Our sweet little guy turned one this spring and I cannot even believe it! The year flew by, as they always do with little ones. But what a special wonderful first year we have had with our little man. He brings us so much joy with his sweet smiles, chill temperament, and more recently his mischievous curiosity! Let's just say he is getting in to all the things while wearing the biggest smile!
It was so fun to celebrate this milestone birthday. Third kid around I am sticking to my favorite go-to's and trying to not talk myself into too much more! This included one pretty cake photo backdrop, photos from the last year on display, and plenty of balloons!
It was a happy day for us all - especially the big kids. They loved celebrating their little brother and trying out all his new toys!
Here are some photos from our day.
See through balloons were quite a hit!
My kids are all at an age where the balloons are always a highlight for the day. So easy, simple, and entertaining.
I love going through our year of photos to print for first birthdays. I end up using some of them in the baby book, around the house as decoration, and then I let my mom have the rest. She is always so happy to go home with a stack of photos of grandbaby cuteness!
The weather was great that day which allowed for plenty of photos outdoors and some lingering as the birthday boy devoured his cake!
I always make a "healthy" first birthday smash cake. So far two out of three children have loved it! It is a simple banana and applesauce cake with cream cheese for the frosting.
We ended our celebration with gifts and more play time. Such a sweet and happy day for us all!
Our current pandemic/move to Washington ritual has become that we usually celebrate the kids with a party the weekend before their birthday and my parents drive up to join us. Then on their actual birthday, I keep some of the decorations up, we save one gift from us to open, and then share a celebratory dinner.
We regifted this play piano we bought for our oldest on his first birthday. I had my mom store it for awhile (it was getting loud and used as a ladder to the couch for awhile!). So our little guy had not seen it yet. He has been thoroughly enjoying it and it was nice to give him something fun and special without buying more toys. It worked out so great that instead of just storing toys for him, I am intentionally putting aside some of the special ones to save for Christmas!
Plus everyone is a little more excited to see toys we haven't had around for awhile.
Pancakes or waffles also seems to always be a hit for first birthday dinner. Everyone happily ate as we celebrated our special boy!
