Declan's First Party!

 (I just had the realization, that this post was left as a draft since December! AH, well, here is Declan's first birthday party!)


 Declan Brett had his very first birthday party last weekend (in November)!!  It was so so much fun for our precious little guy. It was such a perfect day. 

We had his party a little early (he turns one on December 2), because of the craziness of the season.  We wanted to dedicate a whole weekend just to him, not to crowd up Thanksgiving weekend or anything.  So this worked perfectly.  We had him a Winter ONEderland party! :)

 

 Declan is 24 pounds, 31 inches long, and has 7 teeth!  The basket is the favors, it says, "Declan loves to cuddle!  Please take home a snuggly and keep them warm this winter." (Remember this basket of snugglies...it will return later!)

Papa showed Declan around the room while the rest of us set up like crazy!  We had the party at the clubhouse in our community, and there was a wonderful amount of space to spread out and for the kiddos to run around. 

Funny story about the party room.  I reserved the room in like, September.  I wanted to make sure that we had the room for our date, so I was nice and early.  We show up that day, and the security officer says, "So there is a yoga class going on in there..but they know you are coming,'s and the room is yours! Go on in!"

....Hm. That's funny. Surely they must be ending soon.  Yes, that's it, they are finishing up.  We reserved the room for 2 hours prior to the party starting for set-up, and then 2 hours after for clean-up. So we went in and quietly started setting up what we could without making noise, waiting for them to finish.  And, being a yogi myself, I quickly realized they were not nearing the end of their practice. I also realized that my party was never going to get set up if I waited for them to finish.  I also knew that yogis were supposed to find peace and balance no matter their surroundings, so off we went.  My food table needed to be set up right in front of where they were, so I set up.  I was as quiet as I could be, with my balloons and table clothes and three children under 4 years old. And the instructor kept telling everyone to "block out all the distractions" and literally never acknowledged me directly until after they rolled up their mats.  By the time they finished the room was pretty much set up, they said Namaste, I politely told her sorry-not-sorry because I reserved the room months ago and she must have ignored that paper, and we were on our way!

 The Birthday Boy got his own sign for him to grow with!

 The brunch table. :)

A peek at some of our snowy  snacks...

 Cheesy Frosty, which one of the girls cousins was calling, "The Olaf Cake", and she kept eating even though she didn't like cream cheese because she thought it was Olaf. Haha!

 Snowman Snacks, aka Puppy Chow, which Reagan posted up next to pretty quickly. :)

 New York bagels - YUM.

 Snowballs! (aka powdered munchkins, aka The Currency of Toddlers)

 Winter fruit salad and granola. 

 I used a snowflake that I made a few years ago to display his monthly pictures.  My cutie patootie!

 While we were setting up, this little angel passed out on Papa's shoulder!  AHH the cuteness of him!  The birthday parties are always so exhausting for the guest of honor. :)

 Mima manned the kitchen during set up, as usual!  This lady is my idol in the kitchen (and out)!

 Balloons are a toddler's best friend!

 The big sisters of the boy were so excited!

 Mama and Dada, so excited to celebrate our boy.

And the, this was still happening out in the lobby. :)  It's tiring being the star of the day!

Mimi and her mini me.  I swear the blue eyed blondie is my baby! ;)

Our birthday boy woke up!  He was ready to party!

Give the girls a craft, and they suddenly get very quiet! I love creative concentration.  They made foam snowmen, and decorated snow flakes.

Mini cupcakes for my mini man, and one big one in the middle!

I made snowmen and snowflake sugar cookies, and then put them on this tray and most of the snowmen's heads snapped off.  Ha. But they still tasted delish!

This face melts my heart!

All of these cute kiddies just stood there like angels, not touching a single dessert until after we sang!  I was impressed, I have to say. (They must have awesome parents!)

Singing to our boy!

"Why are they holding fire near my face? What is this custom? Am I doing it right?"

"WAIT I GET TO HAVE SUGAR? I HAVE BEEN WAITING MY WHOLE LIFE FOR THIS!"

The cake shove. :)

All of my love.

This is me explaining that Declan did not understand what the cupcakes was, and kept "latching on" to the top of the cupcake as if it were a breast, and sucking on the icing.  It was probably the best thing I had ever seen. My little baby.

One of my all time favorite pictures..his first Ritz cracker!

Reagan, my other little infant baby, fell asleep in the stroller with the basket of stuffed animals in her lap.  This girl loves her sleep, like her mama.

Celebrating this little angel boy was just the funnest, and we are so grateful to everyone who loves him and our family, for coming to celebrate with us.  Our little prince is one, and what a special day it was.