So I have definitely slacked with my blog lately. The last few months have been a bit of a whirlwind! Between traveling for the holidays, some yucky sickness (both Luke and me), Luke becoming very mobile, and the daily demands of work and life, I have had very little time or energy to blog. But I really want to get back into it! And what better way to start than with a recap of Luke's first birthday?!
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| Hard to believe he was ever this small! |
But at the same time, it's kind of hard to remember what life was like before him. :)
As the months started closing in on Luke's first birthday, I found myself going back and forth about what kind of party to have for him. Do I invite friends or just stick with family? Do I have it at home or some other venue? Do I keep it simple or go all out?
In the end, I opted for something that was somewhere in the middle. We kept it just family (which ended up being a pretty good crowd of 16 people!) and had the party at our house. I chose sock monkeys as a theme. I love the red/brown color scheme, and since one of our baby showers was sock monkey themed, I already had quite a few things I could use to decorate. I scoured Pinterest for ideas and then conspired with my extremely creative sister-in-law Sarah to recreate some of the things I found.
Sarah did an amazing job!! She not only replicated some of the ideas I found, but made them even cuter than the originals! I seriously think she might be the most creative person I know.
She even surprised me with this adorable chalkboard with all kinds of fun facts about Luke.
Isn't she awesome?!!
I ordered invitations from Etsy and had them printed at Staples. Very inexpensive and cute!
The party was starting at 11:30, so I decided to do an appetizer/finger food lunch. We had veggie bars, spinach artichoke dip, meatballs, fruit, and a cheese tray. Good, simple, and all things that I could make ahead!
I had originally planned to make either a cake or cupcakes, but then my sensible (and wise) mama talked me into letting her buy a cake at a local bakery. I am SO glad she did! Not only was it much less work, but it turned out great! I took them a picture of something I found on Pinterest and just like Sarah, they made it even better! And it was delicious!
They even threw in a little smash cake for Luke free of charge (more on that later!)
Sarah and her husband Lance arrived the night before the party and worked tirelessly to help us decorate, set up tables and chairs, fix food, and entertain Luke. We could not have done it without them! Everything came together perfectly and just in time.
I wasn't sure how Luke would handle so many people and all of the excitement and attention, but he did GREAT! His only meltdown occurred when we tried to get him to wear his birthday hat.
He was clearly not a fan.
After some socializing and picutres, we ate lunch and Luke opened some of his presents. Of course he was more interested in the bags and bows than the actual gifts, but he did pretty well.
Then it was time for cake!
Up until this point, Luke had never really had any kind of dessert (unless you count fruit or graham crackers as dessert, which I definitely do not), so we were all very curious to see what his reaction would be. At first, he wasn't quite sure what to make of something so big on his high chair tray or of the strange texture of the frosting. But once he got managed to get a little on his fingers and into his mouth, his eyes were opened to the wonderful world of refined sugar! Before we knew it he was shoveling it into his mouth!
We were so thankful to have so many of our loved ones come to celebrate Luke's first birthday! We had family from Arkansas, Texas, and all over middle Tennessee make the trip to be with us, and it meant to such!
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