Anyone who has ever visited me when I'm not having a special event at my house, like a birthday party, knows that I do not keep a clean house. The big problem is clutter - Steve & I are both pack rats so rather than actually throw stuff away, we let it pile up, on every surface so that things that should go on a shelf, end up in the floor because the shelf is full of crap. For Ethan's birthday, we cleaned the house - downstairs - as it was summer and a lot of people stayed outside; we had had pool stuff for the kids and sprinkler and sort of made it an outside event. The upstairs, however, remained very cluttered. For Alex's birthday, it's November - outside is not an option. So we had to clean a bit better to ensure the kids could play upstairs to give more space. I won't say that the place was spotless because I'm sure by other people's standards, it wasn't. By my standards - the place finally looked great. Now, if we can keep it that way - and finally start throwing stuff away instead of accumulating, that is the goal.
House was fully clean by noon Sunday (party @ 2:30), we put the boys down for a nap and I took a shower so I could go get the cake. Alex is interested in one thing (other than Ethan) and that is balls of any kind. I think I've mentioned this before but I don't think I can say it enough to give you the full picture of his like for balls. So his party theme? Balls - sports - football, baseball, soccer, basketball. We had seen a few months ago at Kroger a cake that had a huge dome in the center which we went in for a closer look at. Turns out the dome was a basketball so we talked to them and they have several different kinds of balls and yes, they could put a big ball in the center and then smaller balls around and mix and match them. I ordered his cake Friday night (I meant to go sooner but just didn't get there). They had a big football (we have more footballs than any other ball so he carries them around frequently and maybe it's just because it's what we have most of, or maybe it's because I, myself, am partial to football, but I think footballs are his favorite) - perfect - but only had footballs & baseballs to put around the edge as they were out of stock of the rest. No biggie - I ordered that combo with blue as the highlight icing...chocolate cake, of course; it wouldn't be a first birthday without chocolate cake. I picked up the cake and honestly, it was the cutest thing ever - it was perfect! Home with the cake to start fixing finger foods and get this show on the road.
I got home about 1:30 and started getting the fruit & veggie trays set up and then started on the mini-pigs-in-a-blanket. At 2:00, Steve, who was upstairs having finished cleaning that bathroom as I went to the store, got Alex up from his nap, bathed and dressed. Now that the kitchen was spotless, down to a mopped floor and bunny rabbit cage cleaned up, he brought Alex down to me and Alex could roam freely between the living room and kitchen which he thoroughly enjoyed. There was a gate at the bottom of the steps so he couldn't go up and there's usually a gate blocking him from the kitchen and the bathroom door shut so he's limited as to where he can go. The bathroom door was still shut and the stairs, as I said, but otherwise, for the first five minutes, he just walked back and forth deciding what to do first. I continued working on appetizers and getting everything ready and was wearing my bunny rabbit slippers....time to put a tray in the oven, I check to see where Alex is exactly as I know he was right beside me....what's he doing? He's sitting on the floor right beside me petting my slippers. I tried to get him to move but he was having no part of it. I took off the slippers, kicked them across the floor and he went right after them and sat across the floor petting the slippers. Really, quite funny but it made opening the oven possible :)
Steve had gone back upstairs to get his shower and get Ethan up for his bath and they both came down right as the first guests were arriving. The cousins arrived soon thereafter and the funny commenced. Food was ready, my dad brought the drinks so everyone started to dig in. Jackson (cousin #1) said he wasn't hungry and as he left the kitchen, he caught sight of a blackberry on someone's plate and came to me saying, "did I see a blackberry?" I told him, yes, there were blackberries; he replied something to the effect of, "well maybe I'll just eat a little bit of something." He "thought" he wasn't hungry because he's a pretty picky eater; he just didn't realize, Aunt Tara knows that he likes fruit and was accommodating on that front.
At cake time, we sang to both Alex & Steve (who's birthday is next Thursday - a week after Alex's - and who had a yellow cake with strawberry icing, that's right folks, a pink cake for Daddy). Then Steve pulled Alex's cake up close to him and tried to convince him to dig in (Ethan tried to help also, sticking his finger in but I told him to wait, much to his chigrin). Alex took a couple of good swipes and I got a knife and held his arms while I cut out a big piece for him. With Alex's piece of cake on his tray, I started serving others with Megan's help on ice cream while Alex dug into his cake. Alex took full advantage of digging in...he did practice with cake from Ethan's birthday but he really outdid himself yesterday. He had blue & white icing all over his head, chest and arms and quite a bit of chocolate cake on the floor as well as a good amount in his mouth. I gave him a little scoop of ice cream and he played with it but he wasn't really into the whole "cold" aspect of ice cream. Cake done - time to clean up the boy...thankfully the sink is clean and empty and we have towels downstairs just for this purpose. So we got pictures of the process of demolishing the cake and then another picture of him in the sink getting ready to get cleaned up. Now I did take his shirt off before giving him the cake and had Katie pull off his pants when I got him from the high chair. I held him with his back to me on the way to the sink and yet somehow, he still managed to cover my arms in cake - I should have had a clean shirt ready for myself as well but luckily, I had on short sleeves so he only got the bottom of the sleeves dirty.
OK - quick bath done, new outfit on (the first shirt said "The world revolves around me"....the new one had a lion on it and said "Mane Man"...both fitting for the day), time for presents. The first one we opened, I loved - a really nice sweater and a nursery rhyme book. That didn't quite do it for an attention grabber for a one year old...the second one was much better. From the cousins, a giant lion - Alex proceeded to hold it and roar like a lion. That's pretty much all I could hear but Steve says someone said, "well he definitely knows what that is." He might be a turkey boy, but since Alex is the lion in Madagascar, Ethan thinks our Alex is a lion, too, so that's kind of his thing now. A toy car, an indoor scooter/car type thing to ride, super cute clothes, a ball, more books, and movies and clothes and the big gift - a basketball goal inside for Alex and Ethan to play....Mama liked all the gifts, especially the cute clothes...what did Alex like? The soccer ball from his brother, the basketball that came with the basketball goal and the little balls that were in the treat bags for the party-goers. The boy has a one track mind....he did really like that lion, too. That was yesterday...today he's playing with several other things....checking out his new little car-like thing - hasn't tried riding it yet but checking out all the cute stuff on it.....playing with the hamster from Nana (when Ethan gives it up long enough to let Alex see it)....he did bring me one of the books but just so I could put it up, not because he wanted me to read it....maybe in a few months he'll settle down and let me read, he just doesn't have the patience for it yet.
All in all, I think Alex had a great birthday. I know Ethan fully enjoyed it and finally grasped the concept that it was Alex's birthday and not his. Although, he gets to play with it all also so he really wins either way. And Mama & Daddy enjoyed it because Alex had chocolate and it didn't seem to give him any reflux issues so maybe he's actually getting over that - none too soon either. Also, we have a clean house and while the boys played hard all day today, the house is still clean; truly amazing. It was also great to have everyone at the house and actually be able to socialize some - great company we had.
We hope all of you that came had fun as well and thank you all so much for the great gifts and for all your support through Alex's first year. Three more days and he'll be officially 1 year old. What a year!
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