Monday, September 13, 2010

Catching up - Little G's Birthday Bash!

A couple days after your actual birthday was your official birthday party.



You surprised us BIG TIME that morning by sitting up in your crib all by yourself for the very first time (actually, you had done it a few weeks prior in your sleep when we were at Gram and Aunt K's house in PA...but I missed it, therefore it didn't happen). Of course, sitting up is VERY exciting, which meant that you wanted to practice it over and over and over again instead of taking your morning nap. Which ultimately meant that you finally fell asleep just as your guests were arriving!!

No worries, though. We kept them all occupied with yummy caprese salad with tomatoes and basil from mommy's garden...

...and super yummy raspberry-lemonade punch...



...eventually you woke up and joined us for burgers and chicken and hot dogs.

What's got your attention, Little G?

Must be Uncle E testing out your new walker!! Don't worry, we made sure he wouldn't leave with it.

After eating it was time to open presents. Mommy didn't think we should open them because she had heard that no one ever wants to sit around watching a one-year-old not open their presents...but apparently she was wrong because the guest almost threw a coup when they heard her plan to just skip the whole thing.



Thankfully, our friend Marcus was there to help you open some of your gifts:



Aunt M & Uncle E got you this super fun robot puzzle. You conquered it immediately...

...by eating the pieces. That'll show 'em who's boss!


Finally, it was time for cake. Funny story about the cake...mommy was just going to go to the supermarket and get you a cake so you could get messy...but when she saw the ones available she got scared by the crazy bright blue flowers and balloons and all the weird chemicals that must have been in those cakes...so she decided to make a cake but 'not go crazy'. Except that when she got to the cake mix aisle, she got overwhelmed by the amount of indecipherable ingredients on the ready-made cake boxes and decided to make you a cake from scratch...the morning of your party (she's crazy, that one). She'd never decorated a cake before but had some disposable icing bags and tips to try out so she made butter-cream frosting for the first time in her life and colored it with a little food coloring. Then she realised that was probably just as bad as those bright blue balloons on the grocery store cake and almost threw the entire thing out. Thankfully daddy and Miss L talked her out of that. Of course, for the rest of our guests, mommy served up Carvel Ice Cream cake with nary a thought about all the weird, unnatural stuff in that...oh well...adults can handle eating weirdness.



We sang Happy Birthday and let you go at it! But we should have known you wouldn't make a big mess...you're not one to waste food; especially yummy cake!




...eventually, someone decided to cut your cake in half so we could enjoy it as well...I mean, it WAS the Cook's Illustrated Best Recipe for both the cake and the icing...and there was no way you were going to eat the whole thing yourself...





After eating cake you exercised a bit with Miss L by having a scootching race around the kitchen:




Finally, our favorite neighbors came over with a super big present for you...they brought you your very first ride on toy!

You weren't too sure what to make of it at first...

We had to put you on it since you couldn't climb on, and you didn't know where to put your feet!



But you're so smart, you totally figured it out!

Your birthday party was super-fun and it was so nice of everyone to come and help celebrate. I am still amazed every day that in just a year you changed from a newborn to a pseudo-toddler. I guess mommy never had gotten the memo on exactly how much babies grow! We have been having so much fun with you the past couple of months and are truly trying to cherish every moment because we know that you will change even more by your next birthday!

We love you now and always,

Mommy and Daddy

8 comments:

  1. I am still in disbelief that little G is a year old!!! Wow!

    It looks like everyone had a great time!!

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  2. Happy belated birthday, G! I can't believe he's a year old!

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  3. Firstly, if you start inviting me over for parties I won't tell anyone that we're just 'Internet friends.' Secondly, just last night I made what was the Cook's best recipe ever old fashioned chocolate cake. So I know how many bowls and equipment you dirtied mere hours before this party. But damn that cake was GOOOOOD.

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  4. Sidenote: my comment validation word just now was "mating."

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  5. I love the scooting contest! Super cute!

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  6. Ha ha, Brenna - you can come to our parties...but only as my internet lovah

    Natalie - thanks for stopping in...your bloggity blog is so cute and fun...must schedule time to go check everything out

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  7. ...and now I want cake. Happy Birthday, little G!

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  8. I love how careful G was when eating his cake! What a cutie pie. I'm pretty sure there are photos of me at my 1st bday party with cake smeared all over my head. Also - I was pretty much bald at that point (still)...strange.

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