turning one!

so remember the itty bitty baby who came to visit us way back in january?

and then i was his nanny for quite a while and he was getting bigger.

well, look who is all grown up now. and by all grown up, i meaning just turned one year old.

look how big he is!

it's kind of crazy. i mean, when he was itty bitty, he was adorable, but he was a little baby. and now it's like he's not a baby anymore, but a tiny little human {not that he was of a different species before, but you get what i mean}.

anyway. so austin and i packed up some baby-sized gifts and headed to knoxville this weekend to celebrate the big day.

and for anyone who thinks a one-year-old might not understand the idea of a birthday/opening presents, you would be wrong. he totally got it. and he totally knew to look at the clothes and toss them aside in order to get to the toys faster. true story.

i was kind of hoping he would reach so far into a bag he would fall in to it {but not get hurt!!} because it would have been super cute. but he didn't. which is probably a good thing.

he would get really excited about toys {this was an especially good one}.

and then, as you moved one gift out of the way to open another, he got upset. every time. but then he would realized there was another gift and was ok with it. it was cute.

and then there was this awesomely cute gift.

although it was clothing, so paxton wasn't super interested, everyone else at the party was. because it's adorable. a tiny leather jacket {faux-mind you}.

you might be wondering what uncle austin and nanny rikki got him. and you might not be wondering. but i'm sharing either way.

austin picked out the little pajama sets and i loved this little hoodie and skinny jeans. how cute?!

and we also got him this super awesome {at least we think so} workshop. and no, these are not children i know. just kids from the little tikes website {from where i borrowed this image}.

i think austin was jealous and wants his own workshop...

while the grown-ups at the party chowed down on some carnitas that joe's dad made {and of which austin definitely took a to-go plate} the little man devoured some tortillas.

and then, of course, it was time for cake. cue ridiculously-cute-birthday-boy-cupcake-eating collage.

and go.

it was a mess. but it was adorable.

austin and i had a great time visiting with friends and playing with paxton. thanks to joe and erin for inviting us {and to joe's dad for cooking awesome food!}. little paxton got a ton of awesome gifts, great toys and super cute clothes and i'm happy we were able to be a part of it. that child is loved.