Andrew's 1st Birthday

Our little Andrew turned one on Sunday. Nicole and I have always said that we want our kids' birthday parties to be a big deal, and to be all about them. Well, so far so good! We had quite a birthday bash for our little guy. Nicole will tell you that she had to do less and was less stressed last year while she was in labor and delivering Andrew than she has been in the process of putting this party together. For example, I ordered the cake from the Albertson's that I work in thinking that because I know most of the people, the cake would be perfect. Well, when I went to pick up the cake that I ordered the big one was only 1/4 sheet instead of 1/2 sheet. I was very upset! I ended up having them redo the cake, not charge me for anything, and even deliver it to my house. Luckily the second one turned out perfect.

We rented a pavillion at Windsor Park (just down the street from us). We decorated with balloons, streamers, and a "1st Birthday" pinata.

Nicole had read about a game called "How old was I when..." so I decided to take that on. I went through the calendar where we write down all of his firsts and ended up with 65 different questions. I figured that I should narrow it down a bit, so I got it down to 30 questions. Everyone was shocked that we had kept track of things that closely. Julianne ended up winning the game--she did kind of cheat by calling Spencer and asking him about things that happened while we were up in Logan.

While I was telling everyone the answers to the game, the kids enjoyed opening the pinata. Nicole, Barb, and I had a lot of fun filling it, but I think the kids had more fun getting everything out that we had put in.

After that we ate dinner. Nicole and I provided all of the food except we asked my mom to make her potato salad, and Julianne brought us some Arctic Circle lettuce. We had Hoagies, potato salad, chips, etc. It tasted really good. The only downside--I think I bought too much meat. I have been eating sandwiches for almost every lunch and dinner since the party and I still have several pounds left. Oh well!

Next we had Andrew open up his presents--well almost. He opened up the first two or three, then I was opening them, but I guess I was taking too long because Nicole started throwing presents to all the kids telling them to open them. She tossed one to Kaitlynn and hit her in the arm. It was kind of funny, but Kaity didn't think so. Anyway, Andrew made quite a haul. He got clothes, balls, a pony, a potty, a four wheeler, bath toys, books, and much more. It took us several days to figure out where to put it all, but our house is back to normal now.
After the presents came the most fun part--the cake! We got two cakes--one for everyone to have some cake and a small round cake just for Andrew. Andrew does this thing with mirrors--you tell him to kiss the baby he sees in the mirror, and he gives the "baby" a big slobbery kiss. We thought it would be fun to put a picture of him on the cake so we could tell him to kiss the baby and watch him stick his face in the cake. He was so much fun to watch! And I will admit that the kid in me came out. I stuck my face in Andrew's cake and gave Nicole a kiss on the cheek (she wasn't to happy with me for that one). Andrew ended up with cake on his face, in his hair, all the way up both arms, and on his legs too. I had fun getting him cleaned up enough to ride home in the car, then he got a good bath.

All in all I would say that the party was a success and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. To all of you who read our blog and were able to come--thank you for making Andrew's 1st birthday a special day for him.