HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY OLIVER!!!

Oliver was born on a Friday and this year, his birthday (2/10) was also on a Friday.  We had a relaxed day.  After his morning nap we went to Target and he picked out a toy and I realized he needed a balloon for his birthday... we went to the grocery store and were told that he could get a free cake.  So we ended up with the cake above that I'd ordered from a bakery downtown and a free grocery store cake.  

We gave him his first cake that evening after dinner.  He pushed it away and was completely uninterested.    We decided presents would be more fun... we'd gotten him a mini trampoline that came earlier in the week along with a couple other things.  His Aunt B sent him a fun package filled with birthday and Valentine treats so we called her and opened a few gifts. 

We gave him the second cake the following day and he pushed it away too.  Both cakes were really good, the grocery store cake was actually better than the bakery cake, but we like all cake around here.  All in all, his actual birthday was quiet yet still special.  The day before his birthday was a little more 'remember when' for me since I had such a long labor.  

We decided to have his BIG birthday celebration after his birthday and scheduled it for Feb. 18th in North Carolina so all of our family and friends could share with us.  We chose a penguin/polar bear/snow theme since it snowed the night he was born.  A friend recently reminded me that it also snowed the afternoon of my baby shower as guests were leaving... AND yesterday evening snow was predicted (but didn't happen).  Winter/Snow theme just seemed perfect.  I started thinking about it several months ago, end of summer maybe?  So glad I did because I was able to take my time collecting things for the party.

(There was a bubble machine blowing bubbles for snow as guests arrived.)

(Hot chocolate and marshmallow favors for the adults)

 (Polar bears with ice cream shaped bubbles for the dozen babies.)

CAKE!  

...special cake shirt...

(the good news is that he didn't push it away this time...)

(he did however gag a little with his first bite!)

(after a little help things started picking up)

(and there was no stopping him)

(full on smash)

 We had a GREAT time and are SO thankful to all of our family and friends (some who drove almost 8 hours (!) and many who drove one or more hours) for coming and sharing his special day.  I'll post my party thoughts separate.  There was definitely a handful of things I learned :)

(the famous pinterest penguins that we forgot to put on the table.  oops.)

HAPPY, HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY OLIVER!!!

XOXOXOXO