Joseph's First Birthday

Joseph turned ONE (!!!) last month. Yes, I realize this post is super tardy, but it took a while to get the pictures and then other stuff happened and yadda yadda yadda. I'll stop making excuses now.

Joseph's birthday was tons of fun. We are so fortunate that many of our family members were able to come into town to help us celebrate. It was so nice to be able to share the weekend with them, and I was delighted that Joseph was able to spend some extra time with family that he doesn't see very often. 

The general theme for the party was initially basketball then sort of morphed into a blue/orange/ polkadot/basketball party - all of which are awesome. I used the same format for the day of the party that my sister used for my neice, Clare's, 1st birthday. I especially liked that it allotted special time for family to celebrate before the chaos of the big birthday party. The day of the party format was: lunch and presents with family starting at noon then a cake party with both friends and family starting at 2.

I am so grateful to my family for their help with setting up. I had so many big plans and got waaaay behind. For some reason I thought I could do everything on my own - what was I thinking? Thankfully they were able to help me pull everything together and the party went really well. 

I "made" Joseph's basketball shirt for the party a few days ahead of time by painting his name and the number 1 on the back so it looked like a basketball jersey (sort of). The front already had a basketball on it. I tried to make his cake match his shirt, but I'm not sure how well I accomplished this goal. You be the judge (it was the first time I attempted to ice a cake....after my first disastrous attempt earlier in the day....so maybe you can cut me some slack).

Joseph didn't have too much interest in opening presents (sadly), but he did do a little. Tearing paper he understood and enjoyed fairly well, but pulling tissue paper out of a bag he didn't understand quite as much. He got lots of neat books and really enjoyed looking through them. About halfway through opening his presents he got tired and ended up having to go down for a nap.

(yes, I realize the 1 is crazy crooked)

After his little nap, Joseph geared up for the rambunctious part of the day.

The balloons were a huge hit. I didn't actually mean for them to be entertainment, but I think I'll just fill a room with balloons next year and call it a day. The kids went crazy over them!

After playing for a while it was time for some cake. I made a little basketball cake for Joseph while the big basketball jersey cake was for everyone else.

We gathered everyone in the kitchen, put Joseph in his high chair and everyone began to sing. I was surprised when Joseph nearly cried. He looked absolutely terrified. He's usually a little ham - always looking for attention from complete strangers. I think he was just shocked by everyone singing together and looking at him all at once??? Anyway, he survived.

It took some time, but he eventually ate his cake - and loved it!

After getting all sugared up the kids played a little more then everyone headed home. The family then spent some more time hanging out.

Notice the birthday banner - that I made with the help of my
sisters - at the top. This is the only picture I have of it.

We finished the weekend with a "photo shoot" of Joseph and Clare.