I'm 1!

Or, you know, 13 months and 10 days, but who's really counting? :)

But let's pretend that it's December 31, and I'm super mom, and even though in the past 6 days we've celebrated Christmas, J's dad's birthday, my parents' anniversary, my mom and sister's birthdays, P's birthday, and New Year's Eve, I still have enough energy to put up a super-cute blog post about my child's 1st birthday party...well, a girl can dream, right? :)

The good news is that even though there wasn't a timely post about my precious son's first birthday party, a birthday party DID happen! And it was wonderful! And fun! And most importantly, the peanut had a great time!

Here is the photographic evidence that on a day long, long ago, my child had a 1st birthday party. :)

Here's his invitation...it started off as a New Year's Eve theme. Period. But then, we couldn't help ourselves, and after the invites had already gone out, the persistent sock monkey theme surfaced. You will see evidence of this below. :)

The party was graciously held at J's parents' house...and it was an absolutely beautiful day.

Here is the one and only crafty thing I have made off of Pinterest...and J was equally as involved as I was in its creation. I love the way it turned out, and hopefully we'll remember to display it on our door for all the birthdays at our house (minus the "1," of course). :)

Our party guests had to put up with our "suggested party attire" that greeted them by the front door. After all, it was New Year's Eve...we were just the pre-party. :)


Another Pinterest idea (also suggested by my sweet, party-planning-friend, Brittney) come to life with the balloons hanging from the ceiling...

The table.
J's parents went above and beyond, hand-making sandwich platters and other tasty treats.

The centerpiece was made of some party-ready sock monkeys (as well as some other monkey "tag-a-longs.")

The "original" sock monkey that was used to entice J when he was a baby model had a special place at the table.

Okay - so the monkey centerpiece might have been my favorite decoration. :) Who says you can't combine a "sock monkey" theme with a "New Year's Eve" theme!?

Ahem...one more centerpiece picture. :) I told you, I was obsessed with this.

How precious is this!?! J's parents made little signs for the food platters, including one pointing out food designated for our youngest party-goers. :)

More balloons in the kitchen where the cake action was going to take place.

I was afraid this might look like we were hanging the sock monkey in effigy. :) That wasn't our intention, of course...

Pictures of Mr. P. over the past year (as posted here). In his mother's not-so-humble opinion, he was too cute to just pick a picture from each month, so I picked one from every two weeks...:)

Happy birthday balloons!

GiGi and Grammy Share decked out for the party.

J and I decked out...I'm sure P will look back at this picture at some point in time in his life and think his parents were such big dorks for making everyone wear this party gear. We'll plead the 5th.

Gramps and Aunt KiKi

My sweet family (some of P's favorite people)

Aunt KiKi and Uncle Bear...Uncle Bear was the most excited of anyone at the party to wear the party gear. :)

One of the "little party guests." :) Notice that the blanket she was playing on also went along with the sock monkey theme...thank you to Cousin Whitney for that addition!!!

The birthday boy made a fashionably late appearance...the party started at 11:07, and he didn't wake up from his nap until 11:45!

Our other little party guest and her sister and their sweet mom, Sara. J and I held both of these kiddos on the day they were born. :)

Our dear friend, Thomas, with J and P. He's the dad of the little girls above. :)

Presents!
Between Christmas and his birthday, I'm sure our child was expecting there to be present opening on a weekly basis from this point on.

A bleary-eyed birthday boy. I love this picture. :)

Cheese!

Why are you taking another picture of me?

I mean, I know I'm cute, but good grief, people.

The "before" shot of the smash cake, which was made by my kindergarten teacher, Ms. Parker. :) She has made a birthday cake for me every year since I was 6...and I'm pretty sure we haven't missed a year...seriously. My kindergarten teacher made me a cake for my 31st birthday last year. :)

Family shot, pre-cake.


You want to take a picture of little ole me? Eating cake? Okay...

Clapping as his adoring fans sing "Happy Birthday!"

Sweet Evie showing Mr. P. what to do. :)

So, you're telling me that I'm supposed to stick my fingers in this thing?

Are you sure about that?

Here I am trying to encourage things along...P is staring at the "Peanut Paparazzi."

Could this kid look any more unsure about what we're asking him to do?! :)

Nothing like force-ably feeding your child his birthday cake. :)

J and I have decided that this cannot be our child. Neither of us have EVER turned down a sweet treat. We're the kind of people who don't like nuts in brownies but will willingly pick the nuts out of a brownie in order to salvage just one bite. :)

I know, Mom. Instead of eating it, how about I just study it?

Oh, what a face...and so many captions that could be plugged in. :)


Pretty sure those are the "all done" hands. :)

And this is as wild as it got. A little red frosting around the kid's lips.

Here I am trying to clean the red off of his fingers, since he tends to put his hands in his hair at some point during meal time. :) Just trying to limit the damage.


And the "after" shot...with most of the damage done by me.

The big people cake. :)

A New Year's Eve party calls for some bubbly...cider. :)

It's present time! Again, sweet Evie helped P with the ins and outs of present opening. :) She really was so sweet about it. I love P's face in this picture.

This picture is included because P got a hat from his GiGi and Gramps, and little Miss Sadie decided to model it for everyone. :)

P's Grammy Share wrote him a very sweet note for his 1st birthday.

Opening his present from Aunt KiKi and Uncle Bear...a Noah's Ark from FAO Schwartz in NYC! They had just returned from a trip there and were so thoughtful to bring P such a unique b-day present!


Here's a close up of the ark! Aunt KiKi would want me to point out that the monkey on the right has a scary receding hairline that she had no control over because she couldn't pick out the exact ark with the cutest animals (as our mother has taught us to do :)) because it had to be shipped from NYC.


Playing with the camera...aren't those faces just so sweet?


Again, I just LOVE this!

As party favors, J's mom found pink sock monkeys, which you can see Sadie cradling in this pict. :)

P with Grandma Judy! (Somehow we missed getting Pops in on the picture! :( Probably because he was documenting the event from behind the camera as well!)

And here's the whole fam after the party...do you think J and I look a little tired? I can't imagine why...


We weren't the only ones who looked tired after the party...upon our return home, we just did some good relaxing.

Here's P hanging out with dad.

What a face.

We love the space between his front teeth. :) Although we are hopeful that the permanent ones will take up a little more room. ;)

Opening a SUPER cute book from his "Grandma" Cathy. :)

1) Love the thighs.
2) The red mark on his forehead is from him falling onto the corner of a book. Who knew reading was a contact sport?

Oh Peanut. We love you and loved celebrating your birthday with you...even if it all happened 1 month and 10 days ago. ;)