The First Birthday--the party

Being the crazy mama that I am, I planned two parties. Friday night, on G's actual birthday, we had a potluck cookout with our small group friends, namely G's little baby buddies. Four of us in the group had babies last summer and G kicked off the birthday bashes. EL is next, followed by EH, and J rounds us out. So fun that the babies even have friends!

Anyway, Friday was the friend party and Saturday was a cookout with the extended family. We had a great time. Saturday was just too hot, so after we ate and G smashed his cake, we moved everything indoors. Oh, and it was so hot that the balloon arch wilted away one popped balloon at a time. When it's hot enough to pop balloons, it's time to come in.

First, the friends:
The grown-ups had fun eating and talking and playing some games.

Then it was the kids' turn to have fun.

The only little lady.

My kid is so much like his father. He hardly got messy. He's such a "clean" eater--no face plants, no hair smearing--just fingers to mouth. We finally took it away when he just started clearing off the tray using his sweeper move. When he's done with something, he wants the mess gone!

This was our valiant attempt to get all the babies to look at the same time.

and they're out...

Finally G and his buddy J made a run for it. 

Then the family:
This party was in the middle of the day. The set-up was the same, the food was basically the same except  my mom and I made it all (burgers, potato salad, ramen noodle cabbage salad, baked beans, watermelon, strawberry lemonade), the cake was the same. It was just a lot hotter and there were more people. Still lots of fun, but G was pretty partied out by the end of the day.

I'm telling you, the kid is a "clean" eater. Cake destroyed, no mess on little man. No post-cake bath for this boy. Just a little rinse off in the baby pool and we were good to go. He definitely played more and ate less the second time around. That's ok. He doesn't need the sugar or the excessive amounts of food coloring anyway.

By the time we got to presents G was starting to run out of steam.

G's last present was a wagon. Who can resist two little boys in a wagon? But G was done. It was naptime. And his cousin J thought it was super fun to grab the sides and rock the whole thing back and forth. G was not down with that action.

"Hey man, quit rockin' the boat!"

All in all it was great birthday. I can't believe my baby is a year old!