First Birthday Party Today!

Today we got to have So Much Fun. And we got to experience kid overload and why only a really crazy, crazy person would work in a daycare or preschool. Joaquin's party was at Grandma Pal and Grandpa Tommy's nest. And it was a great, perfect way to start a lifetime of birthday parties.

Let's get this party started. Good Morning to Baby Birdie. It's 8:30am and he's ready to go.




This was the invitation. Oddly enough, we decided to keep running with a bird theme. Come on, it's probably the only party I get to pick the theme for, right!?




And then came the Favor Crew. That's mom, Lisa and Aunt Deb armed with needles and threads and little bits of felt. My contribution was keeping the scraps from the Halloween costume, cutting all the wings and beaks and ... uh ... that's it. Favor Crew did a great job with the finger puppets and the bird seed bags.






Birthday Cake! Baked and decorated by Grandma Pal. Using the flock of birds from the baby shower over a year ago.




Photo Banner of the monthly photos. This was a really easy project. Just print the photos out and tape to the left over invite paper and envelopes. It's already tucked away in his baby book, too.






Just a glimpse of the Kid Chaos.




Marshall stays cool as a cucumber. This party is cake!




Time for Birthday Cake. He was so stinking cute. The video is about a minute long and it's us singing to him while he tentatively poked at the icing. And then after eating like the baby bird he is from Papi and Mami.... he digs in. This stuff IS good.




This is what it looks like when Papi asks for a besito from a baby covered in cake and icing. Uh, yuck.




Hey, Mami! Let's get to work on playing with these bags and stuff, ok?




This rapt attention lasted for this single (first) gift. And then he got bored of it, and the bigger kids realized There Are Presents To Be Opened and Played With Here! Woo Hoo!!






Marshall and McKenna approve McKenna's gift! School buses hardly need to be unboxed to be fun!




Grandma Pal and Marshal and Lisa winding down at the end of the party. Joaquin is . . . fading.




Back home. After a nap in the car, a bath with his toys and in his pajamas. Ready for some milk and bed. Of course, once he was in bed he spent about 40 minutes talking to himself and singing and re-capping the whole day over and over.




What a great party!! Thank you to Mom and Dad and Lisa and Deb for all their help. We couldn't have done it without them.

Finally. Here are some of the professional photos from his One Year birthday shoot. We love them. As usual.