PartyTime!

We had decided not to have a first birthday party for Lia.  She tends to get overwhelmed by a lot of people (or so I thought) and, truth be told, we have a lot of things we need to finish at our house before we're ready to have a big party.  So, we were all set.  No party.  Just a small dinner with family.  But then... I changed my mind.  And I'm really happy that I did because Lia had the cutest birthday party ever! 

We had her party at The Little Gym, and I need to say this, they were awesome!  I really didn't have to do a thing.  (I did bring my own decorations, even though they provide those - I couldn't help myself.)  We've never had a birthday party outside of our home... and I'm thinking that we may never have one in our home again.  Seriously, you should have seen our house after Micah's first birthday party.  Ah, but it was worth it. 

Anyway, on with the adorable!  (That's why you're here, right?)  Here is Lia in all of her 1st birthday glory...

This one is my favorite.  I think.

Lia and Kevin check out the Sing*a*ma*jig (which we LOVE!)

The only picture of her in this adorable hat.  She promptly removed it.  Little Stinker.

Lia had such a great time at her party.  She only broke out the Stink Eye once or twice the whole afternoon!  (And that's big news, really.)

Walking with her dad.

Cutie concentrating.

Micah did not want to leave his sister on the parachute alone.

L surprised me here too.  They put her in the middle of a parachute and all of the kids shook the sides.  She LOVED it.  I mean, LOVED it. 

Clapping for herself.  :)

Puckering up for a smooch.

Okay, maybe this is my favorite.

Waiting for cake!

She did not throw this one on the floor.  :)

So there you have it.  Fun times.  We kept her party small, and it was the perfect amount of kids for Lia to have an amazing time.  I know she won't remember it, but I know I'll never forget. 

First Birthday!

Lia's first birthday was this past weekend, and while her party hasn't happened yet, we definitely celebrated here at home. She had no idea what was going on, but it was pretty cute.

See that adorable hat?  The very talented craftymommy made that for us!  I love it!  The "1" comes off and she included numbers up to 9 so we will be using this adorable birthday hat every year!  Is that not the cutest thing you've ever seen? Thank you Autumn!!

 I love this girl.

 Cutie Birthday Girl

My mom sent these adorable balloons for Lia.

I had to make two cakes.  Someone *cough*MICAH*cough* was feeling a little jealous on Lia's first birthday.  

 And he had to have a candle as well.  We are suckers for that face, so we gave in.

 Lia wasn't so sure what to do with the cake.

 She decided she would see what would happen if she picked it up... 

 And, yeah, that's what happens.  I have to say, this was my favorite moment of her birthday.  Throwing your cake on the floor?  To me, that is just perfect.

M likes it too.

So, we had fun.  I think Lia liked her lasagna better than the cake, but that's okay with me.  And, remember when I mentioned that she is loud?  Yeah - turn your volume down for this one. 

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY LIA!!

1st Birthday Party Pics!

We're a bit late on these, but they are worth it! Linda took so many great pictures - here are a few of our favorites. Be sure to notice Micah's hilarious face when he first sees his cake! (Oh - and there is music - if you have little ones napping - turn it down! :)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Party Hardy

Well, we survived Micah's 1st birthday party, and we think it was a raging success. :) There were tons of kids here - seriously - people kept saying, "How do you know so many kids?" My friends are fertile? I don't know. But, really, it was a lot of fun. And exhausting, but in an exhilarating fun way. (Why didn't you other moms tell me how crazily exhausting a 1st birthday party is? :)

I don't have many pictures because we hired Linda to come and take pictures for us, and we're waiting to get them back. Yes, I know it sounds wildly extravagant to do that (and maybe a little weird), but let me tell you how awesome it was to not have to worry about taking pictures all night long. It was awesome. And, we love Linda - she did our wedding photos, family photos, and Micah's first photos when he came home. (We probably should have hired her for his arrival at the airport too... okay maybe that would be extravagant.) Anyway, Gracie did take pictures with our camera, so you will get an unprofessional sneak peak at the night's events. I promise to post Linda's pictures when we get them (hopefully within the week!).

Here are the highlights:

*It was a cupcake party! Kevin made these amazingly cute cupcakes. He probably would not like me to tell you that. But, he loves me and he loves his son, so he was willing to get fancy in the kitchen for the party. (He does have a degree in pastry arts after all!)

*Mamush came to Micah's party! Very cool that these boys are already sharing life's special moments. :)

*Cupcake cookies! Our good friend Stephanie made these for the party. She is an expert baker, and I, well, I am not. So she made the cupcakes cookies. I did, however, make the tags that say, "It's fun to be 1" and "thanks for coming to my party heart Micah"

Micah had cake. With lots of icing. I did make him his very own little cake. It was not beautiful, but I was still proud. (Although I overdid it on the icing - tip: go light on the icing for a first birthday cake!)

*You know that scene in 16 Candles, after Jake's party where the record keeps skipping and you see the big mess? That was our house after everyone left. I was crying laughing at the mess - it looked like we had a raging kegger, but with lots of toys and juice boxes. (We cleaned that night - up til 1 a.m. but much better than cleaning in the morning.)

*The best part of the night was after we put Micah to bed and we were all downstairs talking and playing with Micah's new toys. We realized George was missing. Bad sign. I looked at the monitor and saw red lights - uhoh. Went upstairs - into Micah's room - the lights are on, Micah is sitting up in his crib with a bottle and George is laying on the floor playing. I never laughed so hard. So, we got Mic out of bed and he stayed up another hour. George had a point, it was Micah's party after all. :)

So, we had a great time, and were pretty tired (all of us) the next day, but it was well worth it. Just in case you're wondering, here is what Kevin and I looked like the next morning when Micah woke up at 7 a.m. -

Good times, good times.

All in One Day

Micah's first birthday was marked by an ice storm that caused us to stay holed up inside all day. We had to cancel a lunch with friends at the Ethiopian restaurant - but we're rescheduling for next week. The benefit of a day stuck inside is that today, for the first time, Micah crawled up on all fours! Yippee! I noticed he was trying to get up and go (rather than sit-scoot or hovercraft) so I put his baby-legs on for maximum traction - and off he went. I've never seen anything as cute as his little bootie crawling away from me. Big milestone on his first birthday!!

We had spaghetti for dinner (his favorite) and Gracie & Mitch came up to hang out with us. Micah was especially impressed when Mitch (who is 10) was rocking the guitar hero on a really hard level backwards! I mean not looking at the screen. (I was impressed too.) Gracie helped us out with bath and took pics, but I'm tired so I'll post later.

We finished the night with a family prayer for Micah's first mom - who we thought about and talked about a lot today.

And, just for fun, on Micah's first birthday, I'll leave you with a progression of frog towel photos - because they're so cute.

August 16th - literally 2 days after we got home.

September 27th

And, last week!

Party Time

Micah's first birthday is coming up next month, so I've been planning his party. I love planning parties- I used to be an event planner so I have to be careful not to go overboard. I'm trying to keep everything low-key so that Micah won't be overwhelmed. We decided to do cupcakes instead of a cake (I stole this idea from Tiny's Mom). Kevin already went out and bought a book on making cupcakes (remember - he is a former chef and has a degree in pastry arts), so it looks like we'll be baking instead of ordering, as I would have to do it since I can't really cook. But, I am getting crafty. I'm going to try and make a Happy Birthday banner. I know it won't be professional, like the banners that Autumn makes, but I wanted to try and make it myself. (I am still thinking of ordering one from Autumn that has Micah's name on it for his room. I think I want to get it before his party... should probably get on that huh...)

So, if anyone has any fun ideas for a first birthday party - let me know! I'd love to hear them!

Other than that - it's freezing and we're stuck in the house. Tonight we're going down the street to sit by the fire and watch Superbad. I need funny right now and from what I hear that movie is hilarious. Micah falls asleep really well down there (which is good since we're down there a ton in the summer), so we're able to put all the little ones to sleep and then watch movies. It's great when some of your BFFs are also neighbors!

And, just for fun, here's some cute stuff... Micah riding his truck -

SO BIG!