HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY ETHAN!!

Mommy and Ethan

Ok sing with me - Happy Birthday to you... Happy Birthday to you.. Happy Birthday Dear E-THAN... Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuu!!!! :-)  WOW! I can't believe a year has already gone by and my little man is a whole 1 year old!  What a difference a year makes, huh?  I know I know, I didn't blog as much as I had planned and you are probably thinking - yeah, the last time we saw him, he was 5 month old?  Not much of a "chronicle" huh? LOL.  Well I'll make this one of my New Year's Do Betters (no more resolving - just do better!! LOL) and get on the stick of blogging more. I don't want him to be in college and this have been your last image of him.  Yes, I'll do better.
So while today is Ethan's official birthday, we did start the celebration a little bit early and had a small little something on yesterday (Sunday).  While I was positive I wasn't going to pull out all the stops for his 1st (he won't remember a thing anyway, and I wasn't going to stress out over it), I was going to make sure that there was some type of celebration!  I come from a family that loves to party. Ask any one of us and ask anyone who know us.  We always celebrate the Big birthdays by having big parties. And if you know even a little bit about me you know I LOVE birthdays!!!  So I was surely going to celebrate in some way.  Now once he starts to understand what is happening, we are going to PARRRRRTAY!!:-)   But in the meantime, I did a few things to commemorate the occasion and to make sure I took pictures for keepsakes. 

Since I wasn't doing a BIG celebration, I thought I would use this time to channel my inner Betty Crocker. Believe it or not, I made his cake. :-) Ok,  no it wasn't from scratch and my inner Betty was literally a Betty Crocker box cake, but I made it none the less.  I tried my hand at some decorating skills and I must say, it turned out pretty well

Fresh from the oven

Finished Product

I added a few more touches of decoration, invited a few family members and close friends over and we were ready for a good time celebrating Ethan! 

Daddy and Ethan (pre-party)

Table Cloth

Decorations (I think Ethan was helping too - LOL)

Why are these people looking at me?

It was a great party and we had a wonderful time.  Ethan had no clue what was going on. He just stared at everyone.  He didn't slam his hand into the cake as we had planned. We had to help him even put his hands on it and put it to his mouth. You can tell by the picture that he was even unmoved by that. LOL. But he soon got the hang of it and even did a "yum" sound when he was eating it. - That was just for me I think. And yes he did say "yum" or "ooh" or something - I have it on tape.. :-)

Thanks for the memory Dad.

All in all it was a great day! I must admit, the day was also emotional.  I couldn't help but to think about my dad pretty much all day. I know if he had been living, he would have moved heaven and earth to be there.  Even if he couldn't make it, I imagined calling to let him know that I had made the cake.  He probably would have said I should have done it from scratch but he would have been proud all the same.  I got a little teary-eyed even making it.  Fond memories of my dad in the kitchen making his famous pound cake came flooding back as I was blending my own cake. My sisters and I would anxiously await his finish so we could have a field day licking the mixing bowl, spoons and blender utensils.  I had to take a moment when I was done blending to take a snapshot - He would have been so proud.





What a blessing this first year has been! I am so so so very thankful to have this little boy in my life.  Some say that now he's a toddler.  I guess. I don't know if I'm ready for the T-word. I can already see it though.  He's gotten so big and long.  Tomorrow will only solidify that as it will be another major milestone - the HAIRCUT.  I'll post again tomorrow to let you know how that went as well as put up a picture. He's going to look so different and I'm going to miss that wild hair.  Well HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN!  Year TWO.... Here we come.......

Until next time...
Marcia