Liam's First Birthday Party

On Saturday we celebrated Liam's first birthday though his birthday is not until Tuesday, July 31st.  This year has gone by fast.  There has been so much, so many changes in our lives in the last year that it has certainly sped up time for us.  When Gavin turned one I remember saying I didn't know why people said "it goes by so fast" because Gavin's first year seemed long--perhaps because I felt the first half was so difficult with all the new adjustments to life with a baby.  But with Liam, I do feel like it went faster.  Nick is always reminding me to not wish him older because I do think that often.  After two kids, I will say that I'm still not a fan of the baby stage but it still provides great lessons, memories, and more cute moments than you can count.  And I have enjoyed the stages.
Anyhow-- about the party.  Thanks to everyone who came out.  It was really fun and I was so happy to see Liam surrounded by all his friends.  Lots of baby boys were born at the same time so there's a nice little cohort growing up together. There are just so many good pictures, I have tried my best to highlight just a few. 

 The baby area:  Nick did a great job remembering to bring toys for the babies (and older kids) to play with.

I cannot believe that after I put so much thought and effort into the food, I did not take ANY pictures of the food table.  This was the one thing that I obsessed over and wanted full control of.  I had everything planned so that every food item had a Dr. Seuss name and made tags for each dish.  We had [no green eggs] and ham sandwiches (who would want green eggs?), poodles eating noodles (homemade caprese pasta salad and macaroni and cheese), yot in a pot (meatballs in the crockpot), red fish/blue fish/[not all]green and blue fish (goldfish crackers), yellow yip dip (homemade cheese dip), truffula fruit, pink ink yink drink (watermelon lemonade) and for the adults black ink big yink drink (coffee).  I had plans to make "hop on pop" corn but then opted not to and the same thing with the "wocket in my pocket" pitas-- those were supposed to be PB &J pitas but because a couple of the kids have allergies to PB, I opted to not even take it out.  I really wanted to have as much real food as possible, meaning little to no junk food.  This was my first party planned after our real food conversion and although we have definitely NOT been as good lately with eating only real food, I still wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.  I could have a kids' birthday party without junk.  I succeeded somewhat.  I learned it's a lot of work and had I been a working mom, I'm not sure that I would've had time or would've wanted to do it all.  Plus, it's also nerve wrecking to cook for others.  I tend to cook with little salt and I forget that others are not used to that and will think it's bland.  I am very sensitive to salt and I'm always terrified of making things too salty.  I gave it my best.  I did what I could and I was proud to be able to provide that for Liam and the guests.

The "cake" table...the bane of my existence for the last 2 weeks.  I could (and probably will) write a separate post about the cake search.  My gut instinct was to order cupcakes or make muffins myself that were real food approved-- all natural ingredients, minimal sugar, and free of any artificial colors.  Artificial colors are on my absolute black list so that was my main priority- to find a cake made without any artificial dyes.  However, I was very close to giving in to the pressure of having a traditional cake with a theme design on it for the sake of tradition and "prettiness" of the cake table as people told me.  After literally losing some sleep over it I decided to make the decision that I was comfortable with--so cupcakes it was.  I chose the bakery called Babycakes NYC.  They are originally from NYC and were contracted by Disney to come to Downtown Disney to bring healthier food to that park.  They offer vegan treats- dairy free, egg free, soy free, some gluten free, and do not use refined sugar, instead they use agave nectar (which may be just as processed as HFCS but I was willing to let go of this part because of the other positives).  I don't think many people noticed that they were vegan cupcakes, unless they asked.  I'm sure now that I'm saying it, some people will go back and judge them differently.  Some of my family tends to be highly critical of "healthy" treats (e.g. my dad won't try anything if I tell him it's vegan).  The kids seem to eat them just fine. ;)

Having some "pink ink yink drink"-  I used watermelon to make the lemonade pink instead of using food dyes or the powder stuff. Worked out better than I expected.  Turns out you don't need a lot of melon for it to turn pink. 

 My mom ordered themed shirts for everyone with their "title" in relation to Liam.

Our next shirts will have the kids in Thing 1, Thing 2, Thing 3 and ours will say "MOM OF ALL THINGS" and "DAD OF ALL THINGS" :) 

All the THINGS

The birthday boy waiting for his cupcake.  There were five cupcake flavors: red velvet, carrot cake, lemon, chocolate chip and french toast.  Liam had the carrot cupcake just like Gavin did for his first birthday to keep up the tradition. 

Yum!

what is this sticky stuff?

Guittar THINGS

Gonzalez THINGS

All THINGS again (minus Stacy who had to leave early)

 It was SO hot that we never did the outdoor games I had planned.  It felt like 104 someone told me later.  Just too hot.  Once the sun started coming down it was bearable enough to go out and play.  Gavin had some fun popping the water balloons trying to get them in a bucket.

Liam had fun with the water balloons too!  

Overall, it was a great day.  Liam had a good morning nap and that carried him over for the rest of the day.  He was as happy as we could ask him to be.  Gavin also had lots of fun reuniting with his friends too.  Although later when I asked him what was his favorite part of the day he said "opening the gifts, that was my favorite."  He is very aware that those are Liam's gifts/toys but he plays with them and tells us that Liam is sharing with him.  Those who gave Liam gifts, know that they are getting double enjoyment since our 3 year old seems to be just as amused by the new "baby" toys.  

Another great family day to remind us how lucky and blessed we are to have a beautiful and healthy family!
Thank you everyone for sharing this special day with us.