Little Happies: Birthdays, pumpkin patches, and my little man

It has been a particularly frustrating and nutty day today, entirely due to work. Blah! So I figured I'd take some time to focus on all the little (and big!) blessings in my life these days. Enter, Little Happies! It's been too long. So here goes!

1. We celebrated our God daughter's first birthday a couple weeks ago. Seriously, where does the time go? She is such a beautiful blessing in our lives, and I feel so honored to be her Godmother. She's going to make a really nice wife for Nate someday too ;)  Ask her if they're going to get married, and I bet she'll say "yeah". Never mind the fact that that is her first and only word right now :)

2. This past weekend we visited our friends in St. Louis for their daughter's 3rd birthday. These kids seriously need to stop growing up! We stayed with them for the weekend, which is always such a nice getaway. I find myself able to let go of lots of anxiety when I'm away from home. I love love love getting away from the craziness that life feels like lately.

So we celebrated Wizard of Oz style, which was super cute. And somehow we ended up bringing home two new (to us) toys. Our friends generously offered two of their kids' toddler toys. Nate loves them! Our living room is filled with toys, but I can't turn away cute stuff!

3.  We are planning Nate's first birthday party! Ah! Is he seriously almost one? It's crazy how just one year ago we were waiting to hear whether his birthmom chose us or not. And yet it feels like he has been with us forever. I am having a great time planning his party. I'll be sure to post more when the time comes, but right now the planning itself is such a little happy for me. It's something I've longed to do for years. I feel so blessed to have a party to plan and a little life to celebrate!

4.  A couple weekends ago we took Nathan to the pumpkin patch for the first time. It was a simple children's farm, which was just our speed. It is so exciting to start celebrating holidays with him and making our own family traditions. It's these moments that I dreamed of and longed for for years. Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with these beautiful moments!

5. Lots of little moments with my little guy that never fail to make me smile :)

Nathan's first Catholic board books came in the mail last week. He loves them!

I look away for a second and suddenly there's a puff in his eye. Silly boy!

For more Little Happies, head on over to Stephanie's blog at Blessed to Be.