Will is One!

As much as I dug my heels in the ground about Will turning ONE, he didn't listen to his momma, and he went off and did it anyway. Little stinker. Where are those listening ears??

The birthday cooking prep started on Thursday night, when I made his cupcakes for school the following day (using this recipe from Skinny Taste so they were somewhat healthy- a white cake mix, 2 egg whites, greek yogurt, and water- no icing), and I also made chocolate covered pretzel rods and oreos for the family party on Saturday (clearly, staying with the healthy theme for food choices).

We kicked off his birthday weekend on Friday with cupcakes at his school. I left work early to make it in time for his afternoon snack.

Once Will realized he was getting double snacks- goldfish AND a cupcake, he was thrilled.

I had to get a picture of him with his sweet teachers! And of course I sent him to school in a really cute birthday outfit, and he was no longer wearing it by the time I got there with his birthday cupcakes. Oh well! Lesson learned, I guess.

Saturday was the "real" birthday party. We decided to have just a small party this year with immediate family. We made this decision based on several factors- he has been so sick lately, and February is not the easiest month to plan anything outside because of the unpredictable weather. So we kept it simple with a family dinner and birthday cake.

Even though we decided on a small party, I still wanted it to be special. I decided to go with a sweet, baby blue and white theme while I could. I know these super hero parties will be here before I know it, and these first couple of years will probably be the only time I have complete control of a "theme" of any sort.

I made the bunting from scraps of fabric I had in my stash, using this tutorial. It was so simple, and took me maybe an hour or two to put together. Literally the only thing I bought for the bunting was the bias tape.

The cake was from a local bakery, Olexa's. They did an incredible job executing my vision. I sent them the jpeg of the monogram we used on the invitation, and asked them to add embellishments as they desired, and it was beautiful. And incredibly delicious!

His "smash cake" came from Publix. I just wanted something small and simple, and I felt like that was the cheapest way to go. Although of course my mom fussed at me for not making it myself. Sorry mom! I knew that I wanted bunting on his little cake too, and it just happened that my dear friend Jessica celebrated her little boy's first birthday two weeks before us, and so I was able to copy her creativity. I just cut triangles out of scrapbook paper, cut smaller triangles out of a brown paper bag, and used scrapbook stickers for the letters. I used baker's twine to attach it to the cute straws and just stuck them into the cake. I never would have thought of using the straws- thanks Jess! :)

The straws and snack cups came from The Sugar Diva, and I ordered the monogram stickers from Vista Print, actually. I got a girl on Etsy to design his monogram, and she sent it to me as a jpeg- again, super cheap- like $4.

In the glass containers, I had the chocolate covered pretzel rods (super easy to make, and cheap), marshmallows, goldfish, and blue sixlets (found those at Hobby Lobby). The oreos were just dipped in white chocolate, and I drizzled blue tinted vanilla melting candy over them.

I also used those stickers and put them on plastic cups, just to make them look a little fancier than just plain plastic cups.

For the mantle, I did more bunting, but this time out of scrapbook paper (the same paper I used for the bunting on the smash cake). I cut these into pennant shapes, and put all of Will's monthly pictures on them. I only did months 1-11 because he was just a few days shy of being a year, and we hadn't taken that photo yet. :) I just folded the top of the scrapbook paper over (maybe 1/4-1/2 inch) twine, and secured it with Elmer's glue. I was careful not to glue the twine down- just the paper to the paper, so I could go back and adjust the spacing between each pennant if I needed to. I was so glad that I did that, because I definitely had to adjust the spacing once I saw how long I would need it to hang down.

We also got cookies made from another local business- Icing on the Cookie. I've used them for several parties before, and they never disappoint. They do such a great job in not only making them cute, but also making them super yummy.

On to the fun stuff...the party!



Will was polite enough to share one of his beloved balls with cousin Lily. So sweet of him. I don't think he has enough.

We attempted to get a picture of them sitting sweetly beside each other, but we couldn't get either of them to crack a smile at the same time. (Notice Will still isn't letting go of his favorite toys.)

But despite the failed picture attempts of a smiling picture, we did accidentally catch Will loving on his "twin cousin." Their due dates were only two weeks apart, but they were born three weeks apart. We can't wait to celebrate sweet Lily's birthday soon!
We also caught him sharing that love with big cousin Caroline later that night. She is so good with the "babies," and has so much tolerance with them!

After dinner, we decided to let everyone's food settle and let the birthday boy get into his gifts.

First up, he got his first (non-motorized) ATV from Uncle Taylor. He loves it! I think he enjoys pushing it just as much as he does riding on it while we push him.

He also got several musical instruments, including this awesome set of maracas from his "Aunt" Danielle.

I tried to keep him entertained with the gift opening portion of the evening for as long as I could. But there came a point when he realized he had a wagon sitting in the corner of the room, and he was dying to get it in. So I finally gave in, and just opened the rest of the gifts for him while he sat happily in his red wagon.

It was finally time for cake. He had this adorable birthday hat that his Nonnie got him, but he was not having it. We thought if we distracted him with the cake, he would forget about it, but not so much. Maybe next year!

 

After I traumatized him with the hat, it took him a few minutes to come around and realize what this thing was sitting in front of him.

I love this picture of him. I swear he's thinking "Are you seriously letting me eat this mom? Are you sure I can have this?"

And then he really started enjoying himself!

After the destruction of his cake, he was promptly given a bath and called it a night.

On his actual birthday (which was a Monday), Hunter and I both took off work to spend time with him. We started the day off with some blueberry pancakes for the birthday boy. He was thrilled.

So thrilled, that he cut to the chase and got after what he really wanted- the blueberries. He literally sucked the blueberries out of his pancakes and discarded the rest.

Later that day, we took him to get his first ice cream. Well, frozen yogurt, not ice cream. But regardless, he loved it. And ruined a shirt in the process. But it was worth it.

We really wanted to take him to the zoo or to the park to play on the playground, but we've had nonstop rainy, cold weather this week, so those plans will just have to be put on hold.

We had an incredibly fun weekend celebrating sweet Will's first birthday. It blows my mind how quickly it has come and gone, and makes me so sad to see my baby growing quickly into a little boy. But these times with him are getting more fun each day, and I'm trying to embrace each stage rather than mourn the loss of the previous one, because he truly is such an incredible blessing to us. He makes us laugh every day, and never ceases to amaze us with how quickly he is learning and developing.

We love you so much, sweet boy! Happy Birthday!