Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Birthday Boy

Anthony is begging me to post some pictures of Lincoln's birthday party. I'm not quite ready to blog that, but here are some pics from our VERY fun day! More dialogue to come soon...

I have to say we had a most excellent day!! Anthony and I both took the day off on Friday to get some things done around the house. I needed to clean and Anthony did yard work and such. It turned out to be beautiful and Lincoln just played while we got many things accomplished. My house is clean in ways it hasn't been clean since we moved in! It felt good! Problem is, once the party was over it needed to be cleaned all over again! Whew!!


Our awesome cake!! It was made by Alex Bell from Morganton, NC. She is the sister-in-law to one of our baby friends, Gina Bell. Check out her website if you're in the area. She can do just about anything and it's delicious! So much more fun that just a flat sheet cake!
Anyway...the top of the cake was Lincoln's smash cake! Imagine black icing flying everywhere!! The bottom tier is white cake with butter cream icing and filling. The middle tier is red velvet cake with cream cheese filling and butter cream icing. Lincoln's cake is also white cake. The feet were made with molded rice krispy treats! And they were yummmmmy! 

On party day Lincoln was in an excellent mood. He had taken his nap like a very good boy and since the party was later in the day, at 4 pm, he was happy and we were able to finish up some last minute details. We cooked burgers and dogs for about 40 people. Almost everyone we invited showed up and we had a lot of fun. We had the party outside and on the deck. The house is certainly not large enough to hold all those people! The kids had fun playing outside with the basketball goals and swinging. We had set up the Corn Hole sets and my Poppy and Anthony's dad played horseshoes. The kids seemed to get along well. Anthony manned the grill while Mom and Erin and I worked on the finer details. We served baked beans, slaw, chili, seven layer salad, chips, and all the regular cook-out type fixings. It was all very tasty. The wind was VERY strong so we floated up and down the stairs and in and out of the house. It was warm, but the wind was really whipping. 



This is our big one year old!! His shirt is so precious. I ordered it from etsy.com. If you haven't been there to look around I highly recommend. Although I should warn you, it's highly addictive!! This is really the only picture I got of him wearing his shirt, so I shall have to put it back on and take more pictures later! Surely a week or two won't matter until I get time to take some One Year pictures. :) This is Lincoln talking on his very own cell phone. It beeps and plays music and even rings when you flip it closed. He got it for Christmas, but has just now really started enjoying it. 

I think this is the sweetest picture! I put Lincoln in his own Mickey Mouse ears from Disney World before we smashed the cake! They match! I didn't leave them on while he smashed...too afraid they'd end up dirty! 



He was fabulous at destroying it! The ears were the first things to go. Then he tore into it! He didn't care so much about eating it but he sure did make a mess! We made him taste it, note the black lipstick in the picture!! He was just more interested in squeezing it and tossing it around! Super cute!! Everyone got a good laugh.


This is as close as we came to a family picture that day! For some reason we didn't think to have someone take a photo. Inexcusable! We took some nice pictures Sunday after church with Erin, so I'll post those soon. We needed a record of our sweet baby turning one! Anthony handled the mess well. In fact, We kind of just got him out of the high chair and Anthony took him inside and cleaned him up. I was impressed! I was so afraid the icing would stain his shirt, but it came out super easily so now we can wear it all summer!

After this we promptly cut up the rest of the cake and enjoyed it's deliciousness! It is really very good cake! The kids played, the adults talked...you know how these things work! We opened presents shortly after this as well...though I can't really say that Lincoln opened them. He sat with me for about 3 minutes and then ran away! I have to admit that it was a bit overwhelming to open presents with so many kids around. That was the only part of the day when I was truly stressed out. Elise, Benjamin, Faith, Corbin, Aydan, and Zane were all right there ready to help open. Lincoln wasn't interested so I guess they just thought they could open them all for him! Anyway...we lived through it.

Lincoln got some of THE cutest clothes! The boy truly needs nothing, but he received some very thoughtful summer clothes. We got several outfits he can wear to church, and lots of summertime play time fun clothes. Both VERY nice! We hadn't been shopping for summer yet. Score! He also received a sprinkler toy, a play tent with a tunnel, a shape sorter, and several balls...always a favorite. Our friend Jessica and Baby Avah bought him a training potty (sooo not ready for that!) and his biggest gift was from Nana and Papaw. They got him a lifetime hunting and fishing license. Now he'll never have to worry about making sure he has a license to fish every year! What a thoughtful gift! It'll come in handy sooner than we think! *Addition to original post. Lincoln's very close friend and buddy, Ian, gave him his most favoritest present of all! A talking pot of vegetables called Potsy. See, Ian has one of these toys and Lincoln played with it at his house. Ian noticed that Lincoln really seemed to enjoy this talking, singing pot so he very thoughtfully gifted him one for his birthday. It is truly the hit of the house! He pushes it around with him up and down the hallway from the living room to the bedroom. He stirs it with everything and anything handy. He throws the vegetables around the house then drops them back in the pot to hear him sing "Closed!" when he puts the lid on the pot. We highly recommend Potsy to all of our baby friends and Lincoln gives his most sincere thanks to Ian...and his mommy! :)*

Overall I'd say our day was fantastic. We spent it with our truest friends and family. It was great to chat and hang out and just be together. Everyone played nicely together, and all were well behaved. I love having people at the house and it's even nicer when you get to mix in cake! Lincoln is a wonderful boy. He's happy...almost all the time. He doesn't fuss much, he's funny, he's playful, he's precious. It's so hard to remember what life was like without him. It seems like we're always busy with something else to do. What did we do with all of our time before he came along?! He's really developing his personality. He laughs and giggles...chases the puppy...and Anthony's favorite new development: Lincoln runs away (crawls away) when Anthony tries to get him. He turns around and just cackles. Anthony thinks it's the best thing ever! I have to agree it's pretty sweet to watch!

He loves to read, he LOVES to take a bath, and he loves his puppy. He'd rather be outside on the deck than anywhere else, except maybe the bathtub, and he'd stay out there all afternoon and evening if we'd let him. I'm sure that will be a very popular place this summer. He's really picking up on the sign language. He signs "more" consistently and we're working on "eat" and "cup". He still dances every time he hears music. It doesn't matter if it's just the cell phone ringing or a commercial on tv, he's going to wiggle! He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Jennifer Hudson Weight Watcher commercials. He is taking 10-12 steps at a time from place to place. He is wearing 12 month clothes, but we're moving into 18 months. He's soo tall! He wears a size 4 shoe!! Talk about big feet. He sleeps through the night most nights, and if he doesn't he's not up for long. He still loves to stay with Denise. They have a special relationship and I think her kids see him as an adopted little brother! It's just precious to see them together.

This little boy has changed our life in so many ways. All of them are so special. God has truly blessed our family with this gift. He is the moon and the stars...and I love him all the way to the moon.....and back.