Monster's First Birthday Party!

Can I just say WOW!? We had a great turnout to Monster's birthday party. I even impressed myself with how nice the decorations, food, and cupcakes looked. I spent days ahead of time worrying that x, y, or z, won't turn out right, etc. But all those worries were useless! We had way more than enough food. And I was even told that it looked like we had it catered, because it was such a nice spread of food. That made Ben feel good, since he purchased & prepped all the fruits & veggies. Go daddy!!

Well, how about some pictures?

Welcome sign on the door -

And on the front table, we had the book I made for him on Shutterfly. The guests were encouraged to look at it, and sign on the back page, like a guestbook!

  

Here's what the back pages looked like afterward - 

Here's a view of the whole room.

 
Detail of the table centerpieces:

 On the right wall, I had his monthly progression pictures displayed. 2 weeks - 12 months.

And the gift table in one corner... look at all those monster gift bags! Yay for the Dollar Tree!

 Birthday banner along back wall:

 

And in the other corner.... monster cupcakes!

 

 Monster cupcake close-ups:
Furball monsters...

and string monsters!

Monster's 8-yr old cousin Autum helped make them - she stuck all the eyes on! Great job Autum!

Food tables

 

And drinks in this corner -

 See the little monster labels on the water bottles? And then we had little flavor mix-ins for the water bottles :)

  And here was the seat of honor!

 So, the party started at 2, and we started getting a steady stream of guests around 1:45. People kept coming until about 2:30 - we ended up with about 45 people there! Monster is sure one loved little boy!  Of all the guests that showed up, one was a very special surprise - my best friend Katie, who moved to Montana for college 6 years ago, came to the party! She flew in from Montana, and I didn't even know she was coming! It was so nice to see her, and I'm glad she was able to be here for such a big event in Monster's life!
We got a pic together...but not on my camera. :( Oops!

Some guests...

And this is Monster with his Omie & Papa (my grandparents). This was my grandpa's first time getting out of the house for something other than a Dr visit since his lung surgery to remove the cancer! Doesn't he look great!

Notice Monster's awesome Monster shirt! This was given to him at Christmas from an exchange with one of the ladies in my online mommy group. She made it just for him - and it was perfect for his Little Monster birthday party!

So, after a bit of snacking & chatting, it was time for the cupcakes!
I took a video of Monster eating his first cupcake...but it's too large to upload to Blogger. :(

It was cute though. At first he grabbed the frosting... and kept grabbing handfuls of frosting and licking it off his fingers. Then when the frosting was gone, he discovered the cupake, and went for the cake part. Everybody cheered & clapped - so he clapped too. Then we all laughed. So he clapped again. And we all clapped and laughed. Repeat about 4 or 5 times, lol. And then he just went on eating his cupcake!


So these pictures will have to do. I think he liked it! YUM!

But when it was gone...  Not happy! (Yes that is frosting all in his hair)

Then it was on to opening presents... Monster liked playing with the wrapping paper the most. :)

(note the messy hair of a post-cupcake Monster)

We were incredibly blessed with lots of toys, clothes, shoes, and more from everybody! The biggest present he received was from Grammie & Grandpa (my parents)- they got him a sand & water table to play with outside this summer!
He also got lots of music/noise makers, because he love love LOVES to make noise. Grandma & Grandpa (Ben's parents) got him a tambourine, bells, and a really cool "Twirly Whirly" - it makes noise. :)

He also got a little drum from Aunt Alethea, Uncle Chris, and cousin Autum!

And one of those bead slider things that they have in Dr offices!

 

And Grandma & Grandpa GG (his great-grandparents on my step-dad's side) got him this thing - it's a rider/walker hippo that "Eats" these little blocks of food as you push it... pretty neat!

Oh, he also got a few pairs of "big boy jammies" - You know, the shirt + pants kind, instead of zip-up footies. He's growing up!

 And I don't know why we don't have a photo - but who remembers those Bubble Mowers? You know, the little plastic lawn mower that blows bubbles? Guess what? They still make them, and Monster was given one for his birthday! He's going to love that this summer!

So that was about it for the party.... by the end of it we were completely exhausted, and feeling very loved & blessed. Thanks for everyone who showed up! We also have lots of food left over - we're gonna be eating fruits & veggies over the next week or two! :)

I'll leave you with this picture. It's not a very good one. It's blurry & the flash is too bright -but it's the only one we got of the 3 of us with my camera! I hope somebody else who took this photo got a better shot! Maybe they can email it to me sometime, lol. But - it's the 3 of us!

Have a great week!