1st Birthday Festivities!

Even though his birthday isn't until next Wednesday, today we celebrated Lewis' 1st birthday with the grandparents and uncles. We had a great afternoon of food, fun, CAKE!, and gifts.

The Invite

I snagged the make-the-word-One-out-of-dots inspiration from tinyprints and the dot technique itself from Pinterest. To make the dots, I dipped a pencil eraser onto an ink pad and went to town. And the candles were scrapbooking stickers I found at Michael's.

 The Birthday Boy's Seat

The Pom Poms
Thanks, MacKenzie (for the inspiration) and Martha Stewart (for the tutorial). I hung them from our light fixture so people wouldn't bump their heads on it (like Kevin and I do almost daily). :)

 The Lunch Spread

We had two types of chicken salad sandwiches, fruit, veggies, cheese and crackers, spinach/artichoke dip, and queso.

 The Biggest Hit - Balloons!

 The Birthday Boy with his Grandmas

 The Desserts - White Smash Cake for Lewis and Carrot Cake for the Rest of Us

I'd made a special, wholesome, lower sugar, baby-friendly apple/raisin bread last evening for Lewis--I went to carve it into a '1' this morning and found the center to be raw, so I had to send Kevin to the grocery to pick up a cake mix for a quick change of plans. Unfortunately for him, he was en route to McDonald's to pick up breakfast, so he had to go into the grocery in sweatpants and house shoes and a shoeless baby--thanks, babe!!

 Mamaw and Lewis Pete

 GIVE ME CAKE!

 Ah, the look of Keep the Baby Away from the Flame whilst Keeping the Flame Away from the Helium!

 First Taste of Cake

 Digging In

The Finished Product

He didn't go crazy with it--after a few minutes, he started trying to flip the plate over, which we took as an 'I am done' sign.

Then it was time to open gifts!

Opening a gift from Auntie Em, Joe, and Juniper

(a peek-a-boo book)

And another from his Grandma and Grandpa Thompson 

(a super cool handcrafted wooden dinosaur puzzle)

And Great-Grandma DeeDee

(a set of cars and road construction pieces)

:)

A Growth Chart

This is the gift I made for Lewis--a growth chart that looks like a ruler! I found the tutorial on Pinterest and decided to give it a shot--it was super fun and easy to make. We are going to measure him next Wednesday (his actual birthday) and make it a birthday tradition for him and future sibling(s).

A knife from Uncle Joe

The backstory is that Joe has a bigger version of this same knife. Also, for his first birthday, he received a belt buckle engraved with his initials. :) So very sweet and thoughtful. I tried to get a close-up of the engraving, but my camera isn't a fancy one, so in case you can't read it, it says: Lewis Pete Thompson 2/15/2012. aka The Day Lewis Became Burly. :)


And finally, post-afternoon nap, once all of the guests are gone:

He Partied His Pants Off!

If Lewis could talk, he'd say: What a great day we had! Thanks so much, everyone, for making my day so special!