The Etsy store sold coordinating banners and stickers for water and soda bottles, and well, as you may remember, S works for the party people, so we were able to get a kid's table and some coordinating linens without making an extra trip! Then, we bought LM a little "western" shirt and a bib, as well as a hat and boots. And, I took the invite to my local cake place, where they came up with a cute coordinating cake. Voila! Birthday theme!
We decided to have the party at lunch, since first birthday parties are more for the adults than the kids anyway, and since the Little Man's best part of the day, besides like 8am, is around lunch, between his naps. So, to fit the theme, the party was at "high noon"! The menu included cheeseburgers (a recipe researched and concocted all by S) and hotdogs, baked beans, corn on the cob, watermelon and some of my mom's macaroni and cheese. (Thanks Mom!) We invited only immediate family because that seemed like the right size for such an occasion. S's parents and brothers and their families came, as well as my parents and even a special guest, my niece Veda, who came down with my dad.
Before the party started.
We let LM check out his roadster before the party began.
He loved it and knew right away how to get a move on!
My sweet boy.
LM got dressed in his buckaroo outfit before everyone came over.
Veda tried to help keep the hat on, but it didn't work most of the time.
LM had LOTS of walking practice with Veda around!
The kid's table S carried home from work.
S and LM in their hats.
LM on his trusty steed.
The grub.
I think it went off pretty well - the burgers took a little longer to cook than expected, but otherwise things went as planned. We ate, then we opened presents, then we had CAKE. LM did not really appreciate the singing or the candle at the top of the cake portion of the event. But, once that subsided, he took to the cake pretty well, finishing off about half of it.
LM shared his toys pretty well...
...except when he didn't. But he did alright.
There was a standoff with the chairs...
...it was apparently the most fun to be had at the party.
LM received lots of really nice presents. He now has some new toys, like an airplane and a bus, a bowling set, a lawn mower and a Rody! He also has some new little cars and trucks, people, clothes and books. He received a wonderfully beautiful handmade afghan from Aunt Marlene and some soft cloth books from Nana, as well as a growth chart she made him to hang on his wall in his room. He also received a fridge farm, a cute denim bear, a Cowboys jersey, some puzzles, a gift card we used to purchase a couple of figures for his airplane and bus and a photo album we can stock with photos of his family. And some more stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting as I type this but was equally as nice. Seriously, the new stuff is getting quite a bit of action around here already.
One of his funny faces these days.
Opening more presents with a room full of cousins, and an outlaw uncle!
The three 2010 Dallas cousins - hard to get a photo of them these days.
One of the things we gave the boy was the Radio Flyer ride-on toy called a Roadster that you can see up above. He took right to it! We put him on the thing and he started moving forward lickety split. And, a couple of days later, he's going backwards too. It's a bit tough to steer, even for us, so S is looking into how we can remedy that so he can steer it himself too. So far, he seems to like this gift too.
LMs cake
Everyone else's cake
LM wanted to dig right in.
Even to the candle...so he wasn't happy we were making him wait while we sang.
Eventually he was able to eat his cake!
He favors his left hand...really, he does.
But, you can sort of tell here by the cake that is gone. ;-)
Everyone had cake, of course, and watched the boy.
LM seemed to really enjoy spending time with Veda while she was here. In fact, I think he's that much closer to walking independently because of all the walking they did around the house and everywhere we went. She is the perfect size to walk with him, and he LOVED walking around with her. I predict her little brother Gibson will be a walking fool before we know it with all the practice he's sure to get around his house! I have some photos of the activities we did while Veda was here that I hope to get up soon.
"My work here is done!"
Pretty good job.
We went to the boy's 12 month doctor appointment today, and he's growing and maturing as a 12 month old should. His weight/height ratios were pretty much the same - 70% for height and 50% for weight. That's right - that chubby bunny is thin! Imagine what a chubby baby would look like! He seems to be on track developmentally and the doctor seemed pleased with everything. He got FOUR shots and then they took some blood. He was a trooper, really. He only cried a little bit, amazingly! Daddy was there to hold him and help it all feel better fast, so I'm sure this also helped.
Sign of a good party - a good, long nap afterward!
So here we go, onto year two of being parents, of raising a human, of learning what the heck to do next. It should be fun!
See you soon.
