was right there to catch him!

And here... he thought whatever that thing is was the coolest thing ever!:)
After all, it did make one really cool noise when he banged on it!

The old tractor proved to be so much fun the
black from his hands got all over his face!
At least he was having a good
time right?!? Check out the
inside of his hand!

He was up to something here!

Like plotting how to get a grip on this water filled watering can!
Yes, water got all over the place after it tumbled! FUN!

Up close and personal!

It got a little hot and Sawyer started to lose his clothing...
How cute does he look on this huge tractor?!?

Eventually he was down to his boxers and birthday hat!:)

Sitting on planters...

Practicing standing...

And smiling for Momma!

We took a few pictures that day!

And when enough was enough he said
"It's my birthday and I'll cry
if I want to!"

But not before this sweet face got
captured on camera!

Sawyer's One Year collage!:)
Love you Sawyer!

Happy, Happy Birthday Sawyer! We love you so, so much! You are a very special little boy and we can't wait to watch you continue to grow. We are so blessed to have you in our lives and look forward to what the future holds for you!

Oh, and although we had his actual birthday party back on the 20th, we still just had to do something to celebrate on his actual birthday. Here's a little sneak peak at a few of the things our day entailed...

We started the day by sending Hayden off to his first day
of Pre-K 2... how sweet is Sawyer's goodbye kiss?!?
Don't worry, I will have a post about
Hayden's first day coming
up very soon!:)

Next up, Sawyer built a birthday bear!

Then it was time for story time!

We did lots and lots of playing at Imagine It!

And even met Governor Nathan Deal who shares
an August birthday with Sawyer!:)

We ate some birthday cookie cake of course!

A funny balloon making clown made Sawyer this birthday hat at dinner!

And we finished the big day with a birthday bath!:)

More pics and details from our day of fun to come shortly!:)

Sawyer's Barnyard Bash!

The Birthday Boy!

Can you believe in just one short week sweet little Sawyer will be 1 year old?!? It simply does not seem possible that a whole year has gone by. But, as impossible as it may seem, it has most certainly happened and we couldn't let it pass without throwing him his very first birthday party! We decided on a barnyard bash to celebrate his big day and what a celebration it turned out to be! A local farm, "The Art Barn" was the location for his big day and it could not have been better suited for him. It is a small little quaint farm in Canton that is absolutely perfect for a birthday party. There was something for all ages to have fun doing, but most importantly it was fun for the birthday boy. It is generally kind of hard to plan something fun for a 1 year old, but Sawyer absolutely loves animals... especially petting them, so this theme was a no brainer for us. We just had to find the perfect location and perfect set of animals... along came The Art Barn. So fun! Oh, and let me just note here, I had SO much fun with the theme. Everything from the kids farmer hats to the farm animal shaped rice krispy treats, as well as everything in between... an absolute blast! I am hoping Hayden may want to do it for a party one year so I have an excuse to plan another barnyard bash! Oh, and it all started with the fun invites...

Are these not the cutest things ever?!?

I only took a few pics to make it!:)

Then came the idea for these adorable cake pops and barn smash cake...

OMG... cutest animals EVER!

Close ups...

Note above that I said "idea" for the cake pops and smash cake. It was just an idea... I don't get credit for making these guys! One of my neighbors Kate brought my idea to life for me. She has always been a big help in creating my cake ideas for me over the past couple of years and once again her ability to create exactly what I had in my head didn't disappoint me. If I were a cake pop I would want to be one of these little guys for sure. Although cake pops have a pretty short life span, these cake pops lived up every.single.minute. They were loved from the very first second they were created. They were so lucky they even got a name! How cute is that?!? Asscot, Bacon, Mary, Chick, Foghorn and Elsie thank you so much for being a part of Sawyer's big day... you brought lots of edible fun to the party! Oh, and how could I forget the barn?!? Perfect barnyard bash smash cake! Sawyer loved it...

Especially the making a mess part!!!

I also got a little crazy and decided to let the boys have one of the left over cake pops one night after bath. The crazy part here was not letting them have a cake pop, it was letting them have it after bath. Crazy huh?!? Who does that? I was just thinking about having a little late night dessert before bed, and obviously not thinking about the mess. Oh well, it was a little change in routine and it was fun!

Look how excited Sawyer was!

Crazy Hayden barely even licked the thing...

So I gave it to Sawyer who thoroughly enjoyed shaking it!

I guess he was hoping the shaking it would get it off the stick,
because after he stopped the shaking he started doing this!

After about 5 seconds this happened...

And boy was he proud when he started squeezing his cake pop!

Apparently it is a lot of fun to squeeze your
dessert through your fingertips!:)

Admiring his mess!!!

He did finally decide to try a bite!

Now that the cake pop is officially destroyed and a bite has
been tried I guess our cake pop fun is over!:)
Time for bath #2!!!!

A few other party details...

Sawyer's Barnyard Bash water bottles!

These came in very handy seeing as it was a hot August day! Oh, and much more fun than your traditional bottle labels!:) I should also add here that the farm had lots of good shade which helped a ton with the August heat. Yet one more reason The Art Barn was the place for the party! I was also super excited to give each of the kids a farmer hat to wear while they were on the farm. I even painted their names on them so Farmer Debbie would know who was who while we were out exploring. Unfortunately, I somehow managed to get not even one single picture of them finished. Silly me. Oh well, here is a picture of Sawyer's and Hayden's...

Gotta love 'em!

Auntie May got this pic of Hayden when
Farmer Debbie was passing out
the hats. Love it!

And seeing as Sawyer was not excited about wearing his hat,
we had to let him eat a stick to get a picture of him
with it actually on his head! Yep, all boy!

Hayden on the other hand loves wearing his farmer hat.
He's still wearing it around the house every
time he gets the chance. So cute!

Perhaps I should have made the birthday boy his hat a little
earlier in the year so he could have practiced wearing it!
He mastered the art of taking it off in no time!

Farmer Hayden!

At least you can get the idea... the girls were pink of course!:) You'll just have to envision how cute that was since I have no picture.:( The kids sure were cute walking around the farm with their little hats on!!!

Mini planters for the kiddos to take home with them...

How fun is it to get to take a little of the farm home with you and plant it?!? I can't wait to see if they actually grow!:)

Who could forget the rice krispies?!?

I know you can't tell it here, but we had barns, horses, roosters, and even pigs disguised as chocolate covered rice krispy treats! Yummy! Now on to my very favorite barnyard detail... Sawyer's handmade smash cake outfit and banner. Yes, his Gigi outdid herself once more. Amazing I tell you... amazing!:) If this is not the cutest barnyard smash cake outfit you have ever seen I don't know what is...

And even cuter when Sawyer is the one wearing it!

The matching banner!

Thank you Gigi... We love it! Definitely worth all of your hard work!

Gigi has made one of these high chair banners for each of Hayden's birthdays, so you know I just had to have one for Sawyer as well. Well, apparently this one didn't think it should be on the high chair. It refused to stick so we went with plan B! Super cute either way. I am so glad to have the best high chair banner maker around to be part of my family!!! I am one lucky Momma! I think I am going to enjoy having these little keepsakes long after the partying is over! Speaking of enjoying something long after the party... balloons!!! We love us some balloons around here. When I say we can't just throw our party balloons away, I mean it. We have had multiple balloon launches the past couple of years, and this time we kept the balloons so long the helium was gone! It was hard for me to get rid of them when I did... they boys just had so much fun with them. One morning after breakfast(and before clothes!) when they were playing I snapped a couple of pics...

They had so much fun together! Especially
trying to share one balloon! Yes,we did
have a few balloon casualties!

Sawyer had so much fun throwing his balloons up in the air!

And Hayden just had fun playing with Sawyer!

They loved chasing after the same balloon...

And even playing tug of war with them!

But this was by far my favorite part to watch. A balloon would
get thrown up in the air and both of them would have a blast
waiting on it to come down! It was even fun for Mommy!

So, just in case you are wondering what you should do with balloons after your party is over... KEEP them! Duh!!! They are fun for weeks to come!:)

OK, enough with the details already, where are the pictures from the party?!? Well... we started out the party petting all the animals...

How cute is this? Probably one of my favorites from the day.
Sawyer and Hayden loving on the sheep with Uncle Danny!

It was actually kind of hard to get Hayden to venture
away from petting the sheep. He loved him!

He even got G-Pa(formerly Grandpa, but shortened during this trip)
to join in on his fun with the sheep!

I can hear Sawyer saying "Ooooooo" right now! It was so cute watching
all the kids petting the animals and having fun together! As you
can see, Hayden even thought it was fun to feed hay to the
animals!:) Well, I don't know about all of the animals,
but most definitely this sheep!!!

Sawyer somehow managed to get Gigi to break
the no sitting on the animals rule for him...

I mean when a face like this wants to break a
rule how do you possibly say no?!?

And look how much fun they had breaking those rules!!!

Oh, and Grandaddy couldn't let Gigi be the only rule breaker!:)
Sawyer loved it!!! Don't worry Farmer's Sue and Debbie
there will be no rule breaking next time... I promise!

Holding and petting this chicken was fun without breaking any rules!
Farmer Debbie helped the kids to hold and pet this little chicken
during the party and they loved it. I'm pretty sure it was
one of the favorites! Can you tell Hayden was
a little apprehensive at first?!?

Well... So was Sawyer!

Hayden quickly started to warm up to the idea...

And eventually loved his chicken time!

He even helped Sawyer pet the chicken! How cute is that?!?

I guess petting the chicken made him want to chase this rooster
because he did that for about the next 15 minutes!:)

Chicken petting time!

I guess chasing the rooster wore him out a little because
this is where we found him taking a little break!:)

Sawyer thoroughly enjoyed being pulled around the farm in his wagon...

Oooooooooo!!!

He really loved when Ellie joined him for the ride! I guess
everything is more fun with a partner in crime!:)

Barnyard fun with friends!

And barnyard fun with Mommy! Love this boy!

After all the petting and washing of hands we took a little hayride(without actual hay!) around the farm. The kids loved it!

How cute is this hayride banner?!?

Mommy and Sawyer having fun on the ride!

Thanks to Sawyer, Hayden got a chance to take us for a little spin
around the farm! Sawyer wasn't really up for driving without
Mommy, but Hayden thought he had hit the jackpot!:)

After the hayride it was time for our art project...

Barnyard fun with markers!

Hayden wanted a little help from Grandaddy with his project...

And couldn't wait to show off his work to G-Ma!

Masterpieces!

All of the kids got to make their own little drawing which was super fun for them. It's the little things I tell you! Farmer Debbie and Mommy even helped Sawyer make an art project of his own. Turned out so cute I think I'll frame it!:)

We started with painting his hand...

Sawyer did such a good job!

Look at that concentration on his face... he was
making sure to make a good chicken!:)

Face of the day!

Farmer Debbie helping Hayden to make his fingerprint barnyard friend!

Good job Hayden!

Doesn't get much cuter than a hand print chicken surrounded with his fingerprint barnyard friends now does it?!? I love that all of Sawyer's birthday guests got to be represented by a fingerprint on his artwork! Great keepsake!

Love it!

Finally... time for applesauce, pizza, cake and icecream!!! I guess everyone was starved because you could have heard a pin drop in a barn slap full of people(including kids I might add) when we first started eating. It was amazing! Cake time was so much fun...

Look how excited he is!

Can you believe I get to blow that out Momma?!?

Oops Sawyer... don't blow it out with your hand silly boy!

Yep, that's right. Our crazy little boy who was enjoying everyone singing him happy birthday, and thrilled with the thought of blowing out his very first candle, decided it would be more fun to try to extinguish the flame with his hand. Yikes! So scary. At least he wasn't hurt. Let's just say the happy birthday song ended a little abruptly!

Ouch, or should I say scared?!?

By the looks of this picture you would think his hand was most definitely burned, but luckily it wasn't. I think the motion of his hand going towards the candle must have blown it out because there was absolutely no sign of his hand being burned whatsoever. Thank goodness. It was very scary and I am pretty sure that is why he was crying so bad... he was just super spooked. How was he supposed to know that was dangerous?!?

Both Gigi and Mommy checked him out to make sure he was going to be okay...

And after he checked out good he started in on his cake!
We'll give that candle thing another
shot in a year or so!!!

Must look tasty... check out his tongue!

Sharing with Mommy!

And even using his spoon to toss some around the barn!:)

Can you tell he enjoyed cake time?!?

To the very fullest extent!! Yum!

After the cake we had to sneak in a little time for a quick family pic...

Although we aren't all looking, at least we're all in the pic!

Farm family of four!

Love it!

And guess what happened after all that was over?!? NAPS!!! Yay! Perfect timing! So perfect we had two fully rested children when it was all said and done. We even found time to open his gifts that afternoon. I know... crazy right?!? Crazy or not, it was PRESENT time!!!

Lucky little Sawyer!

I hated that there wasn't any time to open up the gifts at the party, but there simply was not. Truthfully, it probably would have been a little hot for that anyways! Oh well, maybe next year! It proved to be tons of fun for Sawyer once we got settled down at home!:)

He got to open bags...

Unwrap gifts...

And even dig in wheelbarrows!:) Let me just note
here that he loved this creative gift wrapping
idea Ms. Katie... so much fun! Thanks!

Apparently this CAT rumbler is pretty cool...

Even to Hayden!

Sawyer checking out how his new toy worked!

And getting really mad at his big brother when
he didn't give it back immediately!

Don't worry, we made Hayden give Sawyer back his
new toy... and they made up in no time!

Sawyer got this excited about opening each and every gift...

It was like he already knew exactly what they were going to do...

Even if they were still in the box and all he could see was a picture!:)

Of course G-Ma got him something that he could play
with right away, which thrilled him to death!

Hey Momma!

Don't you just love his face?!?

So happy!

Believe it or not, even Hayden got a few
gifts to open! Is he lucky or what?!?

Checking out his new book...

Read, Hayden, Read! The absolute perfect gift! I love it!
Now if only it will help him potty!:)

Sawyer even had fun teething on his new gifts!!! Go figure!

Reminding us how old he is!

One more time!

Present opening fun!!!

Can you tell he liked everything?!? Thanks everyone!

Our Happy Birthday Boy!

Who likes sitting in his new wagon and dancing for us!

It is so funny to me that he would actually cooperate and do this...

With a smile on his face to top it all off!

We love you baby(I mean 'Big Boy') Sawyer!
Happy Birthday Party!

Thank you to everyone who was able to come and help us celebrate Sawyer turning ONE! We had so much fun and are so thankful to have such great friends and family. Y'all are the best!

Oh, and one last thing.... a little sneak peak at Sawyer's 1 year old pics!!!

Love this face!