Turning ONE, Pancakes & Pajamas!

We had such a wonderful time celebrating E's first birthday!  I could go on and on about how I cannot believe he's a year old - because I REALLY cannot believe it's been an entire year!  But I'll stick to documenting how we celebrated the fastest, best, busiest, most wonderful year of my entire life!

On his actual birthday, we opted to spend the day just the four of us, knowing we'd be having a big party with family and friends over the weekend.  As is tradition, the birthday boy had a present on his bed (or rocking chair, in this case) when he woke up in the morning.  CK was insistent on buying him a gift just from her and making that the present on his bed... She picked out a green ball from the grocery store and helped me wrap it. :)  He loved it!

We had lots of snuggles, all day long, from this sweet, sweet boy...

He then opened up a couple more presents before Daddy had to head to work for a few hours!

All day long we spoiled him with firsts and favorites - his first cinnamon roll (with sprinkles!  a birthday tradition!!), and lots of cheese puffs, his favorite!

And then, we braved Chuck-E-Cheese's.  I brainstormed all week about what would make for a  fun family outing, and also something we could squeeze in before CK's preschool Open House.  And honestly, we had the BEST time!

Then it was home for cupcakes and more presents.  His very FIRST cupcake, to be more precise.  And y'all?  He was completely indifferent!! 

And now, on to the partay!  Everette has always loved breakfast foods, and who doesn't love pajamas?!  So after perusing the internet, I decided a couple months ago to do a Pancakes & Pajamas birthday party!  I collaborated with Amy from One Good Name for the invitations and all printables/signage, and you guys?  She is AMAZING!  I was obsessed with everything, especially the invitation (which she coordinated to match the pajamas I bought for E).  Here is the front of the invite:

 And the back:

And here is the food/decor:

My favorite little touch, "bacon and eggs" ~ which was melted white chocolate, a yellow M&M, and two pretzel sticks!

The smash cake, made by my mother-in-law, looked like a donut!

We had juice and mimosas, chocolate milk, water, and coffee...

Activities for the kids since I knew we'd have some older ones in attendance:

And the favors, "donut seeds," aka Cheerios.  Just add milk!

I had originally hoped we could all find matching pajamas, but after searching and searching I gave up.  So this is the best we could do!

Busted!

I had planned to have a large portion of the party on our back deck and in the backyard; however, mother nature was not cooperating!  So we improvised with a bounce house in the garage and a very crowded living room!

Just a few of the "Bunco babies"!!

We were able to herd the cats and snap a pic of most of the kids who came, though we were missing a few!!

I was absolutely SHOCKED when E's G Gram, my ninety-one-year-old grandmother, showed up as a surprise!  So, so special.

And we were so excited to have all of the grandparents in attendance, and T's sister and her family!

Ready for his smash cake!!

He got SO excited when everyone started singing "Happy Birthday!"  He started clapping his hands and got the sweetest look on his face...

And then, the pictures stop for a minute, because this little buster was so interested in the flame that before we knew it he reached out and put out the candle with his tiny little fingers.  OUCH!  Poor little guy needed some time to recover, had a blister on his finger, and wanted nothing to do with his cake after that.  Ha!  Thankfully Uncle Cory cheered him up:

And a trip to the bounce house erased all memory of his first kleptomaniac experience!

We really and truly had such a great time celebrating Everette.  Yesterday I was definitely humbled as I looked around our chaotic, crowded, happy house full of so many people who mean so much to us.  From the moment our journey of trying to grow our family began, the unconditional love and support from our family and friends got us through some pretty tough times.  And with all my heart I believe that it took a village to get this little boy here... so thank you, all of you, for being part of our village, for being there every step of the way, for your love and prayers and support, and for helping us celebrate an entire year of our precious little buddy!