So I suppose this should be your 13 month post, but I don't have much to say except for the fact that you spent the first few weeks after returning from Ireland adjusting back to normal life, and we had to do a bit of sleep training round two.
And considering this post is about your birthday, I wanted to include two letters that I wrote to you around that time period. I wrote this letter to you on the Eve of your First Birthday and this one on your First Birthday. These posts were timely, and for that I am thankful! Just reading over them brought tears to my eyes. We are so blessed to have you in our lives little man.
And we also celebrated your FIRST BIRTHDAY with a partay! And what a party it was!
I'm not much of a party planner, but I must say, I loved every single moment of planning your birthday party! And thank goodness for pinterest!
I began perusing pinterest for First Birthday party ideas months before the big day. Some people really went all out, and I knew I didn't want to do that, but I also knew that I wanted to make it a little special. Anyhow, pinterest, what a beautiful tool and such a great place for inspiration! Here is my pinterst party board for your birthday.
I was full of all sorts of ideas, but first I had to sit down and really think about how much time I had to create things and bake things, how much money we wanted to spend, and how we were going to transform our 770 square foot home to accomodate 20+ people. I made a list of all the things I needed/wanted to do and rummaged through my supplies to figure out what I already had.
1. Photo display - need to first go through photos to figure out which ones to print, print photos, buy twine and little clothespins
2. Chalkboard frames - I already had one that would work for Jack's stats and info, I just needed to use the chalkboard paint on my little white frames. I love chalkboard paint and my chalkboard pens!
3. Sort out cupcakes and cupcake toppers - had all sorts of ideas about the toppers and attempted to make these pom poms but I soon realized they were going to take me WAY too long, so I just used some fabric I already had to create this little flags (same as the bunting for the cake).
4. Figure out what food to serve and how to serve it and drinks
5. Put together party favors - cheerios and oyster crackers in little clear bags with twine
6. Decide on banners - I went with this one for the main grey/yellow banner and this one for the little chalkboard like bunting banners.
7. Tissue paper garland - need to buy some tissue paper, already had ribbon and once you make these you kind of don't want to throw them away! So a grey/white rendition is hanging above the bed in our guest room.
8. Icicle lights for the deck
9. Flowers in vases with lemons
10. Birthday cake - little bunting banner for cake and this one took me forever to land on, again I had all sorts of idea, but I just ended up using some fabric I already had and created two rows of bunting.
And some additional details.
Thank goodness your dad is quite the visionary! I couldn't have done any of this without him. And considering our house is 770 square feet, I first started talking about having the party elsewhere. And he then started talking about getting drop cloths and putting them up on the deck pillars to enclose the deck so it was like an extra room. Brilliant idea, especially for January! We put all the food and drinks outside to encourage folks to use the extended room and it worked, kind of.
Party prep.
What else? I knew I didn't want you to have a sugary cake, so I found this healthy cake recipe, which I got super excited about. The recipe called for apple sauce as the sweetener and the frosting was just cream cheese with apple sauce and a bit of vanilla. It was basically pancakes stacked on top of each other and those pancakes were filled with applesauce and banana and the usual ingredients of course (flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, eggs, etc). And I should say right now that you LOVE pancakes! So anything that resembles a giant pancake is right up your alley. And I was right, you loved it - devoured it, couldn't get enough of it. It wasn't the prettiest cake, but you didn't seem to care.
I also knew I wanted a chalkboard frame like this with all your stats on it, and your dad took the lead on that one seeing as he is far more creative than I am. I just showed him a few pictures of what I was envisioning and he ran with it. And he even put together a little wood board with candles in it just like this one. I think he even enjoyed the party planning, as long as I presented him with the ideas. He didn't want to have to come up with those, but he was more than happy to execute them!
The Chalkboard.
The Candle Board.
The Big Day - the dessert table.
Pinkabella cupcakes.
Thank you banner - chalkboard like bunting banners.
The cake eating and present station. Look at that amazing chalkboard! Well done husband.
All the photos. This took me forever to put them into folders and to decide on which ones to print! I ended up with FAR too many!
The food table and the tissue paper garland. The majority of beverages were in buckets on ice.
The Birthday Boy with his proud parents and party hat. Don't think it lasted all that long on your head.
The After Party.
Until next year! Might not be a bad idea to start planning now.
Xoxo,
Your Ma (as you have taken to calling me lately!)
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