Let's get ready to party!

Isaac's big DIY Teddy Bear themed birthday party was the Sunday after his birthday.  We had a lot to do to get the house ready for all of Isaac's guests.  While Mommy spent all of Friday afternoon and evening in the kitchen baking, Isaac helped out by playing with measuring cups and his new turtle drum.

showing off his new big boy bib

He also occupied himself by knocking over and climbing on top of the big pack of Costco toilet paper, and he somehow managed not to injure himself. 

trying to figure out this whole balloon thing

On Saturday, Isaac spent the day with Mommom and CharliePop so Mommy and Daddy could have some uninterrupted time to clean house and prepare the food. We got a lot done including things that weren't even on the list, like wash the dogs and give them haircuts. Isaac came home just in time for dinner and bed.

Isaac's first outfit of the day, courtesy of Daddy. Halloween in March and way-too-skinny jeans

Now we're ready for Isaac's very 1st birthday party.  We can BEAR-ly contain our excitement!


Here is Isaac's healthy teddy bear smash cake.  The cake was an experimental concoction of banana and apple sauce and other basic cake ingredients. The icing was cream cheese, butter, vanilla and agave. Blueberries for the face, and vanilla wafers for the ears.

For the guests, brownie cupcakes with a Reese's peanut butter cup filling and peanut butter buttercream frosting...all made from scratch.  Some cupcakes were decorated to look like bear paws, and others had icing piped on to resemble teddy bear fur like Isaac's cake. Both versions were pretty rich and delicious!

 

Other bear themed party food (not shown is the honey bear bread):

a beary spin on the peanut butter cheeseball

 

strategically placed corny bear jokes

 And other party decorations:

burlap birthday banner which will hopefully last for many birthdays to come

"1" year of Instagram pictures

Goldfish "Catch of the Day" guessing game

We repurposed Isaac's Baptism Prayer Tree into a Memory Tree, with the memories being added to his Birthday Time Capsule

Teddy bear friends old and new came to celebrate

Happy 1st Birthday, Isaac!

Our Sweet Sir Isaac is 1 year old today! Seriously, where did the time go? What a great year it has been and what a special day we had celebrating our sweet little peanut.

Isaac slept through the night until 6:30am! What a great start to the year! When he woke up we sang him Happy Birthday and then nursed and cuddled in bed for a bit. Then it was downstairs for a beary special breakfast of teddy bear toast with Isaac's first taste of nut butter (almond).  We sang Happy Birthday again and Isaac enjoyed his breakfast.

breakfast fit for a king...or a lord! (sir)

After playing for a bit we headed to the library for Babies in Bloom where he had more Happy Birthday singing and lots of fun chasing after beach balls, trying to catch bubbles, and playing with the other babies. Isaac even crawled up to another little girl (17 months) and tried to give her a kiss.  We've really got to keep an eye on this one!  Mommy didn't get ANY pictures while we were there because of Isaac's constant movement (her camera was probably relieved to have a break).  After that we came home and Isaac took a nice long morning nap.

After nap time, Mommom Patti came for a visit and to sing Happy Birthday again and watch Isaac enjoy his special birthday cupcake.  It was a special healthy recipe just for Isaac with no refined sugars or processed ingredients.  The single cupcake recipe came from Mommy's favorite healthy sweets blogger, Chocolate Covered Katie and the icing was just cream cheese and butter sweetened with a touch of agave.  Isaac enjoyed it and slurped down the whole thing! (I didn't realize it was possible to "slurp" a cupcake until seeing Isaac do it.)  He did drop it icing-side-first into his lap which made a huge mess, but after that he didn't let go until the whole thing was gone.


If this series of pictures is quite enough footage to capture the moment for you, here is a VIDEO!

the aftermath

Opening some presents and pictures with Mommom:

He was so happy to see Mommom and gave her lots of kisses

Now that he's a toddler it's time to figure out the baby gate

Isaac was quite uncooperative once we went outside for some pictures...

After Mommom left we went outside for some more pictures where Mommy exhausted herself trying to get this O-N-E photo series. Phew!

Then CharliePop came by for a visit (and we sang Happy Birthday yet again!) and Isaac was very happy to see him and quite interested in what he had to say.

Isaac's diaper unknowingly leaked on CharliePop. Of course he had to call Mommom Patti and tell her all about it.

After his afternoon nap, Isaac played with his birthday balloon for a bit and then we went out to dinner to celebrate at Delmarva Southern Cafe with CharliePop.

 

CharliePop was in charge of making sure Isaac didn't fall asleep on the ride home

Then when we got home, Isaac quickly opened his presents from Mommy and Daddy. He seemed to be really interested in his water table and can't wait to try out all of his new bath toys tomorrow night! 

4 outfits and 373 pictures...what a busy and exciting day! Happy 1st Birthday Isaac! We love you SO much!!!