Hunter’s party was planned at a pavilion at a local park, so we watched the weather all week, hoping it wouldn’t rain. Sure enough, the end of last week was beautiful, but they were calling for rain on Saturday. Still, we woke up to a gorgeous morning, so we were hopeful that perhaps the rain would pass us by. As it turned out, it did… no rain in sight, and the temperature was actually really comfortable, too. We couldn’t have asked for a better day!
We had planned to arrive at the park early to help set up and bring the cake, but because of the beautiful morning, we opted to take Tessa for a long walk prior to getting ready. Whoops, it set us back about an hour, but it was worth it! We ended up rolling up to the party right on time, which worked out fine.
I made this poster for Hunter, highlighting a bunch of the photos I took of him in his first year. It was so amazing to see them all side by side and see how much he has grown!
The cake I made, on display at the party. This was a lot of work, but worth it. (Looking for more information on the cake? See my post here.) What was funny–I was unsure about whether to switch up the colors of the dinosaur, but I thought the green and orange was a nice combination. It turned out that all of the plates/balloons/decorations that Kara had ordered were green and orange, too! The cake coordinated perfectly with the rest of the party. :)
The birthday boy showed up to the party sleeping. Little guy was apparently a beast when Kara was getting him ready, so it was decided that everyone should let him sleep for a bit. His temperament was pretty good throughout the rest of the party, so this was probably a good decision.
Family picture, once the little guy woke up from his nap.
I helped open cards and presents when it was time (otherwise, it would’ve taken FOREVER–he had so many gifts!) so I didn’t get any photos of that stage. But when it came time for my dad to reveal the toy box he made–FROM SCRATCH–I knew I needed to get some photos of that!
It is so awesome. All of the designs on the sides are actually cut out of wood, and hand-painted. My dad is amazing. On the top, in vinyl lettering, it says “Hunter’s Box.” LOVE. We all told my dad that he better get started on the ones for his other (future) grandchildren, HA!
“C’monnnnn… where’s the CAKE already??”
He was so cute with his cake. I love him. (And he was really good about not trying to touch the candle flame through the singing of “Happy Birthday to You.”)
He was a little careful with it at first, but he worked his way into it.
He’s been doing this thing lately where he won’t pick up his food to eat it, he’ll just put his face to the table and pick it up directly with his mouth. It’s hilarious. As we thought he might, he ended up sticking his face directly into the cake to take a bite. Awesome.
He definitely seemed to enjoy it. Mommy tried to get in there with a fork to help him out a bit, but it was all for naught. Little guy was determined to do things right and get messy!
By the time all was said and done, he had it in his hair, in his eyes… he was a big, sticky mess. Just like all 1-year-olds should be on their birthdays.
I was so glad my dad was able to come up to be here for the party. He loves Hunter so much and I know that he hates that he can’t see him more often.
While Hunter was smearing cake into every nook and cranny of his face, I was busy chopping up my masterpiece into little pieces for everyone to enjoy. Actually, I never mind cutting into my cakes. There’s something that’s pretty satisfying about it.
Soon enough, all that was left was a cake board. The cake ended up being the perfect amount for the people in attendance (thankyoulord). I could’ve cut the pieces a little smaller if I had to, but I was glad I was able to give people average-sized pieces.
After cake was served, people started to head out, and we were soon left with just a small crowd of our closest family and Trevor and Kara’s closest friends.
The three kids with our dad…
…and then the three kids (plus Hunter!) with mom.
A perfect day in celebration of our favorite little boy.
Later last night, we all regrouped at my brother’s house and spent time outside in the backyard with the dogs and a fire in the fire pit. I think this marks the official beginning of “summer,” no? In other words, we’ve reached my absolute favorite time of year. *LOVE*
My dad took off early this morning to head back home. The next time we’ll see him? When our baby is born. YIKES!
Several weeks ago, Kara told me that the theme for Hunter’s 1st birthday party was going to be dinosaurs. She asked if I’d be willing to make invitations and the cake. I readily agreed.
When it came time to plan for the cake, I googled for ideas and came across the perfect cake–a 3D dinosaur cake! I was a little intimidated by all of the carving that was required, but it didn’t seem too bad, so I decided to give it a try. The result?
The dinosaur is made with two 9-inch cakes, cut and pieced together to make up the dinosaur. The spikes are made of fondant, dyed orange, cut into diamond shapes, and dried until stiff. The dinosaurs eyes are yellow sprinkles that I had in my cupboard, and although you can’t see them, he has toenails made of chocolate chips.
Frosted and decorated, it all makes for a pretty awesome looking cake. For instructions and additional photos, I’m going to send you right to my source. I followed their directions and studied their photos, and recreated their template in order to carve the cake.
Since I believe that all 1-year-olds should have their own smash cake, I also made an extra 6″ round cake and then carved it into the shape of an egg. I decorated it to be a “dinosaur egg,” and placed it on the cake board for display with the dinosaur. Some fondant water and some buttercream grass, and the look was complete. Very proud of this cake!
The party turned out great, and fun was had by all (especially the birthday boy). Pictures to come tomorrow…
We never get to celebrate my dad’s birthday with him. But when we found out that he’d be driving up to visit for the weekend to be able to attend Hunter’s first birthday party, it dawned on me that we’d be only a few weeks shy of his 60th birthday. And, if you ask me, 60 is well worth celebrating.
All of us kids always go out to dinner with my dad when he’s here, so we told him that the plans were as normal, and I made reservations at a local restaurant for Friday night. What we didn’t tell him, however, was that dinner would be in celebration of his birthday. It was really casual, but he was really surprised when I showed up with balloons and gifts and told them they were for him!
Despite some extremely bad service, we had a good time and enjoyed the food. Of course, Hunter came along as well–sporting a brand new “big boy” haircut!
Hunter’s big party is tomorrow!
I did one of these for a client last fall, but because it was a client, I didn’t feel comfortable sharing it here. But I knew that when I did it then, I’d do it again for Hunter when he was about to turn 1.
Last weekend, when we took Hunter out for some 1-year portraits, we ended the day in front of a backdrop, in his diaper, with a small cake. Then, we just let him do his thing. I edited the resulting photos into a collage, which I got printed for display at his birthday party on Saturday. It turned out so cute!
Little man got some practice with cake, too. Win-win situation! :)
Look at me, a day late! Oops. When I got home from work yesterday, I had so much to do that I immediately changed into pajama pants and got going. After a while I realized I had never taken my weekly photo, but there was no way I was going to do it looking like I did! HA!
And so this was taken today at 22 weeks, 2 days pregnant.
22 Weeks Pregnant
Now I’m feeling like I’m getting bigger every week. Mommies and fellow mommies-to-be… I assume this rate of growth is probably normal at this point?
I’m starting to tell more people at work that I’m pregnant, which is always funny. It shocks me that they haven’t noticed my belly. After they act all surprised, I always feel like I have to point to the belly, laugh, and say, “Seriously? I don’t normally look like this!” Since I’ve only been with the company for two months, a lot of people still don’t know me THAT well, so to them I must just look normal. Anyway, I haven’t been keeping the pregnancy secret from anyone at work, but I haven’t been going around working my “condition” into every conversation, either. Pretty soon, I don’t think there will be any doubt in anyone’s mind, and I probably won’t have to do very much more telling!
This week, I’ve been feeling more baby movement than ever before. Last night at bedtime, baby was so busy in there that my stomach was literally dancing. I think the baby was doing a jig or something. The movements were so strong that they were actually keeping me awake. It was the first time I’ve ever really thought to myself, “Holy crap, my body has been taken over by an alien!” As far as location, I’m starting to feel kicks higher up in my belly. I think it’s only a matter of time before I get the obligatory punches to the ribs. I’m feeling movement at all different times throughout the day, too, instead of primarily just at bedtime like I was a few weeks ago. It’s fun to be sitting in a meeting at work and feeling the baby repeated kick/punch/head-butt me from the inside. It’s like our own little secret–the meeting goes on as normal while my baby and I share some kind of interaction, and I smile on the inside.
On Saturday, we visited my sister-in-law and our nephews. Brendan, who is almost three, is at an awesome age in terms of getting to “experience” my pregnancy. Since I now have a belly that he can see, we were telling him that there is a baby in my belly, and he was completely and totally fascinated by it. We also asked him probably 7-8 times throughout the day whether he thought the baby was a boy or a girl, and he said GIRL–every single time we asked.
Later that afternoon, I was lying on the floor and I started to feel the baby kick so I asked Brendan if he wanted to feel it. He came and sat down on my legs and put his little hand on my belly, eyes wide in awe. Then he kept lifting up my shirt trying to actually look for the baby, telling me “I want to touch the baby!” I had to keep showing him that it was just my belly under my shirt, not a baby. He was confused, but it was adorable. He also told us that he really likes the name Lily. When my sister-in-law tried to suggest other names as possibilities (just random names since we’re keeping our names a secret), he kept insisting on Lily. Alllllrighty then. :)
This week is crazy busy, but I’m starting to feel the pressure about making phone calls to try to officially decide on and set up a daycare provider. I made a few phone calls several weeks back, but haven’t done anything since then and we need to get on it! Next week, for sure. It’s just hard to get motivated to take care of something that we’re not going to need until DECEMBER!
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
