Birthday Wrap Up

This is a pic heavy post, so I hope it will not tax anyone's computer much. Enjoy!

Birthday party weekend has come to a close and we are all mostly recovered in the Land of Nages. Grams (my mom) and Gramps (my step-dad) moved back from way out west a little early so they could be here for the event. Toona (DH's mom) and Gido (DH's Dad) came down from way up north, and Aunt Cat and her long-time boyfriend were also here. Our only non-family guest was Nanny K. With so many folks here from out of town, the whole weekend was very busy. Our guests indulged us and did not come over until after LO's morning nap so he could get some rest. He could still tell something was going on! Since most of our family is so far away, he has not seen anyone except Aunt Cat recently enough to remember them. We were unsure how he would take to so many "strangers," but he did pretty well. Toona and Gido had a very different approach to him than Grams and Gramps, and I think the differences were good. It semed a little overwhelming when all the attention was on him, so we tended to break the visits up to smaller groups until it was party time. Here he is with Toona and Gido:

Aunt Cat was in charge of the camera and her boyfriend was kind enough to video the party. It was so great to be able to enjoy everything without having to focus on capturing it. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of them because they were both behind cameras. My mom was probably avoiding the camera, so we don't have pics of her either. All eyes and cameras were on LO and we ended up with about 300 pictures of him!

While LO had his afternoon nap time (which he shortened with all the party/company excitement), Aunt Cat and I decorated for our jungle themed party inspired by LO's Lovie and his giraffe "Raffi" which we use at bedtime. When he woke up we showed him the streamers and he seemed very excited. He especially liked the ones hanging from the doorway that tickled his face. We played for another hour until Nanny K arrived and we Skyped Grandpa (my dad) in from Ohio. It was such fun to have "virtual Grandpa" there; DH took him on the laptop to show him everything that was going on.

Lah-oo was out of town and Aunt Liz couldn't make it. We missed them! After Nanny K arrived it was time for presents.

I didn't expect LO to get the idea of opening gifts, but he did well. He really enjoyed ripping the paper. (He had played with extra paper and the rolls it came on all morning) He loved his new gifts, but it was tough to get him to move on to the next one. DH kept saying "ok" to keep us moving. We had a lot to open!

LO loved this bow as much as his gift. He's still playing with it.

Ripping paper like a pro!

Wee Wedgits from Grams

Hungry Caterpillar Jack-in-the-Box from Grandpa

This great winter hat from Nanny K

Puzzles with big knobs and doors from Aunt Cat,

and touch and feel books from Aunt Cat, and

xylophone from Aunt Cat, and...more! (Thanks Grams for helping) Aunt Cat will need to subsidize the storage shed we need to store all her gifts!

LO also got an activity cube and chubbies cars, trains, and boats from DH and me, and a music table, stacking rings and clothes from Toona and Gido. It took us almost an hour to open everything. It was fun, but we worked up an appetite, so time for cake!

LO had his own smash cake with a monkey/Lovie face on top. The other, blue cake was for the rest of us. His smash cake was an apple spice (low sugar) with cream cheese frosting. The woman that made it liked the recipe so much, she's going to use it for other customers. Our jungle cake was lemon pound cake with lemon filling and buttercream frosting for me, because I LOVE lemon. I got a little grief for picking my favorite cake, but LO couldn't decide and he said I worked hard enough when he was born that I could have whatever I wanted. : )

The smash cake was a hit. LO ate mostly frosting, but did get a few fistfuls of cake. He went to put his face into it, but was stopped by his highchair straps. After about 20 minutes of icing, he showed serious signs of sugar-induced stupor and we whisked him off to the bath.

Thanks to everyone for coming. It was a lot of fun to have most of our family here for the occasion. It was definitely a weekend filled with love for our family and it felt great. We look forward to maybe including our friends next year.