finn turns one

we threw a joint 1st birthday party with neil & jody. we figure these boys are going to be celebrating a lot of their lives together... being only two months apart, so why not start now. it was very entertaining how differently they handled their cakes... you'll see later!

but first i want to say again how GRATEFUL we are for bryan's uncle dennis & aunt teri for letting us have the party at their house. last minute the plans changed & they stepped up & offered/got cornered :) into having it. their house was beautiful & roomy enough to hold most of our loved ones that were able to come. it was quite a large gathering with: the paris', the meyer's, the miller's, the resch's, the bryson's, the lou crew (our highschool group of friends) & a few of my friends from random parts of my life. we originally planned for it to be at a park, but we forgot it's not the desert... and that it rains in kentucky in the spring time. doh. it was going to be so cute. bryan has a life size curious george & we were going to bring that so people would know they had arrived. we were going to have little stuffed animal monkey's on each table... we simplified, but it was still a fabulous party. jodi, grandma dee, nana, great aunt di, aunt melissa made the cupcakes for the guests. they were soooo yummy.

walter took some photos for me, (thank you!!!!!) so i could enjoy the day & here they are:

i spent about 10 hours making this banner. i'd seen in on a blog & loved the idea of replacing those paper/plastic ones with one that will last forever, have meaning & be earth friendly. i love it! & i love my new sewing machine that made the last part fly by :) thanks mom for the mother's day present! i used all scrap material for the banner. the brown canvas is left over from finn's curtains that i made. the letters are t-shirts, blankets & some fabric from my friend jill's scrap box -all sorts of things!
i was pretty persistent about making finn's cake. i used the excuse it was his first birthday, which was totally true, but i'll be making all of his cakes. it's just something i know i'll enjoy doing. i thoroughly enjoy knowing what he's eating is good for him! even cake. this is a vegetable cake & it is damn good. i decorated finn & gabes' with curious george. not bad, huh? i'm especially proud to say that bryan wrote the letters!

the recipe:
half a box of lemon cake mix.
two carrots. (ground/blend all the vegetables)
two celery stalks.
some cabbage.
some radish.
half a zucchini.
two eggs.

bake as the box indicates.

do NOT add water or oil! which makes it even better for you. if you want to add a little bit more sweetness to it you can add pineapple rings to the bottom before you bake it. we went ahead and made the icing ourselves for the boys cake, so we could decorate it, but it's sweet enough that you don't need to.

the lou crew ladies, minus aubrie. tillie, claire (born two days after finn) & ellen!
getting ready to blow out the candle!
finn dug right in. no hesitation. what's so ever.

my angle during the yum yum time.
gabe was precious. one little finger, with just a little taste. then maybe one more. and then maybe one more little taste.
is he really a year? well no, not yet. but really?
& then he decided this was just too slow- so he decided to eliminate the middle man.
we finally took it away from him at some point & this was his reaction. that's how good this cake is!
so, then he saw gabe's & decided to help himself.

thanks to everyone that came!
we really appreciate you helping us celebrate this sweet little boy's first year in this world.
we see that's he's already made quite an impact :)

love megan, bryan & finn!