12 months old!

I can not believe my little man is 1 year old!!! These past 12 months have gone by so fast :( I have enjoyed every minute of this past year and look forward to a lifetime of more magical moments. Not only are we celebrating 12 months of Rand's life but also 12 months of breastfeeding (and counting) and 12 months of cloth diapering. 

Rand is a super fast crawler and loves climbing up the stairs. He is cruising on furniture but still has no desire to walk on his own. He loves to wave bye and we are working on blowing kisses but it looks more like a salute. Rand doesn't watch much TV except on long road trips and this month his favorite is Michey Mouse Club House and the Curious George movie. We started mixing goat milk into his morning oatmeal and really seems to like it so we are now introducing goat milk in a sippy cup. I cut bananas from his diet because he has had horrible eczema for the past few months and after cutting it out of his and my diet for 2 weeks, it cleared up about 90%. I accidentally gave him a fruit bar that had banana in it the other day and it flared back up... so no more bananas! 

Some of my favorite pictures from this month

 Hiking at the Celtic Ringwall

laughing with Daddy                             @ the Ritter Factory

taking a nap during our hike in Garmisch           about to eat some schnitzel

Rand's 1 - 12 month shots

Rand's "World Traveler" 1st Birthday Party

I think I had WAY too much fun planning a First Birthday party for Rand. Even though it was a small affair, I had a blast coming up with a theme and decorating the house for his party. I came up with a "World Traveler" theme. I thought it was a perfect theme since Rand has traveled and seen so much in only his first year. 

The party took place this past Saturday and we only had a few friends over. It was a fun evening with lots of delicious treats! Rand had a blast opening presents and eating his smash cake.

I made little flags with "one" in different languages for each straw.

The fruit & cheese display.

The cake table all decked out in travel decor.

The banana and apple sauce "world" smash cake I made with homemade cream cheese icing.

 

Me and my little World Traveler

 Happy 1st Birthday Rand!!!

Luisenpark Mannheim

Just over an hour away is Luisenpark Mannheim. It is a huge and private park that costs about 6 euros for adults. I love this park but it has something for everyone, from the flowers to the animals to the butterfly house to the Chinese garden to the boat ride. They have beautifully maintained flower gardens and park spaces, small zoo, mini golf, mini train, boat rides, large Koi fish ponds, stages and concerts, trampolines, giant chess sets, restaurants and great play equipment, paddling pool for babies, a lookout tower and even a Chinese Tea house.

DIY stripe tee-pee & plush campfire

Rand loves to crawl under tables and just hang out so I knew I wanted to make him a tee-pee for his Birthday. I had left over fabric from the curtains I made for his play room so I cut them into 6" strips for his tee-pee. After I sewed them together on my serger I cut out my pattern using a pattern I made up on tissue paper. 

I cut 4 triangles that measured about 48" wide x 54" tall. You can cut 1 triangle in half twice for the door, if that makes sense. (You can see in the pic below.) .  If you don't do that, be sure to cut one of the 4 triangles in half for the door. I stitched some of the door opening closed at the top about 18" down.

After I cut them all out I sewed them together to make the tent. Next, I made an orange casing for the poles to go through. I cut four 6"x 54" strips and folded them in half, longways. If I drank my coffee this morning, I would have sewed the casing on at the same time I sewed the sides of the tent together. 

All you have to do next is slide the poles through the casing and tie them together. I just used some leftover gray fabric. 

What is a tee-pee without a campfire?! I created my own pattern after looking around on Pinterest for ideas. Here is what I came up with :)

Rand just LOVES his tee-pee! 

He hangs out in there all the time and plays with his cars and "reads" his books in it!

'

diy wagon wheel chandelier

Back when I was pregnant with Rand I bought a few old wagon wheels for a few euros at a nearby flohmrkt. At that time I thought that if I could make a chandelier out of it, that would be the coolest thing ever. Fast forward a year and a half and I was still starring at those wagon wheels saying I needed to jump on this project.

I am a bit of a hoarder of glass jars so I grabbed some and twisted some wire around and hung them from some rope. I also used the rope to wrap and hang the wheel sideways from the gazebo in my backyard. I just pop in some tea lights and bam... adorable chandelier!

DIY Chair Redo

I bought this fabric last year at Ikea and have been on the search for a chair to recover since. I finally found this chair on Bookoo for 20euro but had to let it "air out" for a week and spray it with some vodka to get it smelling better. After it was ready to move inside, I started cutting and pinning my fabric. It didm't take too long to get it pinned together but I admit, I did not do this correctly. I should have ripped off the old fabric and put on new batting and such but... whatever.

Keltischer Ringwall

The weather here in Germany has been absolutely amazing and I do not want to waste these gorgeous days sitting around, doing nothing. I came up with a list of places to go hiking within an hour or so from our home. This past week Rob had a day off and it was just perfect weather for a hike. 



About 30 minutes from our home near RAB is a Celtic Ringwall (Keltischer Ringwall) in Otzenhausen. There is a huge parking lot (Waldparkplatz) on Ringwallstrasse so I just typed that street in Otzenhausen into my gps. There are tons of different trails that surround the parking lot. We walked across the street and went up onto that hike. Along the hike are tons of information signs (and in Engish!!!!) along with sculptures that represent the art of the Celts. 

Here is a link to the Celtic Ringwall website.