PRESENTS, CUPCAKES and VISITORS

This past week or so has been quite busy. First our house size tripled almost when my sister and her family came from Nebraska to visit. We haven't seen the kids in about two years so you can imagine how fun it was to see how big they have grown. Plus, we got to meet the newest and youngest cousin, who is just two months behind V.We filled the day with coloring, toys, games, piano "playing" and lots and lots of bubble blowing. They were a lot of fun and even helpful in the kitchen! (Have you ever seen such artistic topping placement on a pizza? And it just got even more creative as she added more toppings, very impressive!)

We had to get a picture of the little babes in there Aloha outfits courtesy of my aunt. Where's the beach?

We threw V a birthday barbeque. Lots of family and friends came. He didn't care much to open the presents once he saw a new balls. But that wasn't a problem with the cousins in town, they were more than willing to help with the unwrapping.

Like I said once he saw the new balls, thanks Bob and Cathy, he was pretty content. However, I was excited enough for the both of us when he got a new INCH WORM!!! I always wanted one of these when I was little and now my baby gets one. Now if only I could get him to ride it instead of just pushing it my vicarious life would be all set.
With a stroke of genious on J's part we moved his highchair outside for the cupcake eating, good thing too b/c boy he made a mess. At first, he was not too sure but once he saw the potential it was all systems go; mush, mush, mush.

And just as our visitors departed, we got all set to welcome more. Actually at this point he's a regular. Duke, V's best little four-legged friend, has returned for a week's stay. However, he isn't quite up to our long walks as his legs are only 1/50th of our size, so we let him hop a ride with V. He just relaxes and enjoys the view from down there.
Just b/c we found it so darn funny...Yesterday we met J for lunch, V was being a bit picky about what he wanted to eat. Finally he decided that a pickle was just the thing. But he didn't just eat it, he sucked all the juice out and then carved the meat out with his teeth just leaving the skin! The picture doesn't do it justice but trust me he was very entertaining, even the lady sharing the table found him amusing. That's our goofball.

One last thing, a shout out for advice. Now that he is 1 yr old, V can start drinking regular milk. However he doesn't seem to like it. We have stopped all formula and he is just given milk or water but he still hasn't given in (hmm, wonder where he gets his stubborness?) Any one have any tricks getting your kids to switch to milk or is this just a "keep offering and they will eventually drink" thing?